Monday, July 28, 2008

What would Steve McQueen drive?




In keeping with the San Francisco theme I've started, here's a inspired commercial from 1997 shot in The City By the Bay. It includes an computer-imagined Mc Queen (as Frank Bullitt) still zipping around the hills of San Francisco as in the 1968 movie, though this time with less urgency and in a German-made Ford Puma.

It looks like a nice car, but is it a worthy successor to the Mustang, especially the Mustang GTO? Ford only built the Puma for six years and it was only brought out in the Europe market.

Anyway, I'm glad Steve kept his original wheels, as you can see at 00:45. And, yes, he still has a bike, too.
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11 comments:

  1. Cassandra La jeune fille blondeJuly 28, 2008 at 11:10 AM

    Now don't you go throwing your hands up in horror!

    I choose ..............The Lamborghini Reventon............................smiles at the thought of your wince.

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  2. doug noakesJuly 28, 2008 at 12:58 PM

    After all the horror and wincing wore off, I checked out the Reventon sites online. I have a sentimental attachment to the original Mustang, a good old American sports car, but I have to say the Lamborghini looks like quite the absolute living end!

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  3. crabby manJuly 28, 2008 at 2:43 PM

    I am quite sure he would not be driving the Puma. He is probably rolling in his grave at the thought of driving the vehicle.

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  4. doug noakesJuly 28, 2008 at 3:29 PM

    The more I look at it, the more adamant I am in agreement with you. His family probably got a nice bit of cash from Ford using McQueen's likeness in the ad but the Puma appears to be a gussied-up economy car. If the bad guys from Fed Ex needed to be chased down, which of those cars are you pulling out of the garage?

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  5. ~ sdastroguy ~August 5, 2008 at 8:22 PM

    Now I can really see him driving a Pantera. Didn't Ford import those for a while back in the early 80's?

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  6. doug noakesAugust 5, 2008 at 8:35 PM

    Some quick checks on line reveals Ford did have an import deal with an Italian company to bring the Pantera in the States from 1971--74.
    The first models were priced at around $10,000. (!)
    No record of McQueen having one--he might have been more of a Ferrari guy--but I too could see him behind the wheel of a Pantera as well. With 341 horsepower I think he would have been a happy dude.

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  7. ~ sdastroguy ~August 5, 2008 at 8:36 PM

    Well, I only missed by a decade :) Ah, the signs of growing old - time just seems to compress.

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  8. doug noakesAugust 5, 2008 at 8:38 PM

    Your memory was better than mine though.

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  9. crabby manAugust 5, 2008 at 8:48 PM

    I see him more in a GTO or a Camaro. He was a power/ speed guy

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  10. doug noakesAugust 5, 2008 at 8:52 PM

    Good choices as well. Or perhaps one of those Formula One jobs he drove in "La Mans" (1971).

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  11. crabby manAugust 5, 2008 at 8:55 PM

    Didn't they make a street model?

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