Discovered - When The Bullitt Hits The Road

Discovered

When The Bullitt Hits The Road

Story and Photography | Sabrina Giacomini

We are often told never to meet our idols. But when yours is a Highland green, 380-horsepower Mustang waiting for you in San Francisco, the answer can only be a resounding “yes”!

One of the most famous and admittedly epic car chases in movie history, pits Lieutenant Frank Bullitt in a green 68 Ford Mustang GT Fastback against two hitmen at the wheel of a 68 Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum in the streets of San Francisco, California. Bullitt made Hollywood history and for 50 years, the seemingly never-ending chase has sparked the imagination of every car enthusiast in the world.

The movie also contributed to making the Mustang the icon it is today. It’s no surprise then that Ford highlighted the movie’s golden anniversary with a special edition pony, clad in green, of course. The launch event couldn’t take place anywhere else but in San Francisco and for 36 hours, we got to feel like McQueens at the wheel of the 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt.

Start the clock! We land in San Francisco airport in the early afternoon after a direct flight from Toronto. Unlike my previous “first sights” of California in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, the view from here lacks the painted hills I have been used to on previous trips.

In fact, as we step out and roll away from the airport, I have no visual reference of the direction we are heading in. No ocean, no cityscape, nothing— only blue skies as far as the eye can see. It’s a slightly dizzying feeling.

Our first pitstop out of the airport takes us to The Candy Store in Burlingame just south of San Francisco. The real “candy” here is the collection of classic cars found inside the “store”, which is in fact a museum. An appropriate name if you ask me. The building, a former dealership built in 1928, became a car enthusiast club in 1983; a sort of glorified man cave if I’ve ever seen one. Lined up outside the museum, a dozen Highland green Mustangs waiting for their drivers.

But first, a peek inside the historical building and the equally historic collection. Between the rows of pristine collectibles, in a corner, highlighted by a “Bullitt” banner, Mustang GTs old and new stand side-by-side. The ‘68 Mustang on display is one of the hero cars used in the movie—this is as close as I’ll ever be to meeting Steve McQueen.

After leaving us to marvel at the variety of old and sometimes rare findings on display, Ford finally hands over the key to one of the Mustangs parked outside and sends us on our merry way.

I say condo because the room is big enough for the appellation; it’s only missing a kitchen! A neutral but warm decorative theme keeps the place current without having to update every time trends dictate something new. My room is well furnished, with a wall of windows opening up on the resort and the waterfront.

Our second day of driving starts bright and early as we tackle the streets of San Francisco to retrace the steps of the epic car chase scene. We land on Richardson Avenue, before making a right on Gough Street. We then take a left on Pacific Ave, all the way down to Taylor Street. Taylor Street is the location of the most memorable part of the chase, at least in my opinion.

In the movie, a Dodge Charger, followed by the Mustang, whizzes down Taylor street, puttng those suspension to work at every transversal street. My co-driver and I cruise up and down Taylor Street a few times to truly appreciate the diffculty of navigating the hill. We then decide to veer off the designated movie course to head out to Pier 41, a more industrial part of the San Francisco waterfront and a great photo op with the car.

We then make a pit stop at Fisherman’s Wharf where my co-driver treats himself to an 8-am clam chowder in sourdough bread from the Chowder Hut. I thought the idea was pretty silly, but after having a bite, frankly, when the chowder is this good, there is no right or wrong time to have it. After a warm snack on a cool morning and a busy day retracing the steps

of Steve McQueen in the Mustang Bullitt, we head back to the hotel where the event is wrapping up. As everyone else is packing up and gettng ready to head back home, I get to enjoy an extra 24 hours in San Fran —it’s my first time in the city and I plan to make it count. Beyond anything I could have expected or even hoped for, one of the Ford reps hears I am staying an extra day and kindly hooks me up with a car for the afternoon.

My plan to get a ride across the bridge and start walking the city gets postponed to the following day and I don’t think twice about resuming my exploration of the Pacific Coast Highway. My afternoon is about to take a serious turn for the better. I jump behind the wheel and leave without a plan. All I know is that I am following Route 1 as far and for as long as the four hours I have will allow. So I make my way up the coast through the rolling hills north of San Francisco, across the bay.

As I tackle the serpentine Route 1 in the Stinson Beach area, I notice a striking and recurring feature of the landscape that remains to this day the fondest memory of my drive that day. They say our sense of smell triggers the strongest memories. Well, from now on, the memory of my drive along the Pacific Coast Highway will forever smell of eucalyptus. Dozens and dozens of rainbow-trunk trees line the side of the Route 1 and their pleasant aroma will forever be associated with that peaceful and enjoyable drive.

I manage to drive north as far as Hamlet along the coast, roughly 100 kilometers from the city, before I start to head back. The way back on highway 101 is a lot faster than driving the Route 1 hairpins, so I get back to the city with time to spare for a lunch by the water in Sausalito. I stop at the Barrelhouse Tavern on Bridgeway where I get to snack on seafood while watching seals poke their heads out of the blue San Francisco Bay waters.

My second night in the city isn’t nearly as glamorous as the first one. One thing you have to be prepared to do in San Francisco is spend money. A lot of it. Hotel rooms don’t come cheap and not even Airbnb will be your saving grace. Prior to my trip, I had researched a comfortable room somewhere in the city that placed me near enough to the attractions to walk. I finally found a small room with shared bathroom at the Hayes Valley Inn, a two-star hotel at the corner of Gough and Ivy in Hayes Valley.

For a quick in and out after a good night sleep, the room serves its purpose. Even better: it puts me at walking distance of everything I wish to see. On the following day, I stuff my backpack full enough to carry three days worth of clothing, a laptop, and a camera, haul it on my shoulders, which makes me look like a turtle, and head out for my day of exploration around San Francisco.

I have six hours on the clock before having to head to the airport, so out the door I go! I make my way to Van Ness Avenue and head north, towards the waterfront. While the unphased locals walk around like elegant mountain goats, Franklin the turtle over here carries her house on her back and straddles up and down the streets shaped by the rugged landscape of this California peninsula.

On the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, my path crosses Lombard Street. You may or may not have heard the name, but the pictures should definitely trigger a memory. Instead of the usual two-way street I’ve encountered so far, there’s a portion of Lombard Street that’s been landscaped, creating a tight hairpin path down for cars, reminiscent of a small-scale Stelvio Pass. You can choose the easy way up by tackling the street heading West: there are convenient stairs up the steep hill, among the bushes and trees and flocks of tourists.

From my direction, however, heading East, the picturesque portion of the street is on the other side of the hill, which means I have to go up three blocks of what my mathematician’s eye is guessing is a perfect 30-degree angle inclination.

And up I go, leaning forward and giving my legs the best workout they’ve had in a while. I do make it to the top, not without a short break in the middle to give my weary legs a rest. The view from the top is worth every drop of sweat as between the hillside houses opens up a partial view of the city that spreads to the mainland, onto the other side of the Bay.

“ ...the memory of my drive along the Pacific Coast Highway will forever smell of eucalyptus.”

Leaving the twists and turns of the famed street behind, I head down Leavenworth that takes me straight down to the waterfront and Fisherman’s Wharf.

It’s no wonder the location is on everybody’s lips: this is the ideal tourist hot spot with shops, restaurants, attractions and, of course, hundreds of different views of Alcatraz. As my day is drawing to an end, I make my way back through Chinatown and its famous Dragon Doors before jumping on the Bay Area Rapid Transit which takes me to the Airport for less than $10.

In 48 hours, I drove a few hundred kilometres along the Pacific Coast Highway and walked a dozen more around Fog City. In two days, I never saw the Golden Gate Bridge in its entirety, but I did get the chance of a lifetime to drive a Mustang Bullitt in the streets of San Francisco.

Image provIded by brandon nelson