Why the White Gear Knob?

[Vlad Soare]

Hi guys,

Recently, while browsing Netflix for new movies worth watching, I noticed Bullitt. I had watched it a long time ago and didn't remember much of it, except that it featured a famous car chase. So I watched it again yesterday.
After watching it I had a vague feeling that something was amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Until it dawned on me: at no point in time did I see the interior of the Mustang. Maybe I had missed it? I watched the car chase again, and sure enough, nothing from the inside of the car can be seen (except an outline of the dashboard from time to time, but that doesn't count).
Now, I thought the current Bullitt Mustang was meant to be a tribute to the movie. It is dark green because it was dark green in the movie. It lacks the pony emblem on the front grille because there was no pony emblem on the grille in the movie. It has a white, cue ball-like gear shift knob because the shift knob was white in the movie. Only it wasn't. You can't see the shift knob in the movie.
So why is it white? What's it supposed to hint at?

Thanks.

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[Twin Turbo]

You're correct, in the movie the car didn't have a white "cue ball" gear knob. However, at some point one was put on the car, whether this was by Frank Maranca (the New York detective who bought it from Warner Bros) or Robert Kiernan I'm not sure.

So, it's true to the car, but not as it appeared in the film.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I see. Thank you.

 

[Elp_jc]

It actually looks cool (movie be damned. Ha ha), so that's fine with me . By the way, I searched for that movie on Netflix here in the US, and no dice. Will search again, in case it was just put in here as well. By the way, is it even worth watching? Remember reading reviews that it was crap. Thx. Oh, and I did watch the chase scene on Youtube after buying the car .

 

[Vlad Soare]

Netflix has a strange way of selecting the content available to each subscriber. The selection changes constantly, depending on what you watch, and probably on several other criteria. A friend of my wife's has an identical account to mine (i.e. the most basic one), she lives close to us (so it's the same country, city and all), and yet she can't find some of the movies or TV series that my wife has just watched, and viceversa. And if you see something on the list today you can't take it for granted that it will be there tomorrow. I watched A Faster Horse on Netflix, but when I wanted to watch it again it wasn't there anymore, so I had to buy it on DVD.

As for Bullitt, the film itself is nothing special - a very thin and improbable story, full of obvious directing mistakes (e.g. a baddie having or not having a gun in his hand from one second to the next, one person being lit from the right and another from the left in the same scene, etc.). Plus an important detail of the plot which is left unexplained. But the Mustang chase is nice. And the actors. A lot of big names are starring in it, and they manage to make the film enjoyable and the thinness of the story less obvious through their mere presence. Steve McQueen is one of those actors who can make the shittiest movie look good just by being in it, and so are some of the others.

 

[1 old racer]

As far as the white shift ball. Back in the day it was one of those things that if your car did not come with one you bought one and installed it yourself. I remember I had a 70 dodge r/t charger back in the day that had a pistol grip four speed shiftter and actually changed it out because having it with the white shift knob was way cooler. But dont worry when I sold the car back in the late 70's the new owner got the pistol grip shifter , and other stuff I replaced that now would make you cry, when I sold it

 

[18usc371]

As far as the white shift ball. Back in the day it was one of those things that if your car did not come with one you bought one and installed it yourself.

Funny you mention that. Growing up in the 70s, every one I knew replaced the knob with either a black or white ball, preferably with no gear diagram. Out of nostalgia, I have always replaced mine through the years - 67 GTO, Fox 5.0, 08 Bullitt, and now GT350 - with a white ball.

 

[SlowWhite]

The movie itself is dry and boring... def not McQueen’s best work but that chase scene. I have the chase seen video on my phone... for when ya wanna watch it on the go lol

 

[1 old racer]

On my 2018 gt pp1 10 speed auto.

 

[zack.whitford]

It actually looks cool (movie be damned. Ha ha), so that's fine with me . By the way, I searched for that movie on Netflix here in the US, and no dice. Will search again, in case it was just put in here as well. By the way, is it even worth watching? Remember reading reviews that it was crap. Thx. Oh, and I did watch the chase scene on Youtube after buying the car .

I love the movie but I was raised watching it with my dad so it has a special place in my heart. I also adore McQueen and I could enjoy watching the guy eat a bowl of cereal. He always played really well realized characters that had great quirks that made you believe that they were real, relatable people. Bullitt is a slow, noir burn with great acting and excellent photography. It can be hard to follow at times but the real point is to just watch and enjoy McQueen being a quiet bad ass. Obviously the chase is extremely special and is the reason we are here in this forum in the first place. Between the camera work, McQueen, Ekins and Hickman's driving and how much abuse those cars endured it really is known as the most famous on screen chase for good reason.

 

[ice445]

Bullitt is a good movie overall, but I think its eclipsed by two other movies that did the same thing better. The one being the original gone in 60 seconds, and the other being smokey and the bandit.

 

[Elp_jc]

At least the driving was real back then. Ha ha. He was good at double-clutching, although it wasn't needed. Was he doing the driving, or a double? I caught a glaring error, on a 90-deg left turn, when he obviously slowed down, but the engine kept sounding at exactly the same pitch, before, during, and after. Did anybody else catch that?

But for that era, it actually better than the crap that nowadays passes for 'car movies'. Those 'fast and furious' ones are painful to watch. I aborted the first one, and never watched another. After about 20 gear shifts, the speedo swinging to 200 mph... while barely touching the gas, and after 5 minutes of that crap, just halfway of a 300-foot bridge? I had enough. Ha ha.

 

[zack.whitford]

At least the driving was real back then. Ha ha. He was good at double-clutching, although it wasn't needed. Was he doing the driving, or a double? I caught a glaring error, on a 90-deg left turn, when he obviously slowed down, but the engine kept sounding at exactly the same pitch, before, during, and after. Did anybody else catch that?

But for that era, it actually better than the crap that nowadays passes for 'car movies'. Those 'fast and furious' ones are painful to watch. I aborted the first one, and never watched another. After about 20 gear shifts, the speedo swinging to 200 mph... while barely touching the gas, and after 5 minutes of that crap, just halfway of a 300-foot bridge? I had enough. Ha ha.

McQueen and Bud Ekins did the driving in the chase. The shots where you can't see Steve in the rear view mirror was when it was Bud, as well as some of the more dangerous maneuvers. The only reason for this was film studio insurance - McQueen always wanted (and could) do his own stunts but when the studios were concerned for his safety Bud would step in. The famous bike jump in The Great Escape was performed by Ekins, much to McQueen's chagrin.

EDIT:

I should also mention that the actor driving the black Charger, Bill Hickman, was the leading stunt driver in the industry at the time and did all of his own driving in the chase.

 

[Bulutt]

Another little bit of trivia. Brad Pitt‘s character in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood was based on Bill Hickman.

 

[zack.whitford]

Another little bit of trivia. Brad Pitt‘s character in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood was based on Bill Hickman.

I didn’t know that - that’s awesome!

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