In the iconic car chase scene in the 1968 movie "Bullitt", McQueen flies across San Francisco's sloping streets in the dark green muscle car, which has now become the most expensive Ford Mustang ever sold.

An anonymous buyer made $ 3.7 million, equivalent to around $ 35 million, at an auction in Kissimmee, Florida.

The scene in "Bullitt" is considered to be stylistic for car chases on film, and introduced the fast clips and close-ups that we today take for granted when burning tires in action movies.

Refused to sell to McQueen

Six years after the film, in 1974, the car was advertised in a magazine and bought by Robert Kienan for the equivalent of around 33,000 SEK. It became the Kienan's everyday car and was used for action trips and to drive the children to school.

Steve McQueen tracked down the car and offered several times to buy it from Kienan, who refused.

- It wasn't like one of three cars my father had, but the only one. McQueen lived in California and my parents in New Jersey, so just logistics would have been a nightmare, says Sean Kiernan, Robert's son who now sells the car, to CNN.

In 1980, the car's clutch broke and then stood in the Kienan's garage for over 20 years. In 2001, father and son Kienan began to restore it, but had to cancel work when Robert became ill in Parkinson's. When he died in 2014, Sean completed the work himself.

"Perfect timing"

After touring the car since January 2018, Sean Kiernan now says that he is ready to be separated from it and return to the Kentucky farmhouse where his family - and the car - moved before the restoration.

- It's perfect timing, and that's what it's always been about with this car - perfect timing since the beginning, says Sean.