Set in Marseille, Le Marginal (The Outsider) is a 1983 French crime film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as police officer Philippe Jordan as he attempts to fight against and ultimately take down a murderous drug kingpin. Directed by Jacques Deray, the French flick famously featured Jordan’s custom-modified Mustang — an iconic movie car that, 40 years after the film’s debut, is now headed to auction.
The soon-to-be-sold movie car started life as a 1967 Shelby GT500, though was heavily customized and reworked for its iconic on-screen appearance where it was utilized in several car chase sequences. Under the hood, the pony car packs a 428ci (7.0-liter) V8 engine that was mated to a four-speed transmission and good for 355hp and 420ft-lbs of torque — figures that enabled the GT500 to do 0-60mph in just 6.5 seconds.
Interestingly, the Le Marginal Mustang was actually built as something of a tribute to another even more legendary movie car; the 1968 Ford Mustang GT driven by Steve McQueen in Bullitt. On top of a dark green livery, other alterations to the stock GT500 included the addition of a lowered suspension setup, side-exiting exhausts, a custom six-unit taillight setup, a custom hood, a grille delete, custom headlights, and rolled fenders at all four corners that open up space to accommodate chunkier wheels and tires. In the four decades that have passed since the film’s production, this Mustang has also undergone an extensive restoration, returning it to its exact on-screen specification.
Jean-Paul Belmondo’s Le Marginal Shelby GT500 Mustang Movie Car is scheduled to cross the auction block at Artcurial’s upcoming 2023 Rétromobile Sale in Paris, France starting February 3rd, where it’s expected to fetch between €200,000 to €400,000 (~ $216,500 to $433,000).
