Today, we’re used to seeing the latest, greatest production cars on the big screen. Automakers pour millions into blockbuster budgets to make certain it’s a Camaro that transforms into a robot or a Dodge Charger parachuting out of an airplane. But before all that, there was Mr. Majestyk and his old F-100 farm truck. The crew filmed such astounding stunts with an unmodified, used pickup truck that Ford featured the footage in ads.

By 1974, Charles Bronson had won a Golden Globe and become the world’s top box-office star. When Elmore Leonard wrote an original screenplay to be directed by Richard Fleischer (Soylent Green), Bronson was the perfect choice for a leading man.

Mr. Vince Majestyk is a Special Forces veteran turned humble watermelon farmer. When his operation gets big enough, the mob tries to shake him down. They insist he fire the experienced Mexican migrant workers he knows and trusts and pay more to hire unskilled drunks they provide. They pay off the police and terrorize Majestyk’s workers. So of course, Mr. Majestyk—and Nancy, the Mexican-born union organizer he loves—take a stand. See the trailer below:

Mr. Majestyk’s used, unmodified 1968 Ford truck that defined “built tough”

The film crew bought a used 1968 Ford F-100 for Majestyk’s farm truck. They used the unmodified pickup to film one of the most memorable scenes of the era. Nancy races the truck across the Colorado desert. She flies off jumps that would make the Dukes of Hazzard blush. Meanwhile, Vince Majestyk lies in the bed and empties his shotgun into the windshield of the mobsters chasing them.

The climactic chase was iconic. The stunts—and the story behind them—were too good for Ford to ignore. The automaker ended up licensing footage from the film to feature in a TV spot advertising its 1976 pickup trucks.

Because Ford was trying to sell new trucks, it had to get creative with the copy: “Now, these exciting movie stunts have no bearing on normal usage. And this doesn’t prove how long our seventy-six will last. But if you want a tough built pickup, that’s Ford. 93 out of 100 of all Ford trucks registered since ’64 are still on the job.”

The ad ends with a new catchphrase: “Get the one that’s built Ford tough.” Ford admits the phrase originated the same year, penned by an advertiser writing a magazine ad for the trucks. And as any Blue Oval fan knows, it stuck around. You can see the full Mr. Majestyk chase embedded below: