the Steve McQueen dune buggy from "The Thomas Crown Affair" , Faye Dunaway looks like she's screaming every time they caught air

Read More...

Steve McQueen and Paul Newman... both motorbike riders, and featured on Karamelocycles.blogspot.com

and to make an important point clear... I've never seen these images before! Bravo Karamelocycles!
http://karamelocycles.blogspot.com

Read More...

Steve McQueen's 1953 Siata 208S Spyder

Found on http://driven.urbandaddy.com/

Read More...

the only photo I've come acroiss of Steve McQueen's Stearman airplane

it was painted yellow when Steve owned it. the car is Steve's rare Jaguar SS

Read More...

Whoa, have you seen the awesome stuff Swissstache.tumblr.com finds?

Swissstache found this on http://driven.urbandaddy.com/2011/12/13/long-live-the-king/ I've never seen Steve with this Vette before

wow.

 Ain't that effing incredible

The Apollo 15 astronauts, their Lunar Rover, and some of the Corvettes they'd been given.  Via http://blog.caranddriver.com/spaceflight-de-mayo-50-years-of-astronauts-and-corvettes/

another to end the days surfing: Liam Garrity's photo at the 2011 Famoso season http://www.bangshift.com/gallery/Liam-Garritty-photos-from-Famoso-s-2011-Season-gallery.html

 The above is the Land Speed Racing record holder of 1970, the Blue Flame, which was running on hydrogen peroxide and liquid natural gas. It's on permanent display at the Sinsheim Technik Museum in Germany. It was contructed in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and that record stood for 13 years

http://swissstash.tumblr.com/ for more great photos

This may be the coolest photo post I've done all year

Read More...

Steve McQueen, A Passion For Speed, book review

In brief, here it is by the numbers
5 chapters
96 pieces of paper between the covers, 192 sides
27 of those sides are blank, have nothing but a caption to the opposite page photo, or are just title pages
25 and about 1/2 sides of paper are text. Total. Good reading, and highly informative yes... but not a lot for 192 sides of paper

The form and layout are nice, good presentation, with high quality photos

Photos: 49 color images, 4 of those were movie posters, 2 were of auctions and not of Steve, 2 magazine covers, and one full page advertisement for Porsche

Biggest disappointment is that the chapter on physical fitness, though a really good informational read, takes up 32 sides of paper and none of those are about the "Passion For Speed" as it relates to vehicles. They are about his workouts, training, exercise. Relates to his ability to endure the driving conditions on motorcycle, race cars, yes I can see that... because he stayed in good shape and the chapter proves it... but I wanted to be receiving pages of Steve and his "Speed" related vehicles in text or photos. Not his home gym and pool photos... to which there are 1.65 sides of paper of text. Yes, of 32 sides in the chapter on his fitness titled "The Body as Tuned Machine" poor grammar there, it has 29.35 sides of paper with black and white photos of Steve working out or swimming. Not good. 22 full sheets of black and white photos of Steve in this chapter, working out with weights 5 photos, 3 with punching bag, 5 misc, 10 swimming or at the pool/hot tub... this is ridiculous, and not what I want in a "Passion for Speed" all from a Time/Life photo shoot. Waste of space in this book.

26 photos of Steve with motorcycles, 4 of those were on the set of the Great Escape.

 4 photos with his Lola T70 at races (I've posted these before, here they are again for reference)

3 photos from the Sports Illustrated car review article in 1966 I posted here http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/steve-mcqueen-tests-new-gts-of-1966-for.html
2 photos of the Porsche 908 while racing from the 1970 12 hours of Sebring
5 photos from the set of Bullitt (and I haven't seen 4 of them before)

9 photos from the movie Thomas Crown Affair
13 photos from the movie LeMans

4 photos of Steve with the Jaguar SS

26 photos in the chapter about his garage (big disappointment)  that show his vehicles, none show his aircraft, but this may be due to that information perhaps being thoroughly covered by the book Steve McQueen's Garage. No photos of his garage, none of the garages he had, none of the vehicles in storage barns or hangers, and no photos of the vehicles he had collected... as a group or collection. So, to have a chapter on his "Garage" is in appropriately termed, as no images of any outside, open doored, or inside of his garages are in the chapter, nor in the book elsewhere. Damn disappointing.

5 of those 26 seem to be there to display his first wife and Steve, with vehicles, but one is a magazine cover that I've mentioned before, and another... get this, in the chapter about Steve's Garage, titled "McQueen's Garage" is a photo of Steve and wife Neile happily embraced on a couch for the 1963 Life photo shoot.

Another 5 of those 26 are auction promotion shots... 3 were motorcycles, one was the 57 Chev truck, and the other was the Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso

Things I learned that I did not know:

The "Ringadingdoo" Kawasaki 100cc G31M, that he had an Excalibur he and his wife owned, that he'd been in the Marines - and the Merchant Marines where he had been a mechanic which prepped him for the Sand Pebbles role as an MM (machinsts mate in Navy lingo) ,  that he'd been a part time mechanic in a motorcycle shop that serviced James Dean's machine, how much work he'd had Tony Nancy do to his cars, and a good list of the cars, airplanes, and bikes that Steve had owned

This book doesn't get his name right. Author or edittor or both, ought to be ashamed.

 I think it may be an error copied from Wikipedia. This book says his first name is Terrence and that his middle name is Steven. His 1977 vehicle registration and this mugshot I've posted before shows that the police labeled him Steve T McQueen. And DMV and cops usually get that sort of bureaucratic detail about first names first, middle names inthe middle, and last name last... correctly. So, would he be named by his parents with his fathers first name (Terrance) as a first or middle name? Usually that middle name is the one from the parent.

Also http://stevemcqueen.com/biography says his middle name is Terrence

Another error was calling a Ford a "Tutor" not a Tudor. Seems like a typo perhaps, but its the same error found in other accounts of the James Dean wreck http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/deandies.htm 
 
Things not in the book that belong, the story about tricking the cops into giving him and his wife an escort to the hospital in the Jaguar SS http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/steve-and-some-of-his-cars.html
 
I don't recall any mention of his time spent talking to, or interacting with Carroll Shelby (who loaned him a Cobra for a couple months to entice a sale), or driving the Cobra (excluding the Sports Illustrated car review article) no mention of Max Balchowsky on the Bullitt Mustang and Charger work, or of Steve's hanging out at Max's "Hollywood Motors" that I read somewhere was connected to his friendship with James Coburn who turned Steve onto Ferrari's and introduced him to Max because Coburn had his sports cars kept up by Max.

No mention of the 1969 Baja race where Steve was co-driving a Hurst Baja Boot. James Garner was also in that race was a friend... and neighbor who Steve would piss off by tossing empty beer cans onto his drive way... and co star (along with James Coburn) in the movie Great Escape

and when you know that Steve owned 210 motorcycles, 55 cars, 5 airplanes... you expect more would have been mentioned and shown.


 
Overall impression of this book...
 
 not worth the money (40 dollars list from the publisher http://www.qbookshop.com/products/194742/9780760342480/Steve-McQueen.html ) but online for about 25 bucks new, less if used. The less you pay the better the trade of your money for the amount of information and entertainment you'll recieve. There have been about 2 dozen books made about Steve McQueen, and a ton of information available online (I've posted lots myself) and this book doesn't compete well enough to justify your time and it's full price cost
 
Not well editted
 22 sides of paper have nothing, or just a caption for the opposite side, too much about French poets, and Japanese philosophers
 
Not well researched / not well filled.
 I've posted many photos of Steve from many sources, and some info and stories http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%20McQueen... and this book wasn't filled with the many easily learned things about Steve McQueen and his enthusiasm for racing in buggies, cars, and motorcycles.. too much is missing and so easily found online (like http://www.tv.com/people/steve-mcqueen/trivia/ )
 
This book failed to impress me with the chapter "McQueen's Garage"and wasted 22 sides of paper on photos from a Life or Time magazine gallery of Steve's workout.

Read More...

Highest auction prices ever paid for cars (at Pebble Beach auction by Gooding & Company), for any car ever (1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa factory racer), for an American car (Duesenburg Model J), for a Porsche 911 (Steve McQueen's)

the most ever spent that I've learned about was 35 million US dollars for a Bugatti Atlantique, but the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rosa designed by Sergio Scaglietti, chassis number 0666, just sold for $16.4 million USD. It began life as a test bed for the rest of the Testa Rossa race-car line, and it's auction started with a bid for 10 million, then grew at million dollar bids.

Gooding recorded 37 world record prices paid for cars at the Pebble Beach auction... it's the venue, and the selection of the best cars to be auctioned at this particular venue (Pebble Beach Concours De Elegance) that combine the power of one of the worlds finest car shows with the richest car enthusiasts.
photo by http://www.vancouversun.com/cars/Classic+prices+keep+climbing+market+falls/5652534/story.html

The previous high dollar auction sale was also a 1957 250 Testa Rossa. That one sold for $12.4 million in May 2009 at RM Auctions

This one has a couple other reasons for such a high price, it won two best-in-class titles at the Pebble Beach concours, a Platinum Award and the TR Cup at Cavallino, and it is one of only two factory Classiche-certified TRs in existence.

It's only had two owners in 40 years, have piloted this Ferrari, including Dan Gurney and Phil Hill, who had the car up to fifth place at the '58 Le Mans and tested the car in prototype form when he was a factory driver for the Scuderia in the late '50s respectively.
info from http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110821/CARNEWS/110829976

The Steve McQueen Porsche

The 911 wasn't just owned by McQueen; it also featured prominently at the beginning of the film Le Mans as the lead character, played by McQueen, drives through France reflecting on the realities of racing, and was used as McQueen's personal transport during the movie's production, later joining his own stable of extraordinary cars in California.

He didn't keep it long, as it's 41 yrs old, and spent 34 years with the second owner who used it as a daily driver for 20 years, plus 2 owners after that and prior to this auction... so it seems it's flipped at auction twice in the last 5 years or so. Steve sold it with an ad in the LA Times

It was built to the highest specifications offered by Porsche to non-racing customers in 1970, and came loaded with options including the rare factory air conditioning and leather interior.

It was bought by an un-named person in Germany, and it only has 116000 miles, and sold by a New Jersey Porsche aficionado... Jesse Rodrigues owned it in 2008, and let the Octane magazine writer drive it while he wrote this article on it: http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/octane_features/214746/mcqueens_911.html

The sale of the 911S at RM's annual sale at Monterey marked the company's 200th million-dollar-plus automobile sold at auction.

photo and info from http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110820/CARNEWS/110829999

and http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/octane_features/214746/mcqueens_911.html


The 1931 Duesenburg Model J bodied by Murphy has less miles than most one year old cars, and for a 80 year old luxury car that has likely never lost value when resold, but been pampered... how it only has 12,500 miles is a crime. Why own a car you don't enjoy driving? 5 owners just left it stored long term

It sold for $10,340,000 at Gooding. Largest auction price for an American car ever. Even Carroll Shelby's personal dual supercharged 427 AC Cobra only went for 5 million.

Ordered new by one of history's rare Bon Vivants, Captain George Whitell... he was the only living son of a San Francisco Nob Hill family wealthy from the gold rush, and amassed a fortune of over 50 million at the time of the great depression, but was brilliant in cashing out his stock holdings before the stock market crash. He was a pilot, a lion tamer, an honorary fire marshal, and a decorated war hero.

He bought 2 Deusenburgs new in 1929, and owned a total of 6.

Born into great wealth, Whittell barreled through life at full-throttle, collecting exotic animals, elegant automobiles and boats, beautiful women, contentious lawsuits and 27 miles of Lake Tahoe's Nevada shoreline along the way. He was one of the more notorious playboys of California and Nevada, indulging in a succession of marriages and liaisons that fueled the region's gossip mills. A recluse in his later years, Whittell shunned publicity, and, in doing so, inspired speculation about his every move. By the time of his death in 1969, he had become the stuff of legend.

One grandfather invested in the gold rush claims, the other opened a merchants bank. Both made an incredible amount of money and passed it along to their heirs. When his mother inherited she received 9 million. That was a hundred years ago money.

George graduated high school and joined the Barnum and Bailey Circus, met Frank Buck, and bankrolled the both of them with his allowance. Yes, his allowance. This was more than enough to get these new partners into the African Safari business, sideline of animal capture for American circus supply.

Just before the 1906 San Fran earthquake, George was back in town, and with great automobiles... and a friend that later went on to own Seabiscuit, Charles Howard, became heros by saving friends and family and possessions duringhte subsequent fires that destroyed San Francisco

Just before WW1, George was in Europe, learning 7 launguages fluently and enjoying Paris and universities.. .his parents purchased him a captaincy in the Italian Army. He served as an ambulance driver on the front, transferring later to the French Army and to the U.S. Army when the United States entered the war in 1917. Distinguishing himself for "valor under fire", George was decorated by the Allied governments.

His father left him a 30 million dollar inheritance, in 1926 money.

The stock market crash, which his 50 million dollar withdrawal may have influenced, left many selling property, and George took advantage of the sale of Carson & Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company and other landholders who had not fared well in the stock market crash. Eventually acquiring from them over 40,000 acres of land on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, including 27 miles of the shoreline. He had the Thunderbird Lodge built, and the 55 foot speedboat Thunderbird commisioned (Only getting 83 hours of enjoyment of it in a half dozen years before storing it for 25 years, and then selling to to Harrah), and a small guest house was built for card games with his friends like Howard Hughes, and Ty Cobb

Among his collection of vehicles of note were a DC-2, outfitted for his private use, a Grumman Duck seaplane, six of the most uncommon Duesenberg motorcars, a 145' pleasure yacht and the legendary 55' speedboat, Thunderbird. The latter is certainly one of the most unique and elegant wooden vessels crafted in the Twentieth century and, like his Duesenbergs, is as much a work of art as a means of transportation

duesenburg photo from http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/autos/1108/gallery.pebble_beach_auctions/2.html
Biographical info from http://thunderbirdlodge.org/theman

One of his Duesenburgs

Whittell's 1933 Duesenberg, a Weymann Fishtail Speedster, was amazing, but because he was told it looked like a Holstein cow, George drove it only once in 30 years. Yup, just one ride in the car. The 2nd owner must have been esctatic

Read More...