I'm a huge fan. I saw Bullet in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on R&R from Viet Nam. Talk about a blast from home!!! I never knew that they made that many Morris Minor body types and then you walk into a theater and get to watch a Mustang wheel hop all over the place! It sure hit the spot for me in those circumstances. Papillon is a favorite but I liked the boiler room scenes in The Sand pebbles too. "men stem stop walve" I was a steamfitter when that came out. Oh to be that cool.
Steve was the man. I have a rare collection of off road race cars and trucks. My pride and joy is my 1400 original mile Steve McQueen 1969 Chevy 4X4 race truck
Hey Ron, glad to see you on this thread. It's me John the guy that bought the LT1 heads from that truck. Would be great if you could post some pictures of the truck. Hope all is well, John
i never met the man but back in the 70's when i was in the antique motorcycle scene whenever anybody saw him at the swap meets like ohio or hershy the price went up bigtime!
I didn't want to start a new thread........but, "Bullitts" on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). It just started! Best car chase scene EVER.
I am one of the old farts who actually saw Bullitt in the theater. Since then I've bet I've watched it 50 times. They don't make actors like him anymore.
I got this at a Ford parts department. "BULLIT" was an Oscar winner for Best Film Editing. This razor-edge thriller features one of cinema history's most memorable car chases
McQueen was a cool guy and made a lot go cool movies.....he never looked like he was acting...besides, he was a car guy so that makes him OK in my books!
My boss grew up in Malibu and knew Steve's son Chad (who did some acting but doesn't look much like his father) pretty well, when Steve was married to Ali McGraw. Lee Hartung, the eccentric collector from my hometown of Glenview, told me that Steve's representative contacted him when he was filming the Chicago scenes in The Hunter, saying Steve wanted to see his collection. Lee said "Fine, but tell him nothing's for sale!" Steve never came. (Oh - now what am I supposed to do with this here grenade? Damn pin seems to be stuck...)
I used to play with the electric trains in my grandparent's "antique" store, the Sidecar Antique Shop in Ventura, with this long-haired bearded guy who didn't always smell so good. I was 11 to 14 years old. He usually drove old chevy trucks, and I now know he was living in Santa Paula near the airport. One day there was this bitchen Jaguar parked in back, and I went f'in batshit, but the bearded guy did not let on that it was his car. We played together maybe 6 to 8 times over several years when I was visiting my grandparents. (I lived in Carmichael, Ca.) When I later realized the Jaguar XKSS belong to a bearded Steve McQueen, my grandfather was dead, and grandmother was suffering from Alzheimer's. I have no idea what their relationship was, but mine with the bearded guy was very cool.
I use to work with a guy who raced dirt bikes back in the 60's for Husqvarna he was friends with Keenan Wynn the actor who also raced a Husqvarna and was close friends with Steve Mcqueen,Jack told me that Mcqueen would show up on an old Indian or a bsa and would race under an another name so would Keenan Wynn and that they rode all over the place togeather (Mcqueen and Wynn)Did I always thought that Mcqueen was a real man's man! look up cool in a dictionary and it would have a picture of Steve in it!!!!
He used to sign up to race under the name "Harvey Mushman". If you get a chance watch the movie "On Any Sunday" he is featured in it.
Some people thoought that was his birth name but it was Terrence Stephen McQueen. McQueen was known to ask for lots of 'free stuff' on every movie. He asked for things like denim jeans in large amounts. He was sending all the stuff back to the kids at his old school. Every bad boy has a soft spot.
yes the dune buggy was his and it is Corvair powered.He also had a VW convertable That was heavily reworked . I got to meet him at the Club House of Thompson International Speedway He spent an entire evening partying with my parents and I along with several other speedway Saturday night regulars. I was just a kid and more interested in the race driver than the movie star hell I'm not sure I knew he was a star then. Rumor was he was a silent partner in the road racing part of Thompson Speedway back in the 50-60s there were several stars that raced there as regular as they could and from what I hear most were "just racers" when they were there not "BIG STARS" talk cars and racing and they would hang all night get too hung up on the "Movie Star" and your visit got cut off.
My 6 year old son has a Mcqueen poster from the Great Escape in his bedroom. He is/was the shit. Once I saw an interview with Robert Blake on Tom Snyders show, and Blake was talking about Steve. It was the funniest thing I've ever heard (to hear Robert Blake tell it that is). I did a search but could not find the video, but I did find this and it is pretty much what I remember Blake saying: Blake told a story about shooting a movie in New Orleans --- one night he spies a guy running full speed away from a number of pursuers. As the guy gets closer, he sees it's Steve McQueen, who yells "Run Bobby!" Blake starts running with McQueen, who eventually takes off on his own, leaving the angry guys chasing Blake --- they corner Blake and seem about to pound him when out of nowhere McQueen reappears on a fire escape, with a shotgun, and chases the mob off with a warning shot.
The Jalopy Journal
