McQueen | FerrariChat

McQueen

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by Entelechy, Nov 15, 2003.

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  1. Entelechy

    Entelechy Formula Junior

    May 19, 2001
    712
    Los Angeles
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    Chris Cummings
    #1 Entelechy, Nov 15, 2003
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I'm a huge McQueen fan and was looking through the book of photos shot by his friend William Claxton - wanted to share this shot of Steve next to his '63 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta...
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  2. Entelechy

    Entelechy Formula Junior

    May 19, 2001
    712
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    Chris Cummings
    #2 Entelechy, Nov 15, 2003
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  3. Entelechy

    Entelechy Formula Junior

    May 19, 2001
    712
    Los Angeles
    Full Name:
    Chris Cummings
    #3 Entelechy, Nov 15, 2003
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  4. Doody

    Doody F1 Veteran

    Nov 16, 2001
    6,099
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    Mr. Doody
    at Lotus - AstonMartin of New England in Boston they've got blow-ups of really neat old pictures of celebrities and cars. i think they have either this shot or another one taken right then on the wall.

    mcqueen was a pretty neat guy. i would like to have met him.

    most of the non-staged photots i've seen of him near a car seem to show this calm and happy aura about him.

    doody.
     
  5. Entelechy

    Entelechy Formula Junior

    May 19, 2001
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    Chris Cummings
    Absolutely right...there's some other great shots of him with his Jag (Sunny would probably go into cardiac arrest!).

    I watched a making of Bullitt documentary that showed McQueen and Bill Hicks tearing around together "well past the 10 mark" (guess that's McQ's 60's hip speak for past 100 mph?), and of course, we all know LeMans. He was quite a driver/rider.

    I've also got some documentaries on him and he was definitely passionate about anything on wheels. I love him as an actor, but from what I gather in real life he could be a real *******. A friend of mine's father used to be McQueen's business manager. We had a long talk about Steve once, and he was telling me all about what a pain Steve could be to deal with. A moment later he started to tear up and said he really missed him - I think that pretty much summed up the feelings of many who knew him.
     
  6. amenasce

    amenasce Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 17, 2001
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    Joe Mansion
    Steve Mcqueen , the definitive coolness.
     
  7. tvrfreak

    tvrfreak F1 Rookie
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    Mar 31, 2003
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    The Ferrari was for sale a few years ago, 1997, I think. I saw it at Palo Alto Concours and almost considered buying it. It was a chocolate brown color which wasn't too appealing, and the owner wanted a fat premium because Steve McQueen had owned it. Celebrity ownership history might be somewhat interesting to talk about, but I didn't think it made the car any more special, so I passed.

    I have heard rumours of shady character traits in real life, but why speak ill of the dead. He did a fantastic job in The Great Escape and Bullitt.
     
  8. jhjvdm

    jhjvdm Formula Junior

    May 28, 2003
    261
    Steve owned this Daytona spider for a period of time.

    The coachwork was done by Michelotti on chassis 14897 and

    ordered by Luigi Chinetti.

    The car was silverblue metallic with orange (!) interior, but McQueen

    is said to have rejected this colour so it was later converted to

    natural leather.

    Joop van der Meer
     
  9. DropGems

    DropGems Formula Junior

    Nov 4, 2003
    407
    Atlantic City, NJ
    Steve McQueen was the coolest.
     
  10. JaguarXJ6

    JaguarXJ6 F1 Veteran

    Feb 12, 2003
    5,459
    Black Hawk, CO
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    Sunny
    Steve was the man! :) He was most famous in Jag circles for owning an XKSS which now (or a year ago, anyway) resided in the Petersen Museum. I'll be there again tomorrow with the So Cal Corvette club and a friend. Thanks for the reminder.
     
  11. Bill Sawyer

    Bill Sawyer Formula 3

    Feb 26, 2002
    2,108
    Georgia
    A great book for Steve McQueen fans is A French Kiss with Death, about the making of the movie Le Mans. They show the man, warts and all. I lost respect for Mc Queen when I learned how he handled a traffic accident that resulted in one of his female co-stars being ejected through the windshield of his 911, but maybe you'll feel differently.
     
  12. amenasce

    amenasce Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Joe Mansion

    share with us please ?
     
  13. Bill Sawyer

    Bill Sawyer Formula 3

    Feb 26, 2002
    2,108
    Georgia
    I was afraid you'd ask that. All my books are packed away because we are moving next week, so bear with me as I try to reconstruct it from memory.

    Mc Queen was having an affair with the young girl in the film. They were drunk or high and had an accident on a French country road. The girl was ejected throught the windshield of Mc Queen's 911. He got out and, upon seeing her unconscious body sprawled across the hood, bemoaned the fact that her death would hurt his career. He showed absolutely no remorse or concern about the girl, only fear about how it would affect him materially. Luckily, she was only unconscious.

    This episode was recounted by an eyewitness who was in a car that was following them.

    Can anyone dig up thier copy and check the facts?
     
  14. amenasce

    amenasce Three Time F1 World Champ
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    that, if true, sucks ! Esp since back in the 70's, someone like MCqueen would have probably gotten away with DUI !
     
  15. Entelechy

    Entelechy Formula Junior

    May 19, 2001
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    Chris Cummings
    Hi Bill,

    Yes, I've got that as well and it is a great book, but it's been awhile...I read about the same incident in a biography on McQueen. If I recall correctly, his assistant was with him, and he was driving under the influence of drugs (cocaine I think). I lost a lot of respect for him reading about that and many other incidents. His wife Neile wrote a great biography entitled, My Husband My Friend, and you definitely get the whole picture of the man. As I said, in real life, he could be an ******* and I certainly don't respect him much in that regard (although he did seem to be a terrific and very loving father to his kids).

    Believe me, almost no one holds up in Hollywood. I've had a chance to work with many of my childhood heroes and it's amazing to see how the facade crumbles once you're on the inside. The only guy who truly holds up, and I've worked with him three times, is Tom Hanks.
     
  16. Bill Sawyer

    Bill Sawyer Formula 3

    Feb 26, 2002
    2,108
    Georgia
    You lead an interesting life, Chris!
     
  17. Entelechy

    Entelechy Formula Junior

    May 19, 2001
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    Chris Cummings
    Thanks, but it's the same as a lot of you - hard work, persistence, luck, and still a long way to go to where I want to be, but a great journey so far...
     
  18. Stickanddice

    Stickanddice Formula 3

    Nov 2, 2002
    2,473
    I drove an ex-McQueen Miura close to 100 miles. Got to open it up in the highway and such. Great car, great pedigree. I hope to convince the owner to sell it to me.

    Nobody is exempt from assenine decisions they've made or will make. The celebrity is in the oft unenviable position of having everything made public. Was McQueen a good guy? No idea, never had the pleasure to meet the man. But he sure was cool in his movies! He was also an avid car enthusiast who DROVE the cars he acquired, so he couldn't have been all that bad... :)

    Cheers
     
  19. andrew911

    andrew911 F1 Rookie
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    Sep 8, 2003
    2,887
    Northern NJ
    McQueen was definitely cool! Love his lines in The Getaway especially when running from the law with his wife in the film (Ali MacGraw) at the wheel- he says "punch it baby...punch it" at which point the early 1970's car they drive downshifts and makes a bunch of noise & smoke- all show, not much go...love using that line on my wife, but of course her '95 honda doesn't do much either but make a bunch of noise (no smoke at the wheels though).

    As far as that accident in the 911- that sucks if it's true. Isn't there a similar story involving one Ed Kennedy- that fat POS should have gone to jail for killing that secretary & leaving the scene when most likely loaded on new england's finest liquor....he had a political career to protect though, not a film career- Guess a lot of actors & public figures have some big skeletons in the closet...ha!
     
  20. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 20, 2003
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    Dirty Harry
  21. Philmodelcar

    Philmodelcar Karting

    May 19, 2004
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    Philippe
    He also owned one of the very few Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Spider built by Nart, it was a dark blue one, don't have the s/n but could post it if needed...
     
  22. maranelloman

    maranelloman Guest

    #22 maranelloman, Aug 18, 2004
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  23. kevfla

    kevfla Formula 3

    Nov 20, 2003
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    gone 4 good

    Wasn't it the one he drove in "The Thomas Crown Affair?"

    KevFla
     
  24. Anthony_Ferrari

    Anthony_Ferrari Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    2,278
    Sheffield, UK
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    Anthony Currie
    I have a copy of the jacket McQueen wears on the Le Mans '2 finger salute' picture. My friend owns a small store selling them amogst other (mainly F1 related) things.

    If anyone is going to the 'See Red' Ferrari Festival at Donington in the UK over the weekend of Sept 11/12 I believe he will have a stall there selling them.
     
  25. doug328

    doug328 Formula 3

    Mar 11, 2004
    1,599
    The Space Coast, FL
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    Doug B
    Just got through watching him in Le MANS last week. I believe that he did his own driving in the movie, (as well as his own bike riding in the GREAT ESCAPE). I really love ferraris, but those Porsche 917's (short tail) just look so mean and fast.

    to quote Steve: "RACING IS LIFE, EVERYTHING BEFORE OR AFTER IS JUST WAITING"
     

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