1001 Steve McQueen Facts. Tyler Greenblatt

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СКАЧАТЬ tour in Chicago with the Time Out For Ginger production, he helped co-star Nancy Malone buy her first car. Since he had recently purchased an MG, he suggested that she do the same. Malone paid $2,500 cash for a brand-new 1953 MG at the Arnolt dealership in Chicago. Steve told her he would give her driving lessons, which he unfortunately wasn’t able to do because he left the production shortly thereafter.

      121. McQueen reported for duty at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine for Two Fingers of Pride on his motorcycle, naturally. He rode 300 miles through a rainstorm with his girlfriend on the back.

      122. The yellow 1951 Chevrolet Styline Deluxe convertible driven by Ralph “Papa” Thorsen in The Hunter was purchased by McQueen after filming. Although it never took on quite the persona and following as the Bullitt Mustang, the Chevy was driven by McQueen at length throughout the film, and the fact that it was in his collection at his death makes it an important car. The vehicle remained in the limelight through the years and was even featured on two episodes of the popular TV series Pawn Stars. It was purchased at Barrett-Jackson’s 2018 Scottsdale auction for $126,500.

AUTOMOBILE COLLECTION

      123. McQueen bought his first sports car, a red 1948 TC-MG, in 1954 while on tour in Columbus, Ohio, with Time Out For Ginger. Although he wasn’t earning much from the play, the crew played poker every night and he was the usual winner. The MG cost $750, so McQueen put $450 down and sent the seller money every week until it was paid off.

      124. He had the car delivered to Chicago, where the play was based, and then took it back to New York with him after he was fired. “I thought I was kind of Jack L. Warner’s son, you know,” he said of the MG. “I didn’t have any dough and lived in a cold-water flat, but I had that MG parked outside.” He eventually sold it to pay the rent.

      125. While living in Greenwich Village, Steve became somewhat of a local character by riding his motorcycle around shirtless, much to the joy of the girls in the area. Perhaps it was this display that caught the affection of actress Susan Oliver, whom Steve dated in 1950. She recalled riding around the Village on his motorcycle, although eventually grew tired of loaning him money for gas and food.

      126. One of Steve’s friends in his early acting days in Greenwich Village was fellow actor Richard Martin who owned an MG sports car. One day he let Steve drive it, which certainly made a young, broke Steve McQueen a happy man. He went on to buy his own MG a few years later, possibly because of this first experience in the British lightweight.

      127. McQueen once rode his motorcycle into Louis’ Tavern, his favorite hangout spot. Because the bar was below the sidewalk, he rode down the stairs and right into the barroom. You can assume he wasn’t doing this slowly, since he crashed through a glass door once inside and landed on the floor. At the time, there just happened to be a couple of wiseguys inside, who removed Steve and his motorcycle from the bar.

      128. Although McQueen rode a motorcycle as his only form of transportation, he didn’t have a license! This wasn’t a problem until his girlfriend, Janet Conway, hit her head into the back of his head after he hit a pothole. She had a serious cut over her left eye and they had to go to the emergency room. They couldn’t tell the doctor that the accident had occurred on a motorcycle, so she fibbed and said that she had fallen so that Steve wouldn’t get in trouble.

      129. Steve purchased his first motorcycle in 1950, “a mean old” 1946 Indian Chief with sidecar.

      130. Right after buying it he rode over to show it off to a girl he was dating at the time. Naturally, he was proud of his first major purchase. She told him, “You don’t expect me to ride around with you on that?” He got her to try it, but she hated the bumpy sidecar and told him, “Either the bike goes or I go!” In his own words: “The girl went, but the bike stayed.” His 1946 Chief sold at auction in 2013 for $143,750.

      131. Steve once handed down an old, beat-up motorcycle helmet to fellow actor George Peppard who had just started riding. The helmet had deep gouges in it from when Steve had slid on a set of railroad tracks and crashed into someone’s front porch one night. The helmet had seen much use and abuse; it obviously was worn by a motorcyclist who had seen and done a thing or two. The novice Peppard could throw a leg over the old, leaky BSA, and even though he was still learning to ride, McQueen’s helmet made him look as hardened of a biker as anyone.

      132. Broadway’s famed Lyceum Theater used to have a little, easily-accessible yard behind it where NYPD mounted police could leave their horses and go on break. This spot also provided a place where Steve and fellow actor Ed Julien could park their motorcycles while working on A Hatful of Rain. The Lyceum Theater still stands strong as one of Broadway’s oldest theaters; however, access to the back alley by motorcycle is now prohibited.

      133. The 1952 Chevrolet 3800 pickup truck that eventually took Steve McQueen on his final ride was custom-built by Harold Van Hoosen in Yreka, California, in October 1952. The camper truck, known as “Dust Tite,” was made of galvanized metal and aluminum and was originally meant as a track rig for a motorsports enthusiast. The heavy-duty platform on the top was strong enough for people to stand on to get a great vantage point of a motorcycle or car race.

      134. Steve was out driving his MG convertible one day in New York City when he drove it right into an excavation hole on Sixth Avenue! He did so much damage to the fickle little British sports car that he got rid of it rather than fix it. He decided that two-wheeled transportation was the right way to go for the city and purchased a BSA motorcycle to replace the car.

      135. When Steve moved in with then-girlfriend Neile, he kept his BSA motorcycle at the garage across the street from her apartment. In that same garage lived a new Bugatti. After making the daily trek past one of the most beautiful cars ever to grace the Earth, the temptation became too great and Steve decided that he needed to borrow the French sports car to see what it was all about. He grabbed the keys while the attendant wasn’t looking and quickly pulled it out of the garage. He called Neile from a payphone around the corner and told her to come down. As soon as she saw the expensive car she knew that he had stolen it, or as he corrected her “borrowed” it from an owner who would never find out. They took a ride around Central Park and then drove it right back to the garage where Steve handed the keys to the stupefied parking attendant.

      136. As soon as Neile’s boss, George Abbot, found out that she was dating a guy with a motorcycle and that she was actually riding on the back of it, he requested that she stop. Or as she puts it, Abbot clarified specifically not to ride on the back of Steve McQueen’s motorcycle. She had just begun starring in the Broadway play Kismet, and if the leading lady were to get hurt and not be able to dance, it would wreak major havoc on the production. As you may be able to guess, she silently denied Mr. Abbot’s request and continued riding with Steve.

      137. Steve McQueen is known for owning and driving some pretty whacky automobiles over the years, but can you imagine him driving a hearse? Before he purchased the red MG in 1952, he drove a hearse that he ended up crashing in New York City’s Columbus Circle. He flipped the car upside down and totaled it, but he was able to walk away unhurt.

RACING

      138. Not only did Viktor Lukens play a huge role in getting Steve interested in acting, he is also responsible for getting him interested in racing. A serious racer himself, through his team Racemasters, Lukens competed in the 24 Heures du Mans in 1955 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1957.

      139. Most of the racing Steve did in his early days in New York City was of the stoplight-to-stoplight variety. His 1946 Indian flathead sported 80 inches of American power and since it was equipped with a sidecar, likely also had lower gears to make the heavy outfit less noticeable. With the sidecar removed, however, the big Indian became quite the challenger on short СКАЧАТЬ