The Personal Blog Of
Boston Motorcycle Lawyer

Steve McQueen: Motorcycle Enthusiast
October 28, 2009

Actor Steve McQueen was an avid motorcycle enthusiast, not to mention a car enthusiast. Hell, he was even an airplane enthusiast. Most of all, he was a Hollywood icon, the King of Cool, and an anti-hero movie star.

McQueen acted in “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “The Great Escape” (1963), “Bullitt” (1968), “The Getaway” (1972), and “The Towering Inferno” (1974), among many others. He received an Academy Award nomination, for “The Sand Pebbles” (1966), and several Golden Globe Award nominations.

McQueen, who once worked as a part-time motorcycle mechanic, was an avid off-road motorcycle racer. In 1978, he was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was inducted posthumously into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

By the time of his death in 1980, McQueen had collected over 100 classic motorcycles, including a 1937 Crocker “Hemi-head” V-Twin and a 1920 Indian Powerplus Daytona.

McQueen’s motorcycle, car, and airplane collecting is the subject of “McQueen’s Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon” by Matt Stone, along with McQueen’s amateur racing career and movie stunt work. McQueen’s Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle from “The Great Escape” has become legendary.

In a January 2007 review, Men’s Journal had this to say about “McQueen’s Machines”:

“Though both a ladies’ man and a man’s man, Steve McQueen was first and foremost a gearhead. He performed many of his own driving stunts. He raced across American deserts and European road courses on two wheels and four. He had the balls to pilot the terrifying Porsche 917 flat out down the Mulsanne straight and ride a Triumph through Paris traffic. ‘McQueen’s Machines’ is the first complete look inside the man’s garage and, as a result, one of the few peeks inside his head.”

Matt Stone is the executive editor of Motor Trend magazine. Chad McQueen, Steve’s son, writes the forward to the book.