Steve Mcqueen

[Bluzmn59]

New to the club and to the site, but had to say what a great thread!

[inrustwetrust]

How much truth is there to the stories that the whole crowd that is mentioned in the Mcqueen saga that they used to brag about how badly they screwed him with bikes they sold him?

[jurassic]

[silentgreyfello]

McQueen's old Crouch.

[exeric]

Not to be disrespectfull to the dead but do you not think some of his purchases were a bit hasty or undiscerning? Surely he could have sought out better examples than those brush painted jobs. It almost seems to be a trend with some collectors. They accumulate with no focus . Maybe some of his bikes were bought with poor or disreputable advice. A friend of mine sold him a rare original Matchless Silver Hawk that had an original sidecar fitted from new but apparently he did not want or care about the sidecar. I helped reunite the sidecar after Bob Schantz acquired the bike at the auction. It must have cost him a bundle at the time to buy back the XKSS from Harrah.

I think you're right Barry. I think Steve McQueen was the pioneer deep pocket collector with equal amounts of money and enthusiasim. Most every bike I have ever seen from his collection has hair on it just like Bud Ekins' bikes. In their defense, they were years away from the knowledge base that's we know today. I remember seeing a sale/auction flyer from a Florida antique car museum back in the mid-70's and I was naive enough to think I could get a bargain. Shortly after that I was told that Steve McQueen bought the whole museum before the auction. I've seen the pictures Jurrasic posted before, and wonder if those are the motorcycles from Florida.

[Chris Haynes]

[QUOTE=exeric;83546]Most every bike I have ever seen from his collection has hair on it just like Bud Ekins' bikes. In their defense, they were years away from the knowledge base that's we know today.[QUOTE]

Boy you are right on the head with that one. One day back in the early '70's I watched Bud as he put a couple of dozen nuts on a piece of welding rod. Then heated them cherry red with a torch and dumped them into a cup of varnish. This was the only way he could figure out how to blacken hardware to make it look like Parkerizing. None of Uncle Bud's bikes would ever win a Senior award. But they looked good on camera and they were preserved so someone else can do a righteous restoration some day.

[motorhead1]

New to the club and to the site, but had to say what a great thread!

Welcome to the club!

[Ross]

I have to tell you I am really digging this thread. I have 4 heros in my life. Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Lord Baden Powell and Steve Mcqueen. All are posted above my workbench. Saw Steve from a distance years ago at Davenport and in and around 1980 received a form letter addressed to me asking if I would sell my 1913 Indian. I assumed he wrote everyone he saw in the roster. I always regretted not being able to afford the travel expenses to go to his auction after his death, but somewhere I still have that form letter. I'm going to have to look around. The Great Escape movie made me want a motorcycle as a kid. Thus began my livelong addiction to the darkside of old motorcycles. There is still no known cure.

[Barry Brown]

Here's a story you'll dig. Inveterate old motorcycle collector and wheeler dealer extaordinaire Mort Wood told me years ago that he made a return to his old neighbourhood in Baltimore where he resided circa early fifties. Mort had a new convertible something or other that the kid across the street loved so much he would offer to wash it for Mort for free. On Mort's return visit he met the dad of that kid who said to Mort something to the effect " what about my boy Frank, what do you think?" Mort didn't have a clue what to say as he had never heard that Frank Zappa had become a musician! DYNAMOHUMMMMMMMM!

[Barry Brown]

Apparently Mr. Robert Zimmerman is still into bikes as a few years back he sent one of the McGarrigle sisters and a Daniel Lanois associate to my shop in Hull Quebec looking for a pair of turn key Indians. Unfortunately , as is usually the case , mine were in a state of temporary disrepair having broken down on Highway 61 heading for Desolation Road. One of our PA. members had the good fortune to strike a deal with the legend.

[rwm]

bob dylan just had an i.d. problem in lakewood nj. last weekend 23 yr.old cop did not know who he is.

[jurassic]

i got to know bud at half moon bay and later at the vegas auction.if you were buying the drinks ,he'd tell some awesome stories.he was real proud of the fact that he told e.j. cole to go **** himself,so we got along great.one of my favorites was ,one time this guy comes into buds shop and is looking for a certain corbin speedo for his bike,bud tells him to come back tomorrow,so the next day bud had found the correct speedo in perfect shape in his stash,when the guy shows up bud gives him a price and the guy balks and tries to talk him down,so bud casually walks over to his workbench ,puts the speedo in the vise and crushs it in front of the guy.priceless

[jurassic]

[jurassic]

[jurassic]