Oh myQuote:
Originally Posted by Nine17
Steve sailor died? The fellow who raced the Renault Alpine? I encountered him on several occasions out at Buttonwillow and WSR sorting his Alpine. Lovely car, nice fellow...
Sad to hear that
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Oh myQuote:
Originally Posted by Nine17
Steve sailor died? The fellow who raced the Renault Alpine? I encountered him on several occasions out at Buttonwillow and WSR sorting his Alpine. Lovely car, nice fellow...
Sad to hear that
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ora...&pid=141385317Quote:
Originally Posted by Bummler
Vaya con dios, amigo...
Thanks for passing that along.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nine17
Strange coincidence...
I met Steve in the mid 90's while hanging out with the late Len Frank of KPFK's the car show. Len was battling colon cancer at the time and died about 12 months later.
It's making the rounds.....
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/...le/?test=faces
A few years ago I met Steve Sailor through Frank G and he ended up buying my 63 Super 90 Sunroof Coupe with just 36K on it. Then last year I was going through some old boxes and found some spare keys so I contacted him. He told me of his battle with cancer but was upbeat about it and thankful to get the keys. Steve was a great guy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bummler
Here are a few pics I took last weekend at the Amelia RM auction.
and has even made the major newspapers in Australia too (another Murdoch company, longer piece than on the Fox site)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226026553889
McQueen Porsche pricelessly cool
YEARS after his death, McQueen memorabilia commands a premium on everything from sunglasses to sports cars.
YOU'D have to say that, alive or dead, Steve McQueen has done a better job managing his image than Charlie Sheen. Of course, in reality, there is not too much difference between them in their private lives.
By the time McQueen was 11 his father had left home, his mother had left him and his stepfather had abused him.No wonder he had big tastes for coke, booze, sex, speed (the car, bike and plane kind) and little taste for intimate relationships.
McQueen's third wife, Barbara Minty, and biographer Marshall Terrill (McQueen: The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon) tour universities with a lecture and book signing on his life, talking to kids who were born long after McQueen died. At auction, his Persol sunglasses sold for $75,000, his Tag Heuer watch for nearly $90,000 and his Rolex for $240,000.
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His 2005 commercial for Mustang, a riff on Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams, shows that even today he is as cool as he was when he died in 1980. (Find it on YouTube.) You can't watch it without feeling a tingle as McQueen's double races the Mustang on a track through a cornfield.
Eccentric English (tautology there) designer Steve Day is remaking the car chase from Bullitt using McQueen action figures and slot cars. It's slow and vaguely weird but, then again, so was Steve. (Again, see YouTube.)
But McQueen's greatest work of art was the 1971 stunner Le Mans. The movie bankrupted his production company, most of his relationships and just made some money. But if you love cars and racing you just have to watch it. There is no story. ''The script is in my head.'' There were two directors. The producers threatened to shut the whole thing down.
Porsche wanted its cars back after the production wrote off six cars at $45,000 a piece in 1971 money; McQueen blew up a $43,000 engine with a bad gear shift; there was no female on the set he didn't share the joy with; there were very few times he didn't do some lines and take cars out on the track in the middle of the night; and he would regularly take women friends and production staff on 160km/h drives through the French countryside in his slate-grey 1970 Porsche 911S.
Steve drove the 911S in the opening scenes of Le Mans, then took it home with him. And of course RM Auctions now has it in its August Monterey sale. A really good 1970 911S will bring $55,000, tops. Here's how to think about how much to pay for this one. Hint: I asked Rob Myers if he would take my four kids as trade-in and he said: ''And what else have you got?''
If you would prefer to buy Steve's Highland Green 68 Mustang fastback from Bullitt then you can't because the owner is not going to part with it. But the good old boys in Gateway Classic Mustang at Bourbon, Missouri (I didn't make it up), will sell you a limited edition 1968 Steve McQueen Signature Mustang originally built for Steve's son Chad.
Powered by a Roush340kWsmall block, the Highland Green car generates 27 per cent more power than the original. Built on a 1967 or 68 original Ford body, the Mustang comes with Baer 30cm disc brakes, which are quite helpful when you want to stop.
Better than any car movie is the real-life Renault spy scandal. Just to give you a quick preview: last year a whistleblower sent poison pen letters to Renault bosses telling them the top executives of their electric car business were taking bribes. Of course who else would want to spy on the Froggies than the dastardly Chinese? Naturally the French government, which owns a slice of the carmaker, sent in its own spies and made it a big international incident. In a demonstration of corporate loyalty, Renault bosses fired the three guys who were meant to be taking a sling.
Renault boss Carlos Ghosn, who is also Nissan's boss, told the media he was absolutely sure of how crook things were. ''Of course we are sure. If we weren't sure, we wouldn't be where we are,'' he said at one point. And: ''We're not amateurs. We didn't just invent it all, you know.''
Sorry, Carlos, as one journalist wrote: ''There was no evidence of anything.'' Eight weeks after giving the three electric executives the flick Renault has had to apologise to the three and offer them their jobs back. Inspector Clouseau suddenly looks like Sherlock Holmes.
Finally, a reminder that the Longford Revival is on next weekend followed by the Targa Tasmania, but the one to hold your breath for is the 16th annual Leyburn Sprints. Leyburn is the Le Mans of Australia and Shane Webcke's Royal Hotel is the Hotel de Paris of Queensland. Jim Murray built the hotel in 1863 and drunk himself to death six months later.
Shane has put on some specials for The Weekend Australian readers who mention Prestige Motoring. First up is the Webcke 800g rump for $32 and for poultry lovers the chicken kiev for $16. If you can stay on until April, Shane is trying to break the record for the greatest number of bikes (motor) through a bar. Last year he managed 1293. Steve would be pleased.
What I tell ya'Quote:
Originally Posted by emnemn
I am not so sure it is the most famous 911 in the world, but will sure be the priciest one! Crazy buzz on this car. Sure it would be cool to own McQueen's 911, but we all know how many cars, 911's or otherwise one can buy for what this will cost.
When someone is rich, I gather no explanation is needed.