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 straightaways.
140. What’s believed to be McQueen’s second motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson K model, which was produced from 1952 to 1956, was one of the best racing bikes of the day. The lightweight motorcycle was one of the first to utilize hand-clutching and foot-shifting and had a quick-revving unit powertrain that made it the star of racetracks around the country. It remained the star of Harley-Davidson’s race team until the dominating XR750 was introduced in 1970. Virtually nothing is known about the specific K that McQueen owned other than he was likely very difficult to beat on the track, strip, or street.
141. He must have owned it at least in early 1952 because people report him riding it at that time. He bought it with money from his truck driving wages and immediately began hopping up the engine.
142. Steve nearly stuffed his new K-model racebike into the back of a Lincoln while drag racing on the West Side Highway in New York City. He was leading his opponent when he pulled off onto the planned off-ramp at about 100 mph, and looked behind him to see that the other rider had missed the exit. When Steve turned his head around, traffic had come to a standstill at the bottom of the off-ramp. He slammed on his brakes and skidded right up to the back of a Lincoln, saying that he even tapped the bumper. This incident must have occurred higher up on the West Side Highway, near Harlem, where there are actual on- and off-ramps.
143. In addition to the street racing in Manhattan, McQueen also took his K-model Harley to Long Island City, in Queens, to compete in cycle runs held there every weekend. The prize money averaged about $50 a race and Steve won a couple of races each weekend. With that money, and whatever he could win that week playing Poker, he made enough to quit his truck driving job.
PERSONAL LIFE
144. Steve McQueen first met Neile Adams in May 1956 at Jim Downey’s Steakhouse in New York City. After a second meeting at the restaruant, he stopped by her show on Broadway and then asked her out. Rather than the typical date she was expecting, Steve showed up on his motorcycle to take her to Greenwich Village. Because she was wearing a dress, Neile rode sidesaddle as Steve sped along.
145. He later pawned the watch that his uncle had given him to buy an airline ticket to Los Angeles to ask Neile to marry him. The pawnbroker told him, “They don’t make watches like this anymore,” to which Steve responded, “They don’t make men like the man who gave it to me.”
146. Steve proposed to Neile Adams in October 1956, putting a $25 down payment on the ring and having Neile pay off the balance over the next two years. Neile was as surprised as she was confused, since she had left for California and Steve had refused to come along just a few weeks earlier.
147. Steve and Neile were married on November 2, 1956, at a Lutheran church in San Clemente, California. The original plan was to drive to Mission San Juan Capistrano in a rented Ford Thunderbird. When Steve stopped to call the mission on the way, the nun informed him that they only marry members of their parish.
148. After that, they were pulled over for speeding at 11:30 p.m. in San Clemente. Steve told the state troopers that he and Neile had to get married that weekend, so the troopers called the local pastor who married them that night. The state troopers acted as witnesses for the ceremony.
149. Steve’s uncle Claude, who helped raise him as a boy, died on November 28, 1957. Although Steve didn’t attend the funeral, he was lucky enough to spend some time with his uncle earlier that year when he took Neile to Slater, Missouri. Neile gained some important insight into Steve’s upbringing, and had her one opportunity to meet Uncle Claude. After that trip in January 1957, Steve never returned to Slater again.
150. After a particularly bad fight between Steve and Neile, and the subsequent makeup, Neile gave Steve a St. Christopher medal. She had it inscribed “To part is to die a little.” He rarely took it off over the years and it even made appearances in several films. He later commented about the gift, “She knew I felt like a gigolo, and she thought this might help. He only stopped wearing it after they divorced. Le Mans was one of the final movies in which the medal made an appearance.
151. Steve always dreamed of someday finding his father, William, who had abandoned him so early on. He finally tracked him down in February 1959. With Neile by his side, they went to his apartment in Long Beach, California, just a short drive away from where they lived. They were greeted by the landlady, who informed them that William had passed away three months earlier on November 11. She told Steve that for the last few months of his life, he spent every Saturday night in front of the television watching Wanted Dead or Alive, and wondering out loud if that was his son on the screen.
152. The only things Steve’s father left him was a picture of himself and a Zippo lighter engraved “T.McQ.” Steve told his friend Bud Ekins that he had tossed the lighter into some weeds after receiving it, but in truth, he kept it. No one knew that he had retained the only link he had to his father until he died, and his daughter, Terry, discovered it in his