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 The magic of Steve McQueen both on and off the screen captivated many
of his fans. In 1969 the car magazines reported
that McQueen was preparing to make a racing movie about "Le
Mans". The movie would require that he have some actual race
experience in a
Porsche 908 spyder at Holtville, Phoenix and
Sebring. Because PIR was just up the road Sheldon Gingerich and
myself with our spouses marked our calendar to attend the March
SCCA race. Pit passes in hand we soon spotted the actor and
confidant/friend, James Garner surrounded by Playmate bunnies.
These were the days before the large Prvost private coaches were
commonplace; so there was Steve sitting on the back of the Ginther racecar
transport truck. I recall he had on very cool old leather style
cap and he wasn't engaging in much conversation. His race
group ran at the end of the day and he proceeded to set a course
record. It was soon after this that Steve broke his foot in a
ATV accident prior to the Sebring 12 hour race. Clad with his
casted foot Steve along with co-driver, Peter Revson, would place
Second overall.
The normal practice for Porsche was to celebrate racing victories by
having their in house Artist create a commemorative poster. You
can trust that this poster "McQueen Drives Porsche" listing the
race dates and a photo of the 908 (Sebring Livery) number 48 race car hangs on
my garage wall.
The "Le Mans" movie opened with great reviews and with so many Porsches in
the movie it was a natural to contact McQueen's Solar Productions to try and
arrange a special opening for our very own local PCA club. While we didn't
exactly have a private premier showing, the Porsche/Audi dealer included
their 914-6 orange race car in the Catalina Theater lobby along with their
"Le Mans" posters and film out take photos. About this same time the movie
property master, Don Nunley and a few of his crew were in Tucson on a
project. Making contact with Don Nunley who was a devout 912 owner we
learned of his enthusiasm to buy the same 908 that was used for a camera
car. He wanted to return and race it at the next year's 24 hours
of Le Mans race. I believe that this dream didn't happen
for Don for unknown reasons. However, we all enjoyed a SCCA slalom scheduled at
PIR that next weekend.
 Fast forward to 2000 and the Meadow Brook Concours at the meet
the Artist by invitation only warm up party. We had the
opportunity to meet the Beverly Hills collector extraordinar, Bruce Meyer
who commissioned a Bronze of his Black Speedster equipped with Rudge
Wheels. Bruce requested the finished piece be delivered to his Rodeo Drive
office. We set the delivery date as the same time as the LA
Literature meet so Steve Proctor and I made our way to Bruce's
office and then continued on to Bruce's home in Beverly
Hills. Bruce explained that he had once owned
the Steve McQueen black Porsche Speedster .When McQueen learned
that Bruce owned the car Steve bought the car back. There is
a photo of the McQueen/Meyer return sale that occurred in an
alley adorning the Meyer garage wall along with a staggering amount of
other automobilia. The Meyer commission was a great opportunity
and true honor for me to commemorate the McQueen Speedster.
Just this past year we enjoyed viewing the Black Speedster along
with many of the McQueen cars at the Peterson Automotive Museum
exhibit in Los Angeles.
   
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