Famed McQueen/Revson Porsche Racer Highlights Bonham's 2008 Monterey Sale

Filed in archive Famous Drivers , Ferrari , German Cars , Racers on June 6, 2008

My memories of actor/racer Steve McQueen are just two: the first came during a Sebring 12-hour race when a colleague pointed him out. I wasn't a movie fan in those years so his presence meant little. The second happened when I was applying for a copywriter's job in a Toronto ad agency and with little agency experience worried that I might not be accepted. With time to spare I went to a local theater showing McQueen's "Cincinnati Kid." McQueen, a young gambler under the tutelage of Jackie Gleason, was cool, confident; a winner. So inspired, I got the job.

On August 15th at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California, Bonhams & Butterfields will be offering Steve McQueen's Porsche, a 1969-70 908/2. McQueen and Peter Revson finished second overall in the 1970 Sebring 12-Hours, just behind Mario Andretti. The car was used that same year at Le Mans, mounted with two cameras to produce footage for McQueen's classic film Le Mans. It went on to become a five-time competitor in the Le Mans 24-Hour Grand Prix.

McQueen purchased the Porsche specifically to compete at Sebring, teaming with American F1 driver Peter Revson. Their private car seemingly had no chance against the factory giants. Yet, with only 25 laps remaining, they were in the lead; an incredible upset for the professional teams. Ferrari ordered Andretti to "win the race at all costs." Although the 5-liter Ferrari 512S was more powerful than the 3-liter Porsche 508, Andretti couldn't pass until the second-to-last lap, winning by only 23 seconds! More amazingly, McQueen had raced with a broken foot in a cast, duct-taped to keep it from coming apart.

[I've been corrected (see comment below) by a viewer who knows his movies. It was Edward G. Robinson that played opposite McQueen, not Jackie Gleason.]