On September 24, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, opened a new retrospective exhibit honoring the automotive and motorcycle legacy of actor Steve McQueen.
On screen, McQueen captured the high-horsepower car culture of the ’60s and ’70s with some of Hollywood’s most memorable car chase scenes in such movies as The Great Escape and Bullitt. However, in 1970 McQueen went on a personal quest to create the “ultimate racing movie” which after much personal anxiety and cost evolved into the cult classic Le Mans. Off screen, McQueen lived the life of the consummate enthusiast, racing at both the amateur and professional level on both two wheels and four.
With the opening of “Steve McQueen: The Legacy and the Cars,” the Petersen has brought together more than a dozen examples of McQueen’s personal machines including a pair of his Porsches and his favorite ride, a 1956 Jaguar XKSS. With the addition of several cars used in the making of his movies like Bullitt and a host of movie and racing memorabilia, this new exhibit gets to the root of who Steve McQueen the automotive enthusiast really was.
