The Dale Winfield Motorcycle Collection, Ex-Steve McQueen, c.1937 Scott 498cc Flying Squirrel Motorcycle Combination

• Ex-Lot 555 at the 1984 McQueen estate sale in Las Vegas
• Certificate of Authenticity
• Present ownership since 1991
• An older restoration
• Requires recommissioning

Steve McQueen's lifelong involvement with, and passion for, motorcycles was a major factor in the public's perception of him as the 'King of Cool'. Indeed, McQueen's doomed bid for freedom aboard a twin-cylinder Triumph motorcycle in the movie The Great Escape is one of the best know scenes of his acting career.

Terence Steven McQueen enlisted in the US Marine Corps aged 17. He worked as a tank driver and motor mechanic, an experience that can only have encouraged his interest in powered transport, especially motorcycles. Military education programmes enabled McQueen to study at Lee Strasbourg's famous Actors' Studio in New York, where he and Martin Landau were the only two of 2,000 auditioned performers accepted for 1955. McQueen observed that the two hopefuls had already met, although Landau did not recollect the occasion when, on the back of James Dean's motorcycle, he had called in at a NYC garage where McQueen was working as a mechanic.

High-speed action featured in Steve McQueen's lengthy movie career more than once, most memorably in Bullitt and Le Mans, but less well know is his (un-credited) appearance as a dirt-bike rider in the 1976 B-movie Dixie Dynamite. This low-budget action picture was shot during McQueen's 'reclusive' period when he routinely turned down multi-million-dollar offers. Overweight and bearded, the star was only recognised when he turned up to collect his day's pay! It says a lot about McQueen's enthusiasm for bikes that despite his vast earning power he was prepared to accept 120 dollars a day just to ride one in some insignificant B-picture.

Not merely a collector of fine and rare motorcycles, Steve McQueen was a keen participant in the sport he held dear. Like many American enthusiasts, McQueen loved to ride the dirt and even went so far as to enter the International Six Days Trial in East Germany in 1964, when he formed part of the official USA Vase A team alongside his friend, dirt-riding legend Bud Ekins: "The USA vase A team was forging on in great style, attracting much attention on both the course and the parc fermé, for the locals wanted to see if Steve McQueen could indeed ride a motorcycle the way he did in films. The spectators were not disappointed, for his style was rather aggressive and hair-raising. It was this style which caused him to cast away his Triumph in spectacular fashion on more than one occasion." – Mick Walker & Rob Carrick, International Six Days Trial. Unfortunately, American hopes were dashed after a promising start when Bud Ekins was hospitalised after hitting a bridge and McQueen eventually retired when his long-suffering Triumph could no longer withstand the punishment dished out by his 'win or bust' riding style.

Friendly rivalry with fellow enthusiast Bud Ekins was one of the factors that spurred on McQueen the collector, and by the time he died in November 1980 Steve had amassed more than 200 machines, the vast majority of which was sold at the McQueen estate auction held in Los Angeles in November 1984.

An older restoration, the Scott Flying Squirrel combination offered here is ex-Lot 555 in the 1984 Steve McQueen estate sale and ex-Lot 82 at the Stafford sale in April 1991, which is where it was purchased by our late vendor. It comes with a laminated Certificate of Authenticity and 1991 auctioneer's tag. Additional documentation consists of a C&E 386 import certificate (dated 1990) incorrectly listing the machine as 1929; US Missouri title (titled on engine number 'DB24578'), listing the then owner as Paul S Gilbert of Bransom; and a 1990 letter from the late Mike Worthington-Williams concerning reimportation tax relief as repatriated goods. Following a period of inactivity, this motorcycle will require recommissioning or possibly more extensive restoration before returning to the road and thus is sold strictly as viewed (the engine turns over). Key not required.