Steve McQueen cars

Review by Pete Vack

Don Nunley’s new book Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror is a personal view of the filming of McQueen’s Le Mans epic. Nunley’s position as the Property Master in the movie was significant. A Property Master is responsible for making sure there is continuity between scenes – how much water was in the glass, how long was the cigarette ash, etc. and for purchasing, renting, and even manufacturing all props needed for a production; he makes sure they are functional and positioned correctly for each scene; Le Mans required more than 20,000 props. In addition, Nunley helped to market the props, such as the Heuer watches worn by McQueen during the movie.

Nunley saw a lot and knew a lot; he was on the set the entire time. He had previously been the assistant Property Master for Wanted, Dead or Alive, a TV western starring McQueen. McQueen was arrogant even then. “If he disliked something in the script, he would literally start ripping out the pages,” recalled Nunley. Bolstered by the success of Bullitt, by 1969 McQueen now had the money and power to create the movie he had dreamt about since 1959, when, according to Nunley, McQueen announced that he would make a racing movie and Brigitte Bardot would be the female lead. [Read more…] about Steve McQueen: Le Mans in the Rearview Mirror

McQueen’s 208-S. Photo by Tony Singer.

Surprised that Steve McQueen owned a Siata? That is interesting enough, but discovering that the young actor affixed a Ferrari badge to the 208S he bought might be even more surprising, and at the same time perhaps tells us about another side of the man himself. We must give thanks to Matt Stone for this information and presenting it in his book, “McQueen’s Machines”, and current owner Tony Singer, whose words constitute the bulk of the story below. In addition, collector Christophe Pund was kind enough to allow us to publish Michelotti’s original drawing of the Siata 208S, which is also supplied with the two volume Otto Vu set, authored by Tony Adriaensens. (read review). If you’d like to know more about Tony Singer, read about him here. Ed.