“McQueen’s Machines”
By Matt Stone
Review by Gregg Leary

“McQueen’s Machines” transports the reader on a time machine test ride in and on some of the most famous McQueen machines in history�from Steve’s movie mounts to his private collection of cars, bikes and airplanes. What a ride!
Matt Stone guides us on a well-documented 176-page odyssey with over 250 photographs that help us enjoy the trip. The cover photograph of the “King of Cool” with his “cat that ate the canary” leprechaun smile shows McQueen seemingly like a “kid in a candy store” possibly contemplating�"which machine shall I drive/ride/fly today?”
Chad McQueen’s Foreword begins with a photograph of Chad and his dad on a bike and includes Chad’s poignant memories of spending the summer of 1970 with Steve in France during the filming of “Le Mans.”
In his Introduction, Matt Stone writes�
“He helped build a hot rod before he could legally drive. In the service he hopped up a tank’s engine in hopes of getting it to go faster. As a young acting student he rode motorcycles through Greenwich Village. In 1970 he nearly won the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Porsche 908. He raced buggies in Baja, rode motorcycles all over the world and built entire movies around his love of automobiles and motorsport.”
McQueen was a certified motorhead. As he said in “LeMans,” “Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.”
“McQueen’s Machines” is sliced into five bite-sized chapters.
Chapter 1: McQueen’s Garage: Includes profiles of some of his favorite personal vehicles�

1953 Siata 208S
1958 Porsche Speedster 1600 Super
1957 Jaguar XK-SS
1963 Ferrari 250 Lusso
1967 Mini Cooper S
1967 Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder
Chapter 2: McQueen on Screen
The Great Escape (1963). Modified Triumphs pretended to be German BMWs. Steve actually dressed as a German motorcyclist and chased himself in the film. Who really leaped the bike across the barbed wire fence?
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Steve drove a 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow Coupe and a Meyers Manx Dune Buggy.
Bullitt (1968). The co-star was a 1968 Mustang GT 390 in Highland Green. McQueen did much of the driving in the San Francisco chase scene�but the guy who did the jump scenes was the same “stunt double” who did the motorcycle barbed wire jump in the “The Great Escape,"�Bud Ekins. Ekins also dumped his BSA motorcycle in front of Frank Bullitt near the end of the famous chase scene.
On Any Sunday (1971). Covers Steve’s 1970 Elsinore Grand Prix run where he finished 10th among more than 500 riders. His only line in the film�"Every time I start thinking the world is all bad, then I start seeing people out there having a good time on motorcycles; it makes me take another look.”
LeMans (1971). Steve drove the legendary Porsche 917 in “Le Mans.” His mission �"for us to capture on film the greatest endurance race in the world has really got us excited. We think we’ll be able to do things with the camera that no one has ever done before�225 MPH at the Mulsanne�sheer sense of speed at the edge of infinity.” Please read my review of the DVD “Le Mans” and “A French Kiss with Death: Steve McQueen and the Making of Le Mans” by Michael Keyser for a detailed analysis of one of the greatest racing films of all time.
Chapter 3: McQueen on Track
“I’m not sure whether I’m an actor who races or a racer who acts.” Steve McQueen. Steve won the very first amateur race he entered. This chapter tells of his on-track exploits in his Porsche Speedster, Lotus XI, Cooper FJ, Austin-Healey Sprite, and the Porsche 908 in which McQueen (driving with a broken foot) and Peter Revson finished first in class and second overall (to Mario Andretti) in the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring.
Chapter 4: McQueen on Two Wheels
“A Husqvarna 405 at about 12,000 rpm-that’s music.” This chapter includes profiles of Steve’s 1946 Indian Chief, 1959 Triumph Bonneville, 1971 Husqvarna 400CR, and others in his 120 bike collection.
Chapter 5: An Enduring Legacy
It’s hard to believe that Steve McQueen died more than 27 years ago. His legend lives on in his films and in Sheryl Crow’s hit single “Steve McQueen” �
“I’m an all-American rebel, Making my big getaway Yeah, you know it’s time, I gotta fly Like Steve McQueen, All I need is a fast machine I’m gonna make it all right Like Steve McQueen, Underneath your radar screen You’ll never catch me tonight.”
“McQueen’s Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon” earns four out of five lug nuts. It’s the perfect book to curl up with by the fireplace on cold winter’s night.

“McQueen’s Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon” By Matt Stone is available now from the SPEED Book Store. 

Gregg Leary is a Researcher/Writer for “Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain” and Book Reviewer for SpeedTV.com. 

Leary was track announcer for Hooter’s IHRA Drag Racing at National Events in the USA and Canada and entertained event crowds during “down time” by conducting “crowd participation” and product giveaways with the Hooter’s Girls. He was Marketing and PR Director and track announcer at Lake Erie Speedway.

As Photo Editor, feature writer, columnist and swimsuit calendar chief photographer for “Sports Jam Magazine,” Leary covered Auto Racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. He has photographed dozens of celebrities from A-Z�including Mario Andretti, Jim Brown, AJ Foyt, Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Jordan, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Mark McGwire, Paul Newman, Walter Payton, Alex Zanardi and Presidents Gerald Ford, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Gregg’s wife, Lynn and daughter, Caitlynn live in Jefferson, Ohio and his son, Sean is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

Leary has conducted motivational seminars and performed stand up comedy around the country. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and Exeter University in England. Gregg has hitchhiked 40,000 miles through 36 states and 10 European countries and is a licensed pilot and skydiver. Leary is available for motorsports consulting on a limited basis. Contact him via email at gleary@speedtv.com.