Excerpt from: Happenings
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| November 17, 2006 | | Buyers seek a touch of cool | I was lucky enough to meet Steve McQueen once, at the old Indian Dunes Raceway near LA. His then young daughter Kelly was racing a 50cc dirtbike, and he was playing around on a dirtbike while waiting for the races. He surprised me by riding up and starting a conversation about the borrowed dirtbike I was on.
So it was natural that I would notice the recent McQueen memorabilia auction at the Petersen museum.
I wasn't surprised that someone paid $70,000 for the sunglasses he (maybe) wore in The Thomas Crown affair, or the $70,000 or so paid for the Rolls Royce from the same movie. The motorcycles brought record money, also not surprising, but none of the bikes were anything I really would associate with him, so we'll see. A Crocker went for $276,000, and two Indians were $175,000 and $150,000. I think that's a lot, expecially since it is obvious that neither of these got much riding time from the star.
The longevity of motorcycle icons is something to behold. Wild One is 50 years old. McQueen's movies are not much newer. Riding bikes is cool not so much as a matter of image, but, well, it just is.
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