C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4 149
J
ust like car designs, movie stars come and go. Some are destined for the bone yard of obscurity
like the Chevrolet Vega, AMC Pacer and the Yugo. Others, such as the Mercedes 300 SL gull-wing,
the Shelby Cobra and the Porsche 911, live on and gain fame, popularity and cache as the decades
pass. Steve McQueen sits firmly in the latter group. He's an American icon, a true original.
Given some aspects of the late actor's lifestyle, it's unlikely that Steve McQueen would have gotten past
St. Peter's Pearly Gates (by all accounts, he definitely had fun), but were he alive today, the "King of Cool"
would definitely be in heaven during Car Week, the annual Monterey Peninsula automotive spectacle that
takes place this August 11-17. He was a quintessential "gearhead" who harbored an unabashed love of all
things mechanical: cars, motorcycles, airplanes—anything that goes fast.
