Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/357002
156 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 Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it…it's life. Anything that happens before or after…is just waiting." The McQueen legend lives on, and even though he passed away in 1980 after a protracted battle with mesothelioma, his work may be coming to a silver screen soon. Over a two-year period, the screen icon penned a highly detailed treatment for a film titled "Yucatan." William F. Nolan, author of the biography "McQueen," quotes the nascent screenwriter, "Our story will center on a guy who takes his cycle into the Mexican wilds on a personal treas- ure hunt. Naturally, I'll play the guy on the cycle." Naturally. The film is said to be under development by a production company headed by Rober t Downey, Jr.. BEING AS COOL AS MCQUEEN It's easy to picture Steve McQueen cruising north on Highway 1 toward Pebble Beach to attend the Concours d'Elegance and surround- ing events—perhaps in that Jaguar XKSS. He'd be 84 years old now, and no doubt still turning heads. He will be currently represented, though. A McQueen-owned 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 will be on the RM Auctions block August 15 and 16 in Monterey. The car itself is valued between $1 and $2 million, but mix in the McQueen magic and "the auction result could double and even triple the car's final bid just because McQueen owned and drove it for five years," according to an RM Auctions news release. That's not surprising; it seems that everything the star touched is in high demand, and fans are willing to pay top dollar. In 2006, a pair of blue-tinted Persol folding sunglasses he wore in "The Thomas Crown Affair" sold for more than $60,000, while the Swiss Heuer watch he wore in "Le Mans" changed hands in 2013 for nearly $800,000. Even an unsigned MasterCard was worth $8,500 to one buyer. It seems that everyone wants a bit of the stardust. A Rolex Submariner watch that McQueen gave to his friend and stunt double Bud Ekins is currently offered by Fourtané, a Carmel estate jewel- er. "We're asking $200,000 for the piece," says Fourtané's Josh Bonifas. That's not in the same ballpark as the Le Mans Heuer, but still a hefty price tag for a timepiece that Bonifas says would fetch "maybe $20,000" with- out the McQueen mojo. "McQueen memorabilia has become its own brand," he adds. "It's the ultimate in exclusivity. The thinking is that owning something like this will make you as 'cool as McQueen.'" As many legends do, this one died too young. But in typical Steve McQueen fashion, he packed several lifetimes into the five decades he spent here. There was and will be only one King of Cool. Whether smoking a cigarette in the cockpit of his Jaguar XJSS, covered in dust racing in the Baja 1000 or punching a bad guy or romancing a starlet onscreen, Steve McQueen was incomparably, unequivocally and absolutely the King of Cool. Photo: John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images According to his first wife Neile, he won an MG TC roadster in a poker game and demolished it in a New York City pothole.