-24%
PATCH - Motorcycle Enthusiast
Artikelnummer: GOLD PATCH-718Stitch it on your vest or jacket!
Also possible to iron it to your clothing
BADGE-PATCH
Classic Biker Patch
aprox 95mm x 45mm
Early in the 1960s McQueen purchased his first off-road motorcycle. He and fellow actor Dennis Hopper came upon some off-road riders while they were out cruising on their street bikes. Amazed by the capabilities of the off-road machines, McQueen purchased a Triumph 500 cc the next day from Bud Ekins. Ekins helped McQueen learn to ride the machine and soon McQueen took to racing off-road. He raced the motorcycle during the 1960s and early1970s. Heraced in the Baja 1000, the Mint 400 and the Elsinore Grand Prix. He also raced abroad. He was a member of the 1964 American team for the International Six Day Trials, held in East Germany. His team included Bud Ekins, Dave Ekins, Cliff Coleman and John Steen. Their team lead the race until Bud Ekins broke his leg then McQueen crashed.
The public closely associated McQueen with motorcycling. He wrote a series of motorcycle reviews for Popular Science in the mid-1960s. In 1971 he appeared shirtless on the cover of Sports Illustrated jumping a Husqvarna off-road bike. McQueen granted an extensive interview for the magazine proclaiming his love for the sport.
McQueen raced four wheeled off-road vehicles as well as motorcycles. He seemed to truly enjoy grueling off-road races, either on a bike or driving a car. He drove the Baja Boot for Vic Hickey in events such as the 1968 Stardust. Hickey said “Steve McQueen was a good driver, and he was tough, came out of that boys school in Chino.” McQueen generally finished in the top ten in any race he competed in. He raced despite contracts with his movie studios which prevented him from doing so. Sometimes he raced under the pseudonym of Harvey Mushman. McQueen organized the firm Solar Engineering to produce off-road vehicles and equipment. He patented the “Baja Bucket,” a racing safety seat of his own design.
At the age of 50 on November 7, 1980 McQueen passed away at a clinic in Mexico where he gone for experimental cancer treatments. McQueen suffered from mesothelioma a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. At the time of his death McQueen had amassed 210 motorcycles, 55 cars and five airplanes.