McQueen car

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In 1997, a guy named Michael Regalia bought a 1963 Ferrari Luosso that Steve McQueen used as an "everyday run-around car," and spent 4,000 hours restoring it to its original condition. Christie's is auctioning the car, which is expected be bought for at least $750,000. And Newsweek and other outlets (mine included) are helping Regalia and Christie's in this effort.

Everybody's pitching in, you see, because McQueen is a mythical figure of '60s machismo and because driving this car around will bestow an aura of instant legendary cool upon the purchaser. We're talking major babe magnet here. The buyer, who will almost certainly be some guy in his 50s or 60s, will of course be making a solid investment, but will also be shelling out close to a million bucks in order to get laid.

Murphy is toast<< previous | next >>Video reports to come

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 28, 2007 at 12:15 PM

comment #1

jeffmcm says ...

...For someone over the age of 40. Most women under the age of 35 don't know who Steve McQueen is.

Posted by jeffmcm at April 28, 2007 12:43 PM

comment #2

Josh Massey says ...

As a guy who has an original 1963 one-sheet of The Great Escape hanging in his bedroom ... the babes just don't care about Steve McQueen anymore. It would be a much better sex-magnet if I were gay. Sadly, I'm not.

Posted by Josh Massey at April 28, 2007 12:44 PM

comment #3

Ju-osh says ...

I'm a huge McQueen fan and agree that it's a gorgeous car, but do you really think that its having been owned by SM will be known to *anyone* it passes on the street? Okay, so you could get a vanity plate that reads 'MCQUEEN', but you do that, and chances are you'll only be attracting gay guys' attentions. Plus, how many girls will fuck a guy because he owns a car someone famous *used* to own? And how old and would these women have to be to whore themselves out over an automobile once owned by McQueen?

Posted by Ju-osh at April 28, 2007 12:50 PM

comment #4

Mr. Muckle says ...

Jeez. How many high-end T-shirts could you get for that kind of money?

Posted by Mr. Muckle at April 28, 2007 12:57 PM

comment #5

vansmith says ...

look he could just take the money and order up the whores for the whole summer and drive a new mustang..im just saying if its only about getting laid....it is isn't it??

Posted by vansmith at April 28, 2007 1:10 PM

comment #6

RoyBatty says ...

Wells is right about the age range of potential buyers, but wrong about the trying to get laid part. The guy who buys this is mostly likely married, fairly successful so probably the second wife already and the thrill of humping someone much younger and way better looking than he has any right to be with has dissipated like a fart in the wind.

No, the guys who want this want to be seen by other guys for that perculiar form of man-on-man love known as gearhead-envy. This is not a car that non car enthusiasts will appreciate. It is then made all the more sweeter because once he steps out of it at the car show, the sportscar rally or the Bristol Farms parking lot and begins answering questions while nonchalently taking off his match-the-interior lambskin driving gloves he gets to drop the factoid about the previous owner when someone finally asks him a question that opens that door (probably while secretely creaming his pants).

Then, on the way back home with the organic star fruit his wife sent him out for in the first place, he gets to daydream about how he would have been viewed so much differently if he could have tooled around town with this car and wearing Steve's classic black T-neck.

Posted by RoyBatty at April 28, 2007 1:14 PM

comment #7

Ju-osh says ...

Maybe we're wrong, Jeff.
How is the Kill Bill motorcycle affecting your lovelife?

Posted by Ju-osh at April 28, 2007 1:27 PM

comment #8

Ju-osh says ...

^^^^(cuz it's fucking up my spelling)^^^^

Posted by Ju-osh at April 28, 2007 1:29 PM

comment #9

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Batty: The "Kill Bill" motorcycle has played no overt role in persuading any girl I've hung with to shed clothing and/or inhibitions. As far as I can tell, I mean. But driving it around has made me feel pretty good, and maybe that has been a factor in this or that encounter...who's to say?

Posted by gruver1 at April 28, 2007 1:47 PM

comment #10

Ju-osh says ...

I'd say that that's a reasonable theory.

Posted by Ju-osh at April 28, 2007 2:01 PM

comment #11

RoyBatty says ...

Batty to Wells: I think you meant to direct that towards Ju-osh. I was commenting on the presumed pot-bellied 53 year old eventual owner of said automobile.

Posted by RoyBatty at April 28, 2007 2:01 PM

comment #12

jeffmcm says ...

"Okay, so you could get a vanity plate that reads 'MCQUEEN', but you do that, and chances are you'll only be attracting gay guys' attentions."

That's really funny.

Posted by jeffmcm at April 28, 2007 2:25 PM

comment #13

erniesouchak says ...

Earth to Wells et al: Most women pay little or no attention to wheels, in my experience.

Posted by erniesouchak at April 28, 2007 2:36 PM

comment #14

D.Z. says ...

Speaking of classic films, the New Beverly just updated it's schedule, and June is freakin' sweet.

Posted by D.Z. at April 28, 2007 2:37 PM

comment #15

Geoff says ...

My God my life would be better if I had that car. I know it would.

Posted by Geoff at April 28, 2007 3:07 PM

comment #16

EOTW says ...

What? No mention of the Seinfeld ep where George buys Jon Voight's used car? Slippin', folks!

Posted by EOTW at April 28, 2007 5:18 PM

comment #17

Sharpel007 says ...

In the first place its a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso which without the Mcqueen pedigree fetch between 175,000 to 300,000. And is still often considered the best looking road Fearri to ever leave Maranello.

Second its the only one in this color, I saw it at the Peterson and its drop dead gorgeuos, and this coming from a guy with an aversion to Ferrari's, I prefer McQueens other brand Porsche.

Thow in it belonging to Coolest, most well respectd in car circles Hollywood car nut ever, and it its going to set some records.

http://www.motortrend.com/classic/roadtests/c12_0511_1963_ferrari_250_gt_lusso/

Posted by Sharpel007 at April 28, 2007 6:09 PM

comment #18

IndiSB says ...

Jeff doesn't need a car or motorcycle to get laid. I remember that pic he posted of himself with Christopher Reeve and he was kinda cute in that Eastern sort of way. He's just trying on the wrong wsomen-industry/Hollywood types. If he'd try for a regular girl, he'd be more successful.

Posted by IndiSB at April 28, 2007 6:25 PM

comment #19

IndiSB says ...

Oops...women, stupid laptop.

Posted by IndiSB at April 28, 2007 6:27 PM

comment #20

jeffmcm says ...

The only must-see movie on the New Beverly's schedule for the next two months is Inland Empire. They did really well for the last two months because they were playing films that aren't on video for the most part. I can watch Reservoir Dogs and Indiana Jones at home on DVD and sit in a comfortable seat at the same time.

Posted by jeffmcm at April 28, 2007 6:42 PM

comment #21

D.Z. says ...

jeff: You kiddin'? Godard's "Two Or Three Things I know About Her" isn't on dvd. And neither is "Defiance" for that matter. And half the stuff on the schedule costs $40, if you buy it from Criterion.

Posted by D.Z. at April 28, 2007 6:56 PM

comment #22

hiviper says ...

granted, Wells looked good in that photo with Reeve, but it was taken 135 years ago ;)

Posted by hiviper at April 28, 2007 7:35 PM

comment #23

Bob Violence says ...

Godard's "Two Or Three Things I know About Her" isn't on dvd.

The R2 and R4 editions are perfectly serviceable (the R4 even has an excellent commentary that is unlikely to be carried over on the forthcoming Criterion DVD).

And anyone who pays MSRP for DVDs is a sucker.

Posted by Bob Violence at April 28, 2007 10:14 PM

comment #24

D.Z. says ...

Well I'm just posting information for people who want to see a film, not people who want to wait for or import the dvd. The latter choice is fine and dandy, but what if you're not sure you want to own it on dvd, and you end up hating it, when you do? Plus you get two films for the price of one, not just two homages for the price of one.

Posted by D.Z. at April 28, 2007 10:54 PM

comment #25

tholl-yung says ...

Anyone old enough to remember the car from Grand Prix that John Frankenheimer used to drive around? It was blue, either a Triumph, Austin Healy, MG or Aston Martin with a wood instrument panel and got sold and passed around Hollywood a few times to some new guy in need of a magnet. I swear the righteous posters here live somewhere in The Cloisters.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 29, 2007 10:07 AM

comment #26

Ju-osh says ...

No one here is saying that a cool looking car won't turn some women's heads (and, if they're desperate enough for some personal connection to another person's wealth, result in a possible roll in the cramped back seat). What they're saying is that there's hardly a woman on earth who would see this car pass them by on the street and actually know that it was a car once owned by Steve McQueen. And if such a woman *did* exist, she'd probably be a bit too smart and too cool to lower herself to fucking the car's current owner for the sake of such a tenuous connection to filmdom's past.
Steven Spielberg owns the Rosebud sled and a pair of Judy Garland's ruby slippers. Next time I see Kate Capshaw, I'll ask her which one wooed her more.

Posted by Ju-osh at April 29, 2007 10:46 AM

comment #27

renorambler says ...

I'd have never thought a woman (as opposed to teeny bopper) would be that into cars to make a pass at someone driving a nice car. That is, until I had a very soccer momish woman do just that when I was driving my Mini Cooper home from work. Go figure. Maybe she thought I was Austin Powers.

Posted by renorambler at April 29, 2007 11:04 AM

comment #28

tholl-yung says ...

Ju-osh, you're begging the question (or something like that) -- no one's fucking anybody passing by on the road and Spielberg didn't need a sled or slippers. A pass won't do the trick either, the connections are much more intangible than that. I'll bet that car sounds and smells nice.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 29, 2007 12:17 PM

comment #29