Before He Was a Movie Star, Steve McQueen Was a Porsche Guy

By Adam Pockross - January 14, 2016

steve mcqueen porsche speedster

Even before Steve McQueen became one of the biggest movie stars in the world, he was a Porsche guy, to and through. But all that movie star money really helped round out the collection.

Of course, what do you expect from the man who said, “I’m not sure whether I’m an actor who races or a racer who acts”?

To support his acting habit, McQueen raced motorcycles, and eventually cars. Once a little money started coming in from the acting, he bought himself a 1958 Porsche 356 Speedster Super to campaign in. And being Steve McQueen, he won his class in the Speedster’s first race in 1959.

McQueen continued to race the car, but as the acting picked up, he didn’t have the time to commit anymore. So in 1967 he sold the car to collector Bruce Meyer for $1500. But according to Meyer (via Forbes):

“In 1973, McQueen called to say that he wanted to see it and prove that it wasn’t his. But when he lifted the bonnet to find his original Gardner-Reynolds recapped racing tire, he realized it was his old car, and he insisted I sell it back. I tried to buy it again after his death, but now his son Chad has it. A normal Speedster would be worth $60,000; with the McQueen provenance, that one is worth more like $100,000.”

You can see a picture of Meyer delivering the car back to McQueen in the gallery below. There’s also a few pics from The Drive‘s story titled “Before They Were Stars, They Drove These Cars,” where we found this gem. The Drive article talks about the early rides of some famous petrolheads, so head on over there to get a little backstory about each of them. However, we doubt very much you’ll find a car or a story as cool as the King of Cool’s.