40 replies to this topic

[Doug Nye]

If what I am hearing is correct, it appears that a Gulf-lettered suit of fireproof overalls, worn by Steve McQueen during the filming of 'Le Mans', sold rather well at an auction of movie memorabilia in California, last night. How well?

Try a winning bid of US $800,000 - plus 20 per cent buyer's premium - total $960,000.

Evidently preferable to saving in Euros...but then I am assured that "Steve McQueen was one cool dude...".

DCN

[RTH]

I have never understood this fascination with owning other peoples old clothes. I wouldn't want someone else's old clobber at any price. ( suppose that makes me a philistine)

http://www.complex.c...oing-to-auction

Seems then it made 4 times the estimate

It was however an enjoyable film, the best motor racing feature film I think.
What a menacing looking piece of kit those 917s were .

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[Jack-the-Lad]

Miles Collier wrote a compelling piece in a recent issue of Sports Car Market about the price achieved for the Porsche 911S that appeared in the opening scenes of "Le Mans." I believe his astute and informed analysis could be applied to the price paid for the driving suit. In spades.

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 17 December 2011 - 17:59.

[delta44]

My Dad was the JW truckie when the film was made at Le Mans. He said McQueen was a very nice man.While he was at Le Mans his job was to make sure the generators were running ok.Sorry I am going off topic ,I wanted to ask the question as to why!!!!! the film seems too have more of a following now! more than 41 years since it first appeared at the cinema.
I tell you what the Senna film will not have the same interest in 40 years.
BTW I have to watch the film at least once a month.
Merry Christmas too you all. Iain Rowley

[Formula Once]

If what I am hearing is correct more Steve McQueen Le Mans overalls have now been sold than Monza winning March 761s...

[Formula Once]

Morry's got one...

http://www.collector...6/details/1?cl=

Was this the one auctioned?

Edited by Formula Once, 17 December 2011 - 20:00.

[JB Miltonian]

Don't forget, Steve McQueen was not JUST cool, he was also "hip".

[Frank S]

The collectibles market, and collectors, are "ïnsane".

OED:

2.2 Of actions (also colloq. of things): Mad, idiotic, utterly senseless, irrational.

[Jeff Weinbren]

http://bid.profilesi...-Mans_i11537313

[T54]

Was this the one auctioned?

Certainly looks like it.

What economic crisis?

Maybe I should sell my Nige Williams-Honda suit now...

[E1pix]

http://bid.profilesi...-Mans_i11537313

Yes, what a bargain... even Free Shipping!

[Jack-the-Lad]

I wonder what McQueen would think of all this..... Probably: "Not "



As for me, if I had that kind of dosh to spend on celebrity trinkets I believe I'd be buying Liz's jewelry. (For the missus, of course!)

Edited by Jack-the-Lad, 18 December 2011 - 04:41.

[Stephen W]

I have never understood this fascination with owning other peoples old clothes. I wouldn't want someone else's old clobber at any price. ( suppose that makes me a philistine)

No more like Phillys Stein!

If what I am hearing is correct more Steve McQueen Le Mans overalls have now been sold than Monza winning March 761s...

As for me, if I had that kind of dosh to spend on celebrity trinkets I believe I'd be buying Liz's jewelry. (For the missus, of course!)

Ooo err missus!

[Glengavel]

I wonder what McQueen would think of all this..... Probably: "Not "



As for me, if I had that kind of dosh to spend on celebrity trinkets I believe I'd be buying Liz's jewelry. (For the missus, of course!)

When I saw the headline "Elizabeth Taylor's treasures to go on sale" I did a double-take, until I realised they were talking about her jewellery...

[mfd]

Miles Collier wrote a compelling piece about the price achieved for the Porsche 911S that appeared in the opening scenes of "Le Mans." I believe his astute and informed analysis could be applied to the price paid for the driving suit

I'm pretty confident the vendor decided to go to auction because of the price the 911S sold for. I received a circulated e-mail about the suit early in 2011 with a price described as "very expensive"
I'd imagine there was a difference between what he expected at that time & what it achieved at auction. Hard to imagine a race suit would sell for almost as much as the car!

[Lee Nicolle]

If what I am hearing is correct, it appears that a Gulf-lettered suit of fireproof overalls, worn by Steve McQueen during the filming of 'Le Mans', sold rather well at an auction of movie memorabilia in California, last night. How well?

Try a winning bid of US $800,000 - plus 20 per cent buyer's premium - total $960,000.

Evidently preferable to saving in Euros...but then I am assured that "Steve McQueen was one cool dude...".

DCN

It will be interesting what some of the racesuits that used to be sold at after GP meeting sales would make at these auctions. I know of one that was sold for a couple of thousand recently,,, and the original buyer had raced Vees in it for several years. And he bought it for about $60.

I doubt that even F1 champions suits will make more than a few thousand dollars making McQueen worth a LOT more than any of them.

[ianselva]

It will be interesting what some of the racesuits that used to be sold at after GP meeting sales would make at these auctions. I know of one that was sold for a couple of thousand recently,,, and the original buyer had raced Vees in it for several years. And he bought it for about $60.

I doubt that even F1 champions suits will make more than a few thousand dollars making McQueen worth a LOT more than any of them.

I wonder what the provenance of these overalls is ? Surely for a film like that ,the wardrobe dept would have several sets of overalls each in different condition for different scenes in the film ? Hardly unique then and I think I'd want a DNA test done on them before buying.

[Tmeranda]

Anyone have an idea of what Jerry Seinfeld paid for Steve's 917?

[URY914]

Price does seem over the top. I don't how the value will hold up over time. One day all of us "LeMans- the movie" lovers will be gone and who would buy it then? The cars yes- this suit; I don't see it happening.

[Formula Once]

I don't believe at all this kind of money was paid for this overall. It would not be the first time it is claimed that a certain amount of money was paid at an auction for something somebody, for whatever reason, likes the world to think is of great value...

[jm70]

I have no idea about the suit in question, but know that Solar Productions had quite a few suits. There was a "loaner" suit with Gulf logo floating around in Cal Club about the time of the movie. More than one worker/official used it for Drivers School, I being one of them. I'm sure someone worked there and made it available.

[mfd]

I have no idea about the suit in question...

http://www.collector.../4776/details/1

[stevewf1]

According to Adam Cooper's blog it was $984,000.

http://adamcooperf1....ell-for-984000/

[lanciaman]

According to Adam Cooper's blog it was $984,000.

http://adamcooperf1....ell-for-984000/

It would be interesting if my dear and missed friend the late Lou Hinchman could tell us how many suits he made for "Michael Delaney." Failing that, keep in mind that movie costumers never had just one of anything on hand. "MD' likely had between 3 and 6 or more suits for retakes. How this piece came to be valuable is unfortunately not unlike the furnishings of Michael Jackson's temporary and rented home becoming valuable just because some folks have rather a lot of stupid money they don't know what to do with.

[mfd]

"MD' likely had between 3 and 6 or more suits...

If this is the case, then perhaps it will prompt another to appear

[Jack-the-Lad]

Apparently there's an appalling appetite for apparel appreciation.

[Glengavel]

Apparently there's an appalling appetite for apparel appreciation.

Applause...

Edited by Glengavel, 20 December 2011 - 16:11.

[swintex]

I don't know if it's just me, but the two photos of McQueen on the Collector Studio site don't look like they are of the same set of overalls.

The Gulf patch in the colour photo appears to be rotated anti clockwise relative to the stripes.

Richard

[lanciaman]

As a minor footnote: the auction page describes the Michael Delaney suit as a "two pice suit, jacket and pants." This is innacurate copy- Hinchman never made a 2 piece suit and I cannot imagine McQueen wearing one- they simply don't look as trim or correct. So it begs the question of how accurate-- nay, truthful-- the auction description was. Not that it matters one whit now, given the near million $ paid for this movie costume.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Applause...

Thanks! (There's an app for that).

[snettertonesses]

It seems to me that with the prices of used movie cars, clothing, memorabilia etc...we'd be seeing a lot of recent attempts to emulate the film. where are they? i don't think they can make another Le Mans movie the way it has already been done... but c'mon.. a film about the Willhire 24 hr...Burns or Spielberg behind the camera... take the money to the bank!
Indianapolis has never really had a decent film about the race.

[stevewf1]

Wandering a bit off-topic, but in 2004, Grandpa's ghost and cane sold for $65,000. I remember when this was in the news around here.

Apparently, there's a buyer out there - somewhere - for just about anything...

http://forum.dvdrbas...5-100-ebay.html

[T54]

Hinchman never made a 2 piece suit

AHEM.



Even in the day, there were Hinchman 2-piece suits, I have one with a very famous name on it in my own collection.

It will be interesting what some of the racesuits that used to be sold at after GP meeting sales would make at these auctions. I know of one that was sold for a couple of thousand recently,,, and the original buyer had raced Vees in it for several years. And he bought it for about $60.

I doubt that even F1 champions suits will make more than a few thousand dollars making McQueen worth a LOT more than any of them.

Doug,
You or may not recall that Robert Brooks and/or Sotheby's if I recall correctly sold some of Ayrton's racing suits for huge amounts in the late 1990's. A white Stand 21 suit that Ayrton wore at the first Monaco GP that he raced in the Toleman, when he nearly won under the rain, sold if I recall correctly for $54000.00, not a negligible amount.
Now this was in the day when the suit manufacturers were only making about 4 to 7 suits, per year (and in this case only TWO!), for the top F1 drivers. Nowadays, between the real, actual race-worn suits and the replicas made for marketing and sometimes greed purposes by the current F1 suits manufacturers, values are greatly, greatly diminished, diluted down to the actual cost of making the garment or below. I have noted that some of the latest F1 suits are now printed rather than actually embroidered, making their production even cheaper. I feel sorry for the guys wearing them as of course, the breath-ability of the material is ZERO.
Happy sweat.

Returning to this particular sale, real or not, the bid was there. Was it a bid from the seller trying to boost the value of the garment for a prospective client, or that of Hollywood movie types such as Spielberg, fighting it out with another super-rich enthusiast in the dot-com business? Only the future will tell us, but I know where the actual Gulf-emblazoned, pale-blue jacket that McQueen wore in the movie is. it ought to be worth half a mil, right? I will be sitting on it in hope that its sale will buy me that fake Maserati T61 "Ex-Cunningham" so that I can go back to play racer-boy.

Edited by T54, 23 December 2011 - 00:14.

[lanciaman]

Gulp, I stand corrected, T54. Lou Hinchman told me he thought twopiecers were patently unsafe and shoulda been banned. Was/is yours Nomex?

[RTH]

I made our own 1hr films about the Willhire in '85 86 and 87.

Edited by RTH, 23 December 2011 - 18:37.

[Pedro 917]

Pedro Rodriguez' 1968 Hinchman Indianapolis was a 2 piece suit, his younger brother Alejandro used it in the early seventies and took of Pedro's name on the chest :





I own Pedro's 1 piece Hinchman Nomex suit (my holy grail) that he wore from July 1969 (Watkins Glen/Matra) till January 1970 (Daytona/Porsche).
It's very distinctive as it has a lot of spots on the legs and the lower part of the right leg looks like it was soaked in oil.
Also a couple of light blue spots on the shoulder and back (brake or cooling fluid ?).
He wore it when driving the F1 Ferrari during the British, Canadian, US and Mexican GPs, at Bridgehampton (CanAm - Ferrari 312P) and probably during the first tests in the new BRM P153.



Picture : Porsche, copyright free.

[lanciaman]

The B&W photo of PR standing by the 917 is wonderful, thanks for posting.

It appears I am wrong about Lou Hinchman making 2-piece suits...though I would bet none were made after 1970, when he told me he objected to them as unsafe and even unsightly. (But it will be a small bet, because nothing is absolute about motorsport history.)

I met Lou Hinchman in 1970, when my wife was given suits by STP for her maiden outings in SCCA racing. Andy Granatelli sent her to Hinchman, which was convenient since the Hinchman tailor shop was mere blocks from the newspaper where we worked. (I was wearing an old suit generously given to me by Indy driver Lee Kunzman.) Lou ended up making a free suit for me, to match my wife's, and this began a decades-long friendship. I became his marketing consultant for a time. He was a most generous man.

Lou began experimenting with suit design in the mid 1950's, stimulated, he said, by the flight suits worn by ex-military aviators like Rodger Ward. At one time I possessed pre-Nomex-- i.e., cotton-- suits- belonging to Eddie Sachs and Jim Rathman; Lou described the Rathman suit as the prototype for his modern design. Hinchman made the first Nomex racing suits: he made suits for the Navy's aerobatic team, the Blue Angels, and I think that's how he learned the Navy was using Nomex, and how flame resistant this material is.

I have enjoyed giving charring demonstrations using Nomex swatches, though long ago learned that a sweaty body and damp Nomex underwear, plus an external source of heat, are the constituent ingredients for steam. (Even so, I continued filling my pockets with ice before a race on a hot day.)

Lou was at least a year ahead of Bill Simpson in introducing Nomex suits to racing.

Edited by lanciaman, 28 December 2011 - 18:38.

[jj2728]

ahh well, fools and their money.....

[mfd]

Picture : Porsche, copyright free.

Nice photo Apologies, I may have asked you before, but is the stripe on the helmet navy blue or black?

[Pedro 917]

It was black but with a blue sky above, gave you the wrong impression to be navy blue :

[Frank S]

If I were a racing suit collector I might be tempted to pay a little extra for one of the "bell-bottom" suits commissioned by (I think I remember) Jody Scheckter, who apparently didn't want to be left behind in the race for stylishness.