Two bits of automotive movie history at a Profiles in History auction held earlier this month have drawn massive bids from collectors. As you may recall, Steve McQueen’s racing suit costume from Le Mans was poised to go under the gavel with the auction house estimating the Gulf Oil suit would fetch between 0,000 and 0,000. Hemmings says that by the time the last bid came in, the suit had fetched a staggering 4,000, thereby proving that when it comes to celebrity auctions, few names can draw dollar bills quite like McQueen. The actor’s Porsche 911, which he drove in the film, recently sold for .25 million.

McQueen’s Le Mans suit wasn’t the only big draw, however. The same auction also saw a DeLorean DMC-12 used in the filming of Back to the Future III pull sizable bids of its own. The flux-capacitor-equipped gullwing met the auction house’s estimates with a towering final bid of 1,200. Great Scot, indeed.

Steve McQueen’s Le Mans suit fetches nearly M, BTTF DeLorean 1k originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next month will see all sorts of great movie memorabilia go up for auction. Steve McQueen’s racing suit from the legendary film Le Mans will go under the gavel alongside the last privately owned DeLorean DMC-12 during Profiles in History’s “Icons of Hollywood” auction. The two-piece Gulf Racing suit was originally donated to a British newspaper when filming concluded in 1971.

The Observer asked readers to answer three questions about the history of the Le Mans race for a chance to win the suit, and 12-year-old Timothy Davies snagged the top prize. Richard Attwood, the winner of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans personally handed over McQueen’s suit. Attwood himself drove the Gulf Porsche 917K for the film.

The suit remains in excellent condition, complete with its American flag, Gulf, Heuer Chronograph and Firestone sponsor patches as well as Michael Delany’s name stitched in blue thread on the right hand side. The auction house estimates that the set will fetch somewhere between 0,000 and 0,000 when it goes under the gavel during the “Icons of Hollywood” even on December 15-17. Head over to Profiles in History for more information.

Steve McQueen’s racing suit for LeMans goes up for auction originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve McQueen is revered by gearheads as an enthusiastic owner and driver of all sorts of cars, from a brown ’63 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso to a teal ’58 GMC pickup and everything in between. But the King of Cool was equally into motorcycles, and rode them regularly.

Arguably one of the most recognizable was his Husqvarna 400 dirt bike. It was on this Swedish gem that he was photographed for the cover of Sports Illustrated (pictured at right). The bike was sold in 1984 and subsequently changed hands a couple of times, but has throughout remained in the condition in which McQueen last rode it – right down to the spare spark plug he taped to the frame.

Now the ’71 Husky is crossing the auction block once again as part of Bonhams‘ enormous motorcycle and memorabilia auction at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, on May 14. Alongside it will be an endless array of McQueen artifacts, including his race trophies won on both two wheels and four. Joining the McQueen items are such notable consignments as a pair of custom Harleys built for Otis Chandler and owned by the Guggenheim Foundation, as well as a pair of classic Norton racers. Follow the jump for a pair of press releases and check out the images in the gallery below for more.

[Source: Bonhams]

Continue reading Bonhams to auction McQueen’s Husqvarna, memorabilia at the Quail Lodge

Bonhams to auction McQueen’s Husqvarna, memorabilia at the Quail Lodge originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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