So five days ago, the 24th of March, the great Steve McQueen would have been 80 years old, if he were still alive. It’s sad that such a great talent passed away while only being 50 years old.
Now I could go on and on all day long about how I love Steve McQueen, pretty much all that he stood for, especially his infatuation with cars, racing and motorcycles, but I would be doing the words no justice.
Instead I would like to link you to a write-up by fellow auto-fan, Jonny Lieberman of Autoblog. And to give you just a taste:
“Odds are, your nickname is not “The King of Cool.” Of course, odds are that you never ran away from the farm to join the circus, worked as a towel boy in a brothel, jumped ship from the merchant marines in the Dominican Republic, were a lumberjack, joined a street gang or bought your first motorcycle with winnings from motorcycle racing. Nor were you busted down to private seven times while a Marine only to redeem yourself by saving the lives of five men in frosty arctic waters and then being assigned to guard Harry Truman’s yacht. Oh, and you’re first film role wasn’t in a Paul Newman movie. In other words, we know something about Steve McQueen, and you’re no Steve McQueen. Sadly, neither are we. For that matter, neither is anyone else. Oh, and today would have been his 80th birthday.”
So go on over and read Mr. Lieberman’s touching Birthday wishes to “The King of Cool.”
