HE'S been dead for 31 years but an industry has grown around Steve McQueen's image and now Triumph is cashing in on the fact he appeared on a TR6 Trophy in The Great Escape.
Forget for a moment that said TR6 was actually a stand-in, used by the film makers in the belief (probably a correct one) that the average cinema-goer wouldn't notice that it was a 1960s Triumph and not a real 1940s German army machine.
Somehow what started as an appalling lack of attention to detail on the part of the film's makers has turned into a publicity coup for Triumph, with the snowballing Steve McQueen mania making the simple fact that he was seen on such a bike in the movie enough to warrant a replica.
Just as the original movie bike was a pretty weak attempt to fake a German military bike, the new Triumph Steve McQueen isn't all that convincing as a replica of the TR6 he actually rode in the movie (and only rode for close ups, as Bud Ekins actually did the famous jump scene in the film). Based on a modern Bonneville T100, it gets green paint, a single seat and luggage rack, a smaller, black headlight, no chrome and a bash plate under the engine.
Only 1100 will be made. But even if you get one, nobody is going to really believe you're the reincarnation of the Cooler King himself.
