Starting the Most Iconic Motorcycle of All Time! | Steve McQueen's Great Escape Bike
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- Опубликовано: 17 апр 2024
- We get up close and personal with the motorcycle that Steve McQueen made famous in the 1963 film 'The Great Escape.' In this video we meet the owner of the machine, learn about it's wild Hollywood history and witness the beast come to life once again. This is epic and we feel very honoured! :-) A huge thanks goes to Dick Shepherd and Triumph Motorcycles for making this video possible.
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Can't even imagine what every young man was thinking about when they saw that jump on film in 1963. What an amazing piece of history. Thank you guys.
I can tell you what I was thinking.
I'm 72 and still riding.
I can tell you exactly. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about motorcycles since. Lifelong passion.
Great film and a mega bike. I grew up on my best friend's farm in the mid 70's in Ireland, where we had a 1948 Norton 500 single. Scrambling back tire, a bald front tire and a seed sack stuffed full of straw for a saddle, tied on with baler band. We had the chance to experience a similar machine. How we survived at the age of 15 to 18 we will never know, but we thrashed the pants off the machine and it was super quick. We were fearless. The bike is still there in the barn and we should take it out and give it a run. We are both 60 this year, so I suspect we might be more careful, though I'm not so sure and we never wore a helmet. Nuts, but super cool as was Steve Mc Queen.
Great story!
McQueen was a regular at our shop, Valerian's Two Cycle City in Los Angeles. He bought a CZ360 from us and often came in the back to talk story with us. He was cool guy, took one of the other mechanics riding with him.
Great to see the bike is being well cared for.
Very cool! Thanks for watching
I've seen the bike at Triumph factory, it does put a smile on your face. I've seen the film more times than i can remember. McQueen is a legend, and the bike is the Holly Grail of all bikes. Great video 👍👍
I bought my triumph from Bud Ekins. Shop was on Ventura Blvd, south side just past Van Nuys Blvd intersection.
Well, so happens, I had my bike being painted by Von Dutch who had his paint shop in the back of Ekins shop. I was sitting on my bike in the back alley, no tank and fenders. Dutch was working on them. Meantime , Steve McQueen was standing next to me talking with other folks. He was wearing his customary cutoff sweat shirt. Just then , a stake truck drove up just outside the back garage. Two crates were slid down the ramp. Inside each crate was a folded up triumph bike with the paint schemes to be used in the film.
Von Dutch came outside saw the movie guys with bud and Steve going over about stuff to be done in the upcoming shoot. Dutch grabbed one of the crates and began tearing it apart in front of everyone. Well, he took one of the sides of the crates, dragged it inside the shop, cranked up the jazz, popped a beer and went to work on the crate side. About an hour later, olé Dutch dragged that crate outside and leaned it up against the wall in the alley. I could not believe the Muriel Dutch did on that board-three nude women(blond, brunette, and redhead in nothing but transparent grounds coming out of a transparent cloud)!!! There wasn’t a line on that picture! It was all done with sir brush! What a sight! Well about 30 minutes of haggling between the movie execs standing in their suits in the alley, and one guy bought the painting for 5 grand!! Lots of money in those days. God, I wish I knew where that painting was! Love to see it again!!
Gary
Fantastic ✨👍
Saw the movie in 1963 at 10 years old at the drive in with my parents. Remember this movie and jump scene all these years later. It was/is an epic movie! Great job! You are becoming an excellent motorcycle historian.
This is why the world needs rich people, no one else would keep up this historic collection.
Have to say thanks for showing this. I did like many watched the film. Yes I have a TR7 which looks very similar. Which I built from bits because couldn’t afford a whole one.
Great video, Triumph best motorcycle brand and motorbikes in the world, Bloor family are legends for making Triumph what it is today, and yes I do have a Triumph, a Scrambler 1200 XE.
Thanks for doing this video. An absolute icon of a motorcycle. I watched that movie over 55 years ago and numerous times since. Outstanding!
What an excellent video ! Loved the film and love classic Triumphs having owned a 69 Bonneville for 30 years.
I remember the "jump" and how it's engrained in movie history.
This is a great history lesson, thanks for another great video 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
One of my all time favorite movies!
I lived near Kens shop in Fleet, Hants. In all these years I never knew of Kens involvement. Nice to see the little Tiger Cub, I did many a trial on one.
I saw the great escape in a drive-in movie theater in the Bronx next to the Bruckner Expressway in about 1963 I was a child of six or seven and it’s true the Steve McQueen motorcycle jump was the best part of the movie and started my love of motorcycle ridering. Another great part of the movie was the stealing of the German trainer by James Garner 😮 😊👍🏻✨😌
Love to have a blast on the old girl.
The only thing that stops me getting an older Triumph is the fact that I'm scared of changing gears with the other foot, after all these years I don't think I could get used to it.
Really enjoyed riding the '76 T160 Trident but sold it, still have a '76 Bonnie T140V but it's a project, never ridden her before but cannot wait, hopefully I get her all wired up and out on the road where they're meant to be this Spring/Summer.
Cheerio from sunny Yorkshire, thanks for the video.
Dick Shepperd seems such a nice guy.....thank you Dick for saving these machines for us all to enjoy.
I count myself as sao lucky as I have seen this bike at the Triumph Factory in the UK.....and body is free to see the collection.....or pay to do the factory walk around.
Amazing experience.
Makes me so proud to own a modern water cooled Triumph.
Thank you John Bloor for keeping the Triumph Brand flying high and building such stunning machines for us guys.
Nick from the UK.
Dick seems like a top bloke.
Must be buyers all round the world who would pay handsomely to have this in their collection.
But Dick wants people to enjoy it. What a guy.
Wow. That film scene is the coolest thing ever, remember how that made me feel watching it as a boy of about 10, Steve McQueen the coolest man ever and who didn't want to ride a motorbike after watching that?
100% how I felt Mark. Have been hooked on bikes ever since :)
Dick Shepherd himself has a hollywood chiseled face and physique, he looks right on that iconic bike, thanks
Can see: T. E. Lawrence's 8th (Lawrence of Arabia) Brough Superior 1000cc the one he was riding when he was killed, in the Imperial War Museum, can also see one of his bikes in the Tank Museum Bovington Dorset BH20 6JG
Fantastic video Max, can't believe the history of that triumph bike , where you find these amazing machines and bring us the history of them is fantastic, you're doing an outstanding job , to bring this quality week in week out, thanks max.
Saw the movie in the late 90s on TV and read the story behind the jump later in some magazine. Great to see it survived and has a been brought back to its former glory. Congrats on a great video.
Just great that it is in riding condition! Awesome!
What a privilege to meet Dick Shepherd and the one and only machine. You were both infectiously enthusiastic. I was intrigued by the bigger rear sprocket which seemed to be floating on the standard being attached simply by 6 nut and bolts set between the teeth? 👏👍👌
'Overlay' sprocket, quite common back in the day, when many street bikes were converted to dirt bikes.
Many thanks jiushugi1085, I’d never heard or seen these before 👍👌
Love my Triumph.
999lazer, you guys are just killin' it! What a masterful and entertaining treatise of this iconic motorcycle's journey through time. I have to say that this channel as of late has shown ability to produce works of art on par, or better than anything comparable. Kudos!
thank you ,glad you enjoyed it :)
Very well done for getting that bike on the channel, excellent.
Thank you for this video it was an awesome film and definitely brings back memories.
Thanks for watching :)
Great upload. Looking forward to seeing the progress on those 2 Chesterfield Yamahas
One of my fave movies and bikes for sure
The legend of dreams ... ❤️
Brilliant episode, such an iconic machine. Just mint
Thanks Andrew
Great Topic for your latest video,most commendable.
Favorite episode so far! Ive wanted to see this bike in person sooo bad maybe one day ill get lucky
Awesome, glad you enjoyed it Nick.
Cool story....👍
You're the man 👍
Nice work Lazer , this will be a nice conversation piece for me and grandad 👍🏻🏆
Fonzie never rode the bike. He just sat on it, he even confessed that... In the TV show. Kind of like Chips tv show, that was fake too😅😅😅
Great content like always. I enjoy it. Your channel. You do some really cool stuff.💯😎👍👊🏆
Thank you :)
Triumph twins from that time were beautiful machines .simple light and very quick. but if you wanted to ride the single downtube frame fast you needed to know how to do it !
I raced my '58 works thunderbird single down tube had its advantages ,like the Lucas r Magneto and the rear wheel QD hub.
So cool, thanks !
Thanks for this fantastic episode. I got to know Tim Gibbs in the 1980's, He owned Tim Gibbs Yamaha which was about 50km from where I grew up, and also the New Zealand Husqvarna Importer. Tim imported the only Husky 500AE automatic ever sold in New Zealand, especially for me. He used to tell us stories about making the move, He was always very cryptic ( with a wily smile) about who made the jump that ended up in the film, We all thought it was probably Tim. He also told stories of racing with Steve McQueen in the States, They were good friends. One time Steve couldn't make a race but wanted to keep his points up, so he got Tim to wear his Gear and do the race. Tim said he had to keep remembering not to take his Helmet and goggles off.
That's awesome Bruce, funny enough we made a couple of videos about the Husky 500AE earlier this year :)
Yes I tried adding a comment about my Husky 500 automatic to that video at the time but something kept going wrong
Love it !
That was awesome. I had know idea it still existed 👍👍
Thanks for watching Tom :)
Waht a fantastic video, had no idea this bike existed in such good condition, must make time to see it!
Anyone know if Marlon Brando’s triumph is still around as that is equally iconic to me and hopefully still in existence.
Another really interesting video and well presented. I didn't know Ken Heanes was involved in the bike. I bought a new 500cc Kawasaki from his dealership in Aldershot Hampshire in the early 1970's. Incidentlly I remember the price, £715.
I used to buy my parts for Trophy Trail 500 where Steve bought his 😢😮😅
I appreciate the very interesting back-story behind this classic and historic bike, but still think it a bit mean spirited that our very keen and experienced rider 999lazer wasn't able to ride it carefully around the carpark. Some people should't be so precious.
Great movie. Two things though, its a 1960'sTriumph and in WW2, German army motorcycles would have been BMW's or Zundapp and would have had either a grey paint scheme or a yellow based camouflage pattern.
You Will become my hero if you Will be able to interview the designer of the wrm 450
It made multiple film makers to use lookalikes in their movies. And I now have a Bonneville replica.
Cool bike, love my trumpets, only thing missing on this one is the little black spot under the bike, Triumphs like to mark their territory with a bit of oil. 😂😂
👍👍👍👍
Fab!
For me most iconic bike in cinematic history but #1 in history is evel knievels Caesar's palace bike
Steve McQueen also famously had himself the best bike ever made the 1974 yz360b !!!! The first year big bore two stroke monoshock... I have one so I'm a little biased though. Even though his was black and yellow (US) and mine is the better looking White and red (Canada/Europe)
Beautiful 😍
Thanks for watching Christian
Nice 🤙
Obviously the machine is a much later model. I had a 1951 3T which still had a rigid rear end frame, with a sprung hub; swinging arm rear suspension was not adopted by Triumph until the late 1950s or early 1960s.
All time favourite movie 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
its a classic, got goose bumps sitting on this one :)
@@999lazer I'm 52 Northern Irish we're born with bikes . I must watch that movie at least 4 times a year.
You should do a video on Steve's bikes from On Any Sunday.
He raced under a fake name because the film studio wouldn't let him race .
@@999lazer seriously jealous, but I did help hang Joey Dunlop's RC30 from the ceiling in the pub 🍻
Now that's a proper bike and ridden when men where men and never complained about weight etc they just flung the leg over and got on with it .
Lovely
Hey Iam a Bushell 😎
have spoken with Dick . he is a very nice man as you can tell .
Apparently Bud did the jump for the movie , but apparently Steve did it that morning to prove he could do it
nope...that is NOT the story Bud told...that is the story Steve told. Heard them both and laughed at both....they were a hoot.
The real reason Steve did not do the jump was the insurance company would not allow such a high profile Actor to take a chance on it,,
I went to that valley in Fussen Austria Switzerland boarder last summer. I bought classic bike there and rode it home
must have been an awesome ride back :)
13:29 Busted some myths and emphasized some others 😂😂
Is this the same bike that I saw in the Motorcycle Museum Coventry as you walked in through the main entrance ?
Will you ever try the husaberg rx 450
Still a good looking bike
Have you ever tried a Vertemati? Or a
Benelli bx 449?
One of the best WW2 movies made.
You really must try to get a ride on one (or something of a similar age )
What about french motorcycles? Like Vor?
Maybe I'm just an idiot, but why does it seem to have a sprocket inside the sprocket? Does it shift like a bicycle?
you hit it , no vidio better-nothing cooler
So lucky Dick tracked it down 😮
World's coolest motorbike 🤔
I don’t think I would even try riding on a 60 year old back tire…
😃😃👍
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
The engine doesn’t sound happy on the video. Cool bike.
Or Lawrence of Arabia's Brough Superior
Look , let's get this right. Steve DID NOT , repeat DID NOT jump the fence on that bike . It was his US team mate Bud Ekins who was a far better rider than McQueen. Steve's agents wouldn't let him do the stunt himself as he had no insurance etc ....
Repeat again , McQueen DID NOT do the fence jump stunt , I'm glad that's been cleared up ....
Thank you Jesse:)
You mean the bike Bud Ekin's made famous jumping over that fence? Steve was cool, but Bud was the better rider.... Steve always hated that...
Stonchions?
Why dos this give me goosepimples.
I owned a seventy four 750 chopped bought it stuck rebuild it road it two blocks the sludge trap was plugged the man at the dealership neglected to tell me check the sludge trap and blew it up when i rebuild it again stripped a crucial part fixed it with liquid weld and sold it years later i ran into the guy that bought it he was still riding it velvet frame with gerder fork five spoke front rim z bars and a spoked rear i fuked up when i sold it but what pissed me off was the dealership knew i was rebuilding it he could have saved me meny hours but didn't and thats what pissed me off about the hole thing coffin tank Maltese cross mirror Beuty of a bike a real Betty getter all the girls wanted a ride this was nineteen eaghty five
I was twenty two years old what the hell would I know😊 cool vid
Any cooler and you'd freeze to death!!!!
60 FT IN THE AIR ????? HMMMM NOT SURE ABOUT THAT ?
I think you will find that bike is not the bike that jumped the fence I'm not completely sure but i think it was a 250 husky it was definitely a Dird bike!!!!
That’s a very cool bike, but not the coolest. The coolest bike in the world is the one I’m riding. From a moped to a Harley to an adventure bike . The coolest bike is the one you’re on 😎
Sorry to have to point this out ..That bike could NOT have been in Germany at that time..also it did NOT sound like that
he didn't escape he crashed in the barbed wire
The bike didn't make the jump and escape the Germans.
Still iconic but your statement was incorrect.
This is a replica. Regardless. As there were multiple bikes used for the film and none was that presteene. Ridiculous the Fonz reference. Clearly this channel has as much clue of the bikes in question as an ant knows about Godzilla.
Runs shit. Like mine.
Must be something wrong with me. I had read the non fiction book. The rewrite of history with Americans, and the Disney style approach already had me disgusted, but the absurd jump done on a modern bike clearly fitted with modern Motocross tyres and suspension, painted in British colours, pretending to be a German WW2 bike was the last straw. If someone asks me what the worst and most cringe worthy moment in cinema history is, that jump would be my answer. As incongruous as putting a dune buggy in a chariot race.
Thank goodness some said it!
This blokes got more front than Blackpool, fake as fuck bike
This bike is a complete FAKE.... Don't be fooled....
I know it is , Bud Ekins took the bikes back to the U S A after filming finished and they were sold off after being refinished as street bikes ,Bud Ekins said he never let of they had been used for filming as no would have bought them as customers would assume they had been thrashed , he openly addmited there were no records kept of frame numbers etc , funny how Mr Shepherd waited until Bud died before he touted this as THE bike , and his memory becomes very sketchy when asked questions, oh and of course the farmer and farm hand are conveniently dead and he found the bike in a country where it wasn't left
Why can't you speak normally.