Hollywood actor Steve McQueen died early from complications from cancer surgery. Now a German dealer has found his private car in the USA and had it brought to Mettmann.
Mettmann – The classic car dealer Michael Fröhlich bought the former private car from Hollywood legend Steve McQueen (1930-1980). He had it brought to Mettmann near Düsseldorf and is now planning to auction it, said Fröhlich (71) of the German press agency.
As a minimum bid, he thought of 100,000 US dollars (about 84,000 euros). Several auction houses have already expressed interest.
According to the vehicle documents from the US state of Oregon, McQueen (“The Magnificent Seven”, “Papillon”) is the first owner of the car, built in 1969. An acquaintance of his had bought the blue Ford Mustang Fastback on his behalf from McQueen’s widow. The car had been in the family the whole time. Fröhlich has already sold numerous cars from prominent previous owners.
The car “drives, steers and brakes”, even got the German registration, he said on request. But it was externally weathered and “totally worn down”. “It looks worn out and tanned by the sun, but it’s authentic and a great car,” said Fröhlich.
Ford had reinforced and tuned it at the factory for the hobby racing driver McQueen. He couldn’t say exactly how much power he had under the bonnet. Not only through the original papers, but also through the widow and photo material from back then, it is well proven that it is the car of the actor who died in 1980. The “Rheinische Post” had previously reported.
McQueen was diagnosed with cancer and had a heart attack during an operation in Mexico in 1980. The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that McQueen drove in the hit film “Bullitt” was recently auctioned for the record price of 3.7 million US dollars. dpa
