McQueen’s Truck

For lots of reasons, I’ve always considered Steve McQueen the second coolest person to ever walk this earth of ours. Most pertinent to The Jalopy Journal, he was a car guy with exquisite taste. From Porsche to Ford to Ferrari, Steve always bought the right car in the right color and for all of the right reasons. In 1978, he saw a ’52 Chevrolet pickup in Forest Green with a custom aluminum camper that spoke to him. He wrote a check and drove it home.

I guess it’s about to be auctioned off by Mecum as the last vehicle McQueen rode in before he died in 1980. Whatever. That’s not at all what interests me… What interests me is the truck itself. I had never seen or heard of it before all the Mecum hoopla and I’m absolutely taken by it. More specifically, I’m in awe of the custom camper that perches proudly on the bed. From the only two images I have, it doesn’t at all look like a homemade job. Instead, it looks to be expertly crafted by someone with some serious talent – maybe a race car guy or possibly someone with honed aircraft fabrication skills. I guess there is no way to be sure, but maybe someone out there knows more?

I’m having a hard time visualizing this truck without a trailer behind it. For Steve, it would probably be pulling an early 911 to a road coarse in Southern California somewhere. But before him? It’s easy to see this thing parked at Bonneville with a land speed support team perched all around it – yes?

Whatever be the case, this might be the ultimate race car hauler and I’m in love.