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Steve McQueen's Woody??? Yes that really is a genuine photo of Steve! (sorry you guys, I couldn't resist using this one)   Mini Estate

Here's a rear shot of McQueen's Mini Cooper 'S' that I've never seen before. I found it by accident surfing the web today. Enjoy!   Mini Estate

TRUE - happened today, finally met the kid who's been after my Libre's for his 510, made him a great deal - He looks like a young Steve McQueen, I asked him if anyone ever says that and he says only older folks - I told him I've been hearing about Steve McQueen all this week from the Mini crowd since James Garner has died - He said "old Mini Cooper?" I said yes, he asked if I wanted one cuz he has one in his barn.... Not Steve's but I'll keep you all informed!

I was with some friends a few years ago and they looked at and supposedly purchased James Garners rusty blue woody wagon along with some other Mini's but i never heard if they confirmed it to be true or not.

Perhaps Michael Cooper is a person to follow up with. If McQueen was already very famous when John and Steve met, then it's likely Cooper had a photograph taken if/when he delivered the wagon to McQueen. If this were done overseas, it may be why the McQueen family doesn't mention it (though perhaps an enquiry to McQueen's son or 1st wife, or possibly the author of McQueen's Machines, might bear fruit?)

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6464 and SCUM!!! You guys broke the code Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is just as exciting as Clint Eastwood's Mini Wagon photo showing up!!! Thanks for this so much you guys. Extremely significant!!! (now if only a photo of Steve's Wagon would surface!) Thanks again!                                            Mini Estate

Interesting article here too:

//www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231698/Dad-taught-Steve-McQueen-Great-Train-Robber-drive--John-Coopers-son-childhood-Mini-Cooper.html

Good memory Jim about the John Cooper book you read!  Broke out my copy of "The Grand Prix Carpetbaggers" (John Cooper's autobiography) and there on page 59........

"In fact I built a special Mini-Cooper station wagon for Steve which he planned to use on the film sets.  It was equipped with a Stage III, Downton-modified engine and could really go.  I think he had a lot of fun with it, zipping from one part of the course to another on location."

So I wonder where that wagon is now???

Looks like the black and white photo of Garner is with a standard Mini Cooper.  Either 997 or 998, depending on when it was purchased, possibly the car he brought back after the movie.  Looked butt-ugly with the extra bars across the grille.

I remember reading a book about John Cooper mentioning that he custom built a woody for McQueen with Cooper S running gear.

According to the "McQueen's Machines" book, McQueen purchased his 1967 Cooper S from Hollywood Sports Cars and turned it over to Lee Brown to be customized. (originally green with a white roof.) There is no indication that this was a Radford Mini in any way shape or form. It's LHD and Mr. Brown didn't list a LHD conversion as one of the customizations done to it.

The book doesn't mention a Traveller, though that doesn't mean McQueen didn't own one. But if he did, it was probably not a car of significance in his scuderia. The book had a lot of input from McQueen's family (wives and son) and that input helped determine the cars that were covered in the book. The Mini Cooper S was clearly one of the significant ones.

Hi Russ,

Too many rumors pointing to McQueen owning one of the 1967 Morris Traveller Cooper 'S's. I've tried to let it go, but it keeps coming back around and biting me in the butt. I've even left a message in the McQueen Fan Club Forums hoping someone would come up with a photo of the Wagon, but nothing yet. I tried to get a photo with Clint and his Wagon since 1988, it finally surfaced like two days ago!!! I'm gonna keep holding out for McQueen's Wagon too.

Mini Estate

If someone does not know the time line, Garner's interview in Car and Driver would make someone think the 1966 blue Mini Cooper was the car he bought after finishing The Great Escape and the photos could make someone think that blue car was it.

The photo of Garner's head through the sunroof was probably staged. He would need to be almost seven feet tall.

The blue car in the Garner photos is a Cooper S.

Garner's Mini from '62 could have been an ordinary 850 .

That would explain Garner's statement that his and McQueen's cars "had to be among the first imported to the U.S."

Garner could have then bought the blue Cooper S much later, in 1966.

I have seen "McQueens Machines", but I do not remember more than one Mini.

Knowing which celebs owned our favorite cars is nice, but knowing the history leading to that purchase makes it more interesting.

Russ

Russ,

The (6) Cooper 'S' spec Woody Traveller's were all built in 1967 by the 'Cooper Car Company'. McQueen was rumored to have purchased two of them, one for himself, the other for Garner, (or Eastwood???)             Mini Estate

"Unfortunately pages 34 to 184 are not shown in this preview".

As to the McQueen car. If you are refering to the Two tone brown car. There is a book. McQueens Machines.

//books.google.com/books?id=fo9UKUfqhA8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

scroll down to page 46-48. tells the whole story on that car.

I would imagine that McQueen had other Minis as well as Garner.

There is also a new James Garner book coming out. James Garner's Motoring Life  may need to check out.

Johnny

Does anyone know how to buy a 1966 car in 1962?

"The Great Escape" was released in July 1963.

Movie post production can take about a year. Garner and McQueen would have been done with filming in 1962.

The Cooper S 1071 was announced in March, 1963.  The 970 and 1275 "S" types did not appear for a year in March 1964.

So, what cars did Garner and McQueen actually have and when did they buy them?

McQueen had a saloon and a Traveler. When did he own them?

Did Garner own more than one Mini in his lifetime?

Russ

Many years ago, I can't remember which decade, may four decades ago, I looked at Cooper  S that had  that paint scheme. It was gold  and navy blue. I thought it a bit different. I remember it was from France. Duriing the test drive, we came upon a motorcyclist  on some twisty Connecticut roads. The owner of the mini was right on his tail and the motorcyclist kept looking back as to wonder how can this little keep up with me.   Engine compression was 200 psi acrossed. I should have bought that mini.

If you look at the photos of both cars, the McQueen car doesn't appear to have sliding windows in it but the Garner car does.  If both were brought back after shooting "The Great Escape " in Europe I would have thought both cars would have come from the same seller/dealer/coachbuilder.  Could it be that both cars were Radfords in the beginning and Steve McQueen had someone (Lee) in the US restore it at a later date?  I still find it hard to believe that both cars had similar paint schemes, purchased at the end of the movie (at the same time) and come from different builders, one in the US and one in England.