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Steve McQueen Tests a 911 for Sports Illustrated!
Yes, it's True. In August 1966 Sports Illustrated published an article where Steve McQueen roadtested a bunch of really cool cars -- one of which was a 911. Unfortunately my scanner is only B&W, so you can't appreciate the 1960's era color pictures. It's interesting how the magazine has changed. In addition to the standard "Stick and Ball" coverage, they had a piece on the UK beating Germany in the Soccer World Cup (yes, they knew about Soccer even in 1966!), Women's Golf (Curtis Cup) and the joys of taking a windjammer cruise along Maine's coast.
Anyhow, back to Steve. Note that he liked the 911, but it wasn't at the top of his list. He said that "Now the (oversteering) problem (of the pre-911's) has been corrected. The 911 was a very neutral-handling car, very docile, very pleasant to drive, and the five speed gearbox sure was easy to use. The brakes were just fine." How's that for all of the people who complain about the SWB handling and the 901 gearbox! He also spends some time going on about "...a great picture to be made about motor racing -- Day of the Champion" Enjoy!    
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John '69 911E "It's a poor craftsman who blames their tools" -- Unknown "Any suspension -- no matter how poorly designed -- can be made to work reasonably well if you just stop it from moving." -- Colin Chapman Last edited by jluetjen; 06-03-2004 at 09:24 AM.. |
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02-01-2004, 12:07 PM
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Here's the rest...
     
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John '69 911E "It's a poor craftsman who blames their tools" -- Unknown "Any suspension -- no matter how poorly designed -- can be made to work reasonably well if you just stop it from moving." -- Colin Chapman Last edited by jluetjen; 06-03-2004 at 09:25 AM.. |
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02-01-2004, 12:08 PM
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and finally...
 
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John '69 911E "It's a poor craftsman who blames their tools" -- Unknown "Any suspension -- no matter how poorly designed -- can be made to work reasonably well if you just stop it from moving." -- Colin Chapman |
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02-01-2004, 12:13 PM
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Thanks John, I enjoyed the read...
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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02-01-2004, 12:21 PM
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John,
Great find!
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'75 914-6 3.2 (Track Car) '81 SC 3.6 (Beast) '993 Cab (Almost Done Restoring) |
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02-01-2004, 12:23 PM
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Great article. They couldnt do something as honest as that today...for todays actors, it would mainly be a photo op.
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02-01-2004, 12:44 PM
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Very cool, John.
The E Type photo instantly reminded me of the old Henry Manney III quote in R&T calling it the "greatest crumpet collector known to man", which may still be true today...  Thanks again for the scan. Tim |
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02-01-2004, 12:49 PM
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I've never understood that quote -- aren't crumpets littel tea cakes? I'd rather drive the greatest strumpet collector known to man.
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02-01-2004, 01:53 PM
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In Manney's unique style, I believe the clear inference was that "crumpet" and "strumpet" (among other things) were one and the same...
 Tim |
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02-01-2004, 02:04 PM
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Finally, somebody found the infamous Sports Illustrated article. Thanks John!
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02-02-2004, 02:12 PM
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Well, I hope to collect my crumpet (who is no strumpet) after she gets off the plane from LA....
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02-02-2004, 02:16 PM
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I was happy to read that Porsche had finally cured the oversteer problem with the new 911! Too funny!
Oh, and that "turbo-charged 427" in the Vette. I guess he assumed since it was the "Turbo-Jet 427", that it must have been turbocharged.
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'69 911E coupe' RSR clone-in-progress (retired 911-Spec racer) '72 911T Targa MFI 2.4E spec(Formerly "Scruffy") 2004 GT3 |
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02-02-2004, 02:36 PM
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I believe the crumpet-collector quote was actually Stirling Moss's. And if you want to read a truly outrageous, wonderful 911-test article, see Bobby Allison's in Car and Driver in 1973 (as I remember). He had to drive on in the IROC, even bought one to get some practice, and basically said it was a piece of scheiss. Which was heresy in those days. Okay, these days too...
Stephan
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Stephan Wilkinson '83 911SC Gold-Plated Porsche '04 replacement Boxster |
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02-02-2004, 02:41 PM
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Hilbilly Deluxe
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Quote:
Tom |
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02-02-2004, 02:48 PM
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Great article but will I ever here the end of England winning the World Cup in 1966!
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Chris - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1982 911 SC Hellblau Metalic - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1997 Boxster 986 2.5l |
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02-02-2004, 04:49 PM
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Team California
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Quote:
As for the Allison road test, it's been beaten to death around here. I think that you even participated in the thread.
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Denis Trump uses an autopen and votes by mail, in case anyone wonders.
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02-02-2004, 05:30 PM
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Quote:
Thanks again for the article, John. Tim From R&T, 6-97: 
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02-02-2004, 07:41 PM
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It's Almost Le Mans Time Again!
While going through some old R&T's I just bought I just came across this interesting article about Steve McQueen -- Race Car Driver. This was in the November 1970 Road and Track after his second place at Sebring earlier that year.
 (I'll be back once I can get the other pages to load.) PS: I've also updated the original posting with color versions of the pictures with Steve driving the cars. 
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John '69 911E "It's a poor craftsman who blames their tools" -- Unknown "Any suspension -- no matter how poorly designed -- can be made to work reasonably well if you just stop it from moving." -- Colin Chapman |
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06-03-2004, 09:49 AM
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19 years and 17k posts...
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John,
Thanks!!!
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Art Zasadny 1974 Porsche 911 Targa "Helga" (Sold, back home in Germany) Learning the bass guitar Driving Ford company cars now... www.ford.com |
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06-03-2004, 10:20 AM
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Here's some more...
    (My apologies on the quality, but for some reason the BBS was forcing the file size to be less then 100K again.  )
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John '69 911E "It's a poor craftsman who blames their tools" -- Unknown "Any suspension -- no matter how poorly designed -- can be made to work reasonably well if you just stop it from moving." -- Colin Chapman |
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06-03-2004, 10:33 AM
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1969 Porsche 911E 2.0 E
993 Cab
1971 Porsche Targa 2.5L
1982 Porsche 911SC Coupe 3.2
1982 Porsche 911 SC 3000
MazdaSpeed3
