HThere are two ways in which a car can be consecrated thanks to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. One is to have taken the exit in the race, if it is at the controls of a legendary driver and having achieved a victoria, better. And the other, much less common, consists of having participated in the Le Mans moviethat mythical film that condenses the passion for racing starring the actor (and driver) Steve McQueen.
The case that we are going to tell you belongs to this second class and is an example of an enormous show of generosity by Steve McQueen. But first let’s situate the events: everything happened in the French town of Le Mans in 1970when the American actor had just made his dream come true dream of starring in a film about the race most epic automobile race in history.
The filming, in reality, had been chaotic, even though McQueen had tried to feel as comfortable as possible. Among those pleasures that relieved him during moments of tension were three new cars that he had acquired and asked to be taken to the filming set: a Porsche 911 S, a Mercedes SL ‘Pagoda’ and a Jaguar Type E. He had used the cars for commute around the region and when filming came to an end it was his turn take them to Los Angelesalong with everything that the producer Solar Productions had moved there.
a great cook
Also prepared to pack his bags was a young Swiss man named Freddy Zurbrügg. His profession was that of a cook and he had been hired because a year before he had been in charge of the food for the entire filming crew in the film with great success. To Her Majesty’s Secret Servicefilmed in Switzerland.
But Zurbrügg, in charge of preparing the daily food for 800 peoplehad had time to meet Steve McQueenhad created a special dish, which he ended up calling “Steve’s Steak”and the actor he ended up liking it wonderfully.
So when it was time for them to say goodbye, he made an offer to the young cook: I gave him one of the three sports cars which had been bought for the filming. And also I let him choose whoever wanted.
Four decades in his power
Zurbrügg chose the Jaguar Type Ea model with specifications for the North American market that was equipped with a six cylinders online and 4.2 liters with 265 HP and that at that time I had something less than 1,000 km in your bookmark. And the surprising thing is that He kept it for four decadesuntil two years ago He sold it for about 300,000 euros thanks to the cinematic legend that surrounded the car.
But the truth is that Zurbrügg was wrong and I would have done better to choose the Porsche 911 S, which also appears at the beginning of the film with McQueen at the wheel. Because if the Jaguar appreciated during these decades and sold it very expensive, for that Porsche a collector paid no less than one million euros 13 years ago now.
