During the filming of the movie Le Mans, Steve McQueen’s personal car fleet in France included a Porsche 911, a Pagoda-roofed Mercedes-Benz SL and a Jaguar E-Type roadster. That Jaguar has been consigned to Bonhams Monaco auction scheduled for May 13, the auction house has announced.
The car has been consigned to the sale by Fredy Zurbrügg, the young chef who fed McQueen’s Solar Productions film crew during the shoot.
“For many years I had no idea that I owned something so valuable,” Zurbrügg, now approaching age 80, is quoted in the Bonhams announcement.
When the movie crew was wrapping up its work in France, McQueen reportedly told the young chef to choose any of the actor’s fleet. At the time, Zurbrügg chose the Jaguar, even though he didn’t have a driver’s license. He got one that fall in France, on his second attempt, and thus could drive the car back to Switzerland.
“I decided on the silver Jaguar, a convertible E-Type Series II with only 600 miles on the speedo,” Zurbrügg recalled. “It was a US version because it was supposed to be shipped back to America.”
Jaguar had delivered the new Series II 4.2-liter roadster to the Solar movie production set in Le Mans. After 52 years of ownership, Zurbrügg will part with the car, which Bonhams expects to bring €250,000 to €350,000 ($282,710 to $395,800) at the auction, being held during the Monaco Historics race weekend.
As a young chef, Zurbrügg had been hired by Le Mans production manager Hubert Fröhlich to feed the film crew for the portion of the James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, filmed in Switzerland.
Bonhams reports that Fröhlich was very pleased with the young chef and hired him for the Solar compound during Le Mans, where Zurbrügg fed 800 cast and crew and where he invented a special dish, the “Steve Steak” for the movie’s star.
When McQueen gifted the car to Zurbrügg, it’s odometer showed 600 miles. It’s being offered in unrestored condition after being driven less than 46,000 miles.
Zurbrügg recalls driving the car back to Switzerland and telling the customs officer at the border, “I had the Jaguar and two crates of cognac to declare.”
So, will the McQueen magic strike again?
The Porsche 911S that McQueen drove in the opening sequences of the moviesold for $1.38 million in 2011, and the racing suit he wore in the movie brought for nearly $1 million at auction.
Nice tip!