Steve McQueen and Lotus: Anti Hero & Cool Cars<\/strong><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n Our series on celebrities and Lotus has been constructed as prism to interpret Lotus and its brand status. Celebrity ownership helps sell cars.<\/p>\n Steve Mcqueen is perhaps slightly more significant in the fact he owned and raced a Lotus. This might have had an importance in his development of race craft and perhaps influenced other racers embrace the brand.<\/p>\n Braunstein:-<\/p>\n “for film fans and car enthusiasts alike, SM represents the ultimate combination of actor and racing driver .in the film Bullitt <\/em> in 1968 he took part in the most famous car case in the history of cinema and three years later in le mans <\/em>[1971] he starred in and produced \u2013what has come to be known as the most realistic film ever made on motor racing \u2026……..<\/p>\n For McQueen, a passion for machines ran through his blood ”<\/p>\n Subscribers are invited to see our piece on Sellers\/Ekland in order to gain the fullest interpretation of celebrity and Lotus cars connection .Here we provide momentum and interpretation that helps explain the other subjects in the series.<\/p>\n Subscribers might like to see the directly relevant and integrated A&R pieces that complement and help structure this article:-<\/p>\n Terence Steven “Steve” McQueen<\/strong> (March 24, 1930 \u2013 November 7, 1980) was an American actor. [ from wiki and net ]<\/p>\n “He was called “The King of Cool”, his “anti-hero<\/a>” persona developed at the height of the counterculture of the 1960s<\/a> and made him a top box-office draw of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award<\/a> nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles<\/em><\/a>. His other popular films include The Cincinnati Kid<\/em><\/a>, The Thomas Crown Affair<\/em><\/a>, Bullitt<\/em><\/a>, The Getaway<\/em><\/a>, and Papillon<\/em><\/a>, as well as the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven<\/em><\/a>, The Great Escape<\/em><\/a>, and The Towering Inferno<\/em><\/a>. In 1974, he became the highest-paid movie star in the world, although he did not act in films again for four years. McQueen was combative with directors<\/a> and producers<\/a>, but his popularity placed him in high demand and enabled him to command large salaries”.[<\/sup>citation needed<\/a><\/sup><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n Anti-Hero<\/strong><\/p>\n “Steve McQueen personified the \u201canti-hero\u201d in Hollywood at a time when the emerging counterculture in America was challenging the very definition of what a true \u201chero\u201d is. \u00a0Maybe a better way to look at it is\u2013 heroism is an act. \u00a0To live an idealistic, heroic life without fault is ultimately impossible. \u00a0We all struggle with aligning our beliefs and goals in life with what is truly right. \u00a0The fact is there are grey areas that we have to be honest about. \u00a0We saw the good and bad in McQueen, and loved him anyway\u2013 in fact, we loved him for it. \u00a0He was honest about who he was.<\/p>\n We all know McQueen raced cars and motorcycles, but his story goes a lot deeper than that. \u00a0His father abandoned him and his alcoholic mother when he was just six-months-old. \u00a0Steve locked horns with his new stepfather, whom he called \u201ca prime son of a bitch\u201d. \u00a0He struggled with dyslexia in school and was partially deaf. \u00a0The young McQueen soon fell in with a street gang, and ran away from home at 14, joining the circus for a short time,\u00a0and was eventually turned over to the California Junior Boys Republic in\u00a0Chino Hills, California. \u00a0McQueen later worked in a brothel, on an oil rigger\u2013 and was even a lumberjack.\u00a0When he was old enough he enlisted in the U.S.M.C., went AWOL and spent 41 days in the brig. \u00a0McQueen decided then and there to embrace the Marines\u2019 discipline and beliefs and better himself. He did just that and later saved the lives of five other Marines during an Arctic exercise, pulling them from a tank before it broke through ice into the sea. \u00a0In 1950, McQueen was eventually honorably discharged.<\/p>\n After the Marines, McQueen used his G.I. Bill to study acting at Sanford Meisner\u2019s Neighborhood Playhouse.\u00a0He brought home extra dough by competing in weekend motorcycle races at Long Island City Raceway. \u00a0His big break came in 1958 when he landed the role of the\u00a0bounty hunter,\u00a0Josh Randall, in\u00a0Wanted: Dead or Alive<\/em>. \u00a0Steve McQueen became a household name, and his image as the anti-hero was forged through his character\u2019s detached, mysterious, and unconventional ways\u2013 like carrying a sawed-off\u00a0Winchester rifle,\u00a0the \u201cMare\u2019s Leg\u201d, instead of typical\u00a0six-gun carried by other gunslingers. Hollywood soon came calling, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n All this from a kid born into what many would consider a throw-away life”<\/p>\n The Lotus Eleven<\/strong><\/p>\n Mcqueen’s selection of the Lotus Eleven is significant. Being competitive and perhaps doing his own work alerted him to the fact that the Eleven offered him the greatest prospect of success. There were other choices.<\/p>\n The results he achieved are an indication of their combined skill:<\/p>\n Year: 1959 Results from net:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n