California dreamin’

“I helped them design it, so I’m kinda proud of that,” Steve McQueen once said of the classic Meyers Manx Dune Buggy belonging to his on-screen character Thomas Crown in the 1968 flick The Thomas Crown Affair. “It’s set on a big Volkswagen chassis with big ol’ wide weenies – big wide tyres on mag wheels, Corvair engine stuffed in the back. It’s packing about 230 horses and weighs about a thousand pounds.”

Together with Pete Condos of Con-Ferr, McQueen extensively modified Crown’s dune buggy to ensure it made a lasting impression. And make a lasting impression it certainly did – in fact, the Manx played such a prominent role that for many people, it actually made the film. Now, Bonhams – which has already sold the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and McQueen’s iconic Persol sunglasses from The Thomas Crown Affair – will offer this dinky piece of Hollywood history at its Amelia Island auction next March. Expect fireworks – and potentially Faye Dunaway – when it crosses the block in Florida. 

Photos: Bonhams