The King of Cool, Steve McQueen, remains to this day one of the highest-earning dead celebrities and the fact that he was able to put together an impressive 60+-car collection has a lot to do with it. McQueen’s cars always sell for big bucks, both because of their rarity and celebrity pedigree.
Here’s another example that will probably fetch a lot of money, even though it’s slightly less famous than other cars he drove. His 1952 Chevrolet 3800, with a custom-built camper on it, has emerged for sale again. Since the actor’s death in 1980, it changed hands several times, fetching $60,500 at an auction in 2015.
It is now listed with Legendary Motorcar Company from Ontario, Canada, with an “inquire for price” note. That alone should tell you that it’s not cheap.
This pickup didn’t just belong to the King of Cool: it’s actually the last car he ever drove and was an all-time favorite. He bought it in the ‘70s off the side of the road and it already had a “Dust Tite” camper put in by Harold Van Hoosen, so he used it to travel across country. Before flying to Juarez, Mexico, to have surgery to remove tumors from his neck and abdomen, he drove it from his home in Santa Paula to the airport.
The listing notes that Reverend Billy Graham was a passenger on the ride, and McQueen kept peppering him with questions about the afterlife. He’d already been given the incurable cancer diagnosis and had been warned his heart could not handle surgery at that point, so the tumors were inoperable. “See you in heaven,” McQueen told the Reverend when they parted. He died at the hospital several days later.
The one-ton pickup could reach top speeds of 90 mph, and comes with all the documentation proving its previous ownership, including three pink slips McQueen got, certification from the Steve McQueen Estate, and 1959 California license plates. It’s painted in Forest Green and includes a step-side long-bed, and comes with the original 6-cylinder engine with a 4-speed manual transmission.
“This 1952 Chevrolet 3800 Pickup is very unique in so many ways… for the collector given the provenance of the iconic McQueen ownership or perhaps for the Chevy enthusiast that is yearning to explore the vast beauty of America just as Steve McQueen had done,” the listing notes.
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