This Triumph Scrambler 1200 Steve McQueen Edition is due to be sold in mid-August to raise money for The Boys Republic, a non-profit treatment community for troubled young people located in Chino Hills, California.
Steve McQueen himself was a 1946 alumnus of The Boys Republic, he later credited the organization with turning his life around and setting him on the path to his later success as one of the most famous actors in the world.
McQueen was always fond of his Triumph motorcycles, he raced them in events like the brutal 1964 International Six Days Trial and he was a regular sight in 1960s-era desert races in southern California aboard his modified Triumph TR6. He would use the pseudonym Harvey Mushman when racing so as not to alert people of who he was – he just wanted to race and not receive any special treatment.
Triumph based the styling of this version of the 1200 Scrambler on the disguised Triumph that had been painted with German markings for the famous border fence jumping scene in The Great Escape. McQueen had wanted to do this stunt himself, and in the film it certainly looks like he does, however the risk was deemed too great and a stuntman was used in his place – the stuntman was McQueen’s old friend Bud Ekins.
The Triumph Scrambler 1200 Steve McQueen Edition
The Triumph Scrambler 1200 Steve McQueen Edition was released in 2021 with a number of updates over the high-end version of the Scrambler 1200 XE that was originally been released back in 2019 to an overwhelmingly positive response.
Triumph worked on developing the specifications of this model with McQueen’s family, it’s officially licensed by them of course, and if you want the highest optioned Triumph Scrambler this is the one you’ll go for.
Triumph are going to build just 1,000 examples of this bike for global markets, though its probably safe to assume that the majority of them will sell in Europe, the UK, the USA, and Australia.
Above Image: The Steve McQueen Edition comes fully equipped for dual sport riding, it’s the most highly specified version of the 1200 Scrambler on offer in 2021.
Unlike the earlier Triumph Scrambler from 2006 the newer 1200 version is a genuine dual sport adventure bike designed to be capable off road as well as on. Competition in the retro scrambler section of the motorcycle market has been hotting up in recent years with some excellent offerings from Ducati, BMW, and Moto Guzzi.
Triumph was the company that kicked this modern scrambler movement off back in 2006 and so perhaps it’s fitting that they be the ones to kick off a new sub-genre – retro adventure bikes.
The 1200 Scrambler is powered by a 1200cc parallel twin engine with liquid cooling, multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection, 8 valves, a single overhead cam, a 270° crank angle, and a 6-speed transmission. This engine produces 89 hp at 7,400 rpm and 81 lb ft of torque at 3,950 rpm, and the bike tips the scales at 456 lbs (207 kgs) dry.
The Scrambler 1200 Steve McQueen Edition Shown Here
The McQueen Scrambler you see here carries the serial number 0278, the same as the number plate used by McQueen when he competed in the International Six Days Trial (ISDT) back in 1964. The bike is due to be offered by Mecum in mid-August and as mentioned above, the proceeds from the sale will go to benefit The Boys Republic.
The winning bidder will also be invited to attend the annual dinner of the Steve McQueen Car and Motorcycle Show as a guest of honor at Boys Republic on October the 2nd, 2021.
If you’d like to read more about this bike or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
