Elvis fans and film fans both treasure a photograph from around 1963. Two men stand on a California back road beside a Triumph motorcycle, leather jackets on, helmets in hand. One is Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. The other is Steve McQueen — the actor from The Great Escape and Bullitt, nicknamed the King of Cool.
They were the two most effortlessly cool men in America, and they were genuinely into the same thing.
McQueen’s love of bikes was not an act. He raced competitively in the Mojave Desert alongside professional riders, and did many of his own stunts. Elvis had been riding since his Memphis days. So when the two of them met in Hollywood, they had something to talk about that had nothing to do with either of their careers.
Steve McQueen Challenged Elvis To A Motorcycle Race — What Happened Next Became Legend
Elvis’s own obsession went further than most people realize. In 1965, a friend rode a new Triumph T120 Bonneville over to his Bel Air house. Elvis borrowed it for a spin, came back, and immediately told his transport manager to buy one for every man in his crew — that night. Seven were delivered before the evening was out, and the whole group rode around Bel Air until neighbors called the police. Graceland’s archives later turned up nine canceled cheques signed by Elvis, confirming a story fans had doubted for decades.
Elvis Presley’s Motorcycle Collection | Rare Photos
A word of caution, though, because there is a story doing the rounds online about a midnight race between the two men through the Hollywood Hills in March 1963. It is a great story. There is no evidence it happened. Treat it as internet folklore.
What is documented is far messier and more human. In the early 1970s, Elvis and McQueen pursued the same woman—the model and actress Barbara Leigh. She was involved with both of them at the same time, and she wrote about it herself. McQueen’s biographer Marshall Terrill has discussed the rivalry openly.
So the real story is not a race. It is two men at the absolute peak of their fame who liked the same motorcycles and wanted the same girl. Which, if anything, is cooler.