From The Great Escape to Bullitt: Steve McQueen celebrated at Rétromobile
A landmark Steve McQueen exhibition will form a centrepiece of Rétromobile 2026, showcasing the bikes and cars that blurred the line between Hollywood stardom and real-world racing.
Rétromobile 2026 is set to celebrate one of motorsport and cinema’s most enduring icons, with a major Steve McQueen exhibition marking the show’s 50th anniversary.
Hosted in Hall 7.2, the retrospective focuses squarely on McQueen’s lifelong obsession with fast motorcycles and fast cars, bringing together machines that shaped both his screen persona and real-world racing life.
Focusing on the bikes, at the centre of the display is the 1961 Triumph TR6, best known for its role in The Great Escape. Though the famous fence jump was performed by Bud Ekins, the bike symbolises McQueen’s credibility on two wheels and his insistence on authenticity.
Also featured is the 1971 Husqvarna 400 Cross, a serious competition classic MX bike that McQueen regularly raced. He was riding a Husky when he injured his foot shortly before finishing second at the 1970 Sebring 12 Hours, underlining just how deeply intertwined racing was with his life. Anything else was just waiting, after all.
Less well known but equally important is the 1971 Honda 250 SRM, a rare factory-built racing motorcycle that reflects McQueen’s taste for specialist machinery rather than showpieces.
From his ISDT ambitions come several historically significant Triumphs. The exhibition includes examples of the six factory Triumphs prepared for the 1963 ISDT, along with a 1963 Triumph N13 Bud Ekins Desert Sled, a machine built for hard desert riding and closely linked to McQueen’s formative off-road years. Also on show is a Triumph TR6 SC, the model he campaigned at the 1964 ISDT in East Germany.
Rounding out the motorcycle line-up is one of the 300 examples of the 1966 Triumph Rickman Métisse Mk3, a lightweight, high-performance special that perfectly captures McQueen’s taste for race-bred engineering.
Four wheels are represented too, with the exhibition featuring McQueen’s cinematic icon, the 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback GT 390 from Bullitt. Displayed alongside it will be the villain’s Dodge Charger from the same film. Together, the two four-wheeled stars will recreate one of cinema’s most influential and iconic car chases in cinematic history.
Completing the story is McQueen’s endurance racer, the Porsche 908-02 Spyder, the car he drove to second place at Sebring in 1970, proving that behind the Hollywood cool was a genuine racer who took machinery seriously.
Held at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Rétromobile 2026 runs from January 28 to February 1, with opening hours set from 10 am to 7 pm on Wednesday and Sunday, extended to 10 am to 8.30 pm on Thursday and Saturday, and running late until 10 pm on Friday. Tickets are available in advance for €20 until January 21, after which single-entry prices are €22 when purchased online or €25 on the door, while entry remains free for children under 12.
More information can be found on the official website.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!