Hollywood, McQueen, replica Jag XKSS…
Steve McQueen had an XKSS and LA at his feet. Well, if it was good enough for him…
2019 JAGUAR XKSS REPLICA
WHO ARE WE fooling? Nobody! But once in Hollywood there lived a Jaguar XKSS and an actor named Steve McQueen. My friend Paul has a fantastic XKSS replica. We have LA at our disposal. Cue the chance to play McQueen in 1960s Hollywood.
He lived at the top of Nichols Canyon Road on a short street called Solar Drive. It overlooks the whole of the city, and yes, that’s the same Solar that gave his production company its name. It’s early Sunday morning as we pull up and attempt – quietly – to back the XKSS into the driveway. As quietly as its 4.2-litre straight-six (on triple Webers, with 328bhp and open sidepipes) will allow. Not the same as the original XKSS spec, though the engine looks right, with D-type cam covers, even though it’s a later type, built to fast-road spec and running those Webers with original-style aluminium radiator and oil cooler.
The residents are asleep. If we get caught we’ll have no reasonable excuse for our behaviour. I mime ‘Action’, Paul pulls out from the driveway and I click the shutter. We heave a sigh of relief; now it’s time for the real action. Only a few early morning walkers are about, we nod, they nod… nice car. Just made for Los Angeles. Made for the canyons! We dive down Nichols Canyon to Sunset Boulevard. The exhaust echoes off the hills. No worries about waking the neighbours now.
Along Sunset to Laurel Canyon Boulevard, not another car in
sight, we take a right and head west towards Beverly Hills, Past Chateau Marmont, Sunset Plaza, Tower Records, The Whiskey. McQueen visited Chateau Marmont, one of the oldest hotels in Hollywood. It’s been around for more than 90 years, steeped in tales of debauchery. The King of Cool may even have grabbed a coffee on a Sunday morning not so different from today. We grab a shot out front, then take advantage again of the lack of traffic. Los Angeles is hardly ever so quiet. I look through the camera and see only the XKSS.
Mind you, it’s still early, the air is cool, the sun is just starting to crest the mountains. Time for Mulholland Drive, at the top of Laurel Canyon. This is the same Laurel Canyon Boulevard where Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills and Nash all lived; we pass Jim Morrison’s house, and
Harry Houdini’s. The road surface is part concrete, part asphalt, but mostly cracks and bumps.
I once asked Neile Adams, McQueen’s wife, what she thought of his XKSS: ‘Steve used to fly up and down Laurel Canyon, passing cars in the oncoming lane, he drove way too fast, always messing my hair up.’
Mulholland is a two-lane road along the mountain crest that divides Los Angeles from the San Fernando Valley. It’s known for its high-rise views and racetrack twist and turns; it’s rumoured that, back in the day, McQueen and his buddies would meet at midnight and race until 4am. We’re taking it easier, but as I shoot along the ridge I can hear the Jag’s straightsix beating away. It sounds as beautiful as the XKSS looks.
We head to Musso and Frank’s, the oldest grill in Hollywood, there since 1919. This is old-world
Hollywood at its best: waiters in red sport coats, high ceilings and hardwood walls, vodka Martinis. The story goes that one night McQueen and Charles Bukowski got drunk here and into a fight, before being driven home by the bartender after his shift.
Even if you’re famous you eventually have to go to work. Paramount studios. Those giant gates at the Melrose entrance. We take Hollywood Boulevard, past Mann’s Chinese Theatre to Gower Street, left onto Melrose. I park across the street with camera, Paul pretends he’s famous and pulls up to the gate… even with an XKSS, you need a pass to get in.
Paul’s XKSS replica was fabricated by Shapecraft in the UK using an original short-nose D-type wooden buck. The body is 100% handmade and takes up to 3000 hours to complete. He’s had it here in LA for almost a year; it’s as close as you can get to the real thing for the money – a fraction of the cost of one of the 16 originals from 1957. Just like Hollywood, it’s all about the dream. Yeah, we were fooling no-one.