Steve McQueen and the 1964 ISDT team

Jeff Waller is, by his own admission, a huge fan of Steve McQueen and when a picture of the American team which competed in the 1964 ISDT came into his possession he set out to find all about it.

We are often asked: “Where were you when…?” which usually refers to where were you when President Kennedy or Winston Churchill died. It seems a bit of a silly question when you were probably watching the TV news or reading the newspaper headlines at home.

But for me, my “where were you” question came when I was listening to the car radio on the night of November 30, 1980. I was travelling with my second son Simon from Oxford on the A43 to Northampton and M1 to Leicester and home to Desford after leaving my eldest son Jason and his mum, Deirdre, at Ratcliffe Infirmary. Jason was there after a serious spinal operation.

The nine o’clock news came on and the announcer said: “We have just heard of the death of Hollywood actor Steve McQueen at the age of just 50.” He suffered from the mesothelioma cancer commonly caused by contact with asbestos (most probably while doing his national service). He died in a specialist clinic in Mexico that was called into controversy.

I felt the car slow down a bit and, already feeling low after leaving Jason who quite possibly may not walk again, my eyes moistened. Simon said: “What’s the matter, Dad?” “My all-time hero has just died, Simon,” I replied.

My following of Steve started in 1960 with the film ‘The Magnificent Seven’. Most fans had to wait another three years for the famous movie, ‘The Great Escape’. But before that he was getting very popular with the TV series, ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’ a 1958 cowboy series about a bounty hunter. Before that he starred in a flop film called ‘The Blob’ and before that, in 1955, came a very small part in ‘Gunsmoke’ which starred James Arness.

But it was The Great Escape that really raised his profile, even if, many years later, it was disclosed that his close friend Bud Ekins actually performed the famous jump for which the film and McQueen are always remembered. Bud asked Steve if he fancied doing the ISDT the following year in Eastern Germany – “if we can get a team together”.

The ISDT was classed as the motorbike equivalent of the Olympics with international teams of five riders travelling at very high speeds over very rough countryside for six days with points being lost for late arrivals at checkpoints. Punctures were the biggest problem while engine breakdowns causing failure to finish on any day resulted in elimination. At that time Great Britain had won more events and gold medals than any other country and the US had not even entered the ISDT yet.

Fast forward 19 years and, around 1985, I read an advert in the motorcycle press with ‘Steve McQueen memorabilia for sale’. I rang the number and drove down to Reading to meet the advertiser. He had been to Las Vegas for the Steve McQueen auction when Steve’s children Chad and Terry decided to sell most of their father’s collection of cars, bikes and other items; he had had the intention of buying one of McQueen’s bikes but, of course, everything went for much higher prices than anyone could imagine so he purchased just a few smaller items.

I bought from him a brass wire soap dish that Steve was reported to have stolen during his time as a kleptomaniac, stealing for the fun of getting away with it. I also bought a made-up photo frame of nine pictures. One of the images was of the American 1964 ISDT team. You couldn’t mistake Steve of course, but who were the others? Some time later I wrote to one of the classic motorcycle magazines for help but the reply was: “We are a young team and that was a long time ago.” This frame sits in my office and I would often look at it and wonder...

Then, about four years ago, I was exchanging emails with VMCC member and Ariel specialist Jim

Lee. I sent Jim a picture of Steve collecting a Triumph motorcycle from the factory in Meriden, Warwickshire. Jim asked where I got the photo and I replied it was from my collection of Steve McQueen stuff. Then Jim told me: “I registered that bike for Steve.” Steve had arrived to collect it and wanted to ride it down the road but the motorcycle wasn’t road legal. So the bosses sent Jim to register it and it returned with the number plate BNX 822B. It’s now in his collection!

Renewing my interest I started to get some Pinterest pictures of Steve and gathering more for my collection. (If you’ve not heard of Pinterest, it’s an image sharing and social media service which enables you to find and save information on the internet using images. If that still sounds confusing, think of it as a huge pinboard on which you can save and pin images you like.)

Then, three years ago on my last visit to the United Kingdom from my home in Alicante, I visited my very old friend George Beale

(he of the Honda six replicas and a world renowned specialist in classic motorcycles), and on his garage wall was a picture of Steve McQueen. “Are you a fan?” I asked, which is a silly question as we all are. I mentioned the ISDT team photo and George asked for a copy, promising that he would see what he could find out.

Pinterest kept sending me more and more pictures but very little in terms of information – often there were no names associated with a photo. As you can imagine, this was frustrating. Then one day a photo arrived that was not only accompanied by a caption but also a story. And one photo actually gave names… I hit that ‘save’ button at the speed of light! The attached story was by Bud Ekins’ brother Dave and had been published in 2009. I now knew that the members of the team were, in addition to Steve and Bud, John Steen, Cliff Coleman and Dave Ekins.

But one mystery was that there were five members of the 1964 US ISDT team but there were six people in the photo. I returned to Dave Ekins’ story and he recalled how they had landed in London and then gone to the Matchless factory and then on to Triumph to look at the ISDT machines they were going to use. Both Dave and Bud noted that they didn’t look too impressive and seemed very heavy – they found out later how true that was when they saw the British team’s bikes.

While in Birmingham they visited one of Bud’s friends from the past,

WE ‘Ted’ Wassell, to ask for help. Ted, you may recall, was a builder of many a trials bike of his own design, using a proprietary engine such as Puch and others. Today the business is still operating, mainly a spares operation for all his bikes and general spares. From Dave’s writings I believe that Ted is the sixth man in the photo as he became the US Team’s FIM Representative in East Germany. Gotcha!

Now, who was that lady in the picture? Bud had his arm round her shoulder in my picture. Were they close? Was it Ted’s wife?

Back to Dave Ekins and another photo came to light of Bud once again with an arm around a lady’s waist this time. But, before that, we have the only other picture of the team in their official team clothes that I’ve ever seen.

In January of 2021 George was off to America for an auction and he promised to see what he could find out about my picture, but, before he went, I sent him a copy of

Dave’s photo. “George, have a look at my picture again and then look at this one,” I said. “Do you think this could be the same lady?”

Back came the reply. “Yes, I think it is and it is Bud’s wife, Betty Towne, she died in 1996.”

Not that I don't trust George of course, but I’ve been a member of Ancestry.co.uk for years so I checked on there and, indeed, Betty Gene Towne was born in 1929, married James S Ekins in 1951 and passed away in 1996. Gotcha again!

So I have finished a 30-year search with a good ending. As well as Steve crashing out on the Wednesday in the ISDT, so did Bud. John Steen and Cliff Coleman went on to win gold medals while Dave won bronze. Dave, incidentally, went on to win gold in 1966 in Sweden on a Zundapp and another bronze in West Germany, riding in five ISDTs in total.

Not bad for a ‘fun’ rider!

The Triumph that Steve had wanted to pick up from the factory but that had to be registered first…

The team photo which captured Jeff's imagination – the tall guy in the centre is Bud Ekins and he is pointing at Steve McQueen on the left, but who was everyone else?

This was a montage of Steve McQueen photos that Jeff bought that included the photo of the ISDT team.

Jeff, 40 years after Steve McQueen’s death but still a fan and pointing at a photo of the man in Alicante that’s replicated on his T-shirt.

The American team smartly attired in their official jackets.

…and bearing the BNX 822B registration plate as provided by Jim Lee!

The Ekins brothers, Steve and John Steen – and is that Ted Wassell on the right?

Tall like his brother, this is Dave Ekins on a 250cc NSU Max in 1954.

Steve McQueen and John Steen at the Triumph factory – note that Steve is on his newly registered motorcycle.

Jeff couldn’t afford a motorcycle but does own this soap dish ‘liberated’ by Steve McQueen.

Jeff would have liked to have bought this cast iron toy car which was sold in the 1985 McQueen estate sale in Las Vegas but he couldn’t afford £100 at the time. It’s probably worth a bit more now...

The soap dish’s certificate of authenticity.

It was this clipping from the Motorcycle Journal of July 14, 1964 that allowed Jeff to name the first American team to enter the International Six Days Trials. Left to right: Dave Ekins, Bud Ekins, Steve McQueen, Cliff Coleman. The fifth team member, John Steen, is not pictured.