Advertising Last completed movie pages Triumph TR 6 Trophy as WW2 BMWClass: Bikes, Road — Model origin: 
02:18:59 ![[*]](/res/star.png){kind=small}
Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase
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◊ 2006-11-13 01:41 |
the bike was here as Triumph T6, but I seriously doubt, that German soldiers were riding Triumphs... |
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◊ 2006-11-13 02:00 |
Its is a Triumph T6. I think it was used so it could do the stunts. |
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◊ 2006-11-14 00:18 |
Well, McQueen did most of the stunts. The most famous jump over the barbed wire was done by a guy named Bud Elkins (since the studio didn't want to risk their big star). On the other hand, he also rode as one of the German soliders, so that he was basically chasing himself. |
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◊ 2007-01-23 01:34 |
Well, Hilts (McQueen's character) was wearing a German uniform for a while, but he also rode in the group of German soldiers (as an anonymous German soldier). As I said, he was techincally chasing himself. |
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◊ 2007-05-11 00:25 |
why? The nazis could get anything they pleased. If they wanted the bike they just had to make the factory give them the bike. Im not sure of the fact that they actually drove this but, they could easily get 'em |
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◊ 2007-05-11 00:28 |
Aziz has said it's a 1960s model, and in any case Triumph was British, so the Nazis couldn't "make the factory give them the bike". |
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◊ 2011-01-17 06:50 |
lol yeah but given the case if it was of the period and its clearly a 60's bike maybe an officer had one shipped over before the war started but un likley but there again alot of people think BMW stands for British motor works i call these people morons. |
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◊ 2011-11-13 21:23 |
does anyone know what happened to the bike after filming? |
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◊ 2012-08-17 04:31 |
No, he doesn't. McQueen was so fast that the other stunt rider couldn't keep pace with him, so they switched costumes and had McQueen chase him instead. |
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◊ 2013-07-26 00:22 |
No. |
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◊ 2013-08-28 02:16 |
![[Image: greatescapetriumphspeed61.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/12767/greatescapetriumphspeed61.jpg) 2:11:29 ![[Image: greatescapetriumphspeed62.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/12767/greatescapetriumphspeed62.jpg) 2:11:38 ![[Image: greatescapetriumphspeed63.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/12767/greatescapetriumphspeed63.jpg) 2:12:46 -- Last edit: 2013-08-28 02:21:40 |
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◊ 2013-10-07 23:23 |
Per Wikipedia and other sources, this is a Triumph TR6. Is that the same as a Speed Twin? Made up to look like a BMW R75, which was a motorcycle produced by Germany in WWII. -- Last edit: 2013-10-07 23:24:07 |
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◊ 2015-01-10 19:24 |
He also worked in "Bullitt" /vehicle_165279-BSA-Lightning-A65L-1968.html -- Last edit: 2015-01-10 19:25:33 |
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◊ 2015-09-13 17:12 |
![[Image: steve-mcqueen-triumph-tr6-the-great-escape.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/3321/steve-mcqueen-triumph-tr6-the-great-escape.jpg) |
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◊ 2015-09-13 17:22 |
"cosmetically modified 1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy" according to some not necessarily reputable sources. Change? |
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◊ 2016-04-09 23:24 |
The bike used by Ekins (for McQueen) in the movie almost seems to warrant a book in its own right. According to the man himself, in conversation with writer William Nolan, see Mcqueenonline.com: 'I was running a TT Special 650 Triumph. We painted it olive drab and put on a luggage rack and an old seat to make it look like a wartime BMW. We couldn't use a real BMW (whose)...rigid frames couldn't take the punishment'. thegreatescapelocations.com tells us filming took place around the town of Fussen, some 100+km from the Swiss border. Meanwhile, popular belief, Suzi Perry, Jay Leno et al, not to mention the ever reliable mirror.co.uk has it that the machine used was a (1962/63) Bonneville - which McQueen bought in 1971 (through Solar Productions) and had modified by Ekins...so he could use it in the desert. The bike, ostensibly, featured in Bonhams' Las Vegas sale on 7 Jan 16 (Lot 121) as a '1963 Triumph Bonneville Desert Sled' (sic) realising USD103,500. About the only recognisable part of that bike as compared with 'WH-13371' is the petrol tank. Notably, the twin-downtube duplex frame (more like an A10 frame than a contemporary Triumph part) of the film bike has gone. In one or two 'Great Escape' publicity shots, painted over tank lining (as if from a 1950s AJS Model 20, say) is visible. But 'TT Special 650 Triumph'? The late Malcolm Uphill's later Production TT-winning machine, for instance, again appeared to have a different frame design from the bike McQueen rode. Having earlier argued the case for an anachronistic Speed Twin, about the only part from that model appears to be the front mudguard. Nonetheless, if that's what the great actor said it was.. The late Lord Attenborough's memory of being taken for a ride by his friend, and duly getting the Living Daylights scared out him will endure. Hope 'Dickie' was wearing a helmet for the bumpy ride. Just as well the bike had swinging arm rear suspension. -- Last edit: 2017-03-05 17:20:56 |
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◊ 2022-12-09 20:42 |
According to Corgi it's a Triumph Trophy TR6 "To mark the 60th Anniversary of The Great Escape movie, we will produce a 1/12th scale die-cast of the Triumph Trophy TR6 ridden by Captain Virgil Hilts 'The Cooler King'. During production planning for the movie, one of the stars convinced producers to include a motorcycle chase as part of the main prisoner escape story. The actor recommended the services of a stuntman and US motorcycling legend, who just happened to be a Triumph devotee and the biggest Triumph dealer in the world at that time. A standard production road bike was modified and made to look like a wartime German BMW motorcycle. Initially wearing German uniform, Hilts was challenged by German troops and unable to reply in German, escaped at high speed and reached the Swiss border with the tantalising view of the Alps in the background highlighting how close he was to freedom. With German troops now closing in, Hilts used the motorcycle to jump the first of two tall barbed wire fences between him and his escape, but as he attempted the second, higher fence, his bike was hit by machine gun fire and he slid into the barbed wire, so it was captivity and back to the cooler for Hilts. As for the actual filming, the US stunt rider was engaged for just two days in planning and setting up this sequence and the fence jump scene itself was completed in a single take. After filming, the TR6 was sold to a Norfolk farmer, who apparently used it for cattle herding. After his death many years later, his family discovered the bike languishing in a barn in rather a sorry state and didn't give the matter another thought. Initially considered to be lost forever, a Triumph expert and collector later decided he was going to try and find this famous motorcycle and following extensive research, turned up at the farm. A deal was struck and it was taken away to undergo a 15-year restoration to its Great Escape configuration. It is now exhibited at the Triumph Motorcycles Factory Visitor Experience facility." |
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