 Mike with Neile McQueen Adams. Today I had the honor of attending Bud Ekins' Memorial at the Warner Brothers Studios.
Last week, I spoke with Sean Kelly, a family
friend of the Ekins family, and co-coordinator of the event. I told
Sean that I would like to attend the memorial, and if possible
bring my 68. Sean told me arrangements had already been
made with Dave Kunz to have his car on display, however, to check
back with him on the day of the memorial just in case Dave
could not make it. So when I called Sean this morning he
told me to go ahead, bring my car, and to be there before
12:30. As I drove on the Hollywood Freeway towards the Barham off
ramp, I got a couple of "thumbs up" from other drivers.
I arrived at Warner Brothers Gate 4 at
11:15 finding the gate closed and unattended. There I was
alone in my 68 fastback wondering if I had gone to the wrong gate.
Suddenly, a group of people on Triumph motorcycles and inside their
personal cars pulled up behind my car. One of them
approached me and said, "when we saw your car
pull in, we knew this was the place." Shortly there
afterwords, I was instructed to drive my car to Gate 2, where I was
escorted to the memorial location on the lot.
Upon arriving on the "set," I saw
Dave Kunz's car already staged on the side walk. This was very
cool! I was asked to park my car in the same fashion, next to
Dave's. After doing so, I was hoping to see Dave, however he had
already left the lot in order to attend another pre-scheduled event.
Nearly 800+ people were in attendance,
including Chad McQueen, Neile (McQueen) Adams, and Jay Leno. Members
of the the Ekins' family, and their friends all recalled wonderful
memories of this motorcycle and movie/stuntman icon.
In his honor, a twenty minute video was shown chronicling
Bud's live, and how he made Steve McQueen look even cooler!
Afterwords, quests gathered on the lot
to enjoy food and drink. Many drove their own Triumph
motorcycles in tribute to Bud.
Both Dave's car and mine attracted a
lot of attention, including that of Chad McQueen. I watched
as Chad walked up to my car. I could see a big smile on his
face when I introduced myself, and invited him to sit in the drivers
seat. I smiled as Chad grabbed the leather wrapped steering wheel,
pushed in the clutch, and moved the stick shift. He asked me
how long I owned the car, and if its original color was Highland
Green. When I told him that I had owned the car for
over 30 years, and it was a San Jose built car, Los Angeles DSO, R-code
Highland Green, Chad remarked, "you did my Dad
proud...great job."
Chad and I then talked little bit about the 2008
Bullitt. He told me he really likes the new car, and that he is
taking delivery of VIN # 2 in January.
I later met Chad's mother, Neile (McQueen)
Adams. She told me she loves the 68, and new 2008. She's a real
neat lady, and I enjoyed talking with her!
I have attached some photos. The
pictures show how the event looked, including Dave's car and mine parked
on the lot. (My car is the one with the non-turn signal hood, and
larger wheel clearance.)
I also included photos of Chad
sitting in my car along with a picture of me with him.
|
|
|
|
Back to Bullit main page