Formerly owned by Steve McQueen
c.1970 Bell Motorcycle Helmet
• A gift from Steve McQueen to Edison Dye
• Featuring Solar Productions logo
Bell helmets' owner/designer Roy Richter – out of a shop in Bell, California - offered his first fiberglass open-face helmet in the mid-1950s. His next benchmark helmet in his pursuance of car and motorcycle racer safety was the 500-TX, now with a polystyrene liner for which he earned an Excellence of Design Award from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1968, Bell's first full-face helmet was launched, known as the Bell Star, by Dan Gurney at the Indianapolis 500. In 1971 the full-face Moto 3 was offered to motorcyclists. Steve McQueen joined Gurney and Evel Knievel in wearing a Bell helmet, naturally. The well-worn white Bell on offer is one of McQueen's supported by a letter from Husqvarna importer Edison Dye referencing it.
