Escape The Museum!

If there’s one film scene which everyone remembers it’s the bike chase in The Great Escape. After dozens of failed escape attempts ‘The Cooler King’, played by the inimitable Steve McQueen, finally makes it to within sight of freedom. He roars across the countryside on his stolen “BMW” pursued by a hoard of manic Nazi motorcyclists intent on his death.

However, with the demands of the famous “jump over the wire” scene there was no way that the “correct” Wehrmacht BMWs with their low power flat twin engines and rigid frames would have been up to the job. Therefore McQueen & stuntman Bud Elkins chose a 650cc Triumph twin painted olive drab for the stunt.

Our replica of this most famous Triumph is based around a 1961 Triumph Tiger T110 650cc machine with modified rear frame. Reproduced as faithfully as possible by the museums very own restoration team our “Great Escape” Triumph is now on display in the photo studio situated in Hall 2 of the museum.