Wednesday 17 September 2014

easy rider come easy go

The "Easy Rider" bike goes to auction on October 18th.
At an estimated $1 million - $1.2 million the iconic Harley Davidson ridden by Peter Fonda in probably the most famous biker movie ever made, is being sold by it's current owner, Californian businessman Michael Eisenberg.
"Businessman" Eisenberg has owned the Captain America machine for just the one year! Although he'd once co-owned a Los Angeles motorcycle-themed restaurant with Fonda and “Easy Rider” co-star Dennis Hopper, so it's assumed he had some sort of 'in' on the bike.
Dennis Hopper had originally given it to Dan Haggerty on completion of the film and such the was care he heaped on this classic chopper it was kept in A1 condition until sold to Eisenbetg last year.
Haggerty said at the time, "Parting with it was like having a child finally getting married and moving away and starting a new life on their own."
mmm... Eisenberg obviously had other things in mind for the child.
Although there ought to be some confusion over which bike this actually is ?-

    There were four custom motorcycles built for the film—two copies of each bike, including the "Captain America" chopper ridden by Fonda, featuring a star-spangled fuel tank and an extra long fork for the front wheels. One of the Captain America bikes was destroyed during filming, while the other three motorcycles were stolen from a storage garage before the film was even in the can. Obviously the bikes weren't famous yet, so they were presumably stripped and sold for parts. The thieves left the damaged Captain America bike, which was later restored, and now resides at the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa
    mentalfloss.com
So if the original is in Anamosa then ?... well who knows what the fek's going on but in a month's time someones going to pay big bucks for a monster of a machine. And at that price the closest they'll ever get to a road trip is revving it up in the garage with an idealistic dream of the search for freedom.
As we all know... that never ends well.