The legendary motorcycle ridden in the cult classic Easy Rider is being sold at auction in the US.
Dan Kruse Classics have put up a guide price for the Captain America motorbike – ridden by Peter Fonda in the 1969 film – of $300,000 (£213,643) to $500,000 (£356,072) with no reserve.
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The “Captain America” bike was named for its distinctive American flag colour scheme and known for its sharply-angled long front end.
The motorcycle heads to auction room, but with its authenticity and genuineness in doubt after another Captain America motorcycle claiming to be the famed bike sold seven years ago, This Is Money reports.
Fonda himself dismissed the motorcycle from 2014, and Dan Kruse said the bike is the real deal.
“This motorcycle is part of both American film history and automotive history too. It is a legend and is one of the iconic symbols of the 1960s. It represents a longing for a simpler life, one of adventure and the open road. It would grace any automotive collection be it private or in a museum,” Kruse said.
The iconic motorcycle is going to auction in Midland, Texas on June 5, 2021.
Easy Rider showcased the hippie movement and gave America an insight into the lives of those individuals who wander the highways on the back of a motorcycle. Designed and built by Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, four former police Harley-Davidson motorcycles were purchased at auction for $500 and rebuilt into two Captain Americas and two Billy Bikes.
Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American South West carrying the proceeds of a drugs deal. The success of Easy Rider helped to spark a new Hollywood era of filmmaking during the early 1970s.
In 1996 the former owner of this bike, renowned celebrity vehicle collector, Gary Graham, sold the Captain American motorcycle at the Dan Kruse Classic Car Productions auction to Gordon Granger.
Dan Haggerty was on site with Graham, his partner in the rebuild and restoration of the motorcycle, to authenticate, as it was, he that received the crashed pieces from Fonda and Hopper after the wrap of the film. Since then the motorcycle has resided in Austin, Texas where it survived a fire in December 2010.
