‘Easy Rider’s’ ‘Captain America’ motorcycle headed to auction
Born to be wild, and designed for the 1969 motorcycle road movie “Easy Rider,” the famous “Captain America” Harley-Davidson chopper will be on the auction block next month.
The auction house expects bidding for the red-white-and-blue-painted motorcycle to reach as much as $1.2 million.
Multiple vintage Harley panheads were used in the filming of “Easy Rider” -- at least two to represent “Captain America,” the bike ridden by actor Peter Fonda, and two to represent “Billy,” the one ridden by his costar Dennis Hopper.
Three of the motorcycles disappeared after filming was completed. The fourth, which was almost entirely destroyed in the movie’s final crash sequences, went to actor Dan “Grizzly Adams” Haggerty, who restored the motorcycle and later sold it. The bike has been displayed since at the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa.
Now it’s headed to auction in late October via Profiles in History, the house that prides itself on being the entertainment world’s premier gavel-dropper. A “Mork” suit worn by the late Robin Williams on the TV show “Mork & Mindy” is among other Hollywood items that will join “Captain America” at the October bidding.
Calling the bike “one of the most iconic images in American film,” Profiles President Joseph M. Maddalena said, “The bike evokes powerful emotions even in non-bikers.”
And in bikers too: Poor Captain America ended “Easy Rider” on the receiving end of some aggressive anti-motorcycle sentiment.
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