Michael Eisenberg, owner of the reportedly only original and authentic Captain America chopper still existing from the Pop Culture Easy Rider movie was auctioned this last weekend in Calabasas for US $1.3 million.
The story of the “Captain America” bikes (at least 2 versions of the motorcycle have been used in the movie) is a long obscured one.
Catalog of the auction house “Profiles In History” mentioned that this Captain America was restored by Dan Haggerty, but Gordon Granger of Texas says he owns the authentic chopper and also has a certificate from the same Haggerty. Haggerty acknowledges that he authenticated and sold two “Captain America” bikes, but that only one is legitimate…
The iconic red, white and blue stars and stripes Chopper, with chromed hard tail frame, was designed and built by two African-American builders — Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy – following design cues provided by Peter Fonda himself.
45 years after the production of Easy Rider, it’s still difficult to sort out which Captain America bikes are authentic and used in the movie, but the anonymous buyer who won the auction is convinced that he got the only one to survive.
Yeah, good luck on that one buddy! Hopefully USD 1.3 million is only pocket change to you.
Hmm, I still have 2 ship’s bells from the Titanic available for purchase by “well qualified” buyers.
Lol…….. I’ve just been reassured there are still suckers being born each day….
I was as going through my file of titles and to my suprise I found the long lost title to the Brooklyn Bridge. I’m going to contact ” Profiles in History” and see if they want to offer it at their next auction
Calabasas, sound like Cabela’s, where everything costs too much also.
Total sale price with auction fees: $1.62M, a world record for any motorcycle at auction. While casual readers of Cyril Huze, and every other blog, love to snipe, I’m sure the buyer did his/her/it’s homework to satisfy themselves it was ‘authentic enough’. Yes, most of the parts are reproduced, but the frame is the key piece of DNA for car/bike/memorabilia collectors. Maybe not for you, or me, but somebody really wanted to own the most famous motorcycle in the world.
Easy with that “voice of reason” stuff this early on a Monday morning Paul!
Robert Pandya
Motorcycle Enthusiast
I understand that the theme music from “The Sting” was the background music during the auction.
Frame means nothing…pre 70 HD’s had no frame serial number…its the motor that matters and has a serial number you need a clean line of title to that motor to prove what bike it is. Considering the 40 plus years and multiple issues with all the Easy Rider bikes this guy was a fool to buy it. Bikes were stolen and totaled during the filming and none were left whole at the end. Also AEE Choppers built a couple replicas for the studio to put out in to theater lobbies for the premiere’s and those are floating around somewhere too probably…..all in all I’d have built a replica for less than a tenth of that price and ridden the hell out of it and let people wonder if it was the real deal……
Here’s the sad reality of it all . Despite all the excellent research etc done by the likes of Pd’O etc … there is still far too little assurance/evidence that this bike is in the slightest bit authentic . Guaranteed if something with this little evidence and verifiable provenance was to be offered in an ‘ Art ‘ auction … any reputable auction house would of rejected it point blank . So lets not go cheering this sale just cause its a M/C and a few collectors might benefit from inflated auction prices down the road … and call it like it is . A moment of More Money than Brains once again rising to the surface from an individual who has absolutely zero in common with the film , culture and history of the bike … Which is to say … he only bought it as a conquest .. not out of passion . Oh .. and pardon me for adding in another ‘ voice of reason ‘ so early on a Monday morning . Shame on me …. 😉
Who cares — it still looks nice!
It doesn’t matter in the slightest if I believe or don’t believe if this bike is “the one”. The only one it matters to is the dude who laid out the money for it.
Personally, though, I hope he rides it occasionally, and doesn’t just leave it stuck behind some velvet ropes.
I find that most people that are in a financial situation you could drop $1 million on a bike didn’t get there from poor investments and bad research. It is quite possible somebody that has the means to throw around that type of scratch knows something that we don’t.
Or maybe this is the deal of a lifetime too a guy who lived through the day and now is well off enough to get his kicks with his coin as he sees fit. Maybe he rides it once to remember why he doesn’t ride hardtails anymore. Maybe he hangs flowerpots off it in his den. Maybe he donates it to some charity. Who knows? It’s his bike.
To get to 1.6 apparently the winner was not alone in a desire to get this ride.
Having what could well be one of the Captain Americas is just a wet dream for generations of bikers. This guy went after it and the result is hissy fits from the girls choir.
When you are tooling down the avenue on 20, 30 grand worth of iron, there’s people who think you are a putz for dropping that kind of green on a bike. Maybe they on to something.
Good on him. He used his scratch to corral something he wanted.
Let the whining resume.
Hey, you know what ???
If the guy has the $$$ to lay out for this & he’s happy with it
What do we care ?????
I would not have done it & from the gist of the article a lot of you would not have done it.
But it’s not our $$$ it’s his!!!!
If you’re happy about it, more power to ya, dude !!!!
Surely the guys clued up enough to have fully researched (by lawyers) its authenticity, It’s a lot of money just buy it “thinking” it’s the real Mccoy!!
I’m pretty confident that most people will agree that one CA survived and was the bike used in the crash scene, that it was rebuilt, and ended up at the Museum in Anamosa for many years. I do not have millions to throw around, but without a doubt 1.3 million dollars to some guys is like 20 – 30 grand is to me. If I had 1.3 to throw around, damn strait I’d buy that bike, and I’d ride it too. I’d probably ride it to Sturgis and let guys take turns riding it. If it gets damaged…rebuild it again. How cool would it be to go to a rally and get a chance to ride Captain America???
“This guy went after it and the result is hissy fits from the girls choir.” – as usual!!! …. and priceless, Pop, simply priceless. Later Jay
p.s. real or not, that thing is beautiful.
As the old saying goes…”A fool and his money are soon parted”. 🙂
Drew, or as I say “a fool and his money are always welcome at my place!” It made him happy and he obviously has the dough, he will have years of fun arguing who has the “real” one!
Hey Pinhead (and others),
Not every millionaire is self-made, many either inherited it or got lucky. No one can convince me that any rapper, the Kardashians, or any Powerball winner made their millions on smarts.
The truth is that buying this bike at that price makes no sense at all, the winning bidder would have been better off to have another replica (or three) made so that he could ride one around Daytona – I’m sure that Peter Fonda would have been happy to sign the tank on all of them (as he has done to several others).
I wonder if the winning bidder was visiting Colorado at the time that he decided to make his winning bid?
I would rather hang out with the new buyer then the experts on here bashing him for it!
Sure it’s shiny but lets face facts, bikes like that were a dime-a-dozen in the 60s.
Iconic….???
Can recall watching the movie once, never did get the point…..
Moreover, it was the Bill-bike that got my interest, not the flexy-flyer.
On the other hand, i recall seeing the great escape 5 times just to watch Bud jump the fence on that Triumph.
Back then a “biker” wasn’t much interested in any bike he didn’t build himself (except maybe to steal an idea).
I suspect that most of this monied-interest is coming from younger people who really don’t have a clue but are willing to “buy-in” to “be-jn”…..
-nicker-
Here’s the reality: No one knows whether EITHER of the two bikes Haggarty has “authenticated” is the real one. Fonda only said this bike was authentic because he knew Haggarty had been given the bike that was crashed and burned at the end of the movie. He now says something stinks. For all we know Haggarty still has the real one. Without a known valid title or numbers, there is NO WAY to know for sure.