Benjamin Sutton
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We know that the market for vintage cars is revving up (see “Vintage Cars Overtake Art on Luxury Asset Racetrack“), but what about the market for vintage motorcycles that are also props from cult movies? No, I’m not talking about Arnold’s motorcycle from Terminator 2, but the customized Harley-Davidson piloted by Peter Fonda’s character, Wyatt, in the 1969 counter-culture classic Easy Rider.
The distinctive hog, painted with the stars and stripes of the American flag, belongs to California businessman Michael Eisenberg, who formerly owned a restaurant with Fonda and his Easy Rider co-star, the late Dennis Hopper. He bought it last year from Iowa’s National Motorcycle Museum, where it had been on display since 2001. Now, Eisenberg is selling the motorcycle through Los Angeles’s Profiles in History, where it is expected to bring in more than $1 million, the BBC reports.
Though four motorcycles were made for the filming of Easy Rider, only one drove away from the climactic scene‘s shooting and crash stunts. It was restored by Fonda himself, and comes with not one but three certificates of authenticity.
The “Captain America Chopper” is expected to be the top lot of Profiles in History’s “Hollywood Auction,” running October 17–20. It will hit the auction block on October 18, with a pre-sale estimate of $1–1.2 million.
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