EASY RIDER 50TH ANNIVERSARY
people and the Captain America Panhead is
undoubtedly the most recognised motorcycle on
the planet.
But how well has the movie itself aged? Well,
not that well, in my opinion. However, the music
is brilliant, from Steppenwolf ’s Born To Be Wild –
the acknowledged anthem of bikers’ worldwide –
through The Byrds, the Jimi Hendrix Experience
to Little Eva, Roger McGuin and a heap of others.
A while ago, a mate of mine put together a DVD
with a lot of the scenes from the movie cut out,
including the hippies and the graveyard acid trip.
And I enjoyed it much more than the full movie. A
movie by the way, that was produced on a paltry
budget of just $340,000 but which grossed over
US$60 million!THE BIKES
A full-length book could be written about the
origins and fate of the movie bikes. Allegedly, four
Panheads were purchased from an LAPD auction:
a ’50, two ’51s and a ’52 for $400 each. Where
they went from there is open to dispute but Cliff
Vaughs, a sometime bike customiser, is supposed
to have suggested the wild rake.
Dan Haggerty – yes, he of Grizzly Adams fame- claims to have taken possession of the only
bike that survived. However, in an interview
with the LA Times in 2014, he confessed that he
has authenticated and sold two Captain America
bikes.
The bike on this page with former HEAVY
DUTY tour leader Paul Zazryn sitting on it, is in
the office of Ron Paugh, head honcho of Paughco,
“The Captain America
chopper transcends its own
story; nobody needs to have
seen the film, nor recognize
Peter Fonda, to understand
they’re looking at an icon, a
magical talisman of
Freedom. Such is the power
of the machine’s image, and
its place in the cultural
history of motorcycling
around the world. Far more
people idolized that
motorcycle than ever saw
the film; all they needed
was a photograph of Dennis
Hopper on the ‘Billy’ bike
and Peter Fonda, riding
through the anonymous
landscape of the American
West, modern day cowboys
roaming the land; free, just
free.”- The Vintagent