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Makenzie Shattler·
Motorcycle News
··14 Comments·1 min read

The World’s Most Iconic Motorcycle is Going to Auction

Easy Rider

Sources from the Cord & Kruse Classic auction house in Midland, Texas claim to have one of the world’s most iconic bikes for sale – the Captain America Harley-Davidson from the 1969 classic film “Easy Rider”. 

This piece of American motorcycle history comes from the estate of Gordon R. Granger. According to an American Motorcycle magazine released in August of 1997, the bike in question was authenticated around that time by Dan Haggerty. Haggerty rebuilt the motorcycle after he was given the bike in pieces by Peter Fonda himself. According to the article released in 1997, Haggerty kept it until 1996 before sending it to the Dan Kruse Classic Auto Auction in Texas, where Gordon Granger would then gain ownership of the iconic Captain America. 

American Motorcycle Magazine Aug 1997 (1) American Motorcycle Magazine Aug 1997 (1)

The listing on the Dan Kruse website shares almost no information about the bike, but it does say it comes from the Estate of Gordon R. Granger – this bike is the real deal.

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There have been a couple of sources questioning the authenticity of this bike. I don’t blame them, considering there was an auction held for the “real” Captain America bike back in 2014. That bike was authenticated by Dan Haggerty prior to the auction but he retracted the authentication just before the auction was held – the bike still sold for almost $1.4million. 

While my heart aches for the chap who bought a replica in 2014, someone is about to get an insane deal on the real Captain America 1952 Harley-Davidson custom. The auction will go live on June 5, 2021, but you can gawk for free on Cord & Kruse’s website. 

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Makenzie Shattler
Makenzie's burning passion for powersports started after he purchased his first motorcycle, a CB750. Though he started out fixing cars, he's definitely been converted to life on two wheels. Born left handed, but he still enjoys the challenge of using right handed scissors. His mother left out the "C" in "Makenzie" so his nickname wasn't "Mac", so he goes by "Mak" instead.
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14 Comments

  1. Pretty sure this bike is in the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee. Or if they have the replica, watch out bidders cause I’ll bet they’ll out bid anyone for this, if it’s the real deal. It’s where it belongs anyway.

    1. This bike is at barbour speed way museum in birmingham al,not texted iv got the photo and seen the bike

    2. Ya. The museum has a replica. I lived there and was in the museum often. The sign on the display even says this is a replica. I just read it 2 months ago

  2. There is another in the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, which is also considered “the original.” Apparently Haggerty was selling a few of these bikes to fund some of his own issues over the years, so authentication bu him is suspect at best. The guy has a past. Peter Fonda had some issues with the bikes being “authenticated” as original when he was still alive. There are many articles out there about the issues with these Easy Rider bikes being sold for a fortune. Buyer beware.

  3. I thought Jay Leno had Peter Fonda’s hardtail Captain America. I don’t want that one anyways I want the bike Dennis Hopper road look like an FXR lowrider customized of course.

  4. There is one at the Motorcycle Museum in Sturgis. Down the street from where the Harley Davidson store is in Sturgis. Copy ?

    1. They’re all replicas, Haggardy was a scam artist that claimed at one point he was one of the people who built the bikes for the movie, he got away with that for some time because the guy who really built the bikes demanded to remain anonymous for years, Haggardy was a gopher at the guy’s shop back in the day, he knew the guy didn’t want any publicity so that made it easy for him to make his claim, then when it became public who the real builder of the bike was Haggardy switched to the story about Fonda giving him the parts, he was broke at the end of his life with mounting medical bills and was trying everything he could to cash in on the bike craze that started in the 90’s.
      The fact is both “hero” bikes used in the movie were stolen off the lot after production, the 2 bikes that are destroyed at the end of the movie were scrapped, all 4 bikes have spun off into the universe years ago, anyone who buys anything is getting nothing but one of the many copies made over the years.

      2. I agree. This bike has a swing arm oil feed line and a shovelhead pump on it, neither of which were on the movie bike. Ignition switch in the coil cover…. And that’s just what you can see from the pictures – what else is fake?

  5. It’s called documents what are real and what are fake I was under the impression 4 were built 2 destroyed ? I worked for John Parham founder of the national motorcycle museum for years I believe the one in the Anamosa museum has authentic paper work with it

  6. The Bikes where built by Ackerman Cycles Of California, and hopefully all 4 of them are as Dead as Peter Fonda !!! Total waste of a human and no talent.

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