![]() ![]() Meanwhile, in a Chicago Tribune article that ran around the time of the exhibit, Haggerty says Granger owned a copy with only “a few bits and pieces, a chain or a fender, nothing more” and that he still had the original frame in California. Granger says it was too expensive to update the catalog from its run at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, which actually had a replica. In 1999, Granger let “The Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit at Chicago’s Field Museum label his bike a replica. Although he didn’t put anything in writing, she says, “Everybody believed it was the bike.” Granger who now calls Haggerty “one of the biggest fucking liars in the world,” still maintains that Haggerty told the truth back then. Tiffany Kruse, Dan’s daughter, says Haggerty passed it off as the original. The sale went through Dan Kruse Classics in Texas. So he sold Captain America to Granger for $63,000. In 1996, Haggerty-who has served jail time for selling cocaine and tax evasion – was deep in debt. However, a 2008 video seems to show Haggerty falsely stating he sold the original to the Guggenheim Museum. Haggerty passed three polygraph tests last fall and Eisenberg remains confident in the authenticity of his bike. The other bike in question is and has always been a replica of the original bike.” The dispute seemed settled when Haggerty issued this statement: “The bike owned by Michael Eisenberg is the only authentic Captain America bike that was rebuilt from the original frame up. Haggerty knew the Captain America better than most as he wrangled bikes on the set of Easy Rider. To solve the dispute, they turned to none other than “Grizzly Adams” star Dan Haggerty. Now, the chopper is locked at the center of a quarrel between two men both claiming rightful ownership. Then along came a Texan named Gordon Granger, who claimed that he was, in fact, in possession of the original Captain America. The bike hit the auction block and sold for a princely $1,350,000. It’s owner was a collector and realtor named Michael Eisenberg. The problems started last fall, when the Profiles in History auction house, which specializes in Hollywood artifacts, put Captain America up for sale. ![]() Now, forty years later, Captain America is a movie prop worth millions of dollars that rests at the center of a messy legal battle over the bike’s authenticity. People who watched the film-in which Wyatt and Dennis Hopper’s Billy cross the country, wheel-on-wheel, on a tragic quest-imagined discarding their own possessions and reshaping their idea of the American Dream. As time passed, Captain America became the centerpiece of this anti-establishment, middle-finger-of-a-movie. It is Captain America, the chopper driven by Peter Fonda’s Wyatt in Easy Rider and a chromed-out icon of ’60s counterculture the open road. You can sign up to receive it directly here.It has ape-hanger handle bars, upswept mufflers and an ironic stars-and-stripes-emblazoned gas tank. "In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom." Easy Rider earned Fonda an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay Image: Imago//EntertainmentPicturesĮvery evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. "While we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and love of life," the relatives said in a statement. He was also an environmentalist, co-producing the 2012 film "The Big Fix," which centered on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing spill and its environmental hazards.įonda married three times, and leaves behind two children, including actress Bridget. "Independent cinema begins with Easy Rider," she added.įonda began his acting career in Broadway in his native New York. ![]() Peter Fonda embodied those values and instilled them in a generation," Goodfellas actress Illeana Douglas wrote on Twitter. "Easy Rider depicted the rise of hippie culture, condemned the establishment, and celebrated freedom. The film portrayed the exploits of two bikers on their way to Mardi Gras. Fonda earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing the movie. The family said he has died of respiratory failure due to lung cancer.įonda was best known for "Easy Rider," which he co-wrote and starred in alongside Dennis Hopper. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. "I am very sad," Fonda's sister and fellow actor Jane said in a statement. The son of Hollywood giant Henry Fonda, he found a niche in 1960s counterculture. Peter Fonda - who co-wrote and starred in the counter-culture classic "Easy Rider" - has died at the age of 79, his family confirmed on Saturday. ![]()
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