'The Worlds Fastest Indian' Burt's Trailer Returns
South
Story
by New Owner Terry Dalton
http://www.worldsfastestindian.co.nz/
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Legends of speed are many but there was only
one Burt Munro. He showed the world that anyone can accomplish their
most distance thoughts and dreams. If you think you can achieve great
things with your life then you will. He never
had doubts; he always had a “can do” attitude. Problems were always seen
as opportunities and he made the most out of his remarkable life. I
salute you Burt Munro you are an inspiration to us all.
My name is Terry Dalton. I am what you would call an average kiwi bloke.
I have a great life with my wife and three wonderful children. I have a
passion for 1957 Chevrolet Belair cars and have collected a lot of
memorabilia pertaining to them.
I fulfilled a twenty five year dream last year by importing two of the
most beautiful 1957 Chevy Belair cars that I had ever seen. Buying
memorabilia on EBay has led me to write this next incredible story.
When searching for 1957 Chevy memorabilia occasionally I look at what
other members have for sale - not very often but every now and then. One
particular person had a 1964 Mechanix Illustrated magazine for sale.
He indicated this was the magazine that was mentioned in the Worlds
Fastest Indian movie. I thought the movie mentioned Popular Mechanics
and I was right, it did but I decided to bid on it and purchase the
magazine anyway.
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My first thoughts were - I loved the movie like many other New
Zealanders and have watched it several times. I could put the magazine
on the Trademe auction site as there would probably be someone who would
want and appreciate this magazine.
While I was waiting for the magazine to arrive I wondered what else
would there be on EBay to do with The Worlds Fastest Indian so I typed
those four words into the search facility on EBay.
The results were predictable, DVD’s, Books and a motorbike trailer that
looked its age and similar to the one on The Worlds Fastest Indian
movie. I brought up the auction and read the following words.
“You are bidding on the actual (not the movie version) of the late great
and recent motorcycle hall of fame inductee Burt Munro’s streamliner
trailer.” I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were more photos on request
which I duly asked for.
They consisted of various pictures of Burt cleaning his streamliner in
their workshop in 1975, the last time Burt ever went to America. They
also informed me that they were the last owners of the American Indian
Motorcycle Company in Monrovia, California.
The American Indian Motorcycle Company was Burt’s home base when he went
to America. He would store his bike streamliner and trailer there. Each
year he would bring back his latest engine and mount it into the frame
then put the streamliner on to his faithful trailer and way he would go
off to Bonneville.
He did this from 1962 until 1971 and every year he used the same
Trailer, Indian Scout Frame and Streamliner. I had a problem - the
auction said local pickup and only sold to the USA.
Burt had sold the Indian Scout, Streamliner and Trailer to a local
American gentleman on his last trip to America in 1975. The buyer said
he did not want the trailer and it has been stored under another larger
trailer for the last thirty years. The trailer was built by Burt Munro
himself out of an old Indian sidecar on a farm in Invercargill it still
has the original New Zealand number plate attached.
I had to have this trailer at all costs. I emailed the people and asked
them in my normal courteous manner if I could please bid on Burt’s
trailer they said they would open it up to my EBay ID. I was so grateful
and couldn’t thank them enough.
The auction was due to close in a few days and I couldn’t sleep very
well just thinking about the trailer and who else might know about this
and so on. After all this was Burt Munro’s trailer he was now a huge
legend all over the world.
The auction was due to close at 6:26am on Saturday morning I went to bed
at approximately 10:30pm but I just couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed
my eyes I could see the auction in my mind and the price was going up
and I had no control over it.
Before I went to bed I set four alarm clocks and setup a dial up
connection to my Internet provider just in case my broadband connection
failed. I knew the importance of owning this trailer and bringing it
back to New Zealand.
I was awake all night I didn’t sleep at all I decided at 5:50am to just
get up and watch the auction. The auction started to move upwards very
slowly to begin with. My wife Carol, who I had constantly woken during
the night, decided she might as well be part of this madness.
I matched any bids for a while but decided to play my normal game which
was to place a maximum bid in the last few seconds of the auction. Carol
got concerned and prompted me to bid a little too early which allowed
another bidder to put a large bid on top of mine. Lucky he was $500.00
short of mine and we both never had time to bid again.
I finally got the email confirming my purchase. I was so proud to own
Burt’s trailer and to bring it home. I had a shower and then went and
played golf as I do each Saturday. I didn’t feel tired one little bit I
was on such a high.
I managed to obtain the sellers phone number and I rang them after golf.
Their names were Charley and Lois. I thanked them again for allowing me
to bid. I commented to them that I didn’t see anyone else bidding on the
trailer outside of America.
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Their reply was as
follows – “well Terry, Charley and I decided that you were going to be
the only person outside of America that we were going to allow to bid on
Burt’s trailer.” I was speechless, why had I been chosen to buy this
amazing piece of history. After all I don’t collect any other
memorabilia unless it is to do with the 1957 Chevrolet Belair.
Later that day after the phone conversation with Charley and Lois I
received an email from them advising me they had received some extremely
disturbing phone calls.The calls were from fellow Americans abusing them
for not withdrawing the trailer from EBay and selling it to them. The
Americans were extremely unhappy that the trailer was going home.
Charley immediately put the trailer under lock and key surrounded it
with some motorcycles and set the burglar alarm. In addition to all that
he had his shotgun handy as some of the phone calls came from people who
knew where the trailer was.
I immediately contacted my shipping Insurance company who agreed to
insure it and that took away some of my worry. I wanted the trailer not
the Insurance payout. I contacted a Kiwi living in America who has a
business picking up classic cars for people.
He said he could pick it up within the next two weeks but I contacted
him a few days later because I was just so worried about the trailer. He
went out of his way to pickup the trailer sooner than originally
discussed - I can’t thank Duane enough.
I knew once Duane got his hands on it that it was in the best possible
hands. He arrived at the property of Charley and Lois in Mokelumne Hill,
Northern California with his parents wearing Indian tee shirts and an
Indian sweat shirt. What a nice touch. Charley and Lois were so
impressed because Duane actually gave Charley his Indian sweat shirt to
keep. Lois said to me later that Duane was such a nice fellow that he
would give you the shirt off his back.
Lois loves to take photos for her scrap book so she emailed me plenty of
Charley cleaning the trailer, Duane arriving and loading the trailer
into his truck. Duane offered to pack the trailer and wrap it with black
bubble wrap for me and then deliver it several hours down the road to
the company who would put it into a container which was coming to a
friend of mines business premises not far from where I live. |
When Duane delivered the package he said nothing to John the owner of
Performance Imports except guard this with your life and put it in the
next container that is coming to Eddie in Christchurch.
Duane and I were the only two that knew what was inside the black bubble
wrap. If anyone else had known about it there was a chance that it may
have been stopped from leaving America.
I finally received my special delivery on a very cold a wet day. I went
down with a trailer and picked up the package. I got Carol to take
photos as I unpacked the trailer as I knew Lois wanted some for her
scrap book. She was so thrilled that the trailer finally got to go home.
I look at the trailer often and I think about how many stories it must
have to tell from Invercargill to Bonneville and back so many times. How
proud it must be that it carried Burt’s Indian Motorcycle which led to a
world record in 1967 which stills stands today.
The trailer is also the only significant piece of memorabilia to ever
come back from America. The original Indian frame and streamliner will
never come back to New Zealand so to get Burt’s trailer back is
extremely emotional for me and important to the people of New Zealand.
My ultimate goal is to sell the trailer and I am hoping that it will go
back home to Invercargill, its rightful resting place. In the meantime I
want to share this with as many people as I can because I think this is
an incredible piece of history that we all should rejoice in. Burt Munro
was an amazing character who had guts and so much determination. If we
all could be like him the world would be such a better place.
How special is this really? Here is my take on the matter. From 1962
until 1971 there were a total of three original streamliners, two Indian
scout frames and several engines.
There was only one trailer and one Burt Munro. They were an inseparable
pair until the very end. He did break an axle in 1971, the last time he
went to Bonneville but he still repaired his faithful trailer before
returning home.
The blade of grass has finally withered away - rest in piece Burt.
Terry Dalton |
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| Original Trailer Shot in
1971 |
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