Folks Of Interest World's Fastest Indian sold at Auction

I was drag racing motorcycles back when Burt set the record at Bonneville. A couple of my racing buddies raced at Bonneville too. They got to know Burt and said he was a really nice guy. We all were in our 20s and he was as old as our grandparents.

When they started advertising the movie on TV I couldn't wait to go see it. I knew with Anthony Hopkins starring it would be great. It never opened in Charlotte. My son picked up the DVD for me. I wasn't disappointed. The bike he raced at Bonneville would sell for at least a quarter mil. I believe.

 

What an international cluster-fuck this thread is.

So we got a motorcycle with a french name [Velocette translates from french as "little cycle"] that was built by a German to compete against the British... Only it ends up in New Zeland... Where a guy takes it to America to ride it really fast...... Then he names it after a group of people [Indians] who themselves were mis-named, as Christopher Columbus thought he had landed in India... Hence the name "Indians"... For that matter, did you ever wonder why America is named after Amerigo Vespucci instead of Christopher Columbus??????

At any rate, I digress...

So we got this French-German-English bike that was ridden by a New Zelander in America, and was named after people living in India.... And then this guy from Australia comes along, and says he is insulted that American Indians aren't named after the indiginous peoples of the Australian continent..... Aboriginals... Which is an Italian word [aborigine] that refers to the original inhabitants of a land before it was conquered by the roaman armies...

Then to tie the whole story together, some guy from New Zeland [a different guy from the first guy] buys it for twice what it's worth... Why you ask??? So that it doesn't go to:
France: where it was named
England: where it was concieved and born
Germany: Where the builder was from
America: Where it's claim to fame was established
India: Where the people it as named after reside
...or...
The Lakota nation: Where it would be thrown into a bon-fire as pelt and feather wearing "indiginous americans" did a rain dance around said bon-fire and chanted to the great spirit in the sky to bring death to the white devil people...

So, Dirtynails..... You ever in your life even seen a real live American Indian? Well, if it makes you feel any better, or even if it doesn't... Your talking to one right now... And if someone caled me an aboriginal, I'd probably punch them in the mouth. I'm an American Indian, and a proud one at that.

America is named America, and not Columbia because Amerigo Vespocci was the worlds biggest LIAR. After Columbus discovered "The new world", Amerigo convinced King Ferdinand that he, and not Columbus, had discovered it... Hince the name America.

America isn't named after it's original "American Indian name" because it's too long and difficult to pronounce...
Gadohi'hawinaditluh-galunadi"ado-nuhdo"
[ga-do-hi {light pause} ha-wi-na-di-tluh {pause} ga-lu-na-di {strong pronunciation}A-DO-NUH-DO]
Which [literally] translates as "All these lands under God"

And Native American Indians aren't called "Aboriginals" because some guy on the other side of the planet... Who has no clue about what he speaks... Thinks we should be called that.

 

brilliant.

 

Lighten up Pir 8

The DVD is better than the movie cuz it has footage of the real Burt Munro. He cast his own pistons and machined connecting rods from old axles. He had a Myford lathe. jugs were made from old seasoned cast iron gas pipe.




Ago

 

I'm glad Burt Munros Velocette is staying in Auckland. I have friends that raced at Bonneville and they remember Burt Munro as a good guy. Someone brought up Rollie Free, his Vincent Black Lightening lives in Austin,TX.

Lucky667

 

What a Classy Movie! Besides telling a story of a Great Racing Icon, it gives you the inside view of the Salts.

 

So we got a motorcycle with a french name [Velocette translates from french as "little cycle"] that was built by a German to compete against the British... Only it ends up in New Zeland... Where a guy takes it to America to ride it really fast...... Then he names it after a group of people [Indians] who themselves were mis-named,

The motorcycle with the French name was NEVER called an Indian by anyone. Burt's Bonneville bike was the Indian, built in Springfield, Mass., by Americans of, I'm sure, various ethnicities.
I was at Sam Pierces Indian in SoCal years ago, buying some parts, when I heard a marvelous sound coming out of the back room. I asked the counter guy what was going on and he said Burt Munro was back there tuning up his bike for Bonneville. I wish I could have gone back for a look. I saw the bike later at the L.A. Roadsters show. It seemed a bit over restored, but, at least, it still exists and is cared for.

 

So that makes everything written in this thread moot, except for Dirtynail's comment that he's insulted that I'm an American Indian, and not an Australian Aborigine.

 

My 16 year old nephew goes to an all boys private school and there are two boys that he hangs with named Matt. One's family is from India and the other is a Native American. All the boys refer to the two Matts as Dot Matt and Feather Matt.

 

You are right...and i, along with many others, would never have known the story if Hollywood hadn't made the film. Is that a bad thing?

 

The Movie is really heartwarming.
The old guy got laid a lot too!

 

I had honestly never seen the movie. After this post, I took a trip out to Hastings book store (mainstream type, not the ones I really like) and bought the movie. Holy shit,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I dont want to be a cabbage.

 

And this renders the rest moot. You are an aborigine, like it or not. It is not a perjoritive term, but a factual one
BTW, Velocette does not mean "small cycle". The root, velo or veloce is the same root that the term "velocity" is derived from. It refers to speed




ab⋅o⋅rig⋅i⋅ne

 /ˌæbəˈrɪdʒəni/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ab-uh-rij-uh-nee] Show IPA
&#8211;noun <TABLE class=luna-Ent><TBODY><TR><TD class=dnindex width=35>1.</TD><TD>one of the original or earliest known inhabitants of a country or region.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Or First Nation.

Indians are awesome bikes..one day I'll own one..

 

great story of a life well lived. glad to see people still respect or value the things that were important to the speed demon.

 

LOL, you had me for a minute. Read the initial post and thought THAT sold for THAT!!!!! Talk about deal of the century.

Then we see the actual bike. But yet I still think THAT sold for THAT!!!! But not in the same way. neat thread.

 

My two boys loved the movie as much or more than I did.

My favorite quotes from the movie:

 

Slightly O/T, but did you notice the Chevy he bought to tow the bike with
has blue dots?

 

Keep in mind that there were several 'copies' of the Indian made for the movie in NZ, some with Ducati's under the body. I saw a few at a Museum there, and others here.

This is the Velo as it sat a few years back in a Hardware store in Invercargill NZ, Burt's hometown a long way from Auckland.

 

My friend said "I dont dance around camp fires I aint no native" so i just stick with wagon burner



Anyway i wonder what the bonneville racer would Fetch

 

I gotta hand it to Pir8, dude knows his motorcycle history.

 

I have a Native American friend that we (political correct) refer to him as a Casino owning American.

 

Hi there,

I just found this via the jockey journal,
That Velocete you posted there is this bike, burts veocette


Not this bike which sold at the auction, and was a bike him and his pal worked on


2 Different bikes

 

And "the Vincent Lawrence of Arabia was killed on" has been sold 20 or 30 times so far...

Sorry, but there are no "native Americans" - everyone here is descended from an immigrant. Some were just here longer.
Aboriginal may be an acceptable sociological and scientific term, but don't called a black Australian an Abo unless you have a gun on him.
So far as we know now, everyone alive is "native" to Olduvai Gorge in Kenya. Since we "know" that all Africans are black (including Egypt -just as Cornell West), I'll take my reparations for slavery in large bills, please.

 

I know that there has been mistakes, confusion and misunderstandings in this thread and I'd hate to add to that; but didn't Lawrence die on a Brough Superior?

 

but didn't Lawrence die on a Brough Superior?

Yup!

 

Great Movie! Yes! Lawrence did die on a Brough Superior. Great bike also.

 

Velo, in french, means bicycle. The whole country of france, and most of the world knows this.

Hence my nickname and what I do for a living.

Velo means different things in other languages...you guys argue about the stupidest things sometimes....

cheers and beers
Hodge

 

Thanks for clearing that up, I saw Burt's about four years ago and couldn't figure why the auction bike was so different.

There was that other guy from Invercargill too. World's Fastest Motorcycle 1955 at 185.15 MPH



http://www.thevincent.com/RussellWright.html

 

YOU sir, are an Idiot (no disrespect).