2011/09/16

Heeeey!

A well known bike to millions of American TV viewers of the 70's is comng up for sale. The 'cool' Triumph we see The Fonz riding on during the opening credits of Happy Days. It's a 50's 500cc TR5 Trophy with rigid frame. A moto used by the desert racers in SoCal at the time; this one beginning in the hands of Bud Ekins. When Happy Days was in it's conceptual infancy Hollywood called their biker pal Ekins to supply a chopper for a new cool character to ride on; he put high bars on, stripped the front fender and sprayed the tank silver...  an icon was born!

Roll-on 3 decades and Ekins was clearing out his not inconsiderable collection passing a warehouse of bikes, parts and memerobilia to another Triumph dealer 'Mean Marshall' Ehlers. This old Trumpet was sitting forlornly amongst it all. Now Mr Ehlers needs to sell it so this bike is up for grabs to the highest bidder through Bonhams.




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