When we saw the stories about the sale of Burt Munro's famous 1936 Velocette motorcyle we thought our old boss Neville Hayes from Invercargill must have parted with his. For as long as I can remember everyone knew that his Dad Norman had Burt's bike. ( Sadly Norman died a couple of weeks prior to the movie release.) We were surprised by the sale as the Hayes family has an extensive collection of vintage vehicles and the Munro bike has always taken pride of place.
Anyway The Southland Times has a yarn this morning that clarifies the position . The real Burt Munro bike is still owned by the Hayes family. So while someone has paid $71,000 for the " Burt Munro bike - it begs the question - did he get a good deal?
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3 comments:
The Bert Munroe bike will go the way of the Cross.
During the middle ages there were so many bits of the true cross in churches and monastarys that you could have built an entire cathedral!
personal note: My Dad met Burt a few times through mutual interests in bike building / racing (NZ doesn't have 6 degrees of seperation, it's more like one or two).
Given what I do know about Burt Munro, I'd imagine the present state of any bike that was once owned by him could only be representative of the final state of that bike.... god thats complicated - What I mean is that they never stayed the same for more than a couple of race meetings, due to constant improvements / exprimentation.
This is great news for Parnell where this bike will be proudly put on display. Never let facts stand in the way of a good story!
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