10 Facts About the Builders of the Easy Rider Motorcycles

1. THE TRUE STARS OF THE MOVIE EASY RIDER

Ape-hangers, upswept mufflers and the stars-and-stripes peanut gas tank helped to make the motorcycle that Peter Fonda rode in the movie Easy Rider much more than just another bike in a movie. The design solidified the bike known as Captain America as a nationally recognized symbol of a growing counterculture that was giving the bird to the establishment. Along with his costar’s bike, ridden by Dennis Hopper, these motorcycles became a reflection of the deepest desires inside of everyone who has looked twice at a motorcycle, making them want to sell their belongings and hit the open road. The iconic bikes of Easy Rider gained national fame overnight, however, the builders have remained in obscurity due to a number of contentious factors that have buried their names in history.

2. PETER FONDA TAKES CREDIT

Peter Fonda has widely been reported to have taken credit for the builds, primarily due to comments made like this one during a 2007 NPR interview, "I bought four of them from Los Angeles Police Department. I love the political incorrectness of that ... And five black guys from Watts helped me build these." But it was also reported that animal trainer Dan Haggerty who is most known for his lead role in the TV series Grizzly Adams, was the one responsible for creation of the iconic bikes, though history has uncovered his role to be limited to accessorizing the machines and being the ‘bike wrangler’ on set. Controversy has plagued his claims of owning the lone surviving Captain America motorcycle which has allegedly been sold multiple times. So who was responsible for building two of the most recognizable bikes in American history?

3. DENNIS HOPPER DISAGREES

In 2009 Dennis Hopper, who won wide acclaim as director and editor of the film, had many personal and professional disagreements and creative differences with Fonda, including who should be credited for the building of the bikes in the movie. Hopper was recorded in an audio commentary track for the Criterion Collection release of the film, in which he says, flat out that “Clifford Soney Vaughs built the bikes, built the chopper." Hopper's distaste for Fonda stems from conflicts of writing credits and finances of the film, and lasted the rest of his life. Hopper, dying from cancer, refused a visit from Fonda who was also refused entry to Hopper’s funeral. Money issues around a film that was made to showcase not caring about money is indeed ironic. But who was Clifford Vaughs and what role, exactly, did he have?

4. VAUGHS CONTROVERSARY

Clifford ‘Soney’ Vaughs (April 16, 1937 – July 2, 2016) was no stranger to controversy as an African-American civil rights activist in the 1960’s, a filmmaker and a motorcycle builder. Born in Boston, MA and raised by a single mother, Vaughs was a smart kid and ultimately earned his master’s degree in Mexico City. Moving to Los Angeles in the early sixties, Vaughs joined a sit-in with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) where he was subsequently arrested. Photo documentation of this incident by Danny Lyon showcases the commitment Vaughs had to the cause. Soney continued his civil rights explorations in film making, including a documentary with interviews with Martin Luther King, Jr discussing the rise of Black Power in America. After being denied entry into the cameraman’s union, he successfully sued to break the 'color barrier' for union membership. It wasn’t until he was working in the newsroom at KABC that he had his fateful meeting with Peter Fonda. Vaughs was covering Fonda’s arrest for possession of marijuana and the two bonded over their passions for motorcycles.

5. VAUGHS: A REAL RIDER

Vaughs was an avid rider himself and was a member of one of the first racially integrated motorcycle clubs, The Chosen Few MC. In 1964 he rode his customized Harley-Davidson through remote areas of Alabama visiting sharecroppers. Vaughs has said, "I may have been naïve thinking I could be an example to the black folks who were living in the South, but that's why I rode my chopper in Alabama. I'd visit people in their dirt-floor shacks, living like slavery had never ended. I wanted to be a visible example to them; a free black man on my motorcycle."

6. ENTER BEN "King of Bikes" HARDY

Vaughs invited Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper to his house to talk about their idea for a movie which was ‘like a western but with motorcycles’. It was there that Vaughs says the name Easy Rider came to be, based upon a movie poster he had on his wall of Mae West promoting her song “ I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone“ from the movie “She Did Him Wrong’. They decided to take Vaughs on not only to coordinate the building of the motorcycle, but also as an associate producer. Vaughs teamed up with his longtime friend Ben ‘King of Bikes’ Hardy, who was well known and respected in the African American community as a radical custom bike builder. They used Harley-Davidson Panhead police motorcycles as donor bikes, and quickly got to building on what was to become arguably the most famous motorcycles in American history.

7. EASY RIDER BIKES

Although Vaughs initially was an Associate Producer for the film, tensions mounted after a hectic shoot in New Orleans and he was fired. Neither Vaughs nor Hardy’s names are listed in the credits. Decades later, few know who built these distinctive designs that helped shape the chopper movement worldwide. Some blame racial tensions at the time as African-Americans were not wholly accepted into the American culture, much less the small world of custom bike builders. Some say it was ego trips that had others taking credit for the creativity and hard work of both Vaughs and Hardy. Still others say simply it was the pressures of film production which allowed the omission of what seemed at the time to be a small detail in getting the movie released to the public. Regardless of the reason, it is clear that proper credit is long overdue.

8. "NOT SO EASY"

Although only being paid a total of $5,000 for building two of the most famous motorcycles in American history (and splitting that with Hardy), apparently the riff was not as bad between Vaughs and Fonda as it was between Hopper and Fonda. A few years after Easy Rider, Vaughs teamed up with Peter Fonda again when he produced a motorcycle safety film that included none other than Evel Kninevel. Ironically, he chose to name the cult classic Not So Easy. Although Harley-Davidson had been uncomfortable endorsing Easy Rider, fearing it would tarnish their image, they endorsed Not So Easy. They viewed the increase in motorcycle accidents to potentially affect their bottomline so a motorcycle safety film with modern riding stars was a . If you haven’t seen this look back in time, it is well worth a watch here;

9. VAUGHS AND HARDY GAIN CREDIT

Due credit is beginning to shine on both Ben Hardy and Clifford Vaughs. In the past few years, their names have been surfacing in connection with the building of the motorcycles much more frequently. Profiles in History, an auction house that handled the 2014 auction of the remaining Captain America bike, mentioned Hardy and Vaughs in their press release by stating the bike "was designed and built by two African-American chopper builders, Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, following design cues provided by Peter Fonda himself." That bike sold for $1.35 million. In 2006 Discovery Channel's "History of the Chopper" included a fairly well documented piece on Ben Hardy’s influence on the custom chopper movement and an exhibition entitled Black Chrome included Hardy and Vaughs at the California African American Museum. But perhaps it wasn’t until 2008 that the average rider heard of their names in an article posted by well known motorcycle writer Paul d’Orleans in his popular motorcycle blog and subsequently in his book entitled The Chopper; the Real Story. Like many, d’Orleans was shocked to realize he had no idea who was behind the famous motorcycles and has done much to bring these builders into the public eye.

10. FONDA ISSUES APOLOGY STATEMENT

In 2012, motorcycle industry writer Paul d’Orleans posted on Vintagent, a well known motorcycle blog, a letter written by Peter Fonda to Clifford Vaughs granting him long overdo credit. “I apologize profusely for not being more forceful about your role in their existence and their perfect design,” Fonda said. Vaughs responded to finally gaining the recognition that had eluded him all of these decades with a detached appreciation by saying, “I’m happy about it, but that was just a month out of my life.” Just one month that marked American motorcycle culture forever. To hear the rest of the story of his life has one questioning the lines between fact and fantasy as many of his experiences are indeed, stranger than fiction. His life would make for an eventful Hollywood movie in itself, and that is an entirely different story.

Read the full letter to Vaughs here.