Here's Mikes story:

I was born in the early 70s and truly from a very young age I have loved anything that goes. I was an infant when American Graffiti came out but it played in the theatres for so long that I did see it at a drive-in with my parents and the only thing I knew was that I loved that ’32. To this day, it is still my all time favorite car and I will actually build another one someday. I had a ‘32 once but it was powered by Visa and I had to sell it.

Anyway, I do remember going to see “Every Which Way But Loose” with my parents when I was 5 years old. The only things I could have told you about the movie at that time were something about a “monkey” and neat looking motorcycle with 4 pipes in the front. I always thought that was a cool looking bike. As I grew, I had my share of dirt bikes and a couple of crotch rockets, but never liked any HDs of any kind. My Dad used to tell me stories of a Triumph chopper he built when we lived in Colorado and so I have always been fond of “Trumpet” chops.

EWWBL has always been a favorite movie of mine and over the years I have watched it dozens and dozens of times. While I had never been into choppers, I always loved the bike in that movie. A few months ago, I was watching good old OCC on TV and thought: “I wonder if there are any cool old choppers for sale on Ebay like the one in Every Which Way But Loose”? I looked and immediately found a nice looking CB in California. Now here’s where it gets interesting. The next night my Dad was over in my shop for his weekly beer visit and I mentioned that I saw a neat looking Honda chopper on Ebay. So I bring the laptop out and show him the ad. As we look it over, we decide we had better go ahead and watch the movie and compare it to the Black Widow chopper to see what it would take to make it look a little more like it. The cool dude my Dad is and always has been, he says: “I like it. Go for it!” Well, the next day I was looking at the Ebay auction again and I thought, where is the real movie bike? So I Googled it and found it had been up for auction at some place in California in December of 2010. At first, I was sick, and then I saw where it didn’t sell!! I’ve never dialed a phone so fast in my life as I did that day. I talked to a guy at the auction house and he confirmed it was still available. After some back and fourth negotiation, not to mention bribing the auction house guy with some Shelby Mustang parts, a deal was struck. Exactly two weeks from the night my Dad and I watched the movie together, the bike was in my shop. It has been surreal to say the least. I keep saying to myself: “I can’t believe the bike of my dreams is in my shop!” It’s really weird (and cool) to watch the movies now and see the bike and then turn around and there it is! So many of the dings, dents, and scratches that are on the bike now were on it during the film that I’m reluctant to touch the paint at all.

I know very little about the history on the bike. I know that the guy who supplied the bikes for the film also owned the Fonzie bike and many others. After the first movie, the bike apparently sat on the studio lot out in the elements. It was put back into service for the sequel and then once again, put out on the back lot with no protection from weather. At some point, it was sold off to a guy who had a rental service for famous/unique vehicles. My guess is he is the one who had the hideous mufflers put on the pipes. From there it went to a guy in Oregon where it continued to sit neglected. It went through at least one more owner before the guy I got it from acquired it. He is an avid collector of movie memorabilia and supposedly made an attempt to have Paul Sr. restore it. He never got any enthusiasm from the OCC gang so he decided to sell it. That’s how it finally made it to me. For me, it’s pretty humbling to own it. Others may not like it but like I said, it’s my dream bike.

Mike Spoor     (ChollasCB on Hondachopper.com)
.