Property of Various Owners
Lot 29W
ARTHUR "FONZ" FONZARELLI'S TRIUMPH MOTORBIKE FROM HAPPY DAYS
1949 TRIUMPH TROPHY 500 CUSTOM
FRAME NO. TC11198T
ENGINE NO. TR59106133
1949 TRIUMPH TROPHY 500 CUSTOM
FRAME NO. TC11198T
ENGINE NO. TR59106133
8 December 2021, 10:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$231,562.50 inc. premium
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ARTHUR "FONZ" FONZARELLI'S TRIUMPH MOTORBIKE FROM HAPPY DAYS
1949 TRIUMPH TROPHY 500 CUSTOM
FRAME NO. TC11198T
ENGINE NO. TR59106133
1949 TRIUMPH TROPHY 500 CUSTOM
FRAME NO. TC11198T
ENGINE NO. TR59106133
ABC Television, 1974-1984. Customized with front fender removed, silver painted gas tank and replacement buckhorn handlebars. Used throughout the ABC Television Series by Henry Winkler as Arthur "Fonz" Fonzarelli.
Exhibited: The San Diego Automotive Museum, 2017-2021.
Exhibited: The San Diego Automotive Museum, 2017-2021.
Footnotes
Arguably one of Television's "coolest" motorbikes, this Triumph was the the Fonz's pride and joy.
The Fonz's motorbike was a regular guest star throughout the ten-year history of Happy Days; it completed his look as the very essence of cool and inspired whole generations of children watching the show to want to own a motorbike just like the Fonz. The character was obsessed with his motorbike, telling Mrs. C in the first season of the show that he wanted to be a cop when he got out of school because, "I mean, it's the only job I know where they pay you to drive a motorcycle." And Fonzie's idea of the perfect girl? "45-22-34 ... with her own Harley." In the Season 3 episode, "The Motorcycle," when the Fonz's bike accidentally gets destroyed by Ralph Malph's car, Mr. C tries to console Fonzie by saying, "It's just a motorcycle," whereupon the Fonz explains the importance of the bike to him: "Just a motorcycle, huh, Mr. C? Let me tell you a little story. When I was young, I was a complete nerd, okay? I tried everything to be cool. Nothing I tried worked, and then it came along. It changed my whole life. It's the whole reason for me to live. Just a motorcycle, eh? And I suppose your mother was just a mother?"
Winkler himself admitted that he couldn't ride the bike and rammed it into a sound truck the first time he tried to ride it. From that day on, the crew would pull Winkler along on the bike mounted onto a moveable platform. In Winkler's words, "I've never ridden a motorcycle again in my life!"
This motorbike first appeared on the auction market at Bonhams in 2011 after it was rediscovered following many years of obscurity. Originally customized for the show by legendary Hollywood stuntman, Bud Ekins, there were three bikes acquired for the show in total. After filming finished in 1984, two of the bikes went missing (one surfaced in an auction in Belding, Michigan), but this third bike was acquired from Ekins by Mean Marshall's Motorcycles in Oakland, California. Untouched since filming wrapped, it was tracked down by Cycle World writer Wendy F. Black prior to the Bonhams auction in 2011.
Please note that the "FONZ" license plate included with the bike is for display purposes only.