Fonzie's Triumph motorcycle up for auction

13 years, 1 month ago - 11 October 2011, Autoblog
Fonzie's Triumph motorcycle up for auction
Classic television fanatics and motorcycle aficionados alike can rejoice in the news that the Triumph Trophy TR5 ridden by one Arthur Fonzarelli in "Happy Days" has been found lurking in a motorcycle shop.

The bike effectively vanished after the sitcom wrapped up in 1984, leaving collectors to assume that the machine met an unpleasant end at a scrap yard. The Fonz's motorcycle was originally owned by stuntman Bud Elkins, who kept the Triumph after filming shut down. You may remember Elkins as the man behind many of Steve McQueen's stunts, including the famous barbed-wire fence jump in The Great Escape.

Elkins held onto the bike until 1995, when he sold it to friend Marshall Ehlers. Ehlers purchased the old Triumph on the notion that the machine was simply a fairly well-preserved example and didn't know that it had any ties to one of America's most iconic TV shows. Now that the bike's origins have been established, it's headed to auction in Los Angeles on November 12, where it's expected to bring in north of $90,000.