Ride like favourite character
Harley-Davidson dealers in New Zealand and Australia have created these custom bikes as part of celebrations marking Captain America’s 75th birthday.
There are 27 of them - none of which are for sale - representing 16 different Marvel characters - heroes and villains - with two from New Zealand dealers in Dunedin and Christchurch in the mix.
Central to the customised group is the Captain America Street Glide Special.
Harley-Davidson spokesperson David Turney said it was customised to inspire their dealers across NZ and Australia to create their own Marvel character-inspired machine using the wide range of bikes available.
‘‘The results have been phenomenal,’’ Turney said.
Each of the bikes have been tagged with a trait to the superhero/villain and Dunedin dealership McIver and Veitch have chosen the V-Rod as the base for their machine that honours the ‘‘boldness’’ of Iron Man.
‘‘If Tony Stark had a Harley, this would be it,’’ Kane Bray of McIver and Veitch said.
‘‘Just like his suit of armour, this bike is a weapon that’s built to escape captivity.
‘‘The Iron Man colours are captured perfectly in the paintwork and the power of the character is brought to life with good old Harley-Davidson ‘Muscle’ and industrial elements that mirror Tony Stark’s engineering background.’’
From Christchurch is a Harley-Davidson 48 with the trait ‘‘Up-Front’’ for the Punisher.
‘‘The Punisher sees the world in black and white, so that’s what we used,’’ Chris Elles of Rolling Thunder said. ‘‘Dean at Imagination limited captured his brutal nature with the wear and tear style paintwork and the kickass skull details.
‘‘Then we just had to finish it off with some big aggressive tyres.’’
A number of the bikes are on display at HarleyDavidson dealers through the region before they head to Comic Con in Sydney on September 10-11. Harley-Davidson is running a competition for Kiwis and Aussies to enter but the prize is not one of the bikes. It is instead a trip for four people to Los Angeles valued at over $20,000.