Early Burt Munro video

[John Burk]

Others may have seen this but it's new to me .

https://youtu.be/DP6Gdz4e6s4?si=7kkoEvS5L6CGUA6m

[MAYOMAN]

I met Burt Munro in 1968 at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I was invited to watch Mickey Thompson and Danny Ongais setting 295 FIA records driving 1969 Ford Mustang prototypes. Joe Petrali had asked me to observe the Bonneville LSR procedures since we were originally planning to run The Blue Flame in 1969. Burt was also there watching, so we socialized for a couple days. I believe he had run the Indian streamliner at the preceding SCTA Bonneville Nationals and stayed over to watch Mickey and Danny. I had a good look at his bike. Burt's craftsmanship was amazing, since he had no money to speak of for his project. It looked a little rough close up. The bike in the film, World's Fastest Indian, looked much cleaner. Burt was a tough old bugger. He chided me for wearing sunglasses on the salt flats, claiming they would ruin my eyes.

[gray63]

Thank you for posting this video. I had not seen this before.
Dave 3611

[Calkins]

If you purchase the World's Fastest Indian DVD, this is one of the extras that is on there.  Great interview.

Can you imagine thinking about making that film from the time this interview was finished (1971) to the time that the film was finished (2005)?  Roger Donaldson did a fantastic job on both.  That is passion...

[noboD]

 I think the best history of Burt was a book written by George Begg. George was a test driver for McClaren and Burt's best friend. The connecting rod Burt was massaging was cut from a grader axle with a hacksaw and filed to shape. Last I know of the real bike with the replacement engine was sold to a man from Texas.

[WZ JUNK]

Yesterday my wife and I returned from two weeks of touring New Zealand.  I visited Burts hometown of Invercargill, New Zealand and the hardware store that displays the movie props, motorcycles, and memorabilia associated with Burt and the movie.  If you are a fan of Burt, the movie, or interesting motorcycles, put that place on your bucketlist. The town is a lot like Key West, Florida though in that it is not on the way to most anywhere else.  You have to make it a destination, but it was a great experience for me.

[Old Scrambler]

All of this is so INSPIRING