Selwyn_Times: July 26, 2023

Selwyn Times Wednesday July 26 2023
8
NEWS
•Watch the video at starnews.co.nz
Motorcycles, war machines
• By Daniel Alvey
WHEN DEAN Graham got
the opportunity to buy a part of
history from his favourite movie
he couldn’t turn it down.
Graham, 57, bought two
Harley Davidson’s used in the
1969 cult classic film Easy Rider
off their owner near Auckland
for $740,000 about four years
ago. They now sit inside his 420
sq m man cave in Lincoln.
“He could have asked for
double and probably would have
paid because it is my favourite
movie,” Graham said.
Easy Rider, staring Peter Fonda
and Dennis Hopper, is about
two bikers who travel through
the United States southwest
and encounter the rise of the
hippie movement, drug use, and
communal living.
“I remember the first time dad
sat me down and watched it.”
His love for motorcycles
came from his dad, the late
Mainfreight co-founder Neil
Graham who died aged 71 in
2015.
“Dad was into motorbikes and
that was how mum met him in
town on a bike.”
At the time, Neil was riding
a bike from British motorcycle
manufacturer A. J. Stevens & Co.
“When dad had his AJS or
whatever out, I’d go on the back
with him and I just remember
the smell of him and his hair and
the smell and sound of the bike
and it just hooked me.”
The Easy Rider motorcycles
are one of the main features in
his man cave, which is home to
some of the 214 bikes and 29
other vehicles he owns. The man
cave is one many people could
only dream of owning. Graham
describes it as “madness”.
He has collected memorabilia,
military equipment and other
vehicles all his life and said “it’s
good to put it all under one roof”.
Since 2020, Graham and
his partner Liana Bush – the
daughter of well-known
Christchurch cyclist Ross Bush
who died in the February 22,
2011, earthquake when the
facade of a bookstore fell onto
his car while he was eating lunch
on Riccarton Rd – have been
curating the collection.
They make sure everything
has a place inside the newly-built
man cave, specifically designed
for Graham’s displays.
Bush said: “Initially (it)
HANG OUT: Dean Graham
and partner Liana Bush in
front of the bar inside the
420 sq m man cave.
PHOTOS: GEOFF SLOAN
started out as wanting an area
to put Dean’s motorbikes and
somewhere for him to have like
his own kind of space adjacent
to the family home. So it started
off as a small sort of project
and went on to be the 420 sq m
build.”
The man cave now dwarfs the
family home.
Said Graham: “It’s been fun.
It’s been long. It’s been two-anda-half,
nearly three years.”
The cave is almost finished
and, when it is, the plan is to
take groups through to see the
collection.
“I think it’s great, you know,
and when they come, all I say to
them is it’s simple if you want
to come and see it, there will be
a bucket at the door. Gold coin
donation, and then we’ll donate
it to charity.”
Graham has become known
for his philanthropy, which
included buying a full-size
cardboard Lamborghini in 2021
for $10,420 which was donated to
Starship Children’s Hospital.
COLLECTION: Dean Graham spent for $740,000 on two Harley Davidson’s from the film Easy Rider starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, while this
Mil 34C Hermit light helicopter, which once belonged to the Nigerian Air Force, now sits in his backyard.
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