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1 -----Original Message-----
From: Billy
To: Bud & Dave Ekins
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012
Dave,
I may have contacted you about this before... but I am a Huge Then Came Bronson fan. Bud was the stunt coordinator for the show. Bud of course did the customizing of the bikes used for the show, and did most of the stunt riding. Myself and my Fellow Bronsonites would like to know if any of the bikes use in the show survived, and if any are still around. From what I can figure out, there were 3 Sportsters used to film the pilot and another 6 used to film the series, and then there were a few stunt bikes, including the CZ-250 for the opening beach scenes, hill climb and a 350-Sprint used in the episode with Kennan Wynn riding his Rudge Ulster.
Thank you.
Billy
2 -----Original Message-----
From: Dave Ekins
To: Billy
Sent: Monday, February 6, 2012
Dear Billy,
Thanks for your email. I really like your term "Bronsonites" ! My brother, Bud Ekins, asked myself and Jack Krizman to build two Harley Davidson Sportsters for the film company and two Harley Davidson ERS 350's. These were used in the series, "Then Came Bronson". The CZ-250 was Bud's own bike and he did his own modifications. This bike was used for the hill climb scene as the other bikes couldn't make it up the hill. The sportster was used in the opening beach scenes. The Rudge Ulster was from Bud's collection. Unfortunately, we have no idea what happened to those particular
bikes.
Sorry...
Dave
3 -----Original Message-----
From: Billy
To: Dave Ekins
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2012
Dave,
Sorry to be a pest but I thought you would like to see a couple pix of my Bronson Replica bikes. Thank you again and please see the two attached pictures. They are of my Sportster, my 350 Sprint which I converted to look like the stunt bike, the 1/8 scale model, and a Sportster bicycle that I customized to look like the Bronson Sportster.
Thank you again,
Billy
4 -----Original Message-----
From: Dave Ekins
To: Billy
Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2012
Hi Billy,
Thanks for sending the pictures. I really think the bikes look great: Like the scale model you did too. For some reason Bud preferred the 21 inch front wheel. I say this because the H-D 350s we built for the show had 21 inchers up front.
Nice job on the bikes!
Dave
5 -----Original Message-----
From: Billy
To: Dave Ekins
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012
Dave,
this is Billy again...
My Buddies who are Then Came Bronson fans are still trying to piece together history of the show and of the bikes.. In our discussions, I put forth what I think is correct. But you would know better than anyone. So we would appreciate any help you could give. Could you please read the following email that I sent to the guys and make any
corrections that you can think of. And if you have anything to add we would really appreciate it. We really want to get the history correct.
Thank you very much in advance...
Billy
Here's what I sent..... As near as I can figure from the TV guide and Motorcycle Magazine articles that I have read and the Email that I got from Dave Ekins, Here's what I think. There were three bikes purchased by Bud through his contacts...(Possibly Salinas Harley Davidson..which was owed by a friend of Buds.... Bud was a Triumph and CZ dealer...and possibly other brands) because Triumph wouldn't pony up any bikes....(that's a story of it's own)...
Bud and his brother Dave modified the bikes for the movie and also supplied and modified the CZ that was used in the beach scenes and the Hill Climb in the Pilot Movie.... Then when the TV Series was picked up Harley Davidson supplied an additional six Sportsters and two Sprints....Dave Ekins told me that he remembers doing the modifications on the bikes.... I can't confirm but I think Harley also supplied the Rapido that was used in the Mating Dance for Tendergrass episode... The rest of the bikes were either Bud's or from a Prop company....... So that's a total of nine Sportsters and two Sprints and 1 CZ-250..... along with lots of spare tanks and fenders that Jerry Culwell painted to keep the bikes looking good for the TV Episodes. I
think Jerry said there were 6 spare sets..???
Two of the Sportsters were modified by Dave and Bud to allow the camera man to ride along... One with a seat on the front fender, and one with a sidecar. The three main bikes in the TV series can be Identified by their sequential tag numbers.... The other three (of 6) would have been camera bikes and spare.. It's possible one of those is what tumbled down the hill in The Forest Primeval, or the one that was reportedly dropped from a crane for the sound effects...
One mystery to me is whether the original 3 that Bud purchased for the Pilot Movie were also used for filming the TV Series?... I would think that they would be but who knows? Maybe they went on tour as show bikes to Promote the series...????
Do you guys agree with my thinking here?
Billy
6 -----Original Message-----
From: Dave Ekins
To: Billy
Sent: Sunday, July 1, 2012
Hi Billy:
My take is a little different from yours. Myself and Jack Krizman (Filtron Air Filters) were partners in Product Testing. This is the facility where we tested Spark Arresters, air filters, etc. One of our customers happened to be Harley-Davidson. H-D was on board from the beginning with the Along Came Bronson series. Bud outlined the modifications we were to do on the (only) two V-twins. Later we were given the O.K. to make a look-a-like sportster using a 350 H-D ERS (Aeramacchi). The 350 H-D couldn't get up the hill so Bud modified a CZ moto-cross bike for the hill climb, (in Saddleback Park) This series ended simply; Michael Parks did not want to continue. Walter Davidson was extremely disappointed. As were many-many others.
Dave Ekins
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