Burt Munro and The World's fastest Indian

Jackie and I went right down to the bottom of New Zealand’s south island and headed to 105 Bainfield Road. Why? This is where the legendary Burt Munro built his motorcycles in a simple shed. Now containing a family home, the small piece of land once was also home to a lemon tree....

Many readers of my blog will understand what this is about, but some will not.

Burt Munro was an eccentric New Zealander who at 60 years old broke the land speed record on a 40 year old motorcycle with an original top speed of 55mph. The first time he took his motorcycle to Speed Week, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, he broke the record at 179mph. His story was captured in a wonderful film, The World’s Fastest Indian. Motorcyclist or not, If you haven’t seen the film, it is simple – you must.

After Burt suffered a stroke, he sold his motorcycles to a local motorcycle fanatic. The bikes are kept at E.Hayes hardware store on Dee Street in Invarcargill, the town where Burt lived.

This is a replica of Burt’s record breaking bike, with its full slipstream shell....

One of Burt’s record breaking bikes....

Those that have seen the film, will no doubt remember Burt’s trailer that he moved his motorcycle around on. Here is the real trailer....

Burt had a set of shelves in his shed, where he kept the parts he hand-made for his bikes. With the words “Offerings to the God of speed” written on the edge of one of the shelves, I am not sure if the shelves were real, or made for the film. Either way, the shelves are now located in the hardware shop.

In addition to Burt Munro’s motorcycles, the store contains many other historical bikes and a few cars. It is quite a place and unlike any hardware store I have ever seen....

Finally, we went to see Burt’s grave in Invarcargill’s Eastern Cemetery....

What a rare, wonderful man.