Prince Died

[aliensatemybuick]

For years, I assumed the fairing on his Honda 400 in "Purple Rain" was a Windjammer, till I read here last year that it may have been a Windkutter knockoff. Anyway, took my bike out on an errand yesterday and being that I am usually tuned into an oldies station, they were playing Prince music (apparently) nonstop. Can't say I was ever a big fan, but I suppose it was "age appropriate" both to me and my bike (I was 18 when the movie came out, and my Dad had had his Goldwing (now mine) for a couple years at that time). And I do recall Apollonia Kotero quite fondly as the other mounted...um...piece on his bike.

 

[Scott-E]

Purple Rain was made in 1984. Craig Vetter had sold out to Bell 2 years earlier.

 

[aliensatemybuick]

Purple Rain was made in 1984. Craig Vetter had sold out to Bell 2 years earlier.

Actually he sold his company to Bell in late 1978, but that didn't stop them being Vetter fairings. If it did, I guess I should stop coming to this site, since the one on my dad's old bike was made circa 1982.

The reason I tend to agree with those who say the one on Prince's bike was a Windkutter is the placement of the side reflectors, though I am sure there are other differences less obvious to me.

 

[Kynan C.]

The Prince bike was a done by Tommy Summers, I had a conversation with him a while back. I will share some of the details with you guys. The bike is a 1981 Honda CM400A.

No one offered that style of seat, so we had Drag Specialties make that one .. one off.
The actual seats had pink diamond shaped inlays in them.
The Howe Kutter was used because Vetter didn't make one .. at that time anyway..
The handlebars were called 6 bend pullbacks and were easily available back then.
The paint is called Plum Crazy.. Color Code C-7 on early 70s Mopar products.
We did 3 bikes for him for Purple Rain, one for Price (the auto) and two stunt bikes.
The 400A came with Comstar mag type wheels, and the 400 shifters (k model, I believe) came with spokes and were converted to mags.
One stunt bike was never used in the movie.
I redid the automatic and the other stunt bike for the movie Graffiti Bridge
The stunt bikes aren't autos, but shifter bikes, because the automatics are to doggy to be able to do stunts with.
The only remaining purple one was in the basement of Paisley Park.
--Tommy Summers

The second to last photo I believe is a replica. There are to many things wrong with it.