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.
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) 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-and-a-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.”
He sold the cardboard replica for $2025 and donated the money to Mike King’s mental health charity, I Am Hope.
Graham often pays for people’s groceries at the supermarket checkout line when he sees the need.
“It’s not about them going oh look, thank you to me. It’s just making them think, hey, we’re all on the planet, we’ve all got different channels we’re going down, but we’re all here and we all care.”
Outside the man cave, a number of incredible items can also be found in his backyard. He owns a flying 3/4 replica P51 Mustang single-seat fighter plane built in Loburn. It’s mounted on a steel post and has been painted blue and red to look like actor Tom Cruise’s P51. Inside the cockpit, there is a mannequin dressed like Cruise’s character Pete Mitchell, known as ‘Maverick’, from the film Top Gun.
Also on his lawn is a Land Rover on a stump and a Mil 34C Hermit light helicopter once used by the Nigerian Air Force. Graham also has a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, known as a Humvee, which was used by the United States Army during the Iraq War.
As you enter his man cave there is a workshop for his bikes, a helmet room, and a wall full of old skateboards, many of which were Graham’s when he was growing up.
Moving through the cave, it becomes much more homely – with a bar, sunken lounge and a Volkswagen Kombi van, which has been converted into a DJ booth. On either side of the lounge area, there are display cases with more motorcycles, one of which is a bike designed by New Zealand freestyle motocross rider Levi Sherwood. It was made for a specific trick – a double forward flip – and was the first bike Sherwood ever built.
Said Graham: “The fuel tank is only big enough for a specific run time.”
Going through the rest of the cave there are a number of cars, including a rare replica 1965 Shelby Daytona American sports-coupé and a Holden A9X Torana.
Along with the cars, he also has many motorcycles mounted on the wall, many of which he has raced or used on the farm.
“I’m glad I kept them all because they are important to me.”
Graham said he can look at them and remember his past.
“Some people have photo albums I just keep the bikes and know what each one means.
“This cave is just a whole lot of photographs of my life and how much fun I’ve had and it’s only just begun.”
