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Camarillan boasts of collection
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Michael Bunde of Camarillo boasts he has the largest collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia on the West Coast.
Bunde, 49, started collecting Knievel paraphernalia when he was 12, and has accumulated more than 500 items, many of which are signed by Knievel himself.
"Everybody that was a kid in the '70s set up a bunch of trash cans and tried to jump over as many as they could," he recalled of his early fascination for the daredevil.
"He was a really great guy," Bunde said of Knievel. "He would call me every couple of months to see what I had and how I was doing."
Two large rooms in Bunde's home are dedicated to the collection.
Bunde has a ring that Knievel wore in one of his movies, a 1998 Evel Knievel Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and one of the icon's helmets.
A month ago, Knievel told him that he planned to open a museum in Las Vegas, but he didn't have one of his own Wheaties boxes with his image on it to include in the museum.
Bunde checked his collection and found that he had two, and sent them both to Knievel. "He signed one and sent it back. I just got that about three weeks ago," Bunde said.
"When my son's friends come over, I'm able to tell them things about how he jumped Snake River Canyon and Caesar's Palace," said Bunde. The collection "will carry his name on for years."
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