This gator is bigger than Tim Tebow, faster than Percy Harvin and louder than the Pouncey twins.
But it doesn’t run in The Swamp — the place UF football players call home. This gator does not spend time in real swamps, either.
An engine rests underneath its scales, a wheel sits below its tail and handlebars stick out from both sides of its head. With a few modifications, this reptile has transformed into a street chopper.
Wildlife Rehabilitation of Hernando owner Jim Jablon, 45, wanted to raise money for his organization when he conceived the idea for GatorBike, a 10.5-foot motorcycle wrapped in alligator hide.
“It’s a work of art,” Jablon said. “It’s beautiful. If you saw it, you’d want it.”
Those interested in GatorBike will have a chance to win it at Hooked on Wildlife, a charity fishing tournament at Gators on the Pass in Treasure Island, Fla.
Jablon is raffling the motorcycle off for $100 per ticket, and he hopes to sell 1,000 tickets.
There are still 600 tickets available, he said. The money from the raffle will be spent building a $20,000 enclosure to house wild cats.
No firm date has been set for Hooked on Wildlife, but Allen Applegarth, the tournament organizer, said it will be in late May or early June.
Jablon owns three motorcycles and saw a similarity between the shape of a bike and an alligator. After a friend agreed to build a custom chopper for him, Jablon found a man from Sarasota selling a full-body alligator taxidermy mount for $3,000.
Jablon convinced the seller to donate the hide when he explained he was using the alligator for fundraising.
Jablon then spent about 1,000 hours creating GatorBike.
When the winning ticket for GatorBike is selected, Jablon and Applegarth hope someone in Gainesville will take home the motorcycle.
“We want the bike to go to someone from the University of Florida or up in that area, so they can drive it to games,” Applegarth said. “It’s a real attraction.”
When he originally thought about building the motorcycle, Jablon envisioned it ripping across the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, an opposing mascot in the teeth of the alligator.
If another team saw that before kickoff, Jablon said, he thinks they would have one thought.
“You’re going to become Gator bait real quick,” he said.
