OCC Choppers
I’ve been watching “American Chopper” since it first went on the air. I was fascinated by Paul Teutul and his crew and what they were able to do building choppers by hand. Paul Jr’s design work was phenomenal. The them bikes were incredibly innovative and the family drama was mesmerizing.
American Chopper and Orange County Choppers made a lot of people yearn to ride a motorcycle even if they couldn’t afford a custom chopper. Paulie and Vinnie also inspired a lot of bike owners, myself included, to take our stock bikes and make choppers out of them. Where a look at Jesse James choppers may have given us a slight inkling, the new program from Discovery put us over the edge.
OCC Splitback Chopper
Like it or not, the show changed the way custom choppers were built in this country. The theme bikes from OCC, once very unique items, were now popping up in chopper shops all over the country. Every one was doing some sort of tribute chopper and putting it out there for all the world to see. It not only changed the way bike builders built choppers it also led the way for the huge, if not temporary in some cases, success of companies like Big Bear Choppers, Big Dog Choppers, and American Ironhorse who all were pumping out production custom bikes as fast as they could sell them.
What had once been a bunch of guys taking Harley Davidson motorcycles and putting a grinder and a welder to them to produce one of a kind choppers was now an assembly line process turning out custom choppers the way Henry Ford turned out the Model A. I believe this may have ruined the cutsom motorcycle industry and custom choppers in general. In fact I actually created a single page blog, just to discuss it: Custom Motorcycles.
As everyone now knows, Vinnie and Cody have left the business to form their own company V-Force Customs. It appeared from that episode that Vinne had finally had enough of Paulie and OCC taking all the credit for all his work. And you guys may remember Mike Campo from the early shows. I actually talked with him in person a few years back and he basically told me that he left because he was sick of Paulie and couldn’t work with him any more. Remember the Statue of Liberty Chopper?
OCC Gillette Chopper
Anyway, Paul Teutul Sr has built an empire with OCC and I have had the pleasure of personally viewing many of these bikes in person and can tell you that the detail is incredible, just like everyone says on the show, and after comparing their choppers against other famous custom bike builders I can assure you that as far as quality goes no builder’s bikes that I have seen in person come close to Orange County’s bikes. In fact I’ve seen a lot of bikes built on Biker Buildoff that are literally falling apart now.
We all know that OCC had lost both Paulie and Mikey because of conflicts with Paul Sr and from what I’m seeing on the show, Rick and the remaining Mike need a freaking raise. I believe some of the last few bikes they have built have been some of their best. They’re getting back to what choppers are and away from the whole “cartoon” look of some of the last theme bikes that were done when Paul Jr was still with them. Is it possible that the shop that ruined custom choppers might actually be the one that brings them back? Time will tell.
Reader Comments
“As everyone now knows, Vinnie and Cody have left the business to form their own company V-Force Customs. It appeared from that episode that Vinne had finally had enough of Paulie and OCC taking all the credit for all his work.”
Vinnie, who i personally know, left the shop because he was sick of all the fighting going on.
And in the end, what you can also see when you watch the show, Senior started to put the fights between him and junior onto Vince. Vince was blamed by senior because of all things in the end. Mikey would probably tell you the same.
“And you guys may remember Mike Campo from the early shows. I actually talked with him in person a few years back and he basically told me that he left because he was sick of Paulie and couldn’t work with him any more. Remember the Statue of Liberty Chopper?”
Thats what Campo said. In fact Campo just did whatever he wanted never listening to Junior.
The Liberty bike, Junior wasn’t friend with the idea of that face in the first place. And Senior forced this idea and Campo onto him.
Senior thought it was a good idea, and then he had to “play boss” like he usually did.
Senior did the exact same on the Caterpillar bike. Just this time he did it just to piss junior off.
All the way you can see how he tries to push juniors buttons in that episodes.
Thats also something vinnie agreed when i talked to him about it.
Campo was a good worker, just he and junior didn’t fit.
If you then got a boss acting like an asshole that forces you to work togheter, even tho he knows it won’t work… well there you go. Blame senior for it.
Also blame senior for junior to leave OCC once for all.
He never was able to bring in any constructive critique. All he did was attacking personal, and in the end it got worse and worse.
Senior lost controll over OCC, other people are running that company, he still owns it, but thats it.
Because of his loss of control, and mindwashing by a certain guy in the same office, mikey left.
Senior and the others started bulling mikey out of that company. He didn’t just go into rehab because of his drinking, but also because of the Problems his father and his “Officebuddy” caused by treating him like shit.
Junior acted quite a bit like a queen, as a matter of fact.
He was pissed by stupid choices his father made.
The bikes they did after junior left where’nt that way thanks to Senior, Mike and the other builders left.
If you look close enough, its the new chief designer Jason Pohl who is responsible for that.
Mike Amorati, Christian Welter, Rick Petko. They are great fabricators. In case of rick probably way ahead of junior.
But that didn’t make the bikes any better then those junior worked on with vinnie and rick.
In the End all you ever see is senior and his office buddy still trying to blame junior and mikey for everything.
Even now that they are gone, senior can’t stop blaming junior and talking bad about him in the company.
He brings up lies and such when stating “Junior said he gives a shit if you guys get your money to feed your familys”, when in fact junior just said “you pushed me out of the company. And i want to opt out. How you pay your workes and bills is not my concern anymore”
Good night!
I also do motorcycle style choppers, but use forks and food are similar to those produced by the class of the OCC. See on my site at the vehicle.
Help me to share my work because I need to sell that many bikes.
Att Sam Sants
TO PAUL SR.
I WAS WATCHING ONE OF YOUR SHOWS TODAY AND IT WAS THE SHOW WITH THE HISTORY OF HOW YOU GOT STARTED.WELL YOU HAD MENTIONED THAT YOU WERE A MERCHANT SEAMAN AND I KNOW ITS BEEN A LONG TIME AGO. BUT I FEEL WE HAD SAILED ON ON OF THE SAME SHIPS TOGETHER.IT WAS IN THE EARLY 1970s. WOULD YOU HELP ME REFRESH AND NAME ONE OF THE SHIPS YOU SAILED ON.I WAS ONLY 18 YEARS OLD AT THE TIME AND WAS AN O.S………PLEASE RESPOND AND LET ME KNOW
THANK YOU VERY MUCH..RICK