Orange County Choppers, Master Bike Builders, Fact or Fiction

Rumors abound that American Chopper might be filming its last episodes. Paulie’s quitting, and opening a boutique, Sr. does Letterman alone. Mikey's taking up art. Who knows about this crazy bunch? They have been duping everyone since the first episode; so maybe this is another clever marketing ploy.

Frankly, the Monster Crew has not fully checked out this issue and cannot say either way for sure, but they would like to address this motorcycle phenomenon has launched more interest into the biker world than anything else before. So let’s make some positive comments commending this team of TV / Sales geniuses that have changed motorcycling forever.

• Blue Collar guy makes good
  First of all, the Monster has known Paul Sr. since he was welding fence out of the back of his pick-up. Wow, what an American Dream story. Poor guy works hard, finds a niche…timing is perfect… TV guys stumbles in looking for drama, chrome, and sparks and a poor guy with a dysfunctional family finds and cashes the winning "Super Lotto" ticket. What could be a better story line? It was sort of the same theme of the Beverly Hillbillies gone biker. Old Jeb and Paul’s a millionaire.
• Motorcycle Mania Lites Fuse
  Motorcycling Explodes…The timing was perfect because America and all the gear heads were still trying burn outs with their Honda Rebels after watching Motorcycle Mania… America had been introduced to motorcycle building, bending, sparking and yes even, dropping the F Bomb by a bad ass boy with a perfect name “Jesse James”. Jesse "left the building" like the King, with Monster Garage for his big pay day, and American Chopper scratched the itch that Jesse created.
• New Story Line
  Paul and Jr. added a “Drama Aspect” with a couple of late arrivals and an empty coffee cup or two and bingo. They’re off to the “Reality TV races”, biker style. New exciting sponsors create a new challenge for $150,000 ad bikes, parts are late, Paulie is later, Sr. looses his cool, Paulie quits, and then at the last min, pop and son hug. Nub paints all night and they pull off the impossible, “saving the day” as conquering heroes and head back to the “Rock Tavern” (no wheresville) to replay the same story with a different bike and another $150,000 donor next week.
• Tee Shirt Sales Soar
  The real surprise, “home run”, was that they quickly became the biggest Tee shirt salesmen since Harley Davidson. “Yippe we’re rich”, was the battle cry as mainstream America tuned in weekly to see what kind of crazy explosion old Sr. would have this week and what it was like to be a real biker. Wal-mart ordered a few zillion Tee’s, and every non-biker wantabee jumped on board with an OCC Tee and bumper sticker to confirm that he was “in fact” part of the “Bad Ass” biker club.
• Mikey Bats Clean Up
  Then, about the time everyone began getting sick of the coffee cup routine a really smart TV producer guy, ran into Mikey in the local beer joint and the “Stooges 3″ were complete. They now had a Curley for comic relief and the American Chopper “trifecta money cake”, was laced with gold. Jealousy….The Monster said early on, that had Discovery wandered into his motorcycle shop on a day where he had stepped into the dog poo or when someone set their hot fish sticks on his Harley fender that he’d be the tee shirt king of the scooter world. Heck, the Monster’s fits of uncontrollable “bipolar rage” make Paul Sr. look like a Yoga instructor drinking herbal tea.
• The Real Deal?
  The part of the equation that most real motorcycle folks don’t admit is that everyone in the motorcycle business benefited from this “surge” created by Paul Sr., Jesse and all the “Biker Build Off” shows. Most agree that the Teutles are not really master builders, probably not even very good bike builders. Heck, the Teutle triplets couldn’t carry Cyrils detail kit. But, one thing for sure is they brought more attention to the biker world since Peter Fonda rolled in with Billy in Easy Rider in 1969. The Teutles brought motorcycling to the mainstream for the first time and real motorcycle folks all got great business opportunities from the “man behind the curtain” wizard, Paul Sr.
• Saleman of The Decade
  Mikey told the Mosnter once, that his father had “lost his mind” because he was truly “a thug” and really out of place at corporate functions. He went on to say how his father felt it necessary to get his nails done and pay $200.00 for a $9.00 hair cut. Well, in the Monster’s opinion, Paul Sr. probably was really destined to be a master salesman, a sales tycoon of sorts, that really didn’t belong under a welding hood or on the business end of a snap on, but at the board room table planning how to get every man, women, and child on earth to buy his Tee-Shirts. The Monster also thinks board rooms are probably full of guys with professionally done nails and $200.00 haircuts that are far less talented than Mr. "Pissed Off” Paul. Heck, the Monster even changed from a barber to a stylist while Paul was building his empire. His “half-assed builds” helped energize his motorcycle school, m/c insurance agency, and gear store.
• Thanks Paul
  Much of our sales success in the Motorcycle business in recent years was affected in a positive way because of American Chopper. Their successful run over the past 4 or 5 years has made a huge difference. They kept the motorcycle world in the spotlight far longer than anyone in history. Whether it was a couch thrown thru the window, or wrecking a Ford SUV on purpose, everyone watched, everyone laughed, and more importantly everybody came back next week, with fun in their heart and motorcycles on their mind.
• Charity Events
  In addition, most are not aware of OCC’s kind heart and how they have continued to help those in need. OCC donated bikes to worthy causes and helped raise millions. The Monster was privileged enough to be part of a program at the Waldorf Astoria in New York where Paul and Paulie donated a bike that sold for $68,500 at auction for the Miami Project, a worthy rehab center and hospital in Miami for folks with spinal injuries. The Monster and the Motorcycle business world truly hope that they can find another Paul and Paulie “real deal” sales wizards to put that same spark back into the motorcycle game. The motorcycle community has master builders, wonderful bike manufacturers, aftermarket parts catalog companies but they really need more great sales pros to keep the light shinning on the industry as economic times get a little tougher. You gave the people the shining light and we long for another OCC to relight that spark. Everyone needs it.