American Chopper - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from American Chopper.

[rmontro]

I'm glad there's finally an American Chopper forum here, but now I hope we can get some conversation started.  Looks like next week is the last episode of the season already!

This show has been on the air in several different formats over the years, but it hasn't been on for quite awhile.  I was glad to see it back, with everyone involved.  Vinnie is kind of conspicuous in his absence, but whatever.  Junior and Senior are getting along, and Mikey seems to have accepted his role to provide laughs.

When the show was in its "Senior vs Junior" phase, it seemed like there was always a greater appreciation for Junior's designs.  Senior has always been more of a management sort than a creative type.  It has struck me over this season that I have actually liked OCC's bikes, almost as much as Paul Jr's.  Although I'm not sure I liked last night's Spartan bike that well.  Junior's trike sounded incredible.

But OCC seems to be better run, as a business, what with the way they draw up some concept art they can show the client.  With Paul Jr. Designs, you have to just take what he gives you because he likes to do everything on the fly.

I'd be curious to know what really happened to that Yankee bike.  Maybe it fell into the hands of some Red Sox fan.  That episode was one of the most memorable of the originals, with the Teutel grandmother being such a big Yankee fan, and insisting on calling Jorge Posada "George" Posada.

[Maharincess]

Is this back on?  

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, Maharincess said:

Is this back on?  

Yes it is, Discovery Channel on Mondays.  The current season ends this coming Monday, July 16 2018 though.  

So this is a 10 episode season apparently.  Monday's episode is labeled #9, but there was also an episode reintroducing the series, a sort of "episode zero".  So I'd call it 10 episodes.

I have no idea what kind of ratings it's been getting, but hopefully there will be another season.

[rmontro]

So the final episode of the season aired last night.  There were three bikes that they unveiled.  It's always struck me as kind of odd that these bikes all got public "unveilings".  How many people make products that all get publicly unveiled?  It's all part of the show, I guess.

The military bike that Orange County Choppers made didn't really impress me, although I liked the frame and the basic shape.

Paul Jr. Design's country bike for Clay Walker was quite an eye popper though, with all that black, leather, copper, and gold foil. 

The Yankee bike we've seen before (although they changed the gas tank), but it still got unveiled. 

It's kind of odd to see this show with everyone getting along.  It was originally built around the fiery relationship between Senior and Junior.  When the baseball guy suggested another bike build, Senior wisely passed it on to Junior.  I got the impression the guy was asking for another father/son build.  I can see why they want to keep that to a minimum.

[funky-rat]

I work for a company that does a lot of custom stuff, and I can't imagine telling our customers that they don't get a choice on their design - they'd get what the spirit that moves me says they get.  Our stuff is very costly like theirs is, and we require sign-offs by customers for designs.  Even when their design is ugly, we try to discourage them gently, but they're forking the money out.  My husband always jokes "I envision a web theme..."

I also never understood why companies that had zero to do with motorcycles would dump tens of thousands of dollars on a custom chopper "for their business".  Now Geico sells motorcycle insurance, so I get that.  Same with companies that make tools, or parts that can be used on bikes.  But some companies (My Pillow, Carolina Carports, etc) just left me scratching my head.

I've always been more on Sr's side.  And to me, it seemed that the tension didn't hit an all-time high until Jr met his wife.  I'm glad they're still together and happy, but something there was off, at least initially.  I can somewhat understand Sr's decision to skip their wedding, although I wouldn't have handled it that way if I were in that boat.  I would have showed up, stayed out of sight, then privately met with Jr and wished him well, and if it was wanted, pose for family photos.  Then I'd go home and skip the reception.  Too many chances for drama, and he would have seen the important part anyway.  But that's just me.  No one ever accused Sr of making the best decisions.  There was no shortage of people making drama for them, sadly.  The one show they did were Jr and Sr did some sort of live build and then there was voting (I can't remember exactly how it went), Jr of course won, and Sr came up to congratulate him, and Jr's mom (Sr's ex) actually shoved him away with a nasty look on her face, and said something I couldn't make out.  We re-wound it several times to be sure.

Eons ago, when the show was at a fever pitch and the old crew was still around, we went to a bike show about 2 hours from us just to meet Jr, Sr, Vinnie, Cody, Mikey, and Campo (that tells you how long ago it was - Cody was still a teen).  We stood in line for hours.  Never did get to meet Jr and Sr - they left before we got to them.  But the rest were really nice.  It's a shame they can't get that vibe back.

[Maharincess]

Does anyone know whatever happened to Cody? 

[rmontro]

On 7/18/2018 at 11:17 AM, funky-rat said:

I also never understood why companies that had zero to do with motorcycles would dump tens of thousands of dollars on a custom chopper "for their business".

Back when the show was a big deal, I'm sure companies saw it as being good advertising.  They got their company on the show, got to explain what they do, got their logo flashed around a lot, and got to pose with the Teutuls for the unveil.  Now days there must be less incentive, but I suppose the same idea applies, just on a smaller scale.  

I do remember seeing that incident at the build off that you talked about, where Junior's mom stepped in to stop Senior from congratulating him on the win.  That always puzzled me, what the heck was that all about?

On 7/18/2018 at 11:38 PM, Maharincess said:

Does anyone know whatever happened to Cody? 

According to this article, which is just a few months old, he's left the bike building world, and works at a utility company.

http://speedsociety.com/what-is-american-chopper-builder-cody-connelly-doing-now/

[funky-rat]

5 hours ago, rmontro said:

Back when the show was a big deal, I'm sure companies saw it as being good advertising.  They got their company on the show, got to explain what they do, got their logo flashed around a lot, and got to pose with the Teutuls for the unveil.  Now days there must be less incentive, but I suppose the same idea applies, just on a smaller scale.  

I do remember seeing that incident at the build off that you talked about, where Junior's mom stepped in to stop Senior from congratulating him on the win.  That always puzzled me, what the heck was that all about?

According to this article, which is just a few months old, he's left the bike building world, and works at a utility company.

To each their own, I guess.  I would never see spending tens of thousands on a custom bike, with the exception of maybe if they do a lot of trade shows, and want to attract people to their booth.  Then I can see it, but still wonder if the cost vs. benefit is worth it.  But like I said, that's just me.

As for Sr's ex, I can only surmise, as I don't know the woman.  The couple of times I saw her on the show, she always seemed a bit bitter.  I'm pretty sure she was with Sr in the drunk/doped out phase, and I believe they had split before the show caught on, so perhaps she was ticked she didn't get to take part in that success.  She could be ticked because both Mikey and Jr had drug/alcohol issues, and she blamed Sr (it does run in families, as does mental illness, which Sr and Mikey have spoken out about).  The build-off was after Jr and Sr split, and she could have felt Sr was trying to get glory for himself (although he seemed genuine to me).  And she could be another reason that Sr skipped Jr's wedding.  He kept stressing he didn't want drama on Jr's day.  If she's upset for some of those reasons, that's fine, but it irritates me when a parent tries to turn kids against the other parent.  It rarely turns out well.

And as for Cody, that whole situation was weird.  His mom supposedly asks Sr in a grocery store if he'll work with him because he needs direction.  He does, and gets the kid on TV, gets him money, pays for him go to school, etc.  And then it goes weirdly sideways, with Cody badmouthing people, suing because he was promised a bike, etc.  I think he got too much too quickly, and was too young to handle it.  If he's happy outside of the bike world, more power to him.  Vinnie never seemed to really enjoy the spotlight.  When we met him, he was super nice, but seemed almost a bit shy, and a bit bewildered that people stood in line for hours on end to meet him.  Mikey was the nicest of them all.  He got in the face of a security guard who was being really rude to me, and almost knocked me over.  He asked me if I was OK, and cracked some jokes with me.  Campo was also a sweetie - he was gone from the show fairly early.  He was sitting in the OCC merch booth, which was in another part of the fairgrounds.  Rick, who used to be on the show, lives not too terribly far from me, and he must be on the next season, because it was on the news that they were filming for OCC at his place.

I checked my photos - they're from 2004.  Doesn't seem like it was that long ago.  I've attached 2.

[rmontro]

16 hours ago, funky-rat said:

Rick, who used to be on the show, lives not too terribly far from me, and he must be on the next season, because it was on the news that they were filming for OCC at his place.

Thanks for the photos and the info.  I guess there will be another season then, from what you're saying.  It will be good to see Rick again, although I do miss Vinnie.

I think most of us have heard about how Cody didn't get the bike he was promised.  I mean, they did say they were going to give him the bike, it was on TV.  Too bad that ended badly, I didn't know that was how Cody got his start there.  

Not sure if anyone remembers this, but three was a short lived version of American Chopper on CMT after the Junior vs Senior show folded.  It was only about OCC, it didn't Junior on it at all, it was all about Senior's shop.  I don't remember much about it, but it only lasted like eight episodes.

[funky-rat]

7 hours ago, rmontro said:

Thanks for the photos and the info.  I guess there will be another season then, from what you're saying.  It will be good to see Rick again, although I do miss Vinnie.

I think most of us have heard about how Cody didn't get the bike he was promised.  I mean, they did say they were going to give him the bike, it was on TV.  Too bad that ended badly, I didn't know that was how Cody got his start there.  

Not sure if anyone remembers this, but three was a short lived version of American Chopper on CMT after the Junior vs Senior show folded.  It was only about OCC, it didn't Junior on it at all, it was all about Senior's shop.  I don't remember much about it, but it only lasted like eight episodes.

I don't recall the re-boot, but CMT had been removed from our cable lineup for a few months, due to some fight with suppliers.  It eventually came back, so I could have missed it.

I will have to go back to a few really old eps to remember exactly what transpired, but Cody's mom supposedly bumped into Sr at the grocery store,  I think, and said that she felt he need a mentor or something similar, and asked if he could give Cody some odd jobs.  It's been a while.  As for the bike he was given, we only know what we saw on TV.  I always took the situation to mean that he would get the bike eventually.  All of the bikes made on the show appear at their facilities on display, and many go on "tour" when they go out to do personal appearances.  So I assumed that the bike would come to him eventually when they were done displaying it, and rotated something newer in.  I looked in to his lawsuit, and there wasn't a lot out there with specifics, but he did sue for the bike.  He also claimed he wasn't paid for a lot of his time on the show, but it was later determined that he was indeed paid for 31 of the 32 eps he appeared in.  He also said OCC was using his image on things, but because he did work there at one time, I believe they're allowed to do that.  They might have to pay him for licensing, but I'm not sure on that.  Last complaint was about not being paid for personal appearances, but if the show pays his airfare, food, lodging, etc, I'm not sure if they have to compensate him for the appearances or not.  Again, another iffy area that varies from state to state, and depending on the situation.  Adding in the TV show there just makes it more complicated, because it could be argued if the appearances were filmed for the show, then does OCC pay him, or the tv production company.  All gray areas.

Something I came across when looking in to that lawsuit Cody filed - a photo of Paul Sr right after he got out of school and joined the Merchant Marines.  He can't deny Jr for sure.  It's eerie.

[rmontro]

Holy cats, I thought that was a picture of Junior.  Now that I know, I can see some Senior there in the nose and mouth.  But you're right, the resemblance is uncanny.

I don't know what happened with CMT, but it went off my cable awhile  back, and I'm still not getting it.

[Dobian]

I've only watched a couple of episodes but will catch up.  I'm glad it's back on Discovery, TLC ruined the show by turning it from a show about building custom bikes to reality TV drama.  From what I've read, Paul Sr. has been in bankruptcy and has multiple lawsuits pending, so he probably needed the show to try and get solvent again.  Vinnie did a few YouTube videos where he explains what he and Cody have been up to.  Basically he got out of the custom bike game and runs a car repair garage now.  He stays in touch with Jr. and does service on his cars and trucks, but doesn't want to do the show and doesn't want anything to do with Sr.  He says he is happy every day he goes to work now.  Cody has been working for a local power company.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Dobian

[rmontro]

On 7/30/2018 at 2:23 PM, Dobian said:

I've only watched a couple of episodes but will catch up.  I'm glad it's back on Discovery, TLC ruined the show by turning it from a show about building custom bikes to reality TV drama.  

There wasn't much drama this season, at least not in the form of people arguing.  Which is surprisingly refreshing, considering that was a major factor in why Discovery gave the show to the Teutels in the first place.  But it's not detailed bike building like in the old days either.  Both shops are usually running a bike build every week, so they split the time up between the two.  

Vinnie had the misfortune of being treated like a son by Senior when he worked there.  He got all the guff but none of the benefits.  I suppose that was true of Cody too, to a lesser extent.  Now there is Senior's nephew Nick working there as janitor, he seems to absorb a lot of the abuse that Senior seems obligated to dish out.

[Irate Panda]

I mostly just liked Rick, but he seemed too sane to work there unless he went crazy at the end.  I only watched a few seasons.

[rmontro]

Saw the season 12 opener.  Senior and Junior are still getting along, it's nice to see, even heartwarming.  Apparently their joint project this year is going to be restoring a '51 Buick, like the one Senior's father owned.  But neither one has experience restoring cars so I'm not sure what to expect.  I certainly don't think it's going to end up a show car, it'll be lucky if they don't destroy it lol.

I liked both the bikes this episode, Junior's MLB Network bike and OCC's Hydromat bike.  I thought OCC's finished bike looked better than the concept picture.  

I continue to like OCC's bikes better than I did on the Junior vs Senior shows.  Makes me wonder if they were sandbagging it back then while Senior played the villain lol.

[rmontro]

Watched episode 3 (Senior's Moment) of the 12th season (AKA second season of the new volume).

As I suspected, Senior and Junior are not doing so well working on the Buick.  They are actually further behind now than when they started the restoration.

Junior's aluminum Gatorz bike was pretty sharp - black, and mean looking.  I also liked Senior's old school Senior Series bike, especially the orange.  Supposedly they are supposed to be more affordable for the average consumer, but there was no mention of how much they cost.

[rmontro]

Where was Jason Pohl this last episode, was he on vacation?  Josh reminded me a lot of Jesse James when he was ranting about the "cake decorating" approach to building theme bikes.  I have to agree with Senior though, the clients expect all these little details that relate to their products, even if some might consider them gaudy.  Josh's bike looked good, but it didn't scream "paintball" to me, no matter what others said.

Junior's Family Farms chopper was a better example, I thought.

[rmontro]

Four posts in a row!  I'm officially talking to myself.

Jason Pohl wasn't in this episode either, I'm beginning to wonder if he still works there.  It seems like Josh the fabricator is in charge of all the designs now, and he doesn't seem to have much of an imagination or feel for building theme bikes.  He just likes to build straight motorcycles, which is okay, but I'm not sure it fits the theme bike concept.  There was nothing military about the bike he built at all, until they put the paint job on there (Vietnam Vets Tribute Bike).

Junior's making a reverse trike, guess we'll have to wait until next week to see how that comes out.  The best part of this show was seeing all those Martin guitars.

[funky-rat]

I forgot to add this back in when they changed the forums.

I was wondering about Jason myself.  I find it hard to believe he's not there anymore - he had big-time carte blanche, but maybe he doesn't want to be on TV.

[rmontro]

On 3/15/2019 at 10:04 AM, funky-rat said:

I was wondering about Jason myself.  I find it hard to believe he's not there anymore - he had big-time carte blanche, but maybe he doesn't want to be on TV.

Jason turned up on last night's episode, he built a headlight for the bike.  He hasn't been in recent episodes, and it was interesting that he wasn't in the meeting with the clients.  But apparently he still works there.

Senior's response to Junior's suggestion of a bike build was interesting.  Something like "I think I love you a little too much for that right now, let's have dinner first".  I'm thinking maybe the old man is smarter than his kid here, but I fully expect them to build a bike eventually. 

It's risky, because I think that's where the bad emotions come in, probably rooted in Senior's jealousy of his son's creativity.  Meanwhile, Junior wants to show his creativity so his dad will be proud of him, so it's kind of like a feedback loop.  Senior has some mechanical skill, and is good at supervising, managing, and making sure things get done.  But he hasn't shown much creativity throughout the show.

[lynxfx]

So they had a "reunion" special called "The Last Ride" where they made a bike for ABC Supply company and used their old shop before it is scheduled for demolition. 

On the surface sounds like a good idea. Sr. and Jr. building together hopefully repairing a bit of their relationship. Nope. None of that happened. It came off that Sr. had a corporate project coming and pitched to Discovery to do the build on air and bring Jr in. Sr must be swimming in debt still so figured the publicity would help no matter what happens with Jr.

Neither of these guys have grown or matured. Same old Tuttles. But Jr definitely got blindsided by this. Sr already had the initial meeting with the client along with a full rendering design approval before even getting Jr on board. Jr is cocky in his designing like always but you have to feel for him as he is trying so darn hard to give even the smallest of creative input. 

For starters they couldn't have found a more boring company to build for. But that is probably because the custom bike for trade show booths is more than a decade past its prime. They should have just made a creative unique collaborative bike between the two companies. But like I said above this was definitely a last minute call to Discovery to try and make an extra buck because they found a client. 

So Sr keeps Jr away while they build the twisted down tube. Jr builds the exhaust following the drawing as close as they can. All seem OK with it. Sr has a change of heart and redoes the only thing Jr built. You could tell the camera guys were just waiting for a confrontation as Jr was realizing that his dad changed it. It didn't happen. They just got their solo confessional to vent. 

Finished bike was just meh. Really showed that this show is done for good. 

While Jr comes off just as arrogant and pushy as before I think he really did want to build the bike with his dad. During the reveal you could tell he was trying to avoid saying that he really didn't do anything on the bike but truly was emotional talking about the assembly and small moments. Sr came off as an ass with no remorse. "Would you do it again?" Sr : "No, but I said that before." Translation; "if I see a way to exploit my son again for a quick payday I'll do it."

Mikey is the same which is a good thing. 

[rmontro]

19 hours ago, lynxfx said:

So they had a "reunion" special called "The Last Ride" where they made a bike for ABC Supply company and used their old shop before it is scheduled for demolition. 

I saw this was going to be on but I forgot to watch it.  I'll probably watch it later tonight On Demand.  

This show was great at one point, but yeah you have to wonder how many companies are going to be ordering theme bikes in this day and age, with Covid and all.  From your description it basically sounds like Junior was just working with the regular OCC crew to help make one of their bikes from Jason's design.  Which is okay, I guess, even though it shows Senior doesn't want to spotlight Junior's creativity in any significant way.  I'm glad Junior was able to keep his cool and didn't get upset just to please the cameras.  Maybe it will remind him just why he doesn't work with his father anymore.

Edited August 7, 2020 by rmontro

[lynxfx]

39 minutes ago, rmontro said:

Maybe it will remind me just why he doesn't work with his father anymore.

That's exactly what it does. And the two shops didn't even really work together much. They just did their own thing. 

The biggest confrontation was during a meeting with the client which Jr (according to the edit) took over. He did one move that ticked off Sr and Jason which I think they totally deserved. It also really showed how uncreative OCC has become. 

[rmontro]

Well, I watched the show.  To be honest, it was a little sad, it was like there was a dark cloud hanging over it.  And the show really seemed to be click bait of sorts, since it really wasn't a collaborative build with father and son.  It was a typical OCC bike, featuring Junior as an underling coming in to help put a few things together.  It was clear that's the way Senior wanted it, because he was obviously not ready to work with Junior in any kind of creative fashion, he appears to be jealous of Junior's abilities (nothing new) and his ego won't allow it.

I was impressed with the amount of restraint and maturity Junior had in dealing with it all.  He was boxed out of any creative input, but for the sake of keeping the peace he just accepted it.  On the critical side, I do think he was a little dismissive of OCC's method of operation.  From a business standpoint, I can certainly see the sense of having a conceptual drawing, it's just not the way Junior works.  He and Jason make natural enemies lol.

The bike itself was just meh, a typical boring OCC bike.  I think the clients were actually shorted a bit, because they seemed to think they got a Senior/Junior bike, when it was really nothing of the sort.  Senior has pretty much settled into a supervisory role anyway, he isn't really very hands on anymore, and I can see Junior heading in that direction.

Just out of curiosity, I Googled their net worth.  I know those reports aren't supposed to be very accurate, but it said Junior was worth $2 million, and Sr. was worth $500,000.  The gap is probably because of Junior's settlement with OCC, and his avoiding the debts Senior got into.  Senior said in this episode he wishes they had never left that building, and I'm sure that's true because it sounds like the newer shop was a big financial burden for him.

[WaltersHair]

Watched this show back in the day. Followed Jr. a bit after the implosion. Caught the 2018 marathon on Discovery today because I didn't see it the first time around.

I'm half way through the 2020 special. What a colossal mistake. Sr. treated Jr. as if it was 2005 all over again but without any creative input.

I always hope for these two to reconcile or at least do more than tolerate each other, but Sr. will be on his deathbed before he shows Jr. any respect.

The only thing that made me smile was remembering the message boards on Discovery's website back then. The most toxic of posting with very little moderation. Someone finally pulled the plug on them.

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, WaltersHair said:

I'm half way through the 2020 special. What a colossal mistake. Sr. treated Jr. as if it was 2005 all over again but without any creative input.

I always hope for these two to reconcile or at least do more than tolerate each other, but Sr. will be on his deathbed before he shows Jr. any respect.

They actually seem to get along fairly well (for them), as long as they stay away from the bikes.  Senior is clearly jealous of Junior's creative approach, and knows himself well enough to realize they shouldn't be building bikes together.  Junior apparently is still craving some sort of approval from his father which is never going to come, so he still dreams of building a bike with him.  As it is, this special was largely a bait and switch, because this was sold as a Senior/Junior bike, but that wasn't at all what we got. 

Senior long ago replaced Junior with Jason Pohl as bike designer, most likely to stifle Junior's creative input.  But it didn't work, and they had the inevitable blowup anyway.  For whatever reason, I still enjoy this show.  I'd like to see Vinnie and check in with him, but he knows better than to expose himself to Senior again.