Paul Teutul Sr.
His bike shop may be only 4 years old, but Paul
Teutul Sr's love of riding and fabricating custom motorcycles
dates
back to the 70's, inspired by such films as "Easy
Rider" and Marlon Brando's quint essential "The
Wild One". Since then he's worked in steel fabrication,
nurturing his Orange
County Ironworks into the booming
commercial business it is today.
But it was Orange
County Ironworks' very success that allowed
Paul Sr. to pursue his passion for building motorcycles
in his downtime, and in 1999 he recruited his son Paul
Jr. to
become the chief fabricator and designer for the new enterprise:
Orange County
Choppers. OCC jumped on the scene at Daytona
Biketoberfest 1999 with "True Blue" a classic
chopper built in Paul Sr.'s basement.
Today Paul's Three sons all work in either his steel business
or Bike Shop. Danny, 26, is the general manager of Orange
County Ironworks and the father of a 2-year-old daughter,
Gabriella. Paul Jr., 28, is the chief fabricator at Orange
County Choppers. Michael, 24, answers phones and orders
parts at OCC. Daughter Kristin, 21, attend nursing school
in Rochester, N.Y.
Paul Teutul Jr.
Paul Teutul Jr.-a.k.a.
Junior or Paulie - was born with
sheet metal in his blood. From the age of 12 on, he
spent his summers at his father's steel business
learning all the skills of fabrication that he would later use building motorcycles.
While in high school, junior also took part in the Board of Cooperative Educational
Services (BOCES) program, which allowed him to further hone his craft.
Soon after graduating Paul Jr. went to work for his father's
Orange
County Ironworks, becoming head of its railing
shop. But as his father began to
spend more time building motorcycles for pleasure, he approached his son
to assist.
It was then that Paul Sr. recognized his son's design and fabrication talent,
and with his blessing, junior left the rail shop to help establish Orange
County Choppers as a business in 1999.
That year, the father-and-son team debuted their bikes
in daytona to massive interest, and they never looked back.
With Paul Jr, as the chief designer and fabricator, and
with Paul Sr. lending his considerable business acumen,
OCC is unstoppable.
Mikey
Like his brother, Mikey went to work for Orange
County Ironworks at age 12, working on and off until
he graduated from high school. From there he went
on to community college, but after a series of zeroes he realized it wasn't
quite his scene. It was back to Dad's company. Mikey toiled at Ironworks
until he turned 20 and moved to Tempe, Arizona, where
he had
six different jobs in five months:
Bouncer at a bar, which didn't work out because it interfered
with his night life.
Busboy, which didn't work out because he was "treated
like crap". Telemarketer selling cell phones and cell-phone
services, which didn't work out because he hates being
bothered at
home by telemarketers. Valet parking attendant, which didn't
work out because they made him run... and shave. Movie-theater
guy, which was enjoyable because he didn't really do anything
but see free movies.
But overall, Arizona wasn't quite Mikey's pace either,
so Rock Tavern beckoned once his money ran out...
Back at home Mikey did carpentry with a friend for a year
before again returning to Orange County Ironworks and working
with his brother Daniel. Then, after two years of a job
that was "unrewarding, cold and cruel," he went
to a tavern one January night and met the man who would
advocate his hiring at Orange
County Choppers: Rusty, a.k.a.
Russell Muth, producer of American
Chopper.
Mikey was soon on board at OCC, answering phones, picking
up parts, popping bubble wrap and taking out the trash.
But within two weeks of his new job he was already on the
road attending bike shows with his brother and father,
and his stand-in was already out preforming him. So while
he has two people working under him now, he's not quite
sure what his job is anymore. But does that really matter?
www.orangecountychoppers.com
Content Provided by: Discovery Channel :: American Chopper
Orange County, NY (PRWEB) April 9, 2004 -- Orange County
Choppers
Motorcycle Mania
Motorcycles have always been the hot and cool mode of
transporting for people across the American landscape,
just check out any number of Elvis photos for proof of
that fact. But these days motorcycles are right up there
with Orlando Bloom on the popularity slide rule. Part of
this resurgence has been fueled but a glut of new TV shows
depicting the custom chopper bike subculture.
West Coast Choppers Vs. Orange County Choppers
First emerged the California custom bike shop, West Coast
Choppers, and owner Jesse James when the Discovery Channel
featured them in a show called "Motorcycle Mania".
Soon they had their own show called, "Monster Garage".
The ratings went out the window and Discovery knew they
had unearthed a wellspring waiting to be tapped, but that
was nothing compared to the follow up show called, "American
Chopper".
American Chopper
West Coast Choppers is based in California and you might
naturally think the same of ORANGE COUNTY CHOPPERS, but
the Hudson Valley plays host to its very own county with
the famous Los Angeles area name. The shop and the show
is based in Orange County, New York in the town of Rock
Tavern, about 80 miles from New York City. Discovery soon
gave the fine folks at Orange County Ironworks, their very
own show called, "American Chopper".
Orange County Chopper
"American Chopper" first aired on Discovery
in September 2002 and quickly outpaced its predecessor,
gaining twice the popularity right off the line. Orange
County Choppers fame has spread like wildfire and you can
see them on the cover of various magazines including, American
Iron, the French mag - Freeway, the Norway publication
- Biker Journal and the ever-popular Street Chopper.
Paul Teutul Sr.
Great American films like "Easy Rider" and Marlon
Brando's "The Wild One" have inspired many to
hop on the back of a hog or two, Paul Teutul Sr. was no
exception. Having grown his Orange County Ironworks into
a successful business he was able to utilize his downtime
to create the custom bikes of Orange County Choppers. They
debuted their first bike at Daytona Bike Oktoberfest 1999.
The creation was dubbed, "True Blue", and was
built in Paul's basement.
My Three Sons
Now more than 4 years later, Orange County Choppers has
grown into what "American Iron" recognizes as
one of the world's top 12 builders. Much of their success
is due in a great part to Paul's three sons. Danny, 26,
is the general manager of Orange County Ironworks, Paul
Jr., 28, is the chief designer and fabricator of Orange
County Choppers and 24 year old, Michael, answers phones
and orders parts for the Chopper division. His 21-year-old
daughter, Kristin, is not currently directly involved and
is attending nursing school in Rochester, New York.
Jet Bike
One of the OCC's greatest achievements has been the "Jet
Bike". The bike was inspired by the design of Navy
aircraft carriers and was intended to honor the troops
in Afghanistan. The Jet Bike's colossal creation was chronicled
in the very first show for "American Chopper" in
September 2002. And just like Rome, the "Jet Bike" was
not built in a day, in fact its birth took a grueling 42
days from start to finish.
Spider Bike
Their custom chopper, the "Spider Bike" was
one of only three bikes chosen in the world-class competition
at the Rats Hole Custom Show in Daytona, Florida. That
accolade gained them an all expenses paid trip to Germany
to the site of one of the biggest auto and bike shows in
the world. The "Spider Bike" was later purchased
by musician Wyclef Jean of the Fugees.
Reality Show Drama?
Orange County Choppers is a family affair and thus already
has built-in drama and tension from every day life, but
the "American Chopper" producers decided to mix
it up a bit by suggesting that the youngest son, Michael,
be added to OCC roster and thus bring a bit more drama
to the show. You see, Michael has a had a long history
of not being able to handle his jobs and prefers the crazier
parts of being a guy in his early 20's. Just see the show
and see for yourself.
