Transcript of April 11, 2005, Online Chat with OCC's Paul Teutul Jr. and Paul Teutul Sr.
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Discovery: Welcome to our live chat with OCC's Paul Teutul Jr. and Paul Teutul Sr., the stars of American Chopper. The guys are ready and willing to answer as many questions as you can ask in one hour's time. So ask away.
Paul Jr: We're looking forward to doing this. We're not online much 'cause neither of us is particularly computer savvy, but we're set to go.
Paul Sr: Just don't ask stupid questions.
Jimh: Paul Jr. and Sr., do you guys fight and carry on each day like the show?
Paul Sr: No.
Paul Jr: Not every day. We fight on occasion. Every father and son fight.
purpletink28: How do you decide what bikes to take along to your appearances?
Paul Sr: We just do a sit-down and figure out which ones we want to take.
Paul Jr: We have our retail store and keep a lot of the bikes there for people to see. We like to mix it up a bit on the road.
Editor's note: OCC's retail store is located at 1019 County Route 17K in Montgomery, N.Y. For more information, go to orangecountychoppers.com.
loyd_vessel: I would like to know if y'all ever plan to custom a trike?
Paul Sr: Anything's possible. We've been asked that quite a few times, and generally we say no. But anything's possible.
PolarisnFord: Do you like working with Discovery Channel?
Paul Jr: Yeah, Discovery Channel is a great company to work for. To work with.
Occ410: What bike are you currently working on?
Paul Jr: Right now we're working on a NAPA bike for NAPA Auto Parts. It's a drag-race bike, and different from anything we've ever done before.
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motorcitygrl: Have you ever considered opening other OCC locations?
Paul Jr: Absolutely. We're really considering it at this stage in the game.
Paul Sr: We're also talking about possibly doing franchises, and developing a line of bikes.
Paul Jr: Bikes that would be more available to the public.
mammasoccgirl: My 11-year-old daughter is so fond of Senior she would like to make him her honorary grandpa. She doesn't have any grampas. She totally respects you, and, well, you don't have to do anything. Please say yes!
Paul Sr: Yes.
janafromlouisiana: This question is for Senior. I was wondering how many kids you have?
Paul Sr: Four.
Paul Jr: Three boys and a girl. From oldest to youngest, it's me, Danny, Michael and then my sister Kristin.
winnracing: Did Paul Jr. go to college?
Paul Jr: No.
Paul Sr: He's a dummy. ;)
Choppers_Mom: With all of the pressure of your business, does Senior have to take high blood pressure medicine?
Paul Sr: No.
Paul Jr: He's not on blood pressure medicine, I am.
Paul Sr: That's right, he is!
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digiacomodd: Hello, this is Spc. Digiacomo, with the 1-110th Infantry Unit. We are at Camp Shelby, Miss., and are preparing to leave for Ar Ramadi, Iraq, July 6. My question is do you guys do anything to support our troops, and if so, what, and how to get it? Thanks.
Paul Jr: On May 6, we're going to be doing a big auction with Guernsey's for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and Fisher House Foundation.
Paul Sr: A huge auction with a lot of bikes and people in it.
Paul Jr: We'll be auctioning off things like the box we never put on the Fire Bike — which had a lot of controversy — Snap-On tool boxes, lifts ... We'll be auctioning a lot of that off, with the money going to the injured troops and their families.
Paul Sr: A lot of the celebrities are getting involved, like Jay Leno, Steven Tyler, golfer Davis Love, NASCAR drivers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. We're bringing a lot of people into it, and a lot of people are contributing to it.
Paul Jr: We really try and do as much as we can for the troops and the military. As you can see, it's been the dominant theme with the Jet Bike, Comanche Bike and POW/MIA Bike. We're trying to keep up that awareness.
lildirtbiker: Who inspires you the most from your family, and why?
Paul Jr: Sheesh, man ... I would definitely have to say my mother. I don't know why, but my mother through the years has been through a lot, has taught me all kinds of things, and been a positive influence in my life. She's always been there for me.
gdog: Who cleaned up the shop today?
Paul Sr: Vinnie.
Cinderella: How do you ease all the stress in the shop?
Paul Jr: Usually we smash something.
Paul Sr: Usually we smash something.
lildirtbiker: Since you have become well known and having your show, do you miss anything about the way your life was before?
Paul Jr: Yeah, we have no privacy any more. It's both a blessing and a curse.
Paul Sr: I have to agree with that.
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Choppers_Mom: What do all of the Teutuls who work in the shop see themselves doing when and if the show dies down, or if retirement comes first?
Paul Sr: After the show we'll still continue to do what we're doing.
Paul Jr: Ditto.
INOCCFAN: What future theme bikes are planned?
Paul Jr: We don't have a whole lot planned. We're going to be doing some "dream bikes" coming up, where we'll be building bikes for some average people who'll come on the show.
Paul Sr: And then we'll be doing some celebrity bikes, where celebrities will come on the show and have to learn to weld and so on to build their own bikes. There'll still be theme bikes as well, because there are always a lot of offers where people want different themes.
nicolerund: What do you do when you're not building bikes (or destroying stuff)?
Paul Sr: For me, there are so many things I enjoy: working out, riding motorcycles and stuff like that. Right now, I'm building a cabin that we're both involved in. We've been quite busy with the show and all that, so we don't know what a regular life is all about.
Paul Jr: My first and foremost favorite hobby is fishing. I also like driving my car. I like cars.
ehazard: Has Paul Sr. always been involved in motorcycles?
Paul Sr: Since the '70s — the early '70s.
jdmadman2001: I would like to know if you would ever consider a bike build-off with Jesse James, or if the idea had been tossed around at all?
Paul Sr: It has been tossed around. I think that anything's possible.
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Jason: How long did it take for Paul Jr. to learn all of the intricacies of bike building?
Paul Sr: He's still learning.
Paul Jr: Yeah, I'm still learning.
toocrazy789: How did Paulie Jr. get his experience working on custom bikes?
Paul Jr: Basically, we just started building custom bikes, so it was kind of like trial by fire. A lot of trying.
Choppers_Mom: Since Junior and Senior fight a lot about things not getting ordered or slacking off, have you thought about switching jobs for a week or so just as a refresher course on the other's duties?
Paul Sr: I think we have probably tried that, and failed at that also.
Paul Jr: Senior couldn't give up control for more than 30 seconds.
Paul Sr: 15 seconds.
OCCDIVA2005: Paul Jr., what are your favorite foods?
Paul Jr: I love rib-eye steak. It's one of my favorites.
Paul Sr: I'm a steak guy, too. Steak and chicken.
Paul Jr: Oh yeah — and my mother's spaghetti sauce.
GerryWaz: What's the best thing about being famous and what's the worst?
Paul Sr: There are so many things about the pluses of being famous.
Paul Jr: You have a tremendous impact on people's lives, in a positive way. The worst part is that sometimes you just want no one to know you. Pretty simple, you want to be like everyone else.
Paul Sr: The worst: people following you out to dinner.
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INOCCFAN: When building a bike, how do you choose the size of the motor?
Paul Jr: Whatever fits the bike itself. Whatever seems most fitting for the project itself, I guess.
occironworks: What exactly is Mikey's job at OCC?
Paul Jr: We're still trying to figure that out.
Paul Sr: Mikey will probably have every position that is available by the time he's done with Orange County Choppers because what we do with Mikey is we try to find a position, and he lasts about a week, so we move him to something else. Right now he's involved in the Web site.
Paul Jr: He's doing interviews to keep the Web site fresh. Interviewing everybody at OCC, including the UPS guy. So you'll hear from just about every member of OCC.
Paul Sr: And the UPS guy.
rickydds: What does an average custom chopper cost?
Paul Jr: I think our base model's around $39,500. Does that sound right, Pop?
Paul Sr: Yup.
winnracing: Do you have a catalog of your designs that you build?
Paul Sr: Not yet.
Paul Jr: We're working on a lot of that stuff. We grew from three people to 60 people inside of three years, so we're still trying to catch our breath.
GerryWaz: What other bike builders inspire or influence you?
Paul Jr: For me, pretty much all of them. There's a tremendous number of phenomenal builders out there, and any builder who says they're not inspired by the others wouldn't be telling the truth. It's a great industry, and everybody feeds off each other.
Paul Sr: There's something to learn from everybody.
Paul Jr: Anyone who says they're the best bike builder in the world is ... what word am I looking for ...
Paul Sr: Full of crap.
Paul Jr: There are so many great builders out there that nobody can say they're the best.
Paul Sr: The best builder is probably out there in a garage somewhere that nobody's heard of.
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Mamaloi: I have my personal opinion of why I like the bikes you build in preference over a lot of the other televised builders, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on what sets OCC bikes apart, and what it is about your creations that make them "click" with ordinary folks.
Paul Jr: Unquestionably it's the theme quality of the bikes, that people can relate to our bikes outside of other bikes. That's the No. 1 difference.
Mamaloi: The success of the show and OCC has allowed you to expand your manufacturing capabilities (bigger FLOJET, Wheel Mill, CAD, etc.) considerably. What other component manufacturing might we see move "in-house" over the coming episodes?
Paul Sr: I think you're going to see at some point that everything on the bike will be manufactured by us, including the motor. Everything will be our design.
Paul Jr: We're working on everything now, bringing it in-house. We've been criticized in the past for not building everything in-house, but with our crew growing and our capabilities growing, I think we'll be able to do it all.
Paul Sr: And that's our goal.
BigMacDean: What happens to the "theme" bikes after debuts?
Paul Sr: Ninety percent of them we keep.
Paul Jr: Sometimes when we do corporate bikes for different corporations, they'll keep the bike. But all of the tribute bikes we build we keep, and keep in our retail store or take them to shows so people can come and appreciate and see them in person.
Mamaloi: Do Paulie, Vinnie and Rick build regular customer bikes at all, or are they devoted to the corporate/tribute bikes for the TV show, and how has the "regular customer" side of the business responded to the success of the show?
Paul Sr: We all take turns — Vinnie, everybody — building customer bikes.
Paul Jr: We probably build 10:1 off-air to on-air, maybe more.
Lefty1086: Where did both of you learn to weld?
Paul Sr: I learned from just starting working for a welder. I did take welding, but when I got out of school and got married I took a job welding, and pretty much just picked it up on my own.
Paul Jr: I learned to weld in the steel shop, working for my father.
lildirtbiker: What is your all-time favorite bike?
Paul Jr: That's a tough question we get asked quite often. They all have special meaning. For me fabrication-wise, I'm going to say the Black Widow, but as far as meaning, I would say the Fire Bike.
Paul Sr: The POW/MIA bike.
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kitezilla: The gal who did the artwork on the David Mann Bike was fantastic! Do you plan on using more of her designs on future bikes?
Paul Sr: Anything's possible.
boomersooner: Would you guys ever have a head-to-head biker build-off against each other?
Paul Sr: That's a possibility, too.
Paul Jr: It's been proposed a few times. We're just waiting for the right time to do something like that.
wabanak: As the son of a POW in World War II, I really appreciate the POW/MIA Bike. How long did that actually take to make?
Paul Sr: About two, two and a half weeks.
Jonathon-M: About how many bikes do you guys build in the run of a year?
Paul Jr: About 100 or more.
Paul Sr: You don't really count them, but we've got quite a staff on there building bikes. There are always four or five bikes a day being built on different lists.
Paul Jr: We're actually looking for fabricators now, people with four or more years' experience building bikes.
nicole427: Paul Jr., building all of these theme bikes, does it become difficult to come up with different and creative designs for each one?
Paul Jr: Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it's difficult. A lot of it depends on the theme.
laughingtoo: When do you think more of the guys will have a chance to build some of their own creations, like Christian and Nick?
Paul Sr: That's kind of hard to say because we have such a hard time keeping up with what we have. But if someone wants to and they have the liberty of time to do that, we wouldn't object.
hot_occ_chic: Paul Sr., how come Mikey gets away with much more than Paulie?
Paul Sr: Because I like him better.
hot_occ_chic: Paulie, do you feel like your dad is way to hard on you?
Paul Jr: I think the most common question I get is whether my father really is like he is in the show, and I would say, yes, he's really like that. It's not so much that he's hard on me as that he likes to complain about nothing.
bernardara: Paul Jr., can you describe the first bike that you ever built? What was it like?
Paul Jr: It was a chopper, before choppers really got popular. Me and my father built it together, and it was a really nice-looking bike. It was black with yellow hot-rod flames.
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hot_occ_chic: How often do you have fans showing up at the shop wanting to see you?
Paul Jr: All day, every day.
Paul Sr: Seven days a week, whether you're there or not there.
Paul Jr: But, like I say, we have a nice retail shop up the street, and people come to see us there, where we're open seven days a week. We have all the bikes there, and it has become such a destination point that we actually have bus tours go there.
People locally don't go, but people come from all over the states, plus Europe, Ireland, Scotland, Puerto Rico ... everywhere. I'd have to say Australia takes the cake though, because I don't think you can get much farther away from us.
Dyver: Have you thought about producing a kit bike for us financially unendowed?
Paul Jr: We've considered it.
Paul Sr: Anything's possible.
Paul Jr: The line of bikes that we're working on coming out with will be somewhat more affordable than the bikes we have now.
Paul Sr: Quite a bit more affordable.
bernardara: Paul Sr., how big do you see OCC getting in the coming years with the show and all of this exposure? What's the next big thing for OCC?
Paul Jr: A clothing line is going to be a big thing for us. We're going to come out with a high-end clothing line that's going to be awesome. It's something I wanted to see happen from the beginning and we just didn't have the time or resources to make it happen.
Paul Sr: I think our production bike will be a real huge success, too. That will be a major step with moving forward with OCC now.
vinorider: What year did OCC start?
Paul Sr: 1999.
Smac500: How is the new shop working out? Is it clean and orderly?
Paul Sr: For the most part, yeah. And it's working out very well. We're running out of room already.
mcw_nj: How many work at the shop?
Paul Jr: At the shop alone, there's got to be, I'd say, 22 to 25 people, maybe even more.
Paul Sr: Yeah, there's more.
Paul Jr: But yeah, quite a few.
Cubsfan05: How long do you think you will keep making this great show?
Paul Sr: (laughing)
Paul Jr: Our guess is at least another three years. We'll be around for a while. As long as our fans keep watching, we'll make the show. When they stop watching, we'll go back to what we were doing before the show.
cr125occ: What kinds of bands do you guys like?
Paul Jr: There's a lot of good bands out there. U2 is one of my favorite bands. Tom Petty's awesome. Newer stuff, too — I like Jet.
Paul Sr: I like the Stones, a lot of the '60s and '70s music. I'm not too much into the newer stuff. I like U2 and that kind of music, too.
Paul Jr: Oh yeah, and I like Aerosmith.
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OCC_Gearhead: What were you doing at my age? I'm 14.
Paul Sr: Oh, geez. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
Paul Jr: I can't remember that far back.
Hondaman115: Is the shop different atmosphere-wise, when the cameras aren't rolling?
Paul Sr: No.
DJ_Devo: How many bikes do each of you own? Do you have a favorite or any other special toys that you are quite attached to?
Paul Sr: I probably own 15 bikes. I have an assortment of muscle cars.
Paul Jr: I own a few bikes.
Paul Sr: And a scooter — Zuma.
Paul Jr: And I own a couple of cars. And we love our Hummers!
Paulie_4ever: Do y'all ever watch the show?
Paul Jr: Me? I try to watch the shows when they first air. We watch the shows with everyone else out there — we're watching it for the first time with everyone else, not pre -taped. So often there are a lot of surprises in there — things we forgot. But I don't watch the repeats, or the shows on DVD or anything.
Paul Sr: I watch the shows and the repeats.
Rene: What is your most memorable moment on camera?
Paul Jr: There are so many of them. We've done more than 50 shows, so there's a ridiculous number of memorable moments.
Paul Sr: I think, for me, it was the one when we were crying in the living room. We were having one of "those talks," you know, and we forgot the camera was there. It got into a heated thing and kept going on and on.
Paul Jr: It got emotional.
Paul Sr: Yeah, it got emotional. On national TV.
Paul Jr: We asked them not to air that, but they did anyway. The audience got to see a side of us that they don't normally see, so it worked out for the best.
top-girl: Paul Sr., what's your secret to have a successful business like yours?
Paul Sr: Perseverance.
Paul Jr: And a phenomenal fabricator.
daytonagirl: My family loves the show. Did you ever think that the show would be such a big hit with kids?
Paul Sr: No.
Paul Jr: We're always blown away by our demographic — by the people who watch the show. Just the other day, I was coming back from Jersey and there was a busload of older women — probably 45 and older — and they were all piling out and asking for pictures. There must have been 20 or 30 of them, and every single one of them watched the show. Older people, people who don't understand English, really young kids ... they all watch the show. We're around celebrities, and we see their fans, and our fans just blow me away every time!
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RevTimKing: Mike Campo has an artistic ideal completely different from Paul Jr.'s genius. Any plans to let him do his own bike?
Paul Sr: No.
Paul Jr: Mike Campo's free to do whatever he wants.
nicole427: Paulie, is it hard to concentrate in the shop with cameras on you all the time?
Paul Jr: No, not at all. The first couple weeks of filming were awkward, going from someone who didn't even like his picture being taken to being on film all day long with cameras in your face. But it gets to be a natural environment.
hot_occ_chic: If you were not in the business you are in, what do you think you would be doing now?
Paul Jr: Making railings.
Paul Sr: We'd still be in the steel-fabricating business, because it still exists.
Paul Jr: My brother Danny runs the steel shop now, and it's still running strong.
softtailg: Do you guys still have your bull mastiff?
Paul Sr: Yes, I do. He's sitting right next to me right now. Looking for a female.
Paul Jr: He is.
OCC_rules: Are Danny and Kristin into choppers also?
Paul Sr: No.
mike: What happened to the old OCC shop? Is it still being used? Did the ironworks move, too?
Paul Sr: No, it still exists. The ironworks is still there, and the existing shop that we had before is used for storage.
britannic: How long does it take to do a project?
Paul Jr: About three weeks for a project.
jsterling: Does the fame make it hard to live in a small town?
Paul Sr: No, not too bad.
Paul Jr: For me, the beauty of where we live is that I've lived here for my entire life. We knew everybody in the area before we got famous. So it's the only place I could ever call home as far as I'm concerned.
adam052174: Have you ever thought of doing an American Choppers Apprentice? It would put Donald Trump to shame.
Paul Sr: (laughing)
Paul Jr: It's a funny concept, but we're going to stick to doing what we do best. And we still put Donald Trump to shame. ;-)
Genx: This one is for Paul Sr. I am now way skilled enough to build a bike, but what advice would you give to someone who is looking to start a business of their own (an auto body shop)?
Paul Sr: Keep on keeping on. Perseverance.
Paul Jr: Don't take any wooden nickels.
Discovery says: Thanks for a wonderful chat! Unfortunately, we are almost out of time. Do you have any parting words for us?
Paul Jr: We love our fans. We have the most loyal and faithful fans. It blows us away every time.
Paul Sr: We're really appreciative of our fans.
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