What Occurred To Orange County Choppers, And The place Are They Right this moment?

Simply when it appeared enterprise could not be going any higher, the housing bubble burst and the following Nice Recession of the late 2000s hit Orange County Choppers laborious. Company purchasers could not splurge on extravagant bikes, and common customers had been equally reducing again on extra spending. 

This monetary stress created a private and financial rift between Teutul and his son and enterprise accomplice, Paul Jr. Finally, Paul Jr. left OCC to type his personal bike-building firm referred to as Paul Jr. Designs (PJD), taking a few of OCC’s most proficient fabricators with him.

Shortly earlier than the tip of the unique “American Chopper” sequence, OCC was now not in a position to afford its sprawling 92,000 sq. foot headquarters. It was surrendered to the mortgage lender, although the corporate continued to occupy a part of the constructing on a lease. It was a darkish interval, however earlier than too lengthy, OCC was as soon as once more the topic of a actuality present referred to as “Orange County Choppers” on Nation Music Tv (CMT).

Whereas the brand new sequence solely aired for one season in 2013, it did function a high-profile bike construct for basketball star Shaquille O’Neal. Paul Senior commented that it was the biggest bike the corporate had ever constructed at 14 toes lengthy — roughly 4 toes longer than a typical chopper — to accommodate Shaq’s 7’1″ tall body. 

After a number of years of relative obscurity, 2018 marked the debut of a reboot of the unique “American Chopper” sequence, catching up on what had transpired for the Teutul household off-camera over the previous a number of years.