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Speaker 1: All right, guys, listen. Sorry, we had a little bit

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of a late start. We we've been looking forward to

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doing this podcast. I don't know if you've seen our

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podcast before, but me and Mike and Vin have done

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a couple of these and they're pretty good.

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Speaker 2: We talk a lot about the old days.

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Speaker 1: Of American Chopper, which you might very well be familiar with,

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and everyone can hear me.

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Speaker 2: Good, yeah, good, Okay, So we thought.

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Speaker 1: We'd just come out here and uh kind of open

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it up to question and answer type situation, record it,

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and then let everyone who listens to our podcast check

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out kind of a back and forth conversation. So if

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you guys are good with that and you don't want

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to be shy, then just fire some questions at just Michael.

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Speaker 2: Yep, okay, things below the belt?

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Speaker 3: So I got I got belt.

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Speaker 2: Everything is.

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Speaker 1: Mikey.

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Speaker 2: I love you American Choppers.

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Speaker 3: I followed this through ever since your father and everybody else.

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Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. How you doing. I'm doing good? I

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love you. You're hilarious.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't he look good?

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Speaker 2: I'm I'm doing well. It's good. Wellking on his shirt?

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What's your name? Bo Hormone? Nice to meet you, buddy. Yeah,

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I love you, mo. Yeah, thank you, thank you. Yeah,

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don't be shy, It's fine.

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Speaker 1: Just pretend we're all there's no cameras or any microphones.

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Speaker 4: Yep, hey guys doing uh as I've already told you

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guys before. I've always been a huge fan, especially your

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support first responders.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 4: Nothing to do with any of that, though, I always

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wondered whatever became of the Mike Eveny bike.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's a really good question. What did happen to

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that bike?

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Speaker 3: I mean I don't, I don't, I don't no firsthand,

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but I think it got dismantled and put back together

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and resold.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Michaels I got dismantled because.

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Speaker 5: Vinnie went into a fit of rage after we unveiled

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the bike and he smashed it.

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Speaker 2: What happened during the unveil anyway?

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Speaker 3: What?

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Speaker 2: What?

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Speaker 6: What?

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Speaker 2: What was the deal with that? Did that thing fire up?

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Speaker 3: Well? I think eventually it did. I mean that was

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guy was kind of cloudy, but it didn't. Right. I

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got I got some parts off the Mikey Vinnie bike though,

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Oh you got the shifter, and I got some of

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the trial parts too. I still got the remember that

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wrap we put around the oil tank with the Mikey

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and a Vinnie on it. It was raised right and yeah,

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and we had a couple of test pieces that didn't

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work out so well, but I got them hanging around somewhere.

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I'll sell them.

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Speaker 1: Take Yeah, I'll buy him cheap.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good one.

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Speaker 3: It was a fun It was a really fun episode. Yeah,

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especially when Mike made them No you hugged me.

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Speaker 5: I hugged Vent around his waist, which I'm accustomed to.

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Is good at it, you know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's something we do.

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Speaker 5: Uh.

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Speaker 7: Just a question about the event, what uh what made

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you choose this location and this particular weekend. If you

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guys have any plans for other events.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So Bob who owns the rain Drop, came to

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us and said, Bob over here, and he said, look,

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I want you to come out to this event.

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Speaker 2: I want to create a motorcycle event.

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Speaker 1: He does a lot of music venues here at the

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rain Drop, as you may well know, and he really

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has a vision for a bigger motorcycle event and this

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is the first of its kind, and so we figured,

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yet we'll come out, we'll support it, and I think

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it's a good part of America to really grow something

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like this. You guys have gorgeous out here. The ride

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was spectacular today, right, I mean really nice. So yeah,

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you would say, well, why don't you do this by you? Well,

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Bob had the idea to bring us out, and I

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think we can expand on that, and I think next

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year it will be even ten times bigger, and we're

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gonna keep investing in it. We're gonna keep promoting it,

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and we're gonna keep doing all the things that make

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a motorcycle event successful. So one hundred percent, next year

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this is gonna be bigger and better and we're gonna

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keep expanding on that. Hopefully these guys will come back out,

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maybe even Rick Pecko or something like that. I don't know,

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but we're gonna we're gonna keep expanding for next year.

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Come on, Clayton, looking back, now, what's one behind the.

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Speaker 6: Scenes moment from the show that you would that fans

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will be surprised to hear about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean.

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Speaker 1: There's so much behind the scenes. To be honest with you,

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there's so much rhetoric.

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Speaker 3: That was not so much stuff probably on a cutt.

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Speaker 2: And stuff that. Yeah, it was inappropriate.

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Speaker 1: Mostly like if you.

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Speaker 3: Work in an environment and all the stupid stuff you say.

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It's all that stuff.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like bike builders, kind of like iron workers. Yeah, exactly,

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it'd have to be on HBO. As a matter of fact,

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he was just showing me. Apparently the film crew gave

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you what how much footage, Like it.

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Speaker 2: Was forty five minutes.

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Speaker 1: That was all behind the scenes, crazy rhetoric stuff like

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you know, if you're talking with your boys and just

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out there saying the dumbest stuff. We have just reams

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of that kind of stuff, right, Like we talked in

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riddles almost even on the show when you heard us talk.

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We had all these nicknames and these weird things we said.

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We almost didn't even speak English most of the time. Right,

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So there's so much of that stuff out there. And

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I think if then gives me that footage, I will

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release it on my social media and get it out

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into people's ears. We have to beat some stuff, but

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I think it would be really good, you know, it

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would be really funny.

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Speaker 3: And there was some other stuff that I didn't even

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know about it. You just recently told me, Mike, Oh yeah.

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Speaker 2: Tell them about me, well about me and Vin.

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Speaker 5: It was just something. It was just something the editors

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had in Los Angeles where they cut everything together and

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made it look like Vinnie and Paul were romantically involved.

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And it's probably ten minutes. Give him an example, like

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how hey, send it home, pal, you know, just.

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Speaker 1: Taking our words and mincing them.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I had a lot of fun back then.

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That one might be lost though. That's funny, all right,

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this one's for Vin.

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Speaker 8: So we all know that Paul and Paul Senior got

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into it left and right. The fights were a big

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part of the show, and a lot of times they

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cut to you and you're just caught up in the

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middle of it, looking like going back and forth, and

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they would even interview you and it was like you

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didn't really take sides, but what was going through your

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head when some of those fights got pretty heated.

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Speaker 3: I mean, like anybody else, you know, it's it's not

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really a spectator sport, you know, so you kind of

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get caught up in the middle of it and you

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don't know what to do. You know, it's like it's

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family stuff, and I get it because I worked for

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family and that kind of stuff happened. So that's that's

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pretty much how it is. I mean, what else do

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you do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, was that was that something that you and your

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father because you grew up working for your father, right

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and what you guys had, what's a sled shop.

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Speaker 2: Right early on.

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Speaker 1: Of course, yeah, in the bowling Alley. Yeah, so Vin

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and his father had a lot of history working together

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before he came to work for us, and his dad

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was a lot like my father. I think that was

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probably prepared you for what would come.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. When I finally quit working for my father, was

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so it can have a real relationship because the.

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Speaker 1: Work with him was tough.

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Speaker 3: It was, it is it is, especially with that old

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school mentality in my way or the highway, yep, it

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you know, so I want to have a real relationship

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with him.

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Speaker 1: So it improved when you guys stopped working together.

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Speaker 3: Point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, see, I never knew that. It's interesting because I

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think definitely working with my father made the show what

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you loved about it, you know, the volatile nature, the

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back and forth, the kind of butting of heads, the relatability.

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But it also I think was probably tough on our relationship.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, as a father.

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Speaker 1: So unfortunately when we separated, it didn't get better for me.

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It got a little worse. It wasn't I didn't have

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Vin's exact experience, and I think for you guys out there,

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men and women or you know, everybody has family. I

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think when American Chopper first took off, certainly the family

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dynamic was you love the bikes, you love what we

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were doing. But that family dynamic, that butting of heads,

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that insanity almost because we had some bad blowout arguments,

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was probably the thing that was the most universal because

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this show aired in two hundred countries and territories in

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ninety languages through the years, and it translated across the

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board because people related to family dysfunction. At the end

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of the day, we think about this.

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Speaker 2: This was two.

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Speaker 1: Thousand and what was the first episode, two thousand and two, Yeah,

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two thousand and two. There was nothing like that on television.

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I mean there was a few reality shows, but not

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like showing all the raw fights and disagreements and laughing

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and crying and everything we were so I feel like

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at the time it was groundbreaking. But we you know,

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it's funny, we didn't even set out to be that.

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You know, we got a call from a producer one

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day and said we want to come and film you.

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We didn't say, oh, we want to show. And I

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think that's why it was so raw and real, because

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we didn't set out to be what American Chopper would become.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: So I remember when that first episode aired of the

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jet bike before I was involved mm hm. And how

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when that first aired, you guys were really upset. Yeah,

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we were to be about the building of the bikes.

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It's true and yeah that stuff.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, and that the ratings came out so

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that you guys remember the first episode with the jet bike.

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Anyone here remember the very frame It was a pilot.

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That was a first episode of American Chopper two thousand

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and two or two or two thousand and three, and

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uh I remember we we really worked hard. We filmed

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for like six weeks to do that episode, and uh

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I thought like man, I was like, man, we're gonna

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be like Bob Vila, you know, this is gonna be

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like polished, and it's gonna be like we're gonna show

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our art. And then they showed all the reality of

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the situation, which was the fights. That was like part

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of the experience for us, right, it was like part

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of the It was real right that that those fights

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were happening way before television, right, And so we had

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all these blowouts and then you saw them. But what

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I thought was great about at the time. So the

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next day after the episode aired, me and my father

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were looking at each other, like two years we were

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building bikes, and we find they got our shot in

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that episode aired, and.

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Speaker 2: We thought we blew it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we blew it. We had it. We were like

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this in the back, We had our head in our hands.

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Speaker 2: We thought it was over.

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Speaker 1: We looked like idiots because there was no precedent for

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that type of television. We just thought we were fighting

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half the time and this looks bad. But you know what,

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in the end, we had a product to show, unlike

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a lot of reality shows that came after, which was

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just fighting. There was no they weren't building things, right,

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So our show was very groundbreaking in that sense. And

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then I'd say by five o'clock that day, the emails

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started coming in, and we had a bookkeeper who was

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robbing us by the way, but that's another story, and

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she was printing out our emails and so by like

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three o'clock we had like three hundred emails that were

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all very positive, right, So we're reading them and you know,

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like they were given my father hard time. By five o'clock,

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the ratings came in and we just blew it out. So,

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you know, we had no understanding of television or how

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to be actors or anything like that. Matter of fact,

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I didn't even like my picture taken at the time.

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And then ratings came in and that was it. That

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that kind of started everything in motion. Then we did

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the Cody Project, which was the next pilot, and then

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we started the series American Chopper, and that was the

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first build of the series that me and then were

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heavy on, and Michael came in.

255
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Speaker 2: When'd you come in? Black Widow? Black Widow? Yeah, so

256
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Michael came into the show.

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Speaker 1: So there were two episodes. The first episode, these guys

258
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weren't in and by the beginning of the series, the

259
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Black Widow launched and we were all in full force

260
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by that time. And then we started bringing in other characters.

261
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We didn't bring them in to be like television characters.

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We brought him in because we needed help because we

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were so busy.

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Speaker 2: It was just necessity.

265
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Speaker 1: And then we got Christian and Nick and Rick Pecko

266
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and later on Jason Poole and Cody was like way

267
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there he was in the he was there before the

268
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Both these got as Cody.

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Speaker 2: So it's pretty interesting they all all.

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Speaker 1: It all really worked out in a very organic way.

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And I got to tell you that's what you loved

272
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about our show. It was nothing pre rehearsed, recorded, The

273
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fights weren't pushed. It was all happening in real time,

274
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and you got to see it every Monday night, and

275
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we didn't even know what you were getting. And here's

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another thing about the show that I think you would

277
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find interesting. We've never had control over editing in all

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the years of American chop or. We never said you

279
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can do this, or you can't do this, or you

280
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can do that, or you can or else. It would

281
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have been a whole different show because no one wants

282
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to look bad, especially my father. Okay, So the fact

283
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that none of us were able to say anything about

284
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how the show was edited made it as raw as

285
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you can imagine. And I think it was part of

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the staying power right.

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Speaker 3: It was. Yeah, on Monday nights, it was. It was

288
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a surprise to us.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a surprise to us everybody. We watched

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it with you every Monday night.

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Speaker 9: Two things, One, where's Cody now and is there plans

292
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for filming of anything in the future.

293
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Speaker 1: Oh well, okay, So first of all, where's Cody now? Okay,

294
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So after things started to kind of dissipate, Cody was

295
00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,440
my dude, right because he came up through the ranks

296
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and he was probably in his early twenties after he

297
00:14:19,399 --> 00:14:21,279
worked for you. How old was he when he came

298
00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,679
to work for me after that twelve?

299
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Speaker 3: He's almost forty now he's born eighty seven.

300
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Speaker 1: He was in his life twenties, right, he was like

301
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in his mid twenties. He was my guy. Cody could weld.

302
00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,159
Speaker 2: Anything, he could fabricate anything.

303
00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,600
Speaker 1: He could run my water jet, and he could wire

304
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a bike, he could.

305
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Speaker 2: Assemble a bike. Right.

306
00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,480
Speaker 1: He was my one man bad. I only needed just

307
00:14:44,559 --> 00:14:49,159
Cody and so he couldn't machine. That's it C and

308
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,000
c but everything else. Man, he was right on it, right,

309
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And we were we were cooking, and he came into

310
00:14:54,759 --> 00:14:56,240
my office one day he called me in.

311
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Speaker 2: I sat down.

312
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Speaker 1: He said, listen, I got this opportunity. Okay, because our

313
00:15:01,799 --> 00:15:05,840
guess in electric company is Central Hudson. And he said,

314
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,080
I have this opportunity, I can go. My father got

315
00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:12,039
me a job at Central Hudson. And he said, if

316
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I don't take it, Okay, if I don't take it,

317
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I'll never forgive myself. That's how he opens up the conversation.

318
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I love this kid. He's just a great kid. Right,

319
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,120
so immediately I knew I'm letting him.

320
00:15:23,039 --> 00:15:23,759
Speaker 2: Way off the hook.

321
00:15:23,799 --> 00:15:26,799
Speaker 1: He's out, go go do, go, do what your future is.

322
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Speaker 2: And that's what happened.

323
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Speaker 1: He went to work for Central Hudson and it has

324
00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:33,759
worked out. It's better than if he worked for me

325
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,759
forever because you know, things slowed down and maybe things

326
00:15:36,759 --> 00:15:39,000
would have changed. So he took his opportunity when he

327
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,440
had it and he's done. How good for himself. Yes,

328
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,960
he's done. He's I think he owns a farm now.

329
00:15:45,039 --> 00:15:49,120
So he's a disava. Yeah, he's a go getter man.

330
00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,519
He kicks ass. He really does. Cody's Cody's done very well.

331
00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,279
And uh, you know, back in the day, he loved it.

332
00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,039
This kid was fourteen years old driving his dirt bike

333
00:15:58,879 --> 00:16:01,519
like across the street from where he lived to work

334
00:16:01,559 --> 00:16:04,559
with us. So he got his start, he learned how

335
00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:09,679
to be a man working for you know, occ back

336
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:13,519
in the day, and it was good for us. I

337
00:16:13,519 --> 00:16:15,559
mean it really was. He was a great asset. He

338
00:16:15,639 --> 00:16:18,960
was great on the show and just a great kid.

339
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,240
And you know, it's another example of like just some

340
00:16:22,679 --> 00:16:26,159
random neighbor, like your neighbor coming over and starting to

341
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:27,960
work and they put a camera on him and it

342
00:16:28,039 --> 00:16:28,600
works out.

343
00:16:28,799 --> 00:16:32,080
Speaker 2: Like the dynamic is there? Right? So I think that's

344
00:16:32,159 --> 00:16:32,720
really that.

345
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Speaker 1: There were so many facets to our show that were

346
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,200
so new, unique, And as I get older, I appreciate

347
00:16:39,279 --> 00:16:41,759
him more and more because there's nothing like that out

348
00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:44,720
there anymore. There's no television like that anymore.

349
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,679
Speaker 2: Think about it. What do you watch on TV?

350
00:16:47,039 --> 00:16:48,720
Speaker 1: And you know the other thing we were talking about

351
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,039
the other day, families don't get together and watch shows

352
00:16:52,039 --> 00:16:53,279
like American Chopper anymore.

353
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Speaker 3: Right.

354
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,039
Speaker 2: I don't know your experience, but families.

355
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,279
Speaker 1: Used to sit down, the whole family, five people and

356
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:03,440
maybe the great and Monday nights at nine o'clock, even

357
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,920
though football was on, they watched our show because they

358
00:17:07,039 --> 00:17:10,039
had to see what we were doing. Because it a

359
00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:12,480
lot of times they split episodes, so the first part

360
00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:14,559
would be the Monday before and the finish would be

361
00:17:14,559 --> 00:17:17,240
the Monday after. It was very smart and so you

362
00:17:17,279 --> 00:17:19,680
would have to be there. There was no DVR there

363
00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,400
was no HD television in Monday nights nine o'clock. If

364
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,440
you weren't sitting there in that couch watching What Was Next,

365
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,240
you missed it, you know So I think, I think,

366
00:17:29,279 --> 00:17:33,160
honestly and I missed those days we were talking about

367
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,599
We just did a podcast and talked about this stuff.

368
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,160
I missed that. Everybody's on their phones.

369
00:17:38,279 --> 00:17:40,240
Speaker 2: This is like our new world right here.

370
00:17:40,279 --> 00:17:42,720
Speaker 1: It's all just down here with your head down. You

371
00:17:42,759 --> 00:17:44,880
go to go out to dinner, everybody's on their phones

372
00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:46,240
looking down. It's like it.

373
00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:47,279
Speaker 2: Didn't used to be that way.

374
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Speaker 1: So our show was still in that framework, you know what.

375
00:17:52,799 --> 00:17:58,279
So what's a well, I don't know. I feel like

376
00:17:58,359 --> 00:17:59,960
we need to do a where are they now?

377
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:00,599
Speaker 2: I feel like.

378
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,720
Speaker 1: I have to figure out something. I want to build

379
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:04,839
a bike with this guy, and I want him to

380
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,680
be standing there telling us what to.

381
00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:15,440
Speaker 2: Do at all. Yeah, I have the forman yes, yes,

382
00:18:15,519 --> 00:18:16,079
so I have.

383
00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:16,559
Speaker 6: I have.

384
00:18:24,799 --> 00:18:27,640
Speaker 1: I got to tell you something, honestly, like I would

385
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,000
love I have a ten year old son, Hudson, Yes,

386
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,680
just one. We were blessed with one kid. We tried,

387
00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,000
but we got one great kid. Oh you have eight kids?

388
00:18:37,559 --> 00:18:41,119
Oh my god, you got him beat why do you

389
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:51,839
think Vin's got seven? Yeah, so I'm telling you, I

390
00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,559
think as far as television goes, listen, I think we

391
00:18:55,559 --> 00:18:57,720
would love nothing more than to I'd love to build

392
00:18:57,720 --> 00:18:58,319
a bike with this guy.

393
00:18:58,359 --> 00:18:58,799
Speaker 2: We were just talking.

394
00:18:58,799 --> 00:19:01,440
Speaker 1: We don't really build bikes on I'm a commission based guy,

395
00:19:01,559 --> 00:19:04,240
so I don't like build bikes as a hobby. Like

396
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,119
Major League Baseball has to come to me and say, hey,

397
00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:08,759
we got this marketing campaign.

398
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,319
Speaker 2: We want you to build a bike like this bike. Right.

399
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,720
Speaker 1: That happens for far and few in between now. But

400
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,119
I'll tell you, man, if we got back together, we

401
00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:20,559
were just looking. Vin didn't see this bike. Vin didn't

402
00:19:20,559 --> 00:19:22,640
build this bike. He built this bike with me. Because

403
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:25,400
this goes back. But when American Chopper came back, we

404
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:29,359
built this for MLB and he was just looking at

405
00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,759
it and enjoying looking at it because he never really

406
00:19:31,759 --> 00:19:33,920
saw it in person. And this is the kind of

407
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,640
thing me and him did together all the time. These

408
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,160
are two examples of a hundred motorcycles that are heavily themed,

409
00:19:41,559 --> 00:19:44,720
with a tremendous amount of forethought, with a tremendous amount

410
00:19:44,759 --> 00:19:47,799
of creative and it all had to do with theme marketing.

411
00:19:47,799 --> 00:19:51,880
And advertising for some of the largest brands in the world.

412
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:52,559
Am I right?

413
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:53,960
Speaker 2: Some of the laws And.

414
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,319
Speaker 1: Me and him were crack Okay, Mikey was comic relief

415
00:19:57,319 --> 00:20:01,240
and fantastic farting on seats that my father's face was

416
00:20:01,279 --> 00:20:06,200
on right or talking about it, and and and me

417
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:06,799
and Vin.

418
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:07,400
Speaker 2: Were crack man.

419
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,799
Speaker 1: We were you know, we were talking about like this bike,

420
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,440
like all these early bikes. It was kind of just

421
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,079
me and him. It was just me and Vin. And

422
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,279
Vin was like the mechanic had this mechanical mind. I

423
00:20:18,319 --> 00:20:21,200
had this creative mind. I grew up in the steel business,

424
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,240
so I was a fabricator. Vin was a mechanic becoming

425
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,960
a fabricator running the little mini water jet that we

426
00:20:28,079 --> 00:20:30,839
had making all the brackets for stuff. And it was

427
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:35,200
like the beginning of something great. So we really experienced

428
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,680
me you watch the Commanche build. It was like super

429
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,400
early days of that type of stuff, super high level

430
00:20:41,519 --> 00:20:44,359
creative for the time. And we were doing the Snap

431
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,759
on bike. What was that first season was Snap on

432
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,599
Bike the Miller electric bike where we're towing the welder

433
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,640
behind us. I mean this is like heavy, yeah, And

434
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,319
now I'm like, I'll be fifty one coming up right.

435
00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,799
So when I look back at my youth, I have

436
00:20:58,839 --> 00:21:03,160
such an appreciation for what American Chopper afforded us because, honestly,

437
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,119
if it wasn't for the show and the exposure it

438
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,039
gave us globally, these big brands would have never said, hey,

439
00:21:10,079 --> 00:21:12,960
will you build us a motorcycle? Right, they were just

440
00:21:13,039 --> 00:21:16,400
pouring in. And aside from the big brands, we did

441
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,920
a lot of off air bikes, like tons of off

442
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,000
air bikes, and this was like in the heyday, you know,

443
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:24,160
so you know what's next?

444
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 2: I don't know.

445
00:21:24,799 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 1: I would love to build another bike together. I think

446
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,480
people would love to see that. I mean, especially like

447
00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:32,880
whatever age you're at, wherever you are, whether you're thirty

448
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000
or sixty. I feel like there's a big range of

449
00:21:36,039 --> 00:21:38,640
people in there that love that type of content. And

450
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,160
it's not out there. There's a lot of content. There's

451
00:21:41,319 --> 00:21:45,359
just not good quality content where you're creating things anymore.

452
00:21:45,519 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 9: Right, You guys like challenges, we do good, build a

453
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:50,599
bike for next year and a halven a year.

454
00:21:51,079 --> 00:21:54,759
Speaker 1: We could probably do that. We just need so much money,

455
00:21:54,799 --> 00:21:57,400
that's the problem. We got to pack up the truck,

456
00:21:57,519 --> 00:21:59,920
you know. No, I think we could probably do so

457
00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:00,680
like that.

458
00:22:00,839 --> 00:22:02,079
Speaker 3: Do you guys believe in Jesus?

459
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,519
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well then start praying about it.

460
00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: We will we will.

461
00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:08,759
Speaker 2: Do that, right.

462
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:14,079
Speaker 7: We got we got a Facebook live question from Jake Fallen.

463
00:22:14,559 --> 00:22:16,559
He is asking, is there a certain build that you

464
00:22:16,599 --> 00:22:19,160
wish you could go back and redo and how would

465
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:20,240
you have done it differently?

466
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know, what do you think? I mean?

467
00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:28,799
For me, I'll be honest with you.

468
00:22:29,599 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 3: I was looking at some of the stuff and I

469
00:22:31,079 --> 00:22:33,279
was like, oh, I forgot about that. Like how many

470
00:22:33,319 --> 00:22:34,279
bikes have we done?

471
00:22:34,519 --> 00:22:35,400
Speaker 2: Lots of bikes?

472
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:37,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and a real number.

473
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:37,680
Speaker 10: Though.

474
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,079
Speaker 1: I mean I would I would say this about the bikes,

475
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,119
like when I look at him, I don't I think

476
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,640
almost all of the bikes I think there could have

477
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:48,480
been something better about them.

478
00:22:48,599 --> 00:22:50,519
Speaker 2: Does that make sense? I love them all.

479
00:22:50,599 --> 00:22:53,799
Speaker 1: I think they're great. Actually, their imperfections are almost what

480
00:22:54,039 --> 00:22:56,720
are endearing a little bit. To some extent, you might

481
00:22:56,839 --> 00:23:00,240
not find what's wrong with them, But for me, I

482
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,359
always want to do better, even for us. Look, we

483
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,519
pushed and pushed through the years to make bikes better

484
00:23:06,559 --> 00:23:08,920
and better every time we built them. Were they better,

485
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,279
I don't know. You'd be the judge, but we didn't

486
00:23:11,319 --> 00:23:12,119
stop trying.

487
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:14,359
Speaker 2: We didn't know. I mean, I pushed him hard.

488
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:16,480
Speaker 1: He was starting to do the C and C stuff,

489
00:23:16,519 --> 00:23:19,519
and I would I would task him even by sheet

490
00:23:19,519 --> 00:23:22,160
metal guy Brendan, like once we separated and did the

491
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,559
senior versus junior thing. Once we started building bikes as

492
00:23:25,599 --> 00:23:29,279
Paul Junior designed, it really pushed it because we were

493
00:23:29,279 --> 00:23:33,440
feeling the pressure of OCC right cause I come from OCC.

494
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,319
I am OCC right now I come out of that.

495
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,799
I was the creative force and then now I had to.

496
00:23:40,039 --> 00:23:43,680
I found myself separating myself from that situation, which was

497
00:23:43,799 --> 00:23:45,480
very difficult to come to terms with.

498
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:47,160
Speaker 2: But I also knew.

499
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,839
Speaker 1: They were there and we're here. We have to now

500
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,759
prove that we can do what they did right, and

501
00:23:53,839 --> 00:23:57,000
so we pushed hard. Even our buildofs, like our buildoff

502
00:23:57,039 --> 00:24:00,720
one and two, we left no there was nothing left

503
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,960
to chance. We bled out on the floor working twenty

504
00:24:04,039 --> 00:24:04,759
hours a day.

505
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 2: And I have to say something.

506
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,039
Speaker 1: Brendan's not here, but I'll tell you right now, man,

507
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,519
Brendan Thompson, my sheet metal guy, has been My built

508
00:24:14,559 --> 00:24:16,680
all the sheet metal on that bike right there, so

509
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:17,680
you can marvel at it.

510
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:19,559
Speaker 2: That guy Obi.

511
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 1: Won Kenobi man in the trenches, if you had one

512
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:24,960
guy you wanted to pull down with you and you

513
00:24:25,039 --> 00:24:28,000
had to fight. Brendan was the guy, right and he

514
00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,519
came in every time and he performed. And even like

515
00:24:31,559 --> 00:24:34,240
when we started Paul Junior's lines, we had a crazy team.

516
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:38,440
I mean we had me, we had Vin, we had Cody,

517
00:24:38,599 --> 00:24:42,200
we had Mike, we had Brendan, and we had a

518
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,720
few other characters in there that came and went. But

519
00:24:44,759 --> 00:24:48,079
I'm telling you, man, we were happen. We can make

520
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,839
anything happen. That's how we felt. And we were not

521
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,759
willing to give up anything. And we worked twenty hours

522
00:24:53,759 --> 00:24:56,480
a day at times, didn't we We worked around a

523
00:24:56,559 --> 00:25:01,599
Vin almost got divorced twice, not really, but I saw

524
00:25:01,599 --> 00:25:03,599
it on his face because he was married early and

525
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,000
you know he had kids and he was popping out kids,

526
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:08,079
laughing them out.

527
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 2: Yeah.

528
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know really, I mean we we really

529
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,240
went for it hard and and you know we had

530
00:25:14,279 --> 00:25:17,559
we we had to be compared to the senior no

531
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,240
pun intended company, and we're.

532
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,200
Speaker 3: Just step them up every time. Every next bike we did,

533
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:24,839
we did better than the last.

534
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:25,160
Speaker 2: Yep.

535
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,359
Speaker 1: We pushed ourselves.

536
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:29,839
Speaker 2: I know me too, me too.

537
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,079
Speaker 3: When you're finished with something, figuring out how you're going

538
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:32,680
to do it better.

539
00:25:32,759 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 8: Yeah.

540
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 1: When I had Rick Pecko on my podcast, you Go

541
00:25:35,519 --> 00:25:38,240
and and and then we talked about it and his

542
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:40,640
answer for what what what does he miss about the show?

543
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,359
The creative? He misses the creative? I miss it too,

544
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,960
he misses it. Maybe we all got to get together

545
00:25:46,079 --> 00:25:47,000
and build something.

546
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,599
Speaker 3: Man, I miss it too. I miss when we came

547
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,039
up with a new bike and we got together. It

548
00:25:53,079 --> 00:25:55,720
was like, here's what we're doing, let's figure it.

549
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,200
Speaker 1: Out, yeah man, and unveils We're pressure on top of

550
00:25:59,279 --> 00:26:01,920
pressure like crazy.

551
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:03,960
Speaker 3: Yeah.

552
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:03,839
Speaker 11: Yea.

553
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,680
Speaker 4: I have a suggestion that could answer a whole bunch

554
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,759
of the things you just covered for a special episode,

555
00:26:10,799 --> 00:26:12,839
for you all to get back together to do another build,

556
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,680
track down and restore to Mikey Vinnie bike and then

557
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:18,359
unveil it here next year's bike fest.

558
00:26:19,079 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 2: There you go.

559
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:21,599
Speaker 3: I have no idea what.

560
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,880
Speaker 1: I don't think it's trackable. I think it turned got

561
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,799
turned into uh popcorn bike or something like that.

562
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 2: Maybe I just made that up.

563
00:26:29,279 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 3: I don't know, I know, but yeah, that's what I heard.

564
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,000
He's when he gave me that suicide shift.

565
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Yeah, I think back in the day maybe

566
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,880
OCC had a lot of bikes to their you know

567
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,920
credit they had so many bikes, and I think as

568
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,359
time went by, yeah, I think maybe the shine were

569
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,799
off for them and they were like repurposing stuff, which

570
00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:54,119
is look, you know, it's what you do when you

571
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,000
have to do it right, do what you have to do.

572
00:26:56,079 --> 00:26:58,279
So I think some of that stuff kind of went

573
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,319
went out that way. But you know, even to talk

574
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,319
about unveils, I mean we did that. You remember the

575
00:27:03,319 --> 00:27:07,680
Cadillac bike. Remember that fricking build. That's one of my favorites.

576
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,519
It's one It's the one that got away for me

577
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,920
because they sweepstakes that and someone won it in California.

578
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:15,799
I got the guy's number. I keep calling him, but

579
00:27:15,839 --> 00:27:19,920
he's not part and he's the price keeps gout bike.

580
00:27:20,519 --> 00:27:22,279
That bike was what episode.

581
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,279
Speaker 3: The experience going out there.

582
00:27:24,559 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: Everything everything at the proven Grounds GM Proven Grounds. It

583
00:27:28,039 --> 00:27:32,319
was pretty killer. It was my OCC at the time.

584
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,519
This was early on, like maybe like two years into

585
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,640
maybe the first season where it was PJD and O

586
00:27:38,799 --> 00:27:44,160
c C separate and uh actually Discovery Discovery brought us

587
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,440
the build. They brought us Cadillac and so both sides

588
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,720
had to build a bike for the CTSV as like like,

589
00:27:51,799 --> 00:27:55,759
this is what we're working with, you know, And certainly,

590
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,160
man we we it wasn't a competition, but we saw

591
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,440
it that way because we were it was Apple. It

592
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,200
was our first Apples to Apples build with those. It

593
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,440
was it really was. It was in our heads it was,

594
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,480
and we really went full on with that whole build.

595
00:28:11,559 --> 00:28:14,680
So I don't remember what their bike like, you no,

596
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:16,440
it's not memorable.

597
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 2: I don't No, No, I should they They did a

598
00:28:20,039 --> 00:28:21,640
different type of thing than we did, you.

599
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,759
Speaker 1: Know, But I don't know where I was going with that.

600
00:28:24,839 --> 00:28:29,279
Speaker 10: But question for you, so when when you guys decided

601
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,200
you want to build a bike, how long does it

602
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:33,640
take you? Because when watching the show, I don't want

603
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,359
to say when Mike was walking he was like the mediator.

604
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,079
I used to love when Mike would walking in because

605
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,920
tensions were high and he made it throw the water

606
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,680
on the fire and kind of Yes, Vinny, you your

607
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,240
ability to weld and what you did was amazing.

608
00:28:50,039 --> 00:28:50,279
Speaker 1: Paul.

609
00:28:51,319 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 10: I don't know how you come up with these designs,

610
00:28:53,319 --> 00:28:54,920
But I mean, do you sleep want it?

611
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:56,319
Speaker 2: Do you throw it around?

612
00:28:56,559 --> 00:28:57,279
Speaker 3: How do you do that?

613
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,839
Speaker 10: What's the normal build because like the show two or

614
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,880
three episodes and the WI was done and I know

615
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:08,200
that in real like that's not how it does because yeah,

616
00:29:08,319 --> 00:29:09,400
and put it.

617
00:29:09,359 --> 00:29:12,839
Speaker 1: Together like yeah, the show made it very expedient. It

618
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,480
was very uh you know, served up on a plate

619
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:16,359
in forty minutes.

620
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:18,759
Speaker 2: That took six weeks or eight weeks or whatever.

621
00:29:18,839 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 4: You know.

622
00:29:19,079 --> 00:29:21,599
Speaker 1: I mean for me, I'll tell you so from from

623
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,960
my creative ability is a God given ability. God has

624
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,079
given me a creative gift, flat out, end of story.

625
00:29:28,119 --> 00:29:30,680
I did not I was not creative in school. I

626
00:29:30,759 --> 00:29:33,839
never took a class on creativity or design. I never

627
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,240
read a book on designer creativity. When I was given

628
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,119
the ability or given the opportunity to build motorcycles, this

629
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,480
is what came out of me. Okay, now I couldn't

630
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,400
do it without these guys, you see what I mean.

631
00:29:45,519 --> 00:29:48,920
So without my team, it's just an idea, right. But

632
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:53,440
when given the opportunity and the team, we created these

633
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,720
these works of art. So from from thank you for

634
00:29:56,759 --> 00:29:59,200
your compliment. With that, that's how I would describe what

635
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,920
you see. We got a Facebook question. Uh, it was

636
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,880
an anonymous message, but it says, are there any new builders?

637
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:07,799
Out there that you like.

638
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, I've been out of the game.

639
00:30:15,079 --> 00:30:18,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's so weird because like people say, oh,

640
00:30:18,599 --> 00:30:21,920
how's the motorcycle industry, I don't really know. It's weird

641
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:27,079
because like I build these type of things for large corporations.

642
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,680
If they're not interested, I'm not really building bikes. I

643
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,559
don't build bikes hobby wise. I build theme right, So

644
00:30:33,559 --> 00:30:37,160
so from that perspective, I mean I don't really follow

645
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,880
other builders, you know, I don't know, man, I feel

646
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,039
like Mike's got a great bike back there. If you

647
00:30:44,079 --> 00:30:47,599
get to look at that. This is from uh Torque's

648
00:30:47,599 --> 00:30:52,279
Custom Cycles Torque bike back there, Yeah, right back there.

649
00:30:52,519 --> 00:30:55,319
Check out that bike back there. He's doing a great job.

650
00:30:55,559 --> 00:30:59,400
What's that called again, some cholo or something. Yeah, it's

651
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,000
like a cholos, you know, all engrave and look go

652
00:31:02,039 --> 00:31:04,119
look at that bike. It's it's like a work of

653
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,880
art in and of itself. But as far as like

654
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,559
following people, I don't know. You got to remember, man,

655
00:31:09,599 --> 00:31:14,680
I came up with like you know, Arlen Ness and

656
00:31:14,799 --> 00:31:19,160
Paul Yaffey and like you know, Billy Lane and you know,

657
00:31:19,519 --> 00:31:23,200
all these all these crazy builders from back in the day.

658
00:31:23,279 --> 00:31:26,039
If you remember back then, there were so many builders

659
00:31:26,079 --> 00:31:28,599
when we came on. When we came on the scene

660
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,960
back like twenty years ago, there was a lot of

661
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,799
great builders, you know, Jesse, James, all these guys were

662
00:31:34,839 --> 00:31:38,200
building crazy stuff. Love him or hate him, it doesn't matter.

663
00:31:38,599 --> 00:31:41,920
That's the world I'm from. That's that old school. I'll

664
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:46,839
never forget. When I first started building motorcycles, Roger Borget

665
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,039
set out a Christmas card and it was just like

666
00:31:49,079 --> 00:31:52,920
a little postcard and he had this python motorcycle. I

667
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:54,960
don't know if you ever seen it, but it had

668
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,640
like a snake skin paint job. I had never seen

669
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:00,759
anything like it. And he had like a race slick

670
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,960
flat tire. They didn't make fat tires like maybe one

671
00:32:04,039 --> 00:32:06,759
eighty or where one sixty was the widest tire. Now

672
00:32:06,799 --> 00:32:09,400
they make them three sixty, right, But back then it

673
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,400
was just a flat tire he put on a bike.

674
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,440
It was this wide and to me, I saw that

675
00:32:14,519 --> 00:32:17,200
and it blew my mind, honestly. So I had a

676
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:21,480
lot of inspiration from some really great minds, great designers.

677
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:23,039
Speaker 2: People had great ideas.

678
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,119
Speaker 1: That was some of my inspiration coming up as a

679
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,440
young person in my twenties, you know. So that was

680
00:32:29,839 --> 00:32:32,279
That's the kind of stuff that affected where I ended

681
00:32:32,359 --> 00:32:35,000
up going. Now. I feel like from a design standpoint,

682
00:32:35,079 --> 00:32:38,839
I'm unique in the fact that I build theme. Most

683
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,440
builders will build a bike and change the paint job,

684
00:32:41,519 --> 00:32:44,119
and their look is what you know that they are right.

685
00:32:44,519 --> 00:32:47,880
But for us, what we were was a chameleon in

686
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,079
the sense that we built whatever it needed to be,

687
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,759
whether it would look like this or this much too.

688
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,920
These are two spectacular works of art, but they're completely

689
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,279
different in designed because they called for different things. So

690
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,519
I always like to be I always like to build

691
00:33:02,559 --> 00:33:06,000
what it is that people these corporations would build for

692
00:33:06,079 --> 00:33:09,440
themselves had they built a motorcycles. That makes sense, whether

693
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:14,000
it's Cadillac or Mercedes, AMG or Geico or Microsoft or

694
00:33:14,039 --> 00:33:14,599
any of those.

695
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:15,839
Speaker 2: Right, it was always I was.

696
00:33:15,839 --> 00:33:19,039
Speaker 1: Always trying to interpret what they would do if they

697
00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:22,319
were to build a motorcycle, right, and we had creative freedom.

698
00:33:22,359 --> 00:33:25,400
I mean through the years of Paul Junior designs, there

699
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,960
were no drawings. There's no drawing for that motorcycle. It's

700
00:33:30,039 --> 00:33:32,240
just what you see. We build in three dimension and

701
00:33:32,319 --> 00:33:34,920
in real time. And when you watch the show and

702
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,519
you watch this thing come to fruition. You watched it

703
00:33:38,519 --> 00:33:41,240
in real time, you didn't get the picture first. The

704
00:33:41,319 --> 00:33:44,640
OCC days was we had to draw something get the approval.

705
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,200
I would even sit down with Jason Poole and make

706
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:51,000
the tweaks, because Jason was great at drawing stuff, but

707
00:33:51,119 --> 00:33:54,000
he wasn't good at understanding how it worked. So he

708
00:33:54,039 --> 00:33:56,119
would draw it, but it would be like thirty feet

709
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,200
long with a snake tail, you know what I mean.

710
00:33:58,400 --> 00:33:59,799
And I would have to come in and be like, dude,

711
00:33:59,799 --> 00:34:02,079
we go to bring this thing in like this far right,

712
00:34:02,119 --> 00:34:04,359
and like this is proportionate. And I would do all

713
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,319
that and then even and then and then the company

714
00:34:07,319 --> 00:34:08,760
would approve it, and then I would go out to

715
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:10,480
the lift. We'd build it, and I'd have to make

716
00:34:10,519 --> 00:34:14,079
adjustments even still, you know. And then after that, when

717
00:34:14,079 --> 00:34:17,440
we parted ways with OCC, we would just do it

718
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,360
was all free form, even the Cadillac build. It was

719
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,639
OCC building a CTSV bike and US building a CTSV bike.

720
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:26,760
We were two weeks into the build. We had a

721
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,800
meeting with Cadillac and I was talking with that guy

722
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,199
who designed the car, and I said, look, you got

723
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,280
to understand you're not getting any drawings right because OCC

724
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,039
already submitted their drawing and had it approved, and they said, yeah,

725
00:34:40,039 --> 00:34:41,679
that's fine, we just want to see what you guys

726
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:43,760
are going to come up with. And that was that

727
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,840
was the position we had. Because of the consistency of

728
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,960
building great products year after year without any drawings, we

729
00:34:52,079 --> 00:34:55,840
just gained credibility. And if you know anything about corporate America,

730
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:57,679
that's not a real thing.

731
00:34:58,039 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 2: No one really does that. No one.

732
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,119
Speaker 1: There's a thousand approvals for a T shirt design, never

733
00:35:04,199 --> 00:35:07,719
mind taking all their IP and turning it into something

734
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,239
on two wheels. Right, So pretty it's probably the most

735
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:12,960
unique thing about what we did.

736
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 7: Kind of a two part of question. Do you ever

737
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,320
watch the show with your son? And do you ever

738
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:23,320
like watch the show? And is there anything like that

739
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:25,760
Discovery did, like in a particular episode or something that

740
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:28,360
like over dramaticize that you kind of like question like

741
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:29,400
that's not how it kind.

742
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,679
Speaker 2: Of went down or or something along those lines.

743
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 6: You know.

744
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,239
Speaker 1: Uh, Okay, So, first of all, watch it with my son.

745
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:36,119
I've tried that.

746
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,440
Speaker 2: There's he's just not that impressed with.

747
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:43,159
Speaker 11: Me, be honest with you, he is because.

748
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 1: I'm a great dad. We have a great relationship. But

749
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,719
as far as that kind of thing. I mean, he

750
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,639
sees it. People come up, they want autographs and pictures

751
00:35:50,639 --> 00:35:52,840
wherever we are. We going to stores, and you know,

752
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,719
I always and sometimes like if the shop's not open

753
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,599
and we pull in, he's like, dadda someone out there's

754
00:35:58,599 --> 00:36:00,400
someone out there. Go go take a picre with him.

755
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,559
He's real sensitive like that. So I'll go out and

756
00:36:02,559 --> 00:36:04,480
take a picture because he's like, you know this guy.

757
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:07,880
So as far as that goes, he does, he's not

758
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,000
really impressed. I think as time goes by. He's very

759
00:36:11,039 --> 00:36:13,800
creative mind. Right, he's a very creative mind. He's is

760
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:14,920
he doing motorcycles?

761
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 6: No?

762
00:36:15,159 --> 00:36:17,559
Speaker 2: Will he be? I don't know, I'm letting it.

763
00:36:17,639 --> 00:36:19,880
Speaker 1: We named him a Hudson because the Paul thing was

764
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:21,719
kind of played out to be on. I always thought

765
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:24,000
my son would be Paul Junior Junior. I don't know,

766
00:36:24,079 --> 00:36:26,880
you know, like I really did. I always thought I

767
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,239
would name my son Paul. But I think after time

768
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:31,719
went by, it's a lot of pressure, it's a lot

769
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,039
of things. So and then he just can ask my

770
00:36:35,119 --> 00:36:38,199
wife over there, he's a Hudson, right, and then that's it.

771
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,039
He's Ben Hudson and he's one hundred percent who he is,

772
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,639
so I think from that standpoint, he's not very impressed.

773
00:36:44,679 --> 00:36:47,079
But I'm hoping he gets into watching the show because

774
00:36:47,119 --> 00:36:49,480
I think it's a damn good show. Forget that I

775
00:36:49,599 --> 00:36:51,719
was in it. I just think it even stands up now.

776
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,320
Because I try and watch shows from twenty years ago,

777
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,519
I can't watch for more than five minutes. Our show

778
00:36:57,599 --> 00:37:00,880
actually holds up. It does, even though the quality maybe

779
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,800
the first few years isn't high. Death it doesn't really

780
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,239
matter because we're building things, you know what I mean.

781
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:11,320
Speaker 3: And they took my girls. They're nineteen now, they just

782
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:15,280
started watching and the like, yeah, so they're fascinated by it.

783
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:18,239
Speaker 1: You know, we're like old farts now.

784
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:20,159
Speaker 2: Man, it's like we're like ancient.

785
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:26,840
Speaker 1: We're like classics, right, We're antiques pretty much, you know.

786
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,559
Speaker 3: I'm sure there was probably something on every episode where

787
00:37:30,559 --> 00:37:32,079
we wish they did something different.

788
00:37:32,599 --> 00:37:35,119
Speaker 1: I would say Vinn's right. I think we wish they

789
00:37:35,159 --> 00:37:39,519
did something different they did, yeah, right. I think we

790
00:37:39,519 --> 00:37:42,840
were more sometimes disappointed, like if we worked for a

791
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:44,840
week on a gas tank and it was like all

792
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,639
this drama and then it was nowhere in the episode.

793
00:37:48,079 --> 00:37:51,880
But that's what no, honestly like they they had more

794
00:37:52,079 --> 00:37:53,079
drama than they.

795
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:53,599
Speaker 2: Could deal with.

796
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: My father was a drama queen, I mean, and I

797
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,880
say that in the nicest possible way, because without him,

798
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:00,719
we wouldn't have had the success we had, and I

799
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,880
would have never built motorcycles. So, you know, everybody wants

800
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:07,280
to talk about the butting of heads and they want

801
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,199
to say, oh, you know, they want to take sides,

802
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,679
But the truth is, without Paul Senior man, none of

803
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,840
us are even sitting on this stage because he was

804
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:20,000
so hulk holgany in his insanity and his drive and

805
00:38:20,039 --> 00:38:23,320
his instability and his you know, all these things that

806
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:27,280
you saw that were you loved, right, you loved Some

807
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,880
people love to hate him, mostly women sometimes especially moms, right,

808
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,039
but it was really relatable and it was I'm telling you,

809
00:38:35,079 --> 00:38:38,920
the most common thing I get from men, okay, whether

810
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,280
their fathers are alive or not, and quite often they're

811
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,639
not anymore, is your father was just like my father.

812
00:38:45,159 --> 00:38:47,400
And I hear that time and time again. It was

813
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:51,039
it's like the common denominator. And Vin's dad was just

814
00:38:51,119 --> 00:38:53,800
like my dad, but not not the same kind of guy,

815
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:59,119
but that old school kick your ass, go to work,

816
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,800
don't free mouth off don't tell me anything. You can't

817
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,960
tell him anything because even if he's right, he's wrong.

818
00:39:06,039 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 2: I mean, even if he's wrong, he's.

819
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,519
Speaker 1: Right, you know, that old school kind of way. And

820
00:39:10,559 --> 00:39:14,079
I was just talking to Clayton because Clayton's dad, Don

821
00:39:15,079 --> 00:39:17,360
used to drive truck for us and was in a

822
00:39:17,199 --> 00:39:21,440
in a lot of the early episodes, right, Mike, Oh yeah, Don,

823
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:23,880
his father drove for us.

824
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:24,119
Speaker 11: Man.

825
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,119
Speaker 1: As matter of fact, he drove for us when we

826
00:39:26,159 --> 00:39:27,519
first realized we were famous.

827
00:39:27,519 --> 00:39:28,760
Speaker 2: And I was just telling him that.

828
00:39:29,159 --> 00:39:33,639
Speaker 1: And it was in Louisiana Steal what was that Superdome?

829
00:39:34,159 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the Superdome truck? Was that the steel pony?

830
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:38,039
Speaker 1: What was that? What was that called?

831
00:39:38,599 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 2: Don't something else?

832
00:39:41,079 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 1: Okay, So anyways, the first time we realized we were famous,

833
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,000
we the show had just started. We were in the Superdome,

834
00:39:48,079 --> 00:39:50,679
we were signed autographs and people were pouring in. It

835
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,199
was like one of the early episodes. And he was

836
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:56,679
our driver. And I remember in that episode I said,

837
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,159
that's Don our driver. I don't know if you remember that,

838
00:39:59,199 --> 00:40:02,679
but anyway, he was there all the time driving for us,

839
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:04,880
and he did a great job. And you know, it's

840
00:40:05,159 --> 00:40:07,880
interesting because we had so many people like that come

841
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,440
through the show through the years, including Vin's father, who

842
00:40:11,519 --> 00:40:15,719
was awesome and amazing. He really was. Mister D was

843
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:18,159
in the show, and I remember mister D was always

844
00:40:18,199 --> 00:40:20,920
he was always there. And we had a lot of

845
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,639
fun years with Vin and his dad and my dad,

846
00:40:23,679 --> 00:40:27,039
and they got my father and Vin's father go way

847
00:40:27,119 --> 00:40:31,440
back in the early days of Montgomery and snowmobiling and

848
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:36,360
everything else. So we're old locals. Like this area right

849
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,639
here is not too dissimilar to where we're from. So

850
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,679
I guess when you're looking at us, you're kind of

851
00:40:41,679 --> 00:40:42,599
looking in the mirror.

852
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:44,599
Speaker 2: And I think that was a big.

853
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:48,519
Speaker 1: Aspect of what made the show so successful, right. It

854
00:40:48,639 --> 00:40:51,519
was very every man Like I grew up in the

855
00:40:51,559 --> 00:40:54,840
steel business. He grew up grinding it out, greased up,

856
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,000
you know, greet greasy hands, working under a car, that

857
00:40:59,119 --> 00:41:02,239
kind of stuff. So I certainly think that was a

858
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,440
big part of the appeal. We weren't actors, and we

859
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,119
weren't and so do your question, No, not really, like

860
00:41:09,199 --> 00:41:12,480
the drama was just built in. It was there. It's

861
00:41:12,519 --> 00:41:15,000
actually when they started filming what they loved about. As

862
00:41:15,039 --> 00:41:17,480
a matter of fact, the very first episode of American

863
00:41:17,519 --> 00:41:21,559
Chopper got edited, polished, okay, So they took out all

864
00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:24,119
the fights because they just didn't think there was room

865
00:41:24,199 --> 00:41:24,920
for it.

866
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:26,920
Speaker 2: And the producer who came.

867
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,880
Speaker 1: To us saw the edited version and freaked out, said,

868
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:31,719
where are all the fights that we saw in the

869
00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:35,360
first episode? And it took another six weeks and it

870
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,800
almost didn't make its first air date, and they put

871
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,199
all the fights back in. So the very first episode

872
00:41:40,199 --> 00:41:43,400
you saw was like the Bob Vila we were looking for,

873
00:41:43,599 --> 00:41:46,159
but we didn't know what was going to be successful.

874
00:41:46,559 --> 00:41:49,719
This producer did. His name is Craig Poligian Pilgrim Films

875
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:53,320
and Television. He's now owned by Lionsgate, but he's like

876
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:55,280
the CEO. Now I don't know what he is, but

877
00:41:55,679 --> 00:41:59,679
he has become a mogul monster. And he found us,

878
00:42:00,119 --> 00:42:02,480
found us on a phone call, and I picked up

879
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,199
the phone and I said, yes, and the rest is

880
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:08,159
history pretty much, you know. Oh my gosh, we started

881
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:12,000
the actual Oh ce see, I think it was ninety nine,

882
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:19,480
Yeah I did, Yeah, yep, I did. My parents were separated.

883
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:24,000
I lived with my mother, we both did, right, you bet?

884
00:42:24,519 --> 00:42:27,119
And uh yeah it was ninety nine, and that's when

885
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:27,679
uh you.

886
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 5: Here, Yeah, what the what the fuck do you want

887
00:42:35,039 --> 00:42:39,480
me to say? Holy shit, yes, Paul, how about you

888
00:42:39,519 --> 00:42:43,199
shut the phone.

889
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:48,440
Speaker 1: Oh no, you're fine, You're not starting any fights. So yeah, no, yeah,

890
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,920
we were living at home. Was nineteen ninety nine, and

891
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,199
this is whay, Like I think we built bikes for

892
00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:57,320
maybe two years before, two or three years before television

893
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,679
came on, and we were like going everywhere and everything,

894
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,039
showing our bikes everywhere we could and actually hitting a

895
00:43:04,039 --> 00:43:07,000
lot of dead ends. We would build five or six bikes,

896
00:43:07,039 --> 00:43:09,559
go on the road, show them, sell them, and the

897
00:43:09,599 --> 00:43:12,320
bank account just did this right. We weren't making any

898
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,840
real money. We were. Yeah, well a lot of people

899
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:19,480
understand that. Yeah, it wasn't until the show hit there.

900
00:43:19,559 --> 00:43:21,480
You know, all of a sudden, we're making more money

901
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,000
on T shirts than even like motorcycles, and we were

902
00:43:24,039 --> 00:43:26,320
making a lot of money on motorcycles. So when the

903
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:29,199
show hit, that was just put us in the stratosphere,

904
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,079
you know. And again, like I said earlier, two hundred

905
00:43:32,079 --> 00:43:36,000
countries and territories, ninety languages. It's not a it wasn't

906
00:43:36,039 --> 00:43:39,880
a regional show, and it was very much beloved overseas

907
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,840
because that in some of these countries, especially Latin America

908
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,599
company countries. They're very family oriented and it was very

909
00:43:47,039 --> 00:43:49,039
it was very well received in those places.

910
00:43:49,079 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 5: So yeah, what's that? Oh no, I'm not married though.

911
00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:57,840
Is that a proposal?

912
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:08,039
Speaker 1: Another one bites the dust?

913
00:44:09,519 --> 00:44:14,719
Speaker 2: It's more fit? What's that? I mean?

914
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:15,280
Speaker 1: He's good?

915
00:44:16,079 --> 00:44:16,519
Speaker 2: Yeah?

916
00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:22,159
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, I mean for me. You know, I just

917
00:44:22,199 --> 00:44:24,599
saw him not too long ago, and he's uh, he's

918
00:44:24,639 --> 00:44:26,559
doing good. You know. We I'd like to have more

919
00:44:26,599 --> 00:44:29,519
of a relationship. I'd love to tell you a different story.

920
00:44:30,199 --> 00:44:33,639
He's doing good, he looks good. I think he's building

921
00:44:33,639 --> 00:44:35,840
bikes like crazy. He's building more bites than I am,

922
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:37,159
which is good to hear, you know.

923
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:39,840
Speaker 2: But you know, I don't know.

924
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:43,039
Speaker 1: I love the guy so to me, he's my dad,

925
00:44:43,119 --> 00:44:46,559
you know. So I'm always hopeful that the future is

926
00:44:46,559 --> 00:44:49,280
more bright than it is now. And it's not. It's

927
00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:51,320
not like, you know, it's funny people see us in

928
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:54,039
that early years of the American Chopper, when it was

929
00:44:54,079 --> 00:44:57,039
early and we were fighting. We don't do that hasn't

930
00:44:57,039 --> 00:44:59,880
happened in a long time, over a decade.

931
00:44:59,519 --> 00:45:02,320
Speaker 2: I'd say, But you know, time goes by.

932
00:45:02,559 --> 00:45:04,719
Speaker 1: He's got it like kind of a different family and

933
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,639
like so I don't want to say, indifferent sets in,

934
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:11,559
but I think sometimes distance he's in Florida, he goes

935
00:45:11,559 --> 00:45:13,119
back and forth to New York. He's kind of got

936
00:45:13,119 --> 00:45:15,960
his own life. So we really don't do a lot

937
00:45:16,079 --> 00:45:19,719
or talk a lot. But but I'm hoping, I'm always

938
00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:22,920
hopeful that changes. He's seventy five, I'll be fifty one.

939
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,000
No one's getting younger, you know, but but it is

940
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:27,840
what it is. Mike sees him a lot. Mike goes

941
00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:30,000
out there, gets bit by his dogs.

942
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:32,199
Speaker 2: Yeah he's got a dog kill me.

943
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:35,679
Speaker 5: Yeah, but yeah, we get along very well.

944
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:37,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Mike.

945
00:45:37,519 --> 00:45:39,320
Speaker 1: He's always gotten along good with my father.

946
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:41,119
Speaker 2: He's always the you see.

947
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:44,039
Speaker 1: The show my father. Those two have a great relationship.

948
00:45:44,159 --> 00:45:47,800
Speaker 8: You know, which bike they all three of you built

949
00:45:48,079 --> 00:45:48,920
meant the most of you?

950
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:50,920
Speaker 2: And why.

951
00:45:52,599 --> 00:45:56,039
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let Vin answer that one, just because I

952
00:45:56,079 --> 00:45:59,639
get this question as an individual all the time. I'd

953
00:45:59,639 --> 00:46:02,119
be curious used to hear what he says, because I

954
00:46:02,119 --> 00:46:04,400
don't think we've ever really been asked that question together.

955
00:46:04,519 --> 00:46:07,079
And we built some heavy iron man, let me tell

956
00:46:07,079 --> 00:46:11,000
you something. Our body of work is deep, So.

957
00:46:12,519 --> 00:46:14,320
Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean, i'd still have to say the.

958
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,000
Speaker 1: Fire fire bike Okay, there you go.

959
00:46:17,079 --> 00:46:18,480
Speaker 2: Man, it's a good lot answer.

960
00:46:18,599 --> 00:46:18,800
Speaker 1: Yeah.

961
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:20,400
Speaker 3: A lot of them meant a lot to me in

962
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:23,679
different ways, but ultimately that was the most important.

963
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:26,840
Speaker 1: All right. Now ask him the PJD days when we separate,

964
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:33,320
Now ask him that question. Yeah, our run.

965
00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:38,119
Speaker 3: I don't know. The Cadillac was awesome. The Gears of

966
00:46:38,159 --> 00:46:39,159
War was just something.

967
00:46:39,199 --> 00:46:43,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had serious bikes, man, I'll tell you ever that. Yeah, Man,

968
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:46,280
I'll tell you our pg D days were stronger than

969
00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:49,079
our OCC days in some ways, Like, I mean, this

970
00:46:49,119 --> 00:46:49,719
is OCC.

971
00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:51,039
Speaker 2: This is like because it's.

972
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:52,880
Speaker 1: Like iconic, the Black Widow's iconic.

973
00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:56,719
Speaker 3: I feel like we all had way more pressure and experience.

974
00:46:56,719 --> 00:46:59,159
Speaker 1: We had more pressure and more experience. You know.

975
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:00,320
Speaker 2: My design is.

976
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:01,679
Speaker 3: What made everything happen.

977
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:01,880
Speaker 6: Though.

978
00:47:02,159 --> 00:47:04,159
Speaker 3: Yeah, as good as it was, I feel.

979
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 2: Like I think he's right.

980
00:47:05,159 --> 00:47:07,519
Speaker 1: We were we were we were under we were like

981
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:11,519
we were creating a diamond under the pressure. We felt

982
00:47:11,519 --> 00:47:13,639
the way to OCC because we came out of that

983
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:16,320
and they were the big dogs, right, I mean, everybody

984
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:19,800
knows Orange County Choppers. They were just monsters.

985
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:21,880
Speaker 3: And every episode it was for us to crush it.

986
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:24,519
Speaker 1: It was and we we went hard on everything. I

987
00:47:24,559 --> 00:47:27,760
mean and then we built like Gears of War and

988
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,159
we we built a nine to eleven memorial bike which

989
00:47:30,199 --> 00:47:32,599
I just posted today, which is in the which is

990
00:47:32,599 --> 00:47:34,360
in the it's in the memorial.

991
00:47:34,519 --> 00:47:36,320
Speaker 3: Remember trying to do the Phoenix.

992
00:47:36,519 --> 00:47:37,599
Speaker 1: Oh man, it was.

993
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:38,760
Speaker 2: It was a puzzle.

994
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:41,480
Speaker 3: I've got a CAD program from them from the original

995
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:43,199
one and trying to convert all that.

996
00:47:43,559 --> 00:47:44,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, do that.

997
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:48,360
Speaker 1: That gas tank was the phoenix, which was the transportation hub,

998
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,559
which was which was designed to be the phoenix rising

999
00:47:51,639 --> 00:47:53,639
up out of the ashes of nine to eleven. I mean,

1000
00:47:53,639 --> 00:47:56,280
that's what that whole thing was. And we made that

1001
00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:57,920
our centerpiece for our gas tank.

1002
00:47:58,119 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 3: That thing was a building after and.

1003
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:01,440
Speaker 2: That's right, that's that's right.

1004
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,199
Speaker 1: It was down in the visitors center before they finished

1005
00:48:04,199 --> 00:48:07,599
the memorial and they had like four feet of water

1006
00:48:07,679 --> 00:48:10,320
come in because Manhattan got buried and.

1007
00:48:10,199 --> 00:48:15,280
Speaker 2: What was that? What was Katrinque? What was the sandy? Sandy?

1008
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:17,199
Speaker 1: So we had to bring it back in and redo it.

1009
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:19,039
But you know, all this stuff was good. It was

1010
00:48:19,119 --> 00:48:19,599
good stuff.

1011
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:24,800
Speaker 3: I think for me at here's because it was so

1012
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:26,360
unique to figure out.

1013
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:30,320
Speaker 1: That sitting back, that's interesting stuff.

1014
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:33,119
Speaker 3: We've never done it. Yeah, in a motorcycle you know. Yeah,

1015
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:35,039
it was a free show from a video game.

1016
00:48:35,199 --> 00:48:37,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's funny. I wouldn't pick that one. So I'm

1017
00:48:37,639 --> 00:48:39,840
glad I handed it off to him, because you know,

1018
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:43,320
everybody has it's funny how and what I really love

1019
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,760
about these podcasts what haven't been on is like I

1020
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:48,840
have my own perspective. So I have my own thoughts

1021
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:51,119
about everything. This is the way it is, right. But

1022
00:48:51,159 --> 00:48:53,360
then you talk to him about things, and it's a

1023
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:56,760
whole different perspective. His understanding, his approach, his thought process

1024
00:48:56,760 --> 00:48:59,760
of things, he likes and doesn't. He remembers things differently.

1025
00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:02,559
It's he remembers things. We just did a podcast not

1026
00:49:02,639 --> 00:49:04,360
that long ago. He was saying things to me and

1027
00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,320
I was like, all of a sudden, I remembered it.

1028
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:09,559
I did not remember any aspect of it. As soon

1029
00:49:09,599 --> 00:49:11,239
as he said it, I saw it in my head.

1030
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:13,599
So it's weird, Like you start to reminisce, and you

1031
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:16,960
we we did so many, All three of us have

1032
00:49:17,199 --> 00:49:20,000
so much. We have like three lifetimes together. I know

1033
00:49:20,039 --> 00:49:23,280
that sounds crazy, but it's true. We did so much,

1034
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,880
not just travel, We traveled the world. We build amazing things.

1035
00:49:28,079 --> 00:49:30,960
We were in these situations that no one gets to

1036
00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:33,239
be in and I have to tell you, man, we

1037
00:49:33,039 --> 00:49:35,639
are so we are so blessed to have this experience,

1038
00:49:35,679 --> 00:49:38,480
because the older I get, the more I realize how

1039
00:49:38,599 --> 00:49:42,119
darn unique this whole situation has been.

1040
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:44,519
Speaker 3: You know, none of it was like we were just

1041
00:49:45,039 --> 00:49:46,920
giving it to us and we were letting it pass

1042
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:49,079
us by. We were in it work and we were

1043
00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:50,280
all of it. Yeah.

1044
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:52,760
Speaker 1: We we pushed hard through all of it. We didn't

1045
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,159
just go, oh, this is great, we got television, let's

1046
00:49:55,159 --> 00:49:57,679
just sit back and you know, shine the cameras on me.

1047
00:49:57,960 --> 00:49:59,000
Speaker 2: We fought.

1048
00:49:59,039 --> 00:50:02,480
Speaker 1: We fought hard for everything we did creatively and otherwise.

1049
00:50:02,559 --> 00:50:10,760
Speaker 3: You know, he did that. It was because the fire bike,

1050
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:13,400
first of all, through the time, it was everything that

1051
00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:16,719
happened with all nine to eleven, and then all the

1052
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:18,880
time we put into it. And that was I think

1053
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,039
the first bike I think I've ever road.

1054
00:50:22,119 --> 00:50:24,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's right. It was usually me or my father.

1055
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:26,760
Speaker 1: And when we built a fire bike, you know, we

1056
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:29,000
took time to build that bike. We didn't just like

1057
00:50:29,119 --> 00:50:31,000
nine to eleven didn't happen and we just did it.

1058
00:50:31,079 --> 00:50:33,920
We were like you can throw a rock at New

1059
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:36,800
York City from us all in our area or firemen, right,

1060
00:50:36,800 --> 00:50:40,320
they all live because we're we're within a certain distance

1061
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:42,159
from the city where you're kind of as far out

1062
00:50:42,159 --> 00:50:44,039
as you can go and still work in the city

1063
00:50:44,079 --> 00:50:47,000
and be a city fireman. So all around us we

1064
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:50,880
were friends. Michael was really good friends with Ronaldson's Al

1065
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:54,559
Ronaldson had passed away years ago from uh From died

1066
00:50:54,599 --> 00:50:57,159
in a fire and that was like unheard of back then.

1067
00:50:57,679 --> 00:51:01,519
And later on we went to his son, Al Ronaldson's

1068
00:51:01,559 --> 00:51:04,559
firehouse to unveil the bike. But yeah, I mean that

1069
00:51:04,679 --> 00:51:07,519
was uncommon back then. Me or my father would ride

1070
00:51:07,519 --> 00:51:08,920
the bikes all the time.

1071
00:51:09,039 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 3: And then and we really busted our ass on that bike.

1072
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:15,280
We spent so many late nights and it was nice

1073
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:17,119
because it was kind of like a little reward at

1074
00:51:17,119 --> 00:51:17,440
the end.

1075
00:51:18,599 --> 00:51:20,599
Speaker 1: And then was working his ass off for us, so

1076
00:51:20,639 --> 00:51:22,960
we thought, hey, let him ride the fire bike, you know,

1077
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:25,960
pay it forward. You know, I don't know.

1078
00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:30,840
Speaker 6: The creative process, So would you sit with the brand

1079
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:32,559
and the brand would tell you like key elements are

1080
00:51:32,599 --> 00:51:35,639
looking for in a motorcycle, and then how would you

1081
00:51:35,639 --> 00:51:36,800
communicate that division?

1082
00:51:37,599 --> 00:51:42,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a really great question. So yeah,

1083
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:45,599
the creative process was this for me, okay, because I

1084
00:51:46,239 --> 00:51:49,199
would need to sit down with the client because remember people,

1085
00:51:49,719 --> 00:51:52,400
because we do whatever we want, right, because there's no drawing,

1086
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:54,480
so you get what you get at the unveil. No

1087
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:57,280
one sees the bike until the day of the unveil, right,

1088
00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:00,519
So we would sit down with the client and hear

1089
00:52:00,559 --> 00:52:03,159
what they are, hear what they say, and then we

1090
00:52:03,199 --> 00:52:06,159
would create the bike. Like I said earlier that had

1091
00:52:06,199 --> 00:52:09,039
they been a bike builder or if they knew what

1092
00:52:09,119 --> 00:52:11,000
to do, that's what they would do. I don't know

1093
00:52:11,039 --> 00:52:13,639
how else to describe it other than that. So we

1094
00:52:13,679 --> 00:52:17,119
would fully integrate what they're telling us, whether it was

1095
00:52:17,159 --> 00:52:19,960
a product, whether it was colors. Quite often they'd say,

1096
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,559
we like the MLB bike, so I pro street. I'm

1097
00:52:22,559 --> 00:52:24,840
not building them a chopper, so now I'm in the

1098
00:52:24,880 --> 00:52:27,719
pro street phase, right, And then they're going to say, well,

1099
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,400
this is a product, this is a color, this is

1100
00:52:30,559 --> 00:52:33,039
I mean, Sephie. It is a great example, right, it's

1101
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,239
a gene expert. They had this technology where they did

1102
00:52:36,239 --> 00:52:39,880
this gene testing for people out in the field in

1103
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:43,400
a laptop and they were saving lives in Africa with

1104
00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:47,920
this technology. And so we integrated that exact technology into

1105
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:51,960
the bike itself. We did three d DNA wheels. Was

1106
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,639
another good bike, remember Sefie. It was a really good

1107
00:52:54,679 --> 00:52:57,239
one with the gene expert. Remember the thing opened on

1108
00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:00,559
the side with the oh yeah, yeah, better.

1109
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:04,400
Speaker 2: Way remember it boom, yes, a better way for one.

1110
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:08,079
Speaker 1: Yeah. So we just took what they said and then

1111
00:53:08,119 --> 00:53:11,159
we just you know, we just teamed up. And then

1112
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,280
you know, it's so funny because mostly people would hand

1113
00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:16,960
drawings out to all the people working in the company

1114
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,440
and say this is the project. What I would do

1115
00:53:19,519 --> 00:53:22,679
is I would articulate ideas in real time to then

1116
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:27,039
and Cody and Brendan and whoever else, and I would

1117
00:53:27,079 --> 00:53:29,840
be like almost like it was like almost a symphony.

1118
00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:32,119
I know that sounds crazy, but we was like I

1119
00:53:32,199 --> 00:53:36,400
was orchestrating all these guys great talents, and sometimes I

1120
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:39,480
had like twenty percent of an idea or seventy percent

1121
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,960
of an idea, but it didn't matter because we were

1122
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,599
working towards something. And if Brendan came to me and

1123
00:53:44,639 --> 00:53:46,599
said I think we should do this, I would take

1124
00:53:46,599 --> 00:53:48,840
it into consideration. But if I didn't think it was

1125
00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:51,239
right for the project, I would say no. Or other

1126
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:54,079
times I would say that's a great idea. That's how

1127
00:53:54,119 --> 00:53:56,679
I would handle these guys, Am I right. I never

1128
00:53:56,800 --> 00:54:00,320
took the fact that I was the lead designer so

1129
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:03,599
seriously that I wasn't willing to trust the very best

1130
00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:06,840
people out there with the product. You see what I'm saying.

1131
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:09,960
So I would use their skill set. There was choosing

1132
00:54:10,039 --> 00:54:13,199
them because they were capable. A lot of people get

1133
00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:15,360
caught up other people, Oh this is my idea, this

1134
00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:15,880
is what you do.

1135
00:54:16,559 --> 00:54:18,000
Speaker 2: There's a certain.

1136
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,440
Speaker 1: Extent I had to toe the line, but I always

1137
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:22,880
gave everyone a little bit of breath and with because

1138
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:25,039
I wanted the best out of them for the product.

1139
00:54:25,119 --> 00:54:27,880
Does that make sense? That's what I always did. That's

1140
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:29,320
the only way I knew to operate.

1141
00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:30,840
Speaker 2: And no one taught me that.

1142
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:33,079
Speaker 1: And so when I say it was a God given talent,

1143
00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:37,159
I was never taught by a human. Any of what

1144
00:54:37,199 --> 00:54:39,199
you see in your impressed by I give all the

1145
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:41,639
glory to God for all of that process. That's all

1146
00:54:41,719 --> 00:54:46,199
I can tell you. Right, he knows we grew up together.

1147
00:54:46,320 --> 00:54:48,400
I was in this steel business. I could weld things

1148
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:50,639
and stuff, but I didn't have this. I didn't know

1149
00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:53,599
I had this in me. I was twenty six years

1150
00:54:53,599 --> 00:54:56,960
old when I finally realized maybe I was a little creative,

1151
00:54:57,440 --> 00:55:01,239
you know. And my brother Michael, same thing, hyper creative.

1152
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:03,159
I feel like it's just like runs in the family

1153
00:55:03,199 --> 00:55:06,079
and Vinnie too. Vinnie's like a creative thinker, like an

1154
00:55:06,079 --> 00:55:07,679
engineer mind, you know, he.

1155
00:55:07,679 --> 00:55:08,639
Speaker 2: Figures stuff out.

1156
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:12,199
Speaker 1: So we're all put together to make to entertain you

1157
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:14,599
guys with stuff like this, and it's it's been a

1158
00:55:14,639 --> 00:55:17,440
great process and it's been a great journey. And I

1159
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:18,360
don't think we're done.

1160
00:55:18,360 --> 00:55:18,519
Speaker 6: Man.

1161
00:55:18,559 --> 00:55:20,239
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna build some more bikes.

1162
00:55:20,360 --> 00:55:25,239
Speaker 2: You bet, what do you think? Gang? All right?

1163
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:34,119
Speaker 7: Two for one, we had an online question for Mikey,

1164
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:36,519
and the question was, does Mikey still do art?

1165
00:55:37,639 --> 00:55:41,599
Speaker 2: I do. I try to make movies now. I don't

1166
00:55:41,639 --> 00:55:42,519
paint any longer.

1167
00:55:44,079 --> 00:55:46,239
Speaker 5: I don't know if that answers the question, but yes,

1168
00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:49,039
I guess we're gonna buy.

1169
00:55:47,239 --> 00:55:49,159
Speaker 3: Some I was. Yeah.

1170
00:55:49,199 --> 00:55:51,840
Speaker 5: We stopped at a crappy convenience store today and they

1171
00:55:51,920 --> 00:55:54,840
had a bunch of velvet paintings.

1172
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:57,000
Speaker 1: Oh, like the old school, like a wolf or.

1173
00:55:56,960 --> 00:56:03,559
Speaker 2: Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they were great. Great man.

1174
00:56:04,559 --> 00:56:06,360
Speaker 1: All right, I think we're gonna wrap it up, guys.

1175
00:56:06,519 --> 00:56:09,960
It's been a long day in a long evening. Yeah,

1176
00:56:10,119 --> 00:56:13,360
let's we'll take one more over here. I just want

1177
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:13,559
to know.

1178
00:56:13,599 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 4: I know earlier you said you're planning on making this

1179
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:16,239
a yearly event.

1180
00:56:17,039 --> 00:56:18,400
Speaker 3: Are our plans like each year.

1181
00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:20,599
Speaker 4: Maybe bring back another special guest, like one year Cody,

1182
00:56:20,639 --> 00:56:22,239
one year, Rick, et cetera.

1183
00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:25,960
Speaker 1: I mean I would actually bring I mean, if these

1184
00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:28,239
guys would come back, i'd bring them back and maybe

1185
00:56:28,519 --> 00:56:32,119
add another Yeah, so maybe. Yeah, I mean I think, Oh,

1186
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:34,400
it's Rick Pecco's birthday today.

1187
00:56:35,159 --> 00:56:37,440
Speaker 2: Let's call him on the show. Call him right now

1188
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:37,960
on speaker?

1189
00:56:38,519 --> 00:56:39,280
Speaker 1: Should I call him?

1190
00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:46,559
Speaker 5: Call him right now on speaker, man, Yeah, it's ninety.

1191
00:56:47,719 --> 00:56:49,079
Speaker 1: Kids, got kids.

1192
00:56:51,880 --> 00:56:53,840
Speaker 2: Seeing these people are going to be disappointed. Now, you

1193
00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:55,199
know what I disappoints.

1194
00:56:55,400 --> 00:56:57,039
Speaker 1: Rix is a certain kind of dunk guy.

1195
00:56:57,159 --> 00:56:57,360
Speaker 9: Man.

1196
00:56:57,440 --> 00:56:59,480
Speaker 3: You can't just call Rick regimen.

1197
00:57:00,039 --> 00:57:02,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, Rick, you leave a message. We'll have everybody saying

1198
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:03,719
happy birthday Rick.

1199
00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:06,840
Speaker 3: When Rick came into the shop every day, he would

1200
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:08,800
walk the same footprints into that show.

1201
00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:09,239
Speaker 9: He was.

1202
00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:15,079
Speaker 2: And let me tell you something, ma, I'll be honest

1203
00:57:15,119 --> 00:57:15,360
with you.

1204
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,159
Speaker 1: He was probably the most committed guy I ever met

1205
00:57:18,159 --> 00:57:18,920
in my whole life.

1206
00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:20,079
Speaker 2: He would drive two and.

1207
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:23,800
Speaker 1: A half hours from Pennsylvania from probably somewhere around here,

1208
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:26,719
not really, but it was. It was like halfway to

1209
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:30,199
New York, but two and a half hours in the

1210
00:57:30,239 --> 00:57:33,519
morning and in the evening, and he worked late nights.

1211
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:37,280
He drove five hours round trip for a decade.

1212
00:57:37,559 --> 00:57:38,079
Speaker 2: Five out.

1213
00:57:38,199 --> 00:57:42,400
Speaker 1: Nobody does that. Who does you do that? No, nobody

1214
00:57:42,440 --> 00:57:44,119
does even by us. It's an hour and a half

1215
00:57:44,159 --> 00:57:46,199
trip to New York City if you work in the city. Right,

1216
00:57:46,239 --> 00:57:48,519
So five out he did that for how long? He

1217
00:57:48,599 --> 00:57:52,000
hit bears on the way in half the time? He

1218
00:57:52,079 --> 00:57:55,039
really did. Man, Rick Pecko is a serious dude, and

1219
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:57,480
he was great for us too. You talk, and you know,

1220
00:57:57,599 --> 00:58:00,400
it's so interesting because you talk about characters. There's three

1221
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:03,199
of us up here, but we had like twelve great

1222
00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:07,400
guys that It's funny because everyone who watched the show

1223
00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:11,480
could relate differently to everyone in the packing order and

1224
00:58:11,559 --> 00:58:14,280
how it worked, and it was all dynamic, and we

1225
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:17,920
were all freaking nuts. We were nuts. We were nuts

1226
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:18,559
back in the day.

1227
00:58:20,199 --> 00:58:21,320
Speaker 2: Oh, we were rough.

1228
00:58:21,400 --> 00:58:25,039
Speaker 1: We were so bad. Man, this guy was shooting spitballs

1229
00:58:25,039 --> 00:58:27,400
in my ear from nowhere all the time.

1230
00:58:29,079 --> 00:58:30,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, paint grenades.

1231
00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:32,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was great. Remember we used to mess with Rick,

1232
00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:35,199
we'd move his stuff around. He was such a guy

1233
00:58:35,239 --> 00:58:36,440
that ever he was.

1234
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:39,960
Speaker 1: Yes, he was very O c D about everything.

1235
00:58:39,719 --> 00:58:40,480
Speaker 3: His stuff around.

1236
00:58:41,519 --> 00:58:44,360
Speaker 2: You're not gonna quote him. I could try. Let me

1237
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:44,679
see it.

1238
00:58:48,559 --> 00:58:55,079
Speaker 3: He was, Oh, I own a repair shop. Actually, yep,

1239
00:58:55,639 --> 00:59:02,079
repair shop, yep, twenty thirteen I started. Yep. No, it's

1240
00:59:02,159 --> 00:59:03,760
it's where we live in Montgomery, New York.

1241
00:59:03,920 --> 00:59:06,199
Speaker 2: Vin's making billions.

1242
00:59:07,960 --> 00:59:08,679
Speaker 3: Things like those.

1243
00:59:09,320 --> 00:59:10,800
Speaker 2: He goes, no, it's not possible.

1244
00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:17,639
Speaker 1: Then works his ass off, man, and and he's good.

1245
00:59:17,719 --> 00:59:19,760
His weekends are for his family. That's it.

1246
00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:21,559
Speaker 2: That's it. That's where he does.

1247
00:59:21,639 --> 00:59:24,599
Speaker 1: You've got to find no news. He's not available, but

1248
00:59:24,719 --> 00:59:26,880
he works his ass off all week. He's got good

1249
00:59:27,119 --> 00:59:28,840
I was in there the other day when we did

1250
00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:31,679
the podcast. He's got great employees. Man, they all look

1251
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:34,559
like they're working their butts off. And that's a hard

1252
00:59:34,599 --> 00:59:37,199
thing to find nowadays. It's hard to find people to work.

1253
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:39,440
Speaker 3: I got two young, good young.

1254
00:59:39,800 --> 00:59:42,599
Speaker 1: Yeah, go find that. Cody is the last one we had.

1255
00:59:42,639 --> 00:59:44,679
And that was twenty years ago, you know.

1256
00:59:45,960 --> 00:59:52,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean that's good, it's yeah. Yeah.

1257
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:55,239
Speaker 1: So all right, well listen, I think this has been great.

1258
00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:57,880
I want to thank you guys for being on the

1259
00:59:57,960 --> 01:00:01,519
Paul Junior podcast having us out. We're gonna do this

1260
01:00:01,559 --> 01:00:04,320
again next year if you'll have us and uh.

1261
01:00:04,280 --> 01:00:05,440
Speaker 2: This is has been fun.

1262
01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:07,679
Speaker 1: We get to hang out, ride scooters and motor I

1263
01:00:07,719 --> 01:00:09,760
was jealous these guys are riding scooters. I want to

1264
01:00:09,760 --> 01:00:14,880
be on a scooter today. No, I don't think we're

1265
01:00:14,920 --> 01:00:17,000
I think we're done with Ryan. I mean he's he's

1266
01:00:17,039 --> 01:00:18,719
gonna be right, and I know he's going to be

1267
01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:19,719
scooting everywhere.

1268
01:00:21,239 --> 01:00:23,599
Speaker 5: You guys want to sing Happy Birthday to Rick anyways,

1269
01:00:24,559 --> 01:00:27,199
he'll see it on the world wide Web. Yeah, let's

1270
01:00:27,199 --> 01:00:30,719
do it, right, Yeah, all right, everybody, Happy.

1271
01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:32,159
Speaker 2: Birthday to.

1272
01:00:33,599 --> 01:00:52,400
Speaker 11: Rick Pecko, Happy to br.

1273
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:51,360
Speaker 1: We love you right, come next year, come back.

1274
01:00:51,239 --> 01:00:54,719
Speaker 2: Next to wherever you are out there in Pennsylvania. Pencil tuck,

1275
01:00:56,519 --> 01:00:57,519
God bless you.

