I watched a few episodes of American Chopper way back when it first started. The motorcycles took a backseat to the dynamics between father and son, which is why I stopped watching. I grew to despise Sr. He seemed almost jealous of his own son and acted accordingly. It rubbed me the wrong way.
I’ve had friends that said that Jr is an ungrateful brat and since I stopped watching so long ago, things may have developed that way. I was almost tempted to watch when Jr struck out on his own but I still felt oogy about the father/son relationship.
That first season seems like a long time ago. Obviously they never reconciled. Or did they? How is the show handled now that they have separate shops? What is you take on the father/son dynamic?
They recently settled the lawsuit. Senior paid a settlement for Juniors shares in OCC.
I thought Junior was a bit spoiled and egotistical when he worked at OCC. He was the typical Bosses kid working for daddy. Coming in late, long lunches, long breaks etc.
Junior has surprised me since he started his own shop. He’s shown a surprisingly new work ethic. So far the new shop is doing really well in this bad economy. They’re designing some good bikes.
It may be awhile before Senior & Junior reconcile. Settling the lawsuit was an important first step. Junior still seems very distrustful of his dad. Mikey is the same way. I don’t see these three together for family dinners anytime soon.
I’ve only watched “Jr v Sr” a few times, but it’s clear–as it has been from the beginning–that Jr’s designs are what really make the show interesting to me, and no one at OCC (not even Jason) has nearly as much talent at design as Jr. There are some very talented fabricators and mechanics at OCC, and I’m sure their bikes are of high quality, but their creativity is a bit lacking.
The old man has a huge ego problem. He always said he was the straw that stirred the drink. The company was doing well because of his great skill and management. He made every bike build in an ordeal.
There’s reports that OCC is in money troubles. They’ve defaulted on the loan for their new, fancy building. I think they were planning on mass producing a production bike. It was mentioned a couple seasons ago. That didn’t seem to work out. That building they built is huge and must be costing a fortune in utilities and interest on the loan.
Last episode Senior mentioned moving back into their original building from season 1. That’s literally a stones throw from Paulie’s shop. That’ll create some drama for the cameras.
I’m not sure either shop would survive long without the tv show. From what I’ve seen, Paulie only builds Corporate show bikes. I haven’t seen him do any consumer bikes at all. There’s been rumors that Vinnie is only there for the cameras. He’s got his own bike shop with Cody that he started over five years ago.
Both Jr and Sr are pretty flawed people. Like the OP, I always got the vibe that Sr was jealous of Jr’s design abilities. Jr’s way of working wasn’t to Sr’s liking, and when Sr criticized, Jr reacted by being passive aggressive. I do get the distinct impression that Sr is more trouble than he is worth on a bike build, which makes me wonder what his talents really are. Jr. is clearly the better designer.
Both those guys are assemblers in my book. They put other people’s parts together and hardly build a thing. Jesse James’ original Discover Channel one-shot special set the bar. That’s the show they should have made. I’d much rather watch a guy hammer out an original gas tank while explaining the art behind it, than the manufactured reality BS.
That’s what I wondered about, is Jr. really all that? It seems like they add a few things on, rake it a bit and give it some color but most of what they do is assemble stuff from a box. I really wonder what serious fabricators and motorcyclists think of their bikes.
I enjoyed the drama for the first season or two but then it became personal, vindictive and not at all ‘familial.’ That’s when I quit looking for it. Too bad because that meant no more Mikey.
My father owned a garage, and growing up my older brother and I worked in it. The dynamic between my father and brother was exactly like in Amercian Chopper, that cycle of rising tension, huge blowout, period of huffing, then the reconciliation and a few days of great work done.
Watching the series when it began it was amazing how similar it was to growing up in that garage. Its disappointing to hear that they took it so far though, my family would never have done anything to really hurt each other, it was all just family squabbles. What sort of parent takes their child to court?
I have to agree though that I was never too impressed with the bikes themselves. They were always just the same design with a load of cosmetic differences, the paint work and wheel designs. I saw absolutely nothing that my own father and brother could not have done themselves. Bolt stuff to the usual frame and get an enginneering company to mill out the wheels? No problem.
I’ve noticed Senior has lost a lot of muscle bulk in the past three years. Perhaps aging? Or maybe he’s off the roids. He was huge back in 2006. He does have a weight gym at OCC, but still that seemed bigger than what weights would get a sixty year old.
I’ve never seen Senior lose his temper since Paulie left. He seems to get along pretty well with his mechanics. He’s had some turnover though.
Senior likes traditional construction hours. 7Am is when you start in construction. A lot of places lock the gate and you can’t show up late. You either get there on time or find another job.
I wish Paulie, Mike and Senior could find ways to rebuild the family. Get together for dinner at a restaurant with the understanding there won’t be any discussion of past problems. At first there might be nothing but small talk and silence. But it would be a start. Eventually they’d start talking about wives and kids. I think Senior has grandkids he’s never met from the son that bought the Ironworks.
If you keep a rule that business and past grievousness are off limits, then they should be able to gradually rebuild a relationship.
Course, I don’t think Discovery wants these people getting along either. The ratings last season (during the lawsuit) were the highest the show has seen.
That’s what dragged me back to the show. I used to think that they were just hamming it up for the camera but when the lawsuits started flying around, I began to entertain the possibility that it was indeed real as I think a court would take a dim view of being played for ratings by a cable network.
My take on it is that Senior is a total jerk who only thinks about himself. Junior being around his dad had that bad attitude rubbing off on him. Paulie got away from his dad and that meant that he left those bad personality traits behing him. Senior doesn’t really yell as much any more because everyone at OCC now just kisses his ass, which Junior would never do.
Don’t even get me started on Jason’s annoying ass either and his crap designs. I can’t really watch the show anymore.
Senior did reach out to his other son, Dan, and reconciled with him. I believe they had dinner together on New Year’s Day and he did get to meet his grandkids.
I wonder if another lawsuit will get filed if Rick goes to Paul Jr. Designs?
As a former owner of OCC, Paul jr has to be careful of luring OCC’s employees to his shop. They mentioned Vinnie has been phoning and texting Rick. I’m not sure exactly how the laws work, but I’ve heard of unfair trade practice laws. OCC only has one sheet metal fabricator. Just like Paul Jr. has Brandon doing sheet metal. Losing Rick would put OCC in a deep hole.
I wouldn’t do that to my dad. Especially if Paulie has any hope of reconciling. You don’t cherry pick another shop’s employees.
Senior comes off like an asshole, perfectly willing to destroy his family to self-stroke his own ego.
OCC is apparently having real financial problems, but I can’t trust “real” in this context. The customers/companies are buying bikes because they get incredible TV publicity. If the network decides that it would be bad (for ratings) to have OCC go broke, the network will pull some strings to send business to it.
I was going to say that the bikes these people build are incredibly primitive-no rear suspension, clunky transmissions. They basically build fancy gas tanks and fenders. Plus, the operation is incredibly inefficient.
Do these bikes ever get ridden? Or are they just maostly for display?