# "American Chopper" question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210 "2004-01-19T17:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/1 "2004-01-19T17:19:31Z")
I saw the “Snap-On” episode (part 2) the other night. They all went to Cody’s birthday party, Paul junior shows up in a Dodge Prowler and Vinny shows up in a late 80’s early 90’s Berretta. It looks like Paul Jr. is making some serious coin from being on television, so my question is: “would guys like Vinny still just be getting their hourly wage? Or would they get a big rais and/or a bonus?” MtM ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/2 "2004-01-19T18:24:09Z")
Vinnie has a speaking role. I think that means they have to pay him for the, “acting.” You’d think he’d be getting paid at the shop for his work there too. Last spring there was one of their T-Rex “production models” here in Carson City. It was used and they were asking $53K. The concensus at the Harley shop was that the one of a kinds that Paul Jr. turns out would be $100K+ ---
**Author:** ![TERRA\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TERRA\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TERRA_Rising)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/3 "2004-01-20T06:33:22Z")
The “theme” bikes that Orange County Choppers makes go for around $150k+. Their regular bikes go for $20k to $75k, depending on the work involved (sometimes they have to make a completely new bike!) Vinnie, I’m sure, gets paid from both OCC and Discovery. And I hope he does get paid well because of all the extra work he puts in to finish a project. Now, those cars they drove to the party are probably still on payments. ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/4 "2004-01-20T11:25:39Z")
I can’t be certain but I think I saw the prowler on a show last year, possibly Paulie’s mother driving it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Frank\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_2)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/5 "2004-01-20T14:53:36Z")
Was the Prowler silver? I remember the mom driving a Prowler at the end of “Mikey’s Blues Bike”. ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/6 "2004-01-20T16:28:12Z")
Yeah it was silver. But Paul Sr. was freaking out (again) and was commenting on Paul Jr’s fancy car, and his snazy watch. So it sounds like Paul Jr. is spending a little freely… MtM ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/7 "2004-01-20T16:54:54Z")
Paul Sr. freaking out? Get out! Seriously, Paul Jr. got himself a new toy. Paul Sr. seems to spent his money get all those new rigs for hauling the bikes and the new shop. Lot’s of new sponsors banner’s about now. The funny thing is watch Paul Sr’s jealousy of Paul Jr’s acclaim as a designer. It burns him up, and leads him to constantly dig at Paul Jr. Also his attempts to compare others in the shop as “just as good as Pauly” are quite transparent as well. Most of the people in the shop seem wise to the issue and keep their mouth shut- even Cody. The funny thing is watching all the delays and mistakes with Paul Sr’s MIA/POW bike. His delays are _worse_ then Paul Jr.'s on a bike where he has 2-3 people helping him (Paul Jr. only gets Vinnie), on a design that is nowhere near as complex nor as well executed as the last couple of Project bikes. But who can he yell at? Oops- nobody but himself. Of course Paul Jr. acted like a idiot when Paul Sr. asked him for help with the spacers. Smooth Paully, real smooth. Those two need an intervention. . . Wouldn’t surprise me to see Paul Jr. leave to start his own gig eventually. BTW- does anyone else think Amercian Hot Rod is going to both suck _and_ blow at the same time. The special they did was hopelessly lame, and the car was butt-ugly to boot. ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/8 "2004-01-20T17:08:49Z")
**elf6c** don’t ruin it for me! Up here in Canada, our version of the Discovery channel isn’t showing the POW/MIA bike until tonight! And yes I agree, I think “American Hotrod” will suck dead dogs. It looks like a family run business, I think they might “try” to hard to be like “American Chopper”. MtM ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/9 "2004-01-20T19:14:39Z")
> [@Frank #2](#): > > Was the Prowler silver? I remember the mom driving a Prowler at the end of “Mikey’s Blues Bike”. It’s a very light silver. Wash it too hard and it’ll turn white. 😛 Paulie and Vinnie were wasting time on last night’s ep puting in a nitrous system. And what an insanely tiny trunk those cars have! The two nitrous bottles are roughly the size of two-liter soda bottles, and they pretty much filled the available space. Silly line: Vinnie tugs out the air intake piping and exclaims “Yahtzee!” ---
**Author:** ![TERRA\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TERRA\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TERRA_Rising)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/10 "2004-01-21T11:59:43Z")
First off, Paul Jr. without someone like Paul Sr. to keep him on task is going to fail. I can imagine the first customer waiting weeks on end because Paulie can’t figure out what decoration should go where. Hell, without Vinnie, Paulie is just a dreamer. I happen to agree about _American Hot Rod_. I think it was probably a marketing decision gone awry. It was probably something like “What makes _American Chopper_ so popular? The arguments, of course. So let’s find a hot rod family who’s more dysfunctional than the Teutels…” Or so I would imagine… ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-chopper-question/225210/11 "2004-01-21T17:41:20Z")
Slight hijack … While McDeath and I were watching the first episode re: the POW/MIA bike, he noticed that when Mikey was talking about the bike, the work, etc - he had much more facial hair than when they were actually doing the work. But he was wearing the same t-shirt, so obviously some effort was being made to make it appear to the casual viewer that the commentary was being filmed at the same time as the actual job was being done. Is this common practice? And if so, what is the purpose? Thanks, S.