Orange County Choppers: From motorcycles to foreclosures

Saturday, 29 January 2011 | Written by Digits |

There have been some tough and dramatic times on the reality show American Chopper which follows the Teutuls, a custom motorcycle building family.

While many will say the arguments and attitude are played up for the camera, an off-screen dispute appears to be getting uglier than anything seen on the television show. According to various reports, Orange County Choppers have missed several mortgage payments on a building owned by the business featured in the popular motorcycle-building show.

Apparently the reason isn’t company cash flow or profits, but the terms of the loan itself. Reportedly the company claims the building concerned is worth millions less than it was in 2007 (when last financed) and they want their payments lowered.

Orange County Chopper According different reports, Choppers has allegedly missed several mortgage payments, one for $96,400 and another for $14,000. The dispute has gone as far as the lenders filing a foreclosure.

GE Commercial Finance Business Property Corporation is behind the OCC foreclosure, which as was reported as far back as November 2010, but the news caught public attention on recently aired episodes of American Chopper on the Discovery Channel.

The lender financed Orange County Choppers' new headquarters in the Town of Newburgh with two mortgages, one for $11 million and another for $1.5 million. Supposedly the complaint and reason for the hard negotiations by OCC and its attorneys; the building was worth $12-$13 million then and now it’s only worth about $7-$8 million.

However, no official statements by either party had been made over the missed payments or foreclosure.

The actions and results could open some interesting possibilities. Could anyone who bought an Orange County Chopper and is still paying for it with a loan go back and ask the motorcycle building company for a discount, or at the very least help with the monthly payments? Would there be some recourse for the different dealerships around the country reselling Orange County Choppers over their costs compared to a difference in selling prices during these tough economic times?

And finally, does this all leave many watching the motorcycle drama off-screen rather than that seen on-screen?

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0 #101 Linda 2012-02-21 19:26

Mikey is a slug. He tried to be the photgrapher for the old OCC, he tried stand up comedy, he goes for facials, massages, clay shooting, he messes around the shop, hardly ever lifts a tool, hugs VInnie waaaaay too much, bad mouths Dad, acts like he has a horse in the race with Junior vs Senior, does Paulie pay him for just taking his side? Mikey needs to grow up, move out, (Last I saw OCC built him a nice home) and stop being a mooch off of his brother now.......TOUGH LOVE, Mikey----

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-3 #100 Linda 2012-02-21 19:14

I always thought Junior was spoiled and too use to Daddy's money. If he didn't work for his Dad he would have been fired for his lackadasical work ethic and penchant for playing around until deadlines loomed. Senior was always nuts about a clean shop, and what he did with Vinny was out of line, but all in all, I always sided with him because he built that business and it's reputation. What he did to Vinny was wrong. Paulie has talent but, he also, on a recent episode, lost a customer due to an attitude at his shop that made the customer leave and go to Seniors shop instead. Bad business practices----but we all saw that coming.
I also was appalled that both boys showed such disrespect for the loss of Paul Seniors Step Mom. No disagreement should ever cause such behavior. It is punk behavior, not behavior of anyone I can root for or respect. PJD lost me ----- Senior and RIck would never do that......heck even Vinny didn't.

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0 #99 jack mcfarland 2012-01-22 20:29

Iam affirmed that all the raft is not only genuine but it is commercial. The termoil is very intertaining. I look forward to a missunderstandi ng and I dont want reconciliation. I want j.r. to win but I want s.r. to loose more. I like s.r. he has dad qualities. I like j.r he is not a mama boy. conttinue. I am interested

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+3 #98 leon 2011-12-28 18:52

Paul Sr has wasted more time than he has left and should sort it out with his sons before its too late.

As for a bike builder Paul Sr you are a waste of spac, the only good design was the T-shirt Mikey for president.
An that toe rag Jason he couldn't design a bike with lego. As for Rick he should bail out and go to work for PJD.

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+1 #97 Rick 2011-12-15 20:46

They build JUNK and should have gone under a long time ago. I used to cringe when I would see them putting a front end on using hammers and bashing the crap out of stuff. I have no idea why they haven;t been sued yet but maybe it will happen soon and put us all out of our misery.....I can only hope!!!!!

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-1 #96 2011-09-22 04:51

It is very unfortunate for the industry that OCC will hold on for awhile longer. As long as the Television network continues to pay OCC for the tv series, there will be no need for Sr to close. Revtech and other aftermarket companies have made money from OCC using there parts heavily. The Tuetels are not old school motorcycle anything. Poor business is OCC, but headlines and tv keep them in the spotlite and keep it going. Over priced junk hurts this Industry. Close so we can help heal the Industry.

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+1 #95 2011-09-21 16:08

Well now that Sr. is NOT losing the building nor going out of business and is actually going to expand I guess the naysayers can shut the hell up. Looks like things will be fine after all. We shall see.

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-14 #94 2011-09-19 23:47

Yep every single episode havent ever missed ONE. And your point dickhead? My opinion still stands. It wont ever change no matter how many negative votes I get.
Figured I better correct my spelling error or I might get critized for that too.

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-11 #93 2011-09-19 23:41

Yep every single episode havenwver missed. ONE. And your point dickhead? My opinion still stands. It wont ever change no matter how many negative votes I get.

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+7 #92 2011-09-16 08:44

A little background first: I have worked for and with my father for my entire adult life and I am now 45. My parents immigrated from Germany in 1957 and my father started our business in 1975. Our industry is tied heavily to building as we manufacture tooling for the plants that manufacture building products. Jump to 2007 and we saw what was coming in the housing market, we paid off any loans we had for property, machinery, and our line of credit. Now in 2011 we are very slow, but since we have no bills other than a small payroll (5 people including myself and my sister who runs the office as I oversee sales and production) and utilities. Where Senior failed is in having the same type of foresightedness by building the new building. Using a loan to build it though was sheer genius, because when the property values dropped he can walk away from a loan by giving up the collateral for it and still having the cash to build another new building.

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+1 #91 2011-09-15 16:42

Lets face it people this show has run its course, sure Sr is a bigmouth and an even bigger ass, but so are the viewers that have tuned into this dribble which is reality TV. What ever happened to TV you learned something from or was at least entertaining this crap gives us neither, let it go its over enough.

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