May 28, 2013
When American Chopper ended last December, I thought that, with perhaps the exception of a Discovery/TLC special a year or so down the line, this would it be for both PJD/OCC and The American Chopper Weekly Rundown.
I firmly believed, and still believe, that without the television show both of these companies will lose significant orders. After all, despite starting as real motorcycle-building program, the show devolved into little more than commercials for the customers (with bad pranks and fake fights thrown in.) Among people who are much more into bikes than I am, neither Paul Sr. nor Paulie are taken that seriously. They had great name recognition thanks to the network they used to air on, but that’s all over now. The free advertising has come to an end.
So I was pretty surprised when I saw this:
I wonder if GEICO signed their contract before the show was canceled? Or, more likely, since PJD had already done a pair of bikes for them, this might have just been fulfilling a contract for a series of bikes.
But to the point, that is one ugly bike. Not only is it covered in large, comically shaped words, making it look like something out of Schoolhouse Rock, but the giant lizard in the helmet totally fails to scream “military tribute.”
I suppose this commercial is giving some badly-needed visibility to PJD and of course the GEICO contract is nice money, but in the long run, I wonder how much time is left in PJD’s tank. OCC will limp along, I’m sure, but PJD was still a relatively new startup and when last we saw them, Paulie had sunk a lot of money into the new studio he planned to use of commercials and animation.
There’s been little new information about either OCC or PJD online. I assume nothing major has changed since the show ended. I’m always up for some Teutul gossip but one thing I will bet- Mikey and Paul Sr. still have not talked.
Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride 
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