February 2, 2011
The big deal hyped for the show this week was the foreclosure on OCC’s building. It was the smallest focus of the show and also a big letdown. I’ll get to it later.
The bikes this week deserve more attention than usual because for the first time in quite a while I was impressed by the bikes.
OCC has again teamed up for a bike to benefit the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Their mandate was to build a futuristic bike for the kids. Their design-monkey Jason was away on his honeymoon so the bike had no weird spikes and was able to be ridden comfortably. The bike was designed by Robb, their painter, who admitted he “doesn’t know shit about building bikes” and wondered if it was even possible to build his design. I don’t understand why OCC has only one guy capable of building bikes, and why Paul Sr. puts so much trust in him. The one bike Jason didn’t design was better than the last dozen he did.
Of course it wouldn’t be OCC if someone didn’t throw a fit- usually Paul Sr. This time it was Robb, who tried pulling an amateur diva act on Rick when he saw that the guys had changed his design. He threw a tantrum, got an attitude, and totally gave Rick a hard time. Who does he think he is? He is the painter- the low man on the totem pole. He doesn’t know how to design bikes. He is not a boss. And of all people he’s giving Rick a hard time? Rick is probably the best worker there. He is definitely the most professional. (If he ever worked with Vinnie they would put Senior and Junior out of business.) I don’t think I ever saw Rick get angry before, and still he resisted the urge to tell Robb where to go.
But he did design a nice bike.
As for the rest of the build, Senior paid a visit to St. Jude where he toured a hospital. At one point he looked into a microscope. Ever see a dancing bear in the circus wearing a tutu? Senior looking into the microscope looked just as silly.
Over on Paulie’s side, PJD was designing two bikes for a new insurance company, Universal Insurance, not to be confused with Universal Exports, which was James Bond’s cover. I suspect that one of the reasons they went with PJD was because OCC was too expensive for them.
One of the bikes is going to be given away to an employee, but the other is going to be a showpiece for the company so Paulie is doing something special. The gas tank is nothing but a see-through frame. The “transparent tank” looked great while the real tank was hidden on the bottom of the bike in a scoop.
Paulie’s bigger problem was Odie, who was developing a bad attitude.
Odie got an attitude? Odie, of all people? He has no clue how lucky he is to be there.
“Odie’s working through some immaturity issues,” Paulie said, and it shows. Odie showed up late to work, bad mouthed Paulie, talked back, and didn’t take Jr. seriously.
“He’s your boy,” Vinnie said.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of Paulie, he is Odie’s boss and he deserves some respect. Odie has to realize that he is nowhere near the level of any of the other guys in the shop and shut up. The kid has to pay his dues, especially after he showed his near-incompetence in the construction of the ugly Blingstar ATV.
Meanwhile, for everyone who ever typed “is Odie Cody from OCC?” in a search engine, this episode was for you. PJD needed some extra help so Vinnie brought in Cody, who hadn’t worked with Paulie since leaving OCC three years ago. Vinnie said that they were working with “three and a half guys.” Who was the half? Odie? Mikey? Even Vinnie is only their part-time since he has his own shop. And Paulie, like he did back at OCC, showed up two hours after the rest of the crew did, but in his defense he may have been at his lawyer or doing something else for the company since he’s the boss. PJD is seriously understaffed.
For all you conspiracy theorists out there, yes, Odie and Cody were together in the same place at the same time. In fact, Cody was the total opposite of Odie- professional and a good worker. Odie spent some time shooting jealous looks his way.
The news that OCC missed two payments on their building hit the newspapers. The bank has put them in foreclosure. Senior’s lawyer downplayed it and called it “debt restructuring.” Basically, they are looking for more favorable terms from the bank. It doesn’t necessarily mean OCC has no money. Banks will not renegotiate their terms if you pay on time because it shows that you have enough financial means so why should they work with you to lower your payments? If you miss a couple of payments it looks like you can’t pay so the bank, who wants their money, will work with you to come with a way so that they will get their money. Plenty of people deliberately miss payments for this reason.
They lawyer claimed that it will not affect OCC’s “day-to-day operation,” which begs the question, what is their day-to-day operation?
Look at a similar show, Cake Boss. Other than making cakes instead of bikes they really do the same thing: The show focuses on the fancy products made for high-paying clients. But on Cake Boss, you always see the thriving bakery shop in the front that sells tons of cookies, cakes, and pastries. The business would be a success without the huge fancy cakes. You never see anything else going on at OCC. Do they still make regular bikes? Do they customize customer’s bikes? I don’t have a clue (though I’m sure someone will write in and tell me) but you never see anything else going on there
Regardless of the financial state of OCC, Paul Senior is doing just fine. In addition to the farm he owns, he has, according to Mikey, “50 to 60 muscle cars and 40 motorcycles.” That could be an exaggeration but Mikey is in a position to know. Paulie pointed out that “they got no money to pay their bills but they have money to pay lawyers to sue me.” He also expects to be blamed by Sr. for their woes and he is probably right.
Like I always said, OCC has plenty of money spread around through creative bookkeeping. I will believe they have money troubles when they are out of business and Senior is riding the bus.
Here is the Discovery Channel description for next week’s show:
American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior
Fired
TV-PG (L)
Tensions are high at PJD as Odie back talks Junior. Junior fires Odie who then turns to Senior for counsel, and hopefully, a job. PJD pulls off a double-unveil for Universal Property Insurance while OCC unveils a bike to an enthusiastic crowd.
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