Tag Archives: Sr. vs. Jr.

American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior: Cadillac Build-Off Part 1

30 May

May 30, 2011

From the official description of tonight’s episode: Cadillac enlists both OCC and PJD to build a bike in a father-son build-off. But even as the competition heats up, Senior reaches out to Junior with a second settlement offer- this time, without lawyers.

From this blog two weeks ago:  What these two need to do is get rid of the lawyers, sit down together and hammer out a deal.

I really can’t claim any insight or special knowledge, I’m sure most viewers thought the same thing. I just thought I’d point how predictable this show has become.

This is the beginning of the Cadillac build-off. OCC and PJD will each build a Caddy-themed bike and unveil them head to head. The bikes would then be auctioned off for charity.

American Chopper started this week with a short montage about the history of the bad blood between the Teutuls, beginning with Paulie’s firing. It wasn’t a highlight reel as much as it was a lowlight reel of Paul Senior’s lousiest moments. The montage was very one-sided in that it was a lot of clips of Senior running down his son and none of Paulie insulting his father because there are none.

The tone of the show can best be demonstrated by a short sequence at the very cool-looking Cadillac HQ. Senior and Jim were there doing research and development when Paulie, Vinnie, and Brandon arrived. They were kept separate and toured the plant with different guides but at one point they crossed paths in the hallway. The PJD crew all shook hands with Jim, while Senior looked straight ahead and walked past as if they didn’t exist.

“We kind of said hello to each other,” Senior told the camera. No, he didn’t.

“He’s scared,” he said in reference to Paulie. Why? I have no idea. A lot of stuff just falls out of Senior’s mouth that has no bearing in reality. In fact, here are some more nice things Paul Senior said about his son:

“He can’t punk out now.”

“I’m sure he’s real nervous. He’s paranoid.” Some people have been peeking in the shop windows and Paulie had Cody black them out. As the saying goes, it isn’t paranoia if they really are out to get you.

“I’ve been begging for a competition for a while now and he just doesn’t want to compete.” Paulie has been trying to start and build a business. Why would he even think about a competition? This is all Paul Senior’s ego.

“All Jr. did was tweak Jason’s designs.” What show has Senior been watching?

“Jr. doesn’t know how to do a drawing.” Well yes, Paulie doesn’t do them, but we have seen him draw them on the show. He knows how.

“He’s got to do it out of his head, or out of his ass.”

“Knowing Paulie, I guarantee he hasn’t even started putting the bike together… takes him 2 to 3 times longer than us.” The very next clip was PJD already working on the bike.

However, drawings or no drawings, Paulie had one big edge over his father. He brought in a pair of Cadillac CTS-V coupes to work from and they were using actual Caddy parts straight from the cars and fiber optics on the bike.

Senior had a pretty good but not great Jason Pohl design to work from. And as they went, Senior made a few changes. Jason had been on the floor making changes to the design as they built and Senior wanted to know why the fabricators were listening to him. As was I. It was nice to see Pohl with a chagrined look on his face.

Pohl, who Senior said is “a big distraction” in the shop, chimed in and said “I crave the competition.” Early on in the episode Senior pretended to pummel him and I wish there was a workplace accident. 

Obviously, since this is a two-parter, the show ended with the bikes in early stages of construction but I think PJD has the edge so far. He’s using a design where the bike won’t need a kickstand. It will lower and sit flat on the ground. And the technology Senior bragged about and then totally left off the Deadliest Catch bike? So far none of it has been seen on the OCC bike.

In the midst of all the badmouthing Senior thought the time would be right to reconcile with his son and also settle the lawsuit. As usual, he thinks settling the issue of the OCC shares is the same as getting back together with his son. If Paulie is thinking of having a relationship with his father he needs to watch this show first.

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American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior: Offer Denied

16 May

May 16, 2011

I usually start with the bikes but I want to begin with the lawsuit first because I am not sure that most people tune in for the bikes anymore.

You may recall that last week Paul Senior decided that since the judge ruled that Paulie was under no legal obligation to sell his share of OCC, it would be a good time to reconcile and, not too coincidentally, make an offer to buy back the stock. Subtle he is not. Nor too swift.

Sr. made Paulie an offer, Paulie counter-offered, and neither offer was accepted. Simple? No, because lawyers are involved. Paulie says that Senior’s side made the offer and then took it off the table the next day. What these two need to do is get rid of the lawyers, sit down together and hammer out a deal, then let the lawyers vet it and OK it. The problem (or one of the problems) is that Senior has mixed up in his head the resolution of the lawsuit with reconciliation with his sons and they are totally separate issues. It doesn’t help that his lawyer is also giving him advice on how to get back together with Paulie. One thing we’ve seen over the past two weeks is that lawyers can spin anything any way they want. You got your tax refund? Too bad. Firemen rescue your grandmother from an inferno? That’s a shame. Judge ruled in favor of Paulie? “Neither side won or lost.”

The truth is these two can’t be in the same room. During the filming of the current American Chopper commercial- the one where they are facing each other on bikes- they were never in the same room at the same time. Paulie filmed his part, and then Sr. came in and filmed his. Sr. thought that Paulie was avoiding him, which may be true, but he is also avoiding Paulie.

Sr. got a chance to see the Anti-Venom bike up close. He said it was nice but that it was like what OCC was making ten years ago, which may be true, but he said that it had no technology and pointed to one of the Trams Am bikes and said that PJD couldn’t make anything like it.

Technology? Really? Senior added a Trans Am tachometer to his bike. A nice touch, sure, but hardly cutting edge. And considering that the average OCC bike doesn’t have tail lights he really shouldn’t talk. Interestingly, he opened the door to a competition, which is what the promos have alluded to all season.

Gus died this week which is odd since last season when Gus had a leg amputated the news broke on the show that he died. So I guess that reports of his death were premature.

When discussing it, Sr. broke down on camera and had tears streaming down his face. It was the most human he has seemed since the show began. He said that he loved Gus because “he was always there.” That is interesting since he has talked about how he was not always there in his son’s lives and also how he pushed his sons away so they were not always there.

Gus’ death moved both Paulie and Vinnie and in the show’s emotional climax, Paulie called Sr. He didn’t text or send an email, which meant something to Sr., and told Sr. how sorry he was, offered some comfort, and ended with “I love you.” Senior seemed touched and cried again, but how much his tears were really for Gus I can’t say.

OCC made three bikes based on a trio of classic Trans Am autos and next to the cars they looked great. The build went smoothly with the exception of Senior and Phil dropping a bike off the jack. Luckily there was no damage, either to the bike or Senior’s head, which was not far from the falling heavy cycle.

PJD was still working on the pair of CrankyApe bikes and we got a few words of bike-building wisdom from Paulie: “You can’t have a bike if you don’t have a motor.” Paulie was in a deadline crunch because they are unveiling the bike in Daytona Beach and Paulie has no one to blame but himself. He miscalculated and ordered the motor too late. Luckily it came in time.

Nub did his usual great job on the paint, a mix of matte and gloss that he had never done for either OCC or PJD. As usual, he seemed a little bemused by Paulie. He realizes that though Paulie is a good designer he runs the shop a little too casually and was always “freaking out.” He did point out though that the stress didn’t carry over to the others. “Unlike OCC there is no stress here, no drama. It is a better vibe.” The bike also featured barbed wire wheel spokes that looked really nice.

Of course, it is hard to avoid stress when Mikey is running around in a gorilla suit. Yes, you read that right. Mikey showed up in a gorilla suit led by his legally blind assistant. With Mikey unable to see well in the mask it was literally a case of the blind leading the blind. Paulie ordered him to stay far away and keep his banana-throwing from the freshly painted tins.

The other bike was the one they bought on auction and rebuilt. It had everything new except the frame and motor. True, those are the most important parts of the bike, but what kind of ad is it for CrankyApe when the bike was totally rebuilt? Buy one of their bikes and spend a lot of money to fix it up? It is especially odd since they were very impressed with the bike as it was bought.

At any rate, they were still working on the bike when the trailer arrived and it wouldn’t start. They had to have a new starter delivered to Florida and fixed it there right before the unveil. It went fine, despite the handicap of Mikey in his gorilla suit emceeing.

Next week the OCC crew travels to Alaska to ruin another show, Deadliest Catch, and to get inspiration as they make a Deadliest Catch bike. Will Senior get into it with Sig? Will the Hillstrands shove Jason Pohl in a pot and sink him to the bottom of the Bering? Tune in and find out.

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