occ bankrupt

Monster Commentary:
occ bankrupt,you can quit wondering how long Paul Teutle will continue to get paid lots of money to act like an idiot on national TV. It seems like the OCC wick is burnt up. Turn out the lights, the party's over.
It is over, done, kaput. According to the folks at Discovery, the last "first run" of the OCC saga ran on Feb 11.
Paul, Sr. is now an ex-TV-star, current estranged dad, grumbling husband and washed up welder from Montgomery, New York or was it Rock Tavern? From what we get through the “Monster grape vine,” all of the stuff about Paul Jr. and Mikey, not really, enjoying their pops company any more is all pretty much true. Most folks thought the recent break up and ongoing battle between the Teutle boys and Sr. was a show biz / WWE type scripted battle to keep the fans tuned in. Apparently, the word from inside OCC, and the folks who really know the boys from Rock Tavern, the hate, disgust, cussing and recent family battles are all real.

Lawsuits abound

They are so real in fact that Paul, Sr. reportedly has a lawsuit filed against Jr. over the rightful ownership of OCC. From what we hear, Sr. had an agreement with Jr. that he could buy Jr's part of OCC when ever he wanted to exercise his option. Apparently, he asked to buy out the son, son didn't respond and pop filed suit.

It's nothing new for the Teutles to be involved in court proceedings as legal battles have been a regular part of becoming biker super stars. In what creditors called an attempt to defraud, the original OC Iron Works, filed bankruptcy in 2005 after a large construction company Turner Construction got a judgment for a broken contract where OC Iron Works had agreed to provide steel for a school in Queens. Apparently OC could not fulfill their agreement.

According to documents, the suit charged that a new company Orange County Iron Works LLC was formed and equipment, customers and other assets landed there. Apparently the "the old switch a rue" was to avoid payment of a 1.3 million judgment. Pau,l Sr., Paulie and brother Daniel were named in that suit.

More Lawyer Letters

As recently as July 2009, local Montgomery bike painter Justin Barnes (JB Grafix) filed another suit against OCC, American Chopper and Discovery for copyright infringement.

The Monster personally talked with Justin's mother about Justin's mistreatment by the Teutles. If even a small part of mom’s story is true, the OCC boys should be ashamed of themselves for what they did to Justin and his small business.

Recently another OCC soap opera included Vinnie and Cody, which have almost been forgotten. Vinnie was billed as Paul, Jr.’s lifelong friend who left OCC a couple of years ago with rumors of low pay and continued abuse from the patriarch Teutle. Cody was another story line for the early OCC saga where “young boy does well” on part time job and is brought in as an “almost family member” (not).

The Monster talked with Vinnie about this nightmare a couple of years ago, but Vinnie has way too much class to talk about his past employer in a disparaging way.

A Bright Light

It seems to me that several things have happened during this 6 year run at TV / Biker Stardom. All in all, I would call the Teutle Saga a mixed bag. Number one, the Teutles have put a brighter light on the Biker World than ever before. Harley dealers, motorcycle schools and m/c events have all benefited from the OCC Phnom. T-Shirts, die casts, bicycles and toys were sold by the millions; the Teutles built bikes, bank accounts and a biker Taj Mahal in Montgomery, NY. That made the non-biker community come back week after week for more.

Real Bikers

The regular biker guys have spent much of the last six years scratching their heads. Even thou most of the Teutle saga is not representative of the motorcycle folks I know, it was mostly good stuff for the motorcycle community. The non-biker world enjoyed the TV shows, while real enthusiasts seemed a bit confused. Filled with hype and probably more sizzle than substance, it was all about smoke and mirrors. It was mostly fan-fair over just so-so bikes, with particular focus on the F Bomb and bad boys with bad attitudes. It really wasn't representative of the real motorcycle builder community. Bikers really don’t talk like that. It played pretty well to teenagers and wants to be bike builders. But the fact is most bikers really don’t talk like that nor do they fight with their family members.

Ship Came in

It seems like the whole OCC thing has been a "bit of a puzzlement" as the King of Siam said. Was it good for bikers? Yes, it was probably very good for all of us who make our living in the motorcycle world. Was it good for the Teutles? Well, if they have any smarts at all, they will probably never need to fire up the old welder again. If their ship truly came in, it seems like the old daddy'o Paul did his best to torpedo his own family.

Non-Stardom is great

But if the stuff that makes the Monster happy like family, fellowship and dreams of riches to take care of the family mean anything, I think the Teutles fell way short. If I ever had to file suit against one of my children, I think I would be a huge failure as a father, a business man and a husband.

Bike Week

I think I'll just get up and go to work tomorrow on my ten year-old Harley, work hard, pay my mortgage and trailer my old bike on back of that Ford Truck in the yard, to the next bike week rally. I'll stay in that not-so-nice hotel. I'll watch the TV stars ride buy on Main St. on the $100,000 custom bikes and give my kids, grand kids and wife a hug. I'll smile have a cool one and be really happy that I'm not a TV star.