Orange County Choppers (OCC) is a custom motorcycle manufacturer founded by Paul Teutul, Sr. and Paul Teutul, Jr. in 1999. The company is featured on American Chopper, a reality TV show that debuted in September 2002 on the Discovery Channel, which has contributed to the company's quick rise to fame. In 2007, Discovery Channel's sister channel TLC took over the broadcasting.
Many are under the mistaken belief that the company is based in Orange County, California; rather, it is based in the county of the same name in New York state. In fact in one of the episodes of American Chopper, Paul Sr. was shown getting a tattoo on his left arm with the designation OCC New York in order to clear this very point. OCC's production facility was initially located in the hamlet of Rock Tavern, but has since moved to nearby Montgomery. The company also operates a retail store nearby, at Scotts Corners, another store at the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, and a season kiosk at the Woodbury Commons Outlet Mall in Central Valley, NY.
OCC started as a sideline to the family's steel manufacturing enterprise, Orange County Ironworks, which was founded in the 1970s. In the late 1990s, Teutul Sr. began manufacturing custom motorcycles as an extension of his steel business, and in 1999 he founded Orange County Choppers. The company's first bike, "True Blue", was debuted at the 1999 Daytona Biketoberfest.
One of OCC's most popular bikes is The Fire Bike, which was designed by Paul Teutul (Paulie) Jr, to commemorate the New York firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. The bike itself has been modeled after a fire truck, and an actual steel rivet from the World Trade Center has been integrated into the bike itself, mounted atop the bike's gas tank. Paulie is noted as stating that the bike was themed "343", the number of New York firefighters who gave their lives on 9/11.
The popularity of American Chopper led the United States Air Force to commission a $150,000 "Air Force Bike", first put on public display in March 2005. The motorcycle is ten feet long and is modeled after the F-22 Raptor, complete with Air Force symbol rims, riveted gas tank, Raptor exhausts and rear-view mirrors in the shape of jets. Air Force recruiters commissioned it as a public outreach tool.
The Company has recently started to build a new shop called OCC World Headquarters and has put the current shop on the market for $1,900,000.
