American Chopper Is Back With Settlement & Foreclosure

After months of waiting, arguing and bidding, after big disputes regarding who had the better bike and how would a war between father and son work out, American Chopper is back and with it confirmation that Pauls Senior and Junior have reached a settlement after two years of legal wrangling.

This is good news in the sense that it’s not comfortable watching a dynamic father and a talented son wrangle and wrestle. In basic terms Paul Jr. left his father’s bike building company, Orange County Choppers, and then was told he had to sell his 20 percent interest in the company back to his father, an interest Paul Sr. valued at zero.

What’s It Worth?

It’s hard to see how a big stake in a successful venture could not have a significant price tag, but what is such an interest really worth? A minority interest in a small business is typically difficult to value because it does not control the company and, of all things, the $12.5 million OCC headquarters has faced foreclosure, not a sign of great inherent value.

A court, however, did not buy such arguments so the father was effectively forced to buy out the son in a private settlement. How much was paid is unstated on the show, but in the settlement Paul Jr. got a payment of some sort plus the symbolic Black Widow bike, the first bike built on the series.

As to the Cadillac build-off which began with the last show of the 2010 season, there’s no doubt that Paul Jr. won — and by a landslide.

• Dollars: The high bid for the bike from Paul Jr. Designs was $113,000 while the OCC bike drew a best bid of $51,000.
• Members: 146,914 people joined the Paul Jr. team while 10,412 signed on with Paul Sr.
• Photo views: 5,578,177 for Paul Jr. versus 3,171,980 for Paul Sr. Both numbers, it should be said, are huge.

The money raised by the sale of the Cadillac bikes goes to benefit the fight against Duchenne’s disease, a form of muscular dystrophy. As well, you can bet that a ton of additional donations came in.

So what’s next?

Future episodes can surely feature new bikes from both companies. There will be continued scrapping between father and son and it would not be surprising if some of the OCC builders — say Rick and Christian — drifted over to Paul Jr. Designs.

Foreclosure

There’s also the matter of the foreclosure, which ScreenRant reports has already taken place. Where will OCC re-locate and how will they get a mortgage? Could they move in with Paul Jr? And, of course, what does the mortgage lender do with a structure specifically designed to house a motorcycle builder?

What do you think?