For years, viewers have turned to this hit reality series for their fix of sweet bikes
and family fights.
But if you lost track of the American Chopper stars during their long hiatus, don't worry.
We've got you covered with this look at everything they've been up to.
Just a day before the American Chopper reboot premiered in March 2018, Paul Sr. filed for
bankruptcy.
According to paperwork obtained by Page Six, Teutul admitted to owing nearly 50 creditors
a total of more than $1 million, against a net worth of around $1.8 million.
Teutul also claimed a monthly income of $15,000 and expenditures of just over $12,600 not
enough to pay off his crushing debts.
"My goal was to build maybe 5, 10 bikes a year.
More for the hobby and passion than for making money"
But the story wasn't over.
In April 2019, the trustee in charge of Teutul's case asked the court to dismiss the bankruptcy
petition.
According to that filing, Teutul didn't provide the trustee with a copy of a federal income
tax return or transcript for 2017 and 2018, and more proof that his financial situation,
quote, "indicates a negative cash flow."
Four months before he filed for bankruptcy and the whole world suddenly knew about his
daunting financial problems, Paul Sr. put his enormous Montgomery, New York estate on
the market for $2.9 million.
Teutul then cut the price to $2.49 million.
And by early 2019, it was down to just $1.65 million.
The trustee in charge of his bankruptcy case said Teutul seemed sure that selling his home
would solve all his money woes, but it doesn't seem to have worked out that way.
At least, not yet.
All those fights between Senior and Junior were apparently real.
Tensions ran so high at Orange County Choppers that in 2008, Paul Sr. fired Jr. from the
shop, even though he co-owned it.
Junior later told Fox News that his dad giving him the axe was what he called "a big favor"
because it set him on the path to starting his own business.
Paul Jr.
Designs opened in 2010.
"The beauty of it is, you can get a history lesson, and you can see all these bikes you've
watched us build on the show for all these years"
Paul Sr. then tried to legally force Jr. to sell him his 20 percent share of their company.
But it turned out that getting rid of Junior represented a breach of contract with the
Discovery Channel, and could have led to the show's cancellation.
This all led the network to launch the spinoff, American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior.
After that series wrapped in 2012, Jr. went back to Paul Jr.
Designs, and in 2015 celebrated the birth of his first child a son named Hudson.
American Chopper fans came for the bikes but stayed for the fights.
But fabricator and mechanic Vinnie DiMartino tried to keep his head down and get to work.
In 2007, he left the Chopper franchise, and founded his own shop, VForceCustoms.
He wrote on the company's now defunct site,
"I had gone as far as I could there.
I really didn't have any chance for advancement, and I had always wanted to have my own shop,
so the natural progression was to leave and start my own place."
"Everybody thinks I'm a die hard biker, I'm really not"
In 2013, DiMartino abandoned bikes for cars and opened DiMartino Motorsports, a car and
truck repair company in Walden, New York.
Rick Petko seemed like an even-keeled guy on American Chopper.
Even when the two Teutuls split up to run separate shops, Petko stayed on with Senior
but stayed amiable with Junior.
Both Teutuls attended his wedding in 2012.
And by the end of 2015, Petko was a dad to two girls.
He was still working at Orange County Choppers by then, but, tired of his 90-minute commute
each way from his home in Pennsylvania to the shop in New York, he took a job as the
chief fabricator at the Pocono Mountain Harley-Davidson complex in Pennsylvania, roughly a mile from
his house.
"To run these bikes that are a hundred years old, even though you're redoing them, you're
adding history to them…it's something cool about it"
When he's not working with metal, Petko… still works with metal.
He runs a small knife-forging company out of his home called RPD & Co.
Paul Sr. and Jr. frequently disagreed, but fortunately, there was a third member of the
Teutul family around to maintain the peace: Mikey Teutul.
But he walked away from the Chopper franchise in 2012, saying,
"[I want to] seek some peace of mind and work on my relationship with my dad."
"Ready on set"
He later came back to work, but Teutul used part of his time off to open an art gallery
in Montgomery, New York, which featured his paintings.
It closed in 2014, but Teutul pursued another artistic project: a web series.
"Folks, this is Bob the Bum again talking to you right here on Bum Television"
Launched in 2016, Bummin' Around aims to shine a light on New York City's homeless problem.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.