OCC Builds the Dryvit Bike
Orange County Choppers opened up this evening with Paul Sr. finishing up some final paperwork to receive the “occupancy permit” for their new 16 million dollar OCC Facility in Newburgh, NY. It’s amazing to know that Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. started building bikes in their basement to now move into this grand facility that will now house over 70 employees. The beginning of this episode also highlighted what it took to move all of their equipment from the old facility to the new building.
Tonight we got to see them build a bike for Dryvit Systems, Inc. They manufacture environmentally friendly Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) and are located in the Unites States. The design for this bike was worked on by Paul Jr. and Jason. They wanted to design a bike that reflects the Dryvit Company and what they manufacture. Since the Dryvit company logo is an Emperor Penguin, they wanted to build a bike with a “Penguin” theme and some of the equipment that is used with using their products. To add some further input into the bike Mike and Steve went to the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic Ct. to learn more about penguins. Some of the highlights of the bike included:
- Penguin Gas Tank
- Penguins painted on the wheels
- An air cleaner shaped as the five gallon bucket that their product comes in
It was interesting to know that most penguins are actually warm weather birds and that the Emperor Penguin is actually the best insulated Penguin in the world.
As usual Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. had their typical spats. It was funny watching them put in the railing on the outside of the facility. Paul Jr. kept making references how his father forgets how to do things. We also got to see some of the final 5 candidates who are each hoping to become the next OCC employee in the shop. Of course only one of them is going to get this great opportunity. For the “skill test” they had the opportunity to work on parts of the bike:
- Bear – worked on the seat panel for the bike
- Vic – worked on part of the handle bars and the wiring.
All in all, the bike went together very smoothly and was delivered to the Architecture Institute of America Trade Show in Boston. It was there where Dryvit unveiled their new themed bike for the company.
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