Paul Teutul Sr.


Paul John Teutul is the founder of Orange County Choppers, a manufacturer of custom motorcycles and the focus of the reality television series American Chopper. Teutul first appeared on the show with his sons Paul Teutul Jr. and Michael Teutul. In 2013 his new show Orange County Choppers premiered on CMT

Early life

Teutul was born in Yonkers, New York and grew up in Pearl River, New York.
Teutul sailed as a member of the United States Merchant Marines during the Vietnam War.

Career

Teutul originally started out owning Orange County Ironworks, a fabrication shop now solely owned and managed by son Daniel. He began building custom bikes for pleasure after being inspired by the many custom bikes appearing on the streets and in films. In 1999 he left and founded Orange County Choppers. He hired his son Paul Jr. and began building bikes for sale.

Family

In addition to Paul Jr and Mikey Teutul, Paul Sr. has two other children: Christin Teutul and Dan Teutul. Dan Teutul took over Orange County Ironworks when his father started building more bikes than buildings. Dan continues to build and expand on this company today. Sr often talks about how proud he is of all that Dan accomplished with Orange County Ironworks He is also very proud of his daughter Christin. Christin is a nurse in NYC who works in pediatrics. Paul Sr is proud to have 7 beautiful grandchildren. He and Joan love to spend Sunday dinner with them whenever they can. He and Joan also love attending the many plays they take part in.
Teutul's regular arguments with his son Paul Jr became a routine occurrence during episodes of American Chopper. These vocal disagreements eventually led to Paul Jr. being fired in April 2009.
Teutul and long time girlfriend Joan Bulger-Kay work and live together. They spend their downtime riding motorcycles and rescuing animals.

Tattoos

A significant part of Teutul's image are his numerous tattoos. He has been known to acquire tattoos from time to time in order to express a feeling or to make a point. For example, when he became frustrated about the location of OCC being frequently confused with Orange County in California, he obtained a tattoo on his left arm with the designation OCC New York in order to make the distinction clear. This tattoo session was filmed as part of an episode of American Chopper. Another example is the tattoo he received from Ami James, renowned tattoo artist from the shop Miami Ink, a portrait piece of his pet bullmastiff, Marty, to go along with an earlier portrait of his older bullmastiff, Gus whose full name is August, which was done by another tattoo artist.