The world's first chopper to run on E85 fuel was raffled off last Saturday during the half-time of the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game.
Dubbed "Renewable Energy Chopper" and built by Orange County Choppers, it was won by Michael Murphy of Seymour, Iowa.
Note to Seymour, Iowa: we don't want to see any signs on your city limits saying, "Home of the E85 Chopper".
The Iowa Farm Bureau, who commissioned the chopper, donated the raffle proceeds and summer-long donations amounting to $113,357.51, to the "Clean Air Choice" program, a program of the Iowa American Lung Association.
The "Clean Air Choice" program promotes the use of E85 fuel, which the entire State of Iowa is banking on to boost their economy.
The custom motorcycle which made news last August on a variety of blogs, is being sold by Auctionwire. It's powered by an S&S 113ci motor, and 6-speed Baker transmission.
100% of the proceeds is being donated to International Youth and Family Encounter.
There's a video on YouTube protesting Orange County Choppers because it's hiring scab workers instead of union workers to build their new "World Headquarters"...
The Des Moines Register reports that Orange County Choppers has agreed to build a motorcycle that runs on E85 for the Iowa Farm Bureau.
E85 is a type of fuel consisting of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline...
The Iowa Farm Bureau has commissioned the building of the E85 motorcycle by the Orange County Choppers, a New York-based company known for its television show on TLC.
The Iowa Farm Bureau is planning a statewide marketing campaign touting the superiority of E85 over standard gasoline, and this OCC motorcycle is part of the blitz. Of course, the whole State of Iowa is known for its corn industry.
The report doesn't say if this motorcycle will be "flex fuel" capable, meaning running on either gasoline or E85.
There's been some discussion online about the viability of motorcycles running on E85. E85 is higher octane, and can run on higher compression engines. But it's not as efficient as gasoline, meaning vehicles will see lower gas mileage. On a motorcycle, you'll need larger fuel tanks to maintain existing ranges.
On the other hand, E85 is a cleaner burning fuel, meaning that motorcycle manufacturers can easily overcome existing state and federal laws on emissions.
Take a look at this chopper, it's selling for $800,000, but the owner claims it was appraised for $1.2 million...
It's the Shelby GT 500E "Eleanor" chopper for Carroll Shelby, built by Orange County Choppers. Here's a partial description...
Designed as the ultimate Shelby motorcycle, the chopper features handcrafted sheet metal including a Shelby rear spoiler. The tank looks like the head of a cobra with fangs below the handlebars and airbrushed snake scales. Lecarra fabricated the handlebars, which feature wood inlay like the original Shelby's steering wheel. Rowe performance wheels are machined to resemble the Shelby's PSE wheels. The mirror uses the GT 500E logo and the Super Snake logo stands proudly across the bottom of the bike. Shelby GT 500E logos adorn the chopper in many key spots. Carroll Shelby's signature and the Shelby GT 500E logo are embroidered into the custom leather seat. The engine is supercharged just like the Shelby GT 500E Super Snake, producing an amazing 131HP.
There's just way too much crap being sold with the Orange County Choppers logo.
I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, it was embarrasing to show up at school wearing "Trax" shoes. That's because "Trax" was a brand from K-Mart, and any kid whose mom bought them stuff from K-Mart was a geek.
I'm starting to feel the same way about OCC stuff.
Now we know the reason why the Teutuls are so full of nerves, they drink too much of this stuff.
Actually, from reading the reviews, it's just your basic energy drink, nothing fancy, but branded with the OCC logo. No word on where you can buy some.
If wearing a leather jacket with a giant "O.C.C." logo on the back isn't enough for to satisfy your "urban biker" image, then how about wearing some American Chopper cologne?
Paul Teutul Sr. continues to gets his brand into just about every product in America, and proves it once again with a co-branded line of fragrances. The product called, "Full Throttle" have a unique smell sure to impress your co-workers at the office:
Full Throttle, based on fragrances favored by Paul Jr., smells like a mix of essences of anise, mint, black licorice, white pepper and hints of suede and cashmere.
NBC is reporting that the producers of American Chopper (like we can't report enough about these guys), are meeting with executives at Caterpillar, the makers of those big yellow construction implements.
Supposedly, the episode where the Teutul boys build this two-wheeled yellow contraption will air this April.
NAPA Auto Parts issued a press release this morning that they entered into an agreement with Orange County Choppers to do some cross promotion.:
The agreement calls for NAPA and Orange County Choppers to partner on national promotions and produce a line of co-branded products and merchandise. Additionally, the Teutuls will be appearing in NAPA's print, radio and television advertising and making personal appearances in support of NAPA AUTO PARTS Stores and NAPA AutoCare Centers. NAPA will also capitalize on product placement opportunities within "American Chopper" and the Orange County Chopper shop.
So basically, NAPA has managed to get its brand displayed on American Chopper, along with with some plugs from the Teutuls. It's not clear to me how O.C.C. is going to benefit in return, other than having NAPA paying them big bucks.
Toshiba America Consumer Products, LLC announced today that it has contracted with Orange County Choppers to build a Toshiba branded chopper. The custom bike will feature Toshiba's trademark colors, and will be modeled after the company's TALEN(R) light engine digital technology.
The bike will be showcased at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, and will then be displayed at various Best Buy stores around the country. Then it will be auctioned for charity, with the proceeds benefitting the Best Buy Children's Foundation.
If you're one of those who can't enough the Teutuls, then you might have already added American Chopper, the video game, to your collection of Orange County Chopper die-cast models, jackets, coffee mugs, and other licensed garbage that we wouldn't be caught dead with on our persons.
To sum it up, American Chopper is mostly a racing game, and has little to do with chopper design and fabrication. But I suppose it's another avenue for Paul Sr. to cash in on his O.C.C. brand.
The Associated Press reports that Orange County Choppers, the team behind the hit television show "American Chopper", was hired by Ford to develop a new chopper that exemplifies the essense of a new pickup truck, the Lincoln Mark LT.
The chopper took 3 weeks to complete and will be used to help catch attention at auto shows and provide a certain image to Lincoln's new pickup truck.
The show "American Chopper" will document the creation of the new chopper in a couple of episodes due to air this month.
Now we know the reason why the Teutuls are so full of nerves, they drink too much of 
If you're one of those who can't enough the Teutuls, then you might have already added American Chopper, the video game, to your collection of Orange County Chopper die-cast models, jackets, coffee mugs, and other licensed garbage that we wouldn't be caught dead with on our persons.
