CHOPPERS: Orange County Choppers' Paul Teutel Sr. and Jr. are featured in the Discovery Channel's American Chopper Series. In a perfect world, these two hulking and temperamental gents would probably not be sharing a work environment. But they are father and son, and they seem to have come to grips with that in a touching and humorous way. Apparently Junior had several demons in his youth, but they were excised (exorcised?) by a religious experience. Junior and Senior -who doesn't seem to do much other than "manage" his son and verbally bully suppliers into compliance- collaborate to produce that great American art form: the "chopper." For the uninformed, choppers are the lowriders of the motorcycle industry. They usually posess a highly polished large block Harley engine (one that sounds like an invasion at full throttle seems preferable) and have extravagant bodywork and finishes. The episode that really warmed my heart, though, was when Junior worked with his "little brother" Cody to produce a bike that Cody designed. Cody is a teenager with a yen for motorcycle design and the Teutels let him hang around the shop and help out. The builders of these bikes represent the American ethos of individuality, camaraderie, know-how and our special relationship with the internal combustion engine. It's amazing how beautiful and inspiring these rolling works of art are -especially considering their humble beginnings and creators' simplicity. Most of the fabricators highlighted in the American Chopper series are not classically schooled as engineers, yet their creations come together and run with the precision of Swiss watches. Oh, and these guys collectively seem to have taken an oath never to wear shirts with sleeves. Now if only they would build a custom, macked out Big Wheel™...