Here's What Happened To Paul Teutul Sr From American Chopper

When "American Chopper" debuted in 2002, it became a hit as much for the relationships between the members of the Teutul family — Paul Sr., Paul Jr., and Mikey — as it did for the work they did on custom-built motorcycles. The original series ran for 200-plus episodes (and countless arguments), spawning numerous memes, and leading to several spinoffs and revivals over the years.

There could have been no "American Chopper" without Paul Teutul Sr., who founded Orange County Choppers in 1999. His frequently volatile relationship with his son and namesake led to the departure of Paul Jr. from "American Chopper" and ultimately the creation of the short-lived series "Senior vs. Junior" in 2010. Paul Sr. returned to television in 2013 with "Orange County Choppers," but that series only aired eight episodes before it was canceled. Paul Sr. continued operating the company after the show was dropped, but in 2017, his business partner Thomas Derbyshire sued Teutul, claiming Teutul was using his investments for personal purposes.

Paul Teutul Sr. moved Orange County Choppers' operations to Florida in March 2020, a few months before the final episode of "American Chopper" aired. In that episode, titled "The Last Ride," Paul Sr. and his son Paul Jr. were back to their old bickering ways, nearly jeopardizing the featured build project. It's but one rocky moment in Paul Sr.'s life since "American Chopper" became an instant hit, but he recently claimed to be making a YouTube comeback with the help of old friend and fellow reality TV star Jesse James. Last year, James and Paul Sr. were rumored to be joining forces with Billy Lane from Choppers, Inc. and the Pickett Brothers from Pickett Custom Trucks in Buckeye, Arizona to form Outlaw TV, a member-supported YouTube streaming channel. That project doesn't appear to have amounted to anything, although Paul Sr. maintains an active YouTube presence and is still building custom bikes.

Jesse James had his own hit show with "Monster Garage," but ran into some controversy surrounding old photos of him in Nazi regalia. He later opened a firearms business and custom bike shop in Austin, Texas. In the teaser for Outlaw TV, James said, "The nucleus of Outlaw TV has to be the work. Eliminating the middleman of networks and network-type people, and now I can just do it, I don't have to ask for permission." 

"I think people are just tired of watching the same **** over and over," Paul Teutul Sr., added. "People are gonna be curious, What's going on with Jesse James? What's going on with Paul Senior, you know, what's going on with Billy Layne?"

Outlaw TV was also supposed to involve producer David McKillop, who won Emmys as an executive producer on "Cartel Land" and "Gettysburg." He also produced the popular shows "Duck Dynasty," "Deadliest Catch," and "American Pickers," which featured some truly wild finds. According to a press release from November 2023, the 75-year-old Paul Sr.'s show on Outlaw TV was to be called "Senior Living." It doesn't appear that the network ever got off the ground, though, as the registration link at jessejames.com doesn't even generate a confirmation email. Paul Sr. posts regularly to his Paul Sr., Unchained YouTube channel, but the only videos on Outlaw TV's Chrome Shop Mafia YouTube channel are from the Pickett Brothers.

Paul Teutul Sr.'s first legal conflict with a business partner came in 2017, when investor Thomas Derbyshire sued him, claiming that Teutul had used his contributions for personal purposes. That didn't deter businessman Keith Overton, who partnered with Paul Sr. to open the OCC Museum and Roadhouse in Clearwater, Florida, in 2021. That facility includes a restaurant and concert venue, and hosted the OCC Invitational Bike Show and Biker Build-Off in 2023. 

According to a report in the Miami Herald, Paul Sr. was also part of a group that defrauded a group of Central American investors out of between $12 and $15 million that they believed was legitimate seed money for the OCC Roadhouse. The investors claimed that Venezuelan businessman Carlos Urbaneja and Paul Sr. "sold the same project to three or four groups of investors, and at times issued shares in paper companies that had no value at all." 

Paul Sr. later appeared on then-future President Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" reality show and has stayed connected to Trump and the Republican Party in the years since. He appeared at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he presented a custom bike to conservative activist and former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. Paul Sr. also previously built a bike for Trump, and recorded a short video endorsing Trump in the 2024 election.

If you had taken one 2016 report at face value without digging deeper, you would have believed that Paul Teutul Sr. was dead, at least for a short time. In April of that year, the website Iron Demons reported that Paul Sr. had been involved in a five-vehicle crash in Gretna, Louisiana, that took his life and put fellow motorcyclist Mark Duffy in critical condition. According to Snopes, the outlet had reposted an article from the New Orleans Times-Picayune about a real accident, substituting Teutul Sr.'s name for that of the real victim, 53-year-old Mark Harmon.

Teutul quickly took to his personal Facebook page to dispel the rumors, responding to a curious fan's post by saying he was "Alive and well. Gotta wonder who has time to start these things." In response to another inquiry about the rumor, he responded simply, "Hoax [...] I am still here."