Last night I watched the American Chopper finale.  Apparently the show had been canceled earlier this month, but I only found out by chance last night.

I use to watch American Chopper religiously.  For those that don’t know, it was one of the first TV shows/documentaries that detailed the fabrication of chopper’s…with a side story, the father (owner) and son (co-owner/designer) clashed heads quite frequently.  They did so in much the same way as my father and me, but we were never as dramatic.  It was also good to see first hand at how things were put together.

Every episode detailed the design and fabrication of a new bike, as time went on they started being commissioned to design, fabricate, and build bikes for large commercial companies to use as a promotional device.

There was always drama though.  Fists flying through gyprock walls, doors being kicked down out of frustration, etc.

Anyway, the only reason I stopped watching was because the channel it was on kept showing episode re-runs mid season.  That and the horrible way they treated their fans when they came to Australia made me stop watching.

Anyway, after watching this episode it appears that the father and son had a rather big falling out, and are no longer in business together, or on speaking terms.  I’d obviously missed something big.  I guess it has been nearly 4 years since I last watched it.

I now feel the desire to watch the season’s I’ve missed.  But do I have the funds to buy the boxed sets? …and even if I did, can I justify the cost?  Not really.

While watching the finale, I could see their pain.  Especially the father’s.  He had built the business from nothing with his son by his side.  Starting in a basement and finally ending up in a multi-million dollar architecturally designed facility, they had become multi-millionaire’s, and had the means to buy whatever they wanted.  But it was apparent, after watching that episode, that Senior (the father) felt that he had nothing.

In this episode Paulie Jnr (the son) actually got engaged and had an official dinner with the “entire family”, except for one.  His father.  That’s just sad.

Throughout the episode you could see the pain in Senior’s eyes.  The man had everything and nothing.  It was also physically apparent that he had also lost a significant amount of weight.  The last time I saw him he was a brickhouse with a thick neck, and arms as large as his thighs.  This episode, not so much.

There’s no point in having all the money in the world if you don’t have anyone you love to share it with.  Parents, children, or family…

update:  Just found this youtube video.  It briefly shows the argument between Jnr and Snr that essentially killed the show and the family.  It appears Snr was actually sueing his own son for $1m in damages at Christmas time of all times.  Anyway, watch the vid.  It’s pretty short.  Excuse the young guy talking on it, I don’t know who he is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gbQn1j7WF4

…and a video of Snr, Jnr, and Mikey talking about the family falling apart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyJ16oHxP4g