Where did Vinnie go? Ever since the American Chopper episode where it was revealed that Vincent DiMartino was leaving for greener pastures and new opportunities, fans of the show have wondered what he was up to. The answer is that he's still building custom motorcycles, just for his own company: V-Force Customs. Not only that, but Cody Connelly, also from Orange County fame, has joined forces with Vinnie in the creation of their own custom bike operation. The company is currently working on its shop in New York, but plans to introduce its first bike at Daytona Beach for Bike Week 2008. February 29th is coming up pretty quickly, so we should be getting some more information soon enough. After touring for a year, the dynamic duo will be giving the bike to one lucky customer.
If you're interested in knowing more, the company has set up a web forum, and it appears that both Vinnie and Cody occasionally make it there to communicate with fans directly. Considering that Vinnie was one of the best things about OCC, we are pretty sure he'll do alright for himself and look forward to seeing his first solo effort in Daytona. For a very grainy and low-quality preview of what they are working on, check out our gallery below.
[Source: V-Force Customs]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Playdrv4me @ Feb 11th 2008 3:07PM
Good thing he left, I didn't even know the stupid show was still on.
AutoXN @ Feb 11th 2008 3:09PM
They were the only actual talent on the show. Good for them. Down with OCC.
Nick @ Feb 11th 2008 3:14PM
Wow, OCCs rating must be in the toilet. Vinny was the only person I liked on that show. Its good to see he got away from that blowhard and his Lazy ass son.
I will give them props on there Charity though...
tankd0g @ Feb 11th 2008 3:25PM
Things must be going a lot faster without big daddy blow hard and the dueling lard asses making a 7 day build take 30.
sw @ Feb 11th 2008 3:25PM
Looks like the cream is on it's way to the top
MCS05 @ Feb 11th 2008 3:35PM
I sure would like to know how much $ those cats made while on the OCC show. I also wonder if the Teutels (sp) shared the wealth with any other employees. I will assume the parting was not "friendly". There is not a single reference to OCC on the V Force site.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Feb 11th 2008 9:42PM
Seemed to me they had to go pick up Vinnie once when his 1980s Chevy Beretta died, they did so in their brand new HUMMER. Then later they ran the HUMMER into some stuff without caring what happened and then drove it by the huge-ass house dad was building and got it stuck in the lake.
So I'm guessing he wasn't getting a lot of the money the Teutels were.
Sean Flanagan @ Feb 11th 2008 3:47PM
I gathered by comments Vinnie made on his last episode that he wasn't getting compensated the way he felt he should have been. It didn't seem like it was amicable between Vinnie and Paul Sr. Of course, I could be wrong...
Chad @ Feb 11th 2008 3:51PM
Male soap operas
Louis Duran @ Feb 11th 2008 4:12PM
Let's file this one under "Who f**king cares?"
BowserUSC @ Feb 11th 2008 4:13PM
I smell spin-off
Jeremy @ Feb 11th 2008 4:18PM
The day that episode aired I went online and found out this was happening. I appreciate what you're doing Autoblog, but to say that people have been left wondering isn't true. Anyone with 2 minutes and access to google already knew.
I'm sad to see Vinnie leave the show. It was pretty clear that things weren't amicable. I don't think Vinnie got the recognition and presumably the money for his work. The fact that Paul Sr. said "everyone is replaceable" to someone who helped build his empire is crap. This is what happens when you hang out with Donnie Deutsch too much.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Feb 11th 2008 9:47PM
Someone asked in comments on autoblog.com a couple days ago. And then two people said "what, he's gone?" and mentioned the "pop said he was replaceable on air" stuff.
I think all that was enough to lead to autoblog making an article. It is a blog, not CNN. If you find something your readers are interested and can be dug up easily and quickly, you put it on the blog, even if it isn't exactly like breaking The Pentagon Papers in terms of news.
Tagg @ Feb 11th 2008 4:33PM
Paul Sr. is right when he says everyone is replaceable no matter how bad it sounds. You should never let business become personal because it creates a double standard with certain employees and can hurt you when you need to make tough decisions.
Lets face it, we have NO idea what took place between the two on whether or not it was amicable. We see what the show portrays and thats it. Maybe Vinnie was money hungry and made unreasonable demands or maybe he was just burnt out after all the high profile builds, who knows.
kc @ Feb 11th 2008 4:41PM
Vinnie specifically said on Discovery's forum that he was NOT burnt out, but that it was about compensation.
a.sintic @ Feb 11th 2008 4:53PM
If you do some "reading between the lines" of some of the things Vinnie said on his last day, I think it's obvious that with all the success OCC has had and with their new facility almost complete, he wanted a promotion, not just a raise. Of course the raise was part of it but I don't think he wanted to continue to be a builder and just make more money. He was looking for a management position and Sr. wasn't going to give it to him.
I wish him much success, he's obviously got talent and will do fine on his own.
On a side note, I saw him live a couple of weeks ago at the World Of Wheels in Chicago and he was a very friendly, outgoing guy. He also had the longest line of people waiting to see him out of the celebrities in attendance that day.
RLQ @ Feb 11th 2008 5:11PM
Smart movie and they were the only brains in OCC. It kind reminds me Foose leaving Coddington.
kcombs @ Feb 11th 2008 5:25PM
One look at the houses that vinnie got vs the houses that even mikey got, shows how the wealth from the show was distributed.
Level @ Feb 11th 2008 5:37PM
Good for him, I would of done the same thing....OCC used to work out of a POS garage and due to the show they grew to a huge custom built warehouse which they bought the land, How many companies get to enjoy such success..During all this time Vinnie has been in the same position...He made awise choice because he wasnt going to grow as an individual at OCC unless he branched to his own..
brian @ Feb 11th 2008 6:09PM
good move for both of them. I wish their new venture all the best http://www.tagsum.com/news/10251/Vinnie-and-Cody-from-OCC-create-their-own-custom-bike-company