Orange County Choppers Hit SEMA

The SEMA (Special Equipment Market Association) Show in Las Vegas every year is held to recognize the leaders in the automotive aftermarket industry.  This is aimed at the aftermarket for cars and trucks, but in the past few years some motorcycles have found their way into various displays, and this year saw a handful of bikes from Orange County Choppers.

The first two that we came across were the OCC Mobil 1 Bagger and the OCC Airgas bike.  The Airgas bike built in 2006 as part of a deal between OCC and Airgas, as they provided all of the welding equipment for several seasons. Both of these bikes were fairly tame as OCC bikes go.

The most popular of the bikes at the 2008 SEMA Show was the OCC Dodge bike, and unlike the other two, this was more typical of OCC with Dodge related styling cues all over the bike.  The front of the bike offers some of the most obvious indications of this bikes roots, with a Dodge crosshair style grille between the front folks, and on the front fender, the massive Dodge Ram head found on the early Dodge Ram and Ramchargers. 

The engine wears the Hemi badge atop each of the cylinders, and the Dodge Ram logo found on the tailgate of the new Dodge Ram forms the air cleaner.  On the opposite side, the red Dodge emblem is embossed on the belt cover.  Even the wheels are Dodge inspired, wearing the large 5-spoke style found on many new Dodge products.  

The Dodge OCC bike a crowd around much of the time, and perhaps the interest in this bike, along with the others at this years show, will lead to more motorcycle attention in the future.