Paul Teutul Jr. debuts his new Coleman grill

WICHITA, July 23, 2009 — Paul Teutul Jr. is having a busy day making the rounds at Coleman and in Wichita today (and will be signing autographs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tonight in Old Town Square).

The "American Chopper" star has customized Coleman's RoadTrip Grill, a portable grill that normally sells for $179. Teutul's version will debut early next year and retail for $199. He incorporated some motorcycle elements, such as a "nifty speedometer thermometer" as well as the logo for his new Paul Jr. Designs company.

There are some distinctly Coleman features he added, too. "The Coleman lantern . . . is such a branded thing, we figured, well, why not use them?" Teutul says of some chrome hooks in the shape of lanterns that he added. But there aren't any obvious motorcycle flames or anything like that. "That is cool sometimes," Teutul says. "I like when the . . . theme is more integrated. "It's easy to put paint on something," he says. That and graphics, he says, are "an easy way out." Teutul says, "The theme is in the bike — not on the bike." Also, he says, not as many people might buy the grills "if you go way over the top."

CEO Sam Solomon says a lot of people have ideas for Coleman products. "People e-mail us, they call us, they stop us in the airport," he says. Teutul and the grill customization were a natural, though, Solomon says. "I knew his fan base and our customer base have a large overlap."

Teutul's work on the grill will be featured in several episodes of "American Chopper," which airs on TLC. "The fun of this is how do you take an American icon and . . . really transform it and make it appeal to a much broader audience?" says Jeff Willard, senior vice president of global marketing and new product development. He says the exposure also is good for the city. "We're going to make Wichita part of the story," Willard says.

Teutul is joining Coleman for future projects as well. "Yeah, we're working on some different things — top secret stuff," he says.

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