About Vinnie -

Today Vinnie may fabricate Orange County Chopper bikes (and enjoy it) but his first love is cars. It's a bit of a surprise; since Vinnie's dad used to sell motorbikes and got his son riding when he was three years old (his first bike had a set of training wheels).

Vinnie's dad owned a repair shop and gas station, where Vinnie started working when he was nine. He got hooked, and by the time he was 15, Vinnie was doing high-performance work on his and all of his friends' cars.

But working on his friend's cars was (and continues to be) all side work; Vinnie's first "real" job started when he was 16, working with his father at his golf course. Nine years later, family businesses being what they are, he decided that he'd rather stop working for his dad and be able to remain friends.

Vinnie left the golf course to be an auto mechanic for a year and a half then embarked on a series of different jobs. He drilled wells for eight months, drove a truck for a year, returned to the garage where he had been a mechanic and also worked for a friend doing custom auto audio/TV installation.

One day Vinnie's dad, who was long-time friends with Paul Sr. from his repair-shop, let Vinnie know that Paulie was looking for a good mechanic. He needed someone he knew and trusted to work with him at Orange County Choppers.

Paul Jr. had been friends with Vinnie from third grade at elementary-school and knew he could do anything to a car or bike (well, short of painting). Interested, Vinnie called Junior and the rest is history. Two weeks after their October 2002 conversation Vinnie was working at OCC.

While at OCC Vinnie mostly did fabrication on the production bikes and fab and assembly on the theme bikes. He enjoys it - although he may be more into mechanics (motors and wiring) than welding, because the bikes are so varied, the work always stays fresh.