References and footnotes |
Mark Whitney Mehran (also known as MWM) is an American author, business owner, land speed racer, Hot Rod and Chopper builder and Pinstriper. [1] Born and raised in California, Mehran attended Eaglebrook School and Cate School, and graduated from Brown University with an honors degree in English and American Literature.
Mehran has been building traditional hot rods, rat rods and motorcycle choppers at Hot Rod Surf since 1996. [1] He has built many notable cars and bikes such as the “Silver Bullet”, “Blue Dream”, “O.R.M.” chopper and many other featured in books, movies and driving around the south California area.
Mehran started Hot Rod Surf in 1996. [1] Hot Rod Surf started as a Surf Shop in Mission Beach, California. The shop moved locations to Pacific Beach, California. Mark built as many as 3-5 Hot Rods and Choppers per year out of Hot Rod Surf from 1996 to 2008.
In 2006 Mark Mehran started HOT ROD SURF Publishing, a label that distributes books and DVDs. Currently HOT ROD SURF Publishing has published 2 books and 3 DVDs.
Hot Rod Surf Publishing titles:
Mehran writes books surrounding his lifestyle and interests of hot rods, pinstriping and custom culture. [2]
Books:
Mehran writes articles for Hot Rod magazines including:
Mehran joined the San Diego Roadster Club in 2007. [3] He races O.R.M. bike number 1717B a A-PBG Harley Davidson in the 1350cc motorcycle class. At 2007 Bonneville Speed Week Mehran added a turbo to his motorcycle and set the world land speed record for his class on August 13, 2007. [4]
Mehran is an accomplished pinstriper of hot rods, motorcycles and Kustom Culture items. [2]
Surf music is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-heavy electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.
A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in the US state of California in the late 1950s. A chopper employs radically modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames, very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheels. The "sissy bar", a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which are often extended several feet high, is a signature feature on many choppers.
American Chopper is an American reality television series that airs on Discovery Channel, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The series centers on Paul Teutul Sr., and his son Paul Teutul Jr., who manufacture custom chopper-style motorcycles. Orange County Choppers is in Newburgh, New York. The contrasting work and creative styles of the father-and-son team and their resulting verbal arguments were the series' hallmark until 2008 when an explosive argument led to Paul Jr.'s termination and departure to start a competing chopper company, Paul Jr. Designs.
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.
Paul John Teutul is the founder of Orange County Choppers, a manufacturer of custom motorcycles and the focus of the reality television series American Chopper. Teutul first appeared on the show with his sons Paul Teutul Jr. and Michael Teutul. In 2013, his new show Orange County Choppers premiered on CMT.
Indian Larry was a motorcycle builder and artist, stunt rider, and biker. He first became known as Indian Larry in the 1980s when he was riding the streets of New York City on a chopped Indian motorcycle. Respected as an old school chopper builder, Larry sought greater acceptance of choppers being looked upon as an art form. He became interested in hot rods and motorcycles at an early age and was a fan of Von Dutch and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, whom he would later meet in California.
The Raleigh Chopper is a children's / young adults bicycle, a wheelie bike, manufactured and marketed from the 1960s to 2005 by the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham, England. Its unique design became a cultural icon and is fondly remembered by many who grew up in that period. The design was influenced by dragsters, "chopped" motorcycles, beach buggys, and even chariots, as can be seen on the centre page of the 1969 Raleigh US catalogue.The bicycle has featured in many movies and TV series including the Goonies, MK1 models produced from 1967 to 1973, MK2 models produced from 1973 to 1985 and MK3 models produced from 1996 to 2005
Pin striping (pinstriping) is the application of a very thin line of paint or other material called a pin stripe, and is generally used for decoration. Freehand pin stripers use a specialty brush known as a pinstriping brush. Fine lines in textiles are also called pinstripes.
West Coast Choppers (WCC) is a brand that began selling screen-printed T-shirts and stickers with the company's Iron cross/Maltese cross logo while founder and "master marketer" Jesse James was finishing high school, packaging the accoutrements of the chopper lifestyle long before any actual West Coast Choppers customs had been ordered or sold. Even after the company did begin building custom choppers, 60% of revenue still came from sales of WCC-branded marketing tie-ins such as clothing, beverages and tools. Yearly sales of approximately 12–15 motorcycles at prices of around US$150,000 each actually lost money for the company, but attracted positive attention. Publicizing the names of celebrity clients, including Shaquille O'Neal, Kid Rock, Keanu Reeves, Ty Law of the Denver Broncos, wrestling star Bill Goldberg, actor Tyson Beckford, and NFL running back Jamal Anderson, was a central feature of the WCC marketing strategy. The other key to this strategy was the star power of Jesse James, presented mainly through television on the Discovery Channel in the Motorcycle Mania series and the 2002–2006 series Monster Garage.
David Mann was a California graphic artist whose paintings celebrated biker culture, and choppers. Called "the biker world's artist-in-residence," his images are ubiquitous in biker clubhouses and garages, on motorcycle gas tanks, tattoos, and on T-shirts and other memorabilia associated with biker culture. Choppers have been built based on the bikes first imagined in a David Mann painting.
The Wild Angels is a 1966 American outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, The Wild Angels was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture. It inspired the biker film genre that continued into the early 1970s.
Electra Bicycle Company, a subsidiary of Trek Bicycle Company since 2014, was founded in Leucadia, California, in 1993, by Benno Bänziger and Jeano Erforth. Electra offers a wide range of modern cruiser bicycles. Additionally Electra designed and sells comfort bicycles, and hybrid bicycles. Electra also sells a line of accessories, apparel, and bicycle parts.
Roland Sands is an American motorcycle racer and designer of custom high-performance motorcycles. In his career as a professional motorcycle racer, he has won the 1998 AMA 250GP National Champion road racer championship. Sands is a designer of custom performance motorcycles, and owner and founder of Roland Sands Design.
Orange County Choppers bikes are motorcycles featured on the television series American Chopper built by Orange County Choppers (OCC) for a specific corporate or celebrity customer. Theme bikes are motorcycles in which the theme of the motorcycle takes priority over everything else, influencing the frame dimensions, paint scheme, and overall 'feel' of the motorcycle. The function of motorcycle usually takes a backseat to the presentation of the theme, and these motorcycles attract attention solely on the premise of the theme itself. Customer bikes are built for and generally to the specifications of a particular customer. Although the customers typically give OCC creative freedom to do what they will, some clients have a specific idea in mind and expect OCC to reproduce their mental picture literally.
A bobber, originally called a 'bob-job' from the 1930s through 1990s, is a style of custom motorcycle. The typical construction includes stripping excess bodywork from a motorcycle; removing the front fender, and shortening the rear fender, which is "bobbed", and all superfluous parts removed to reduce weight.
Jerry Covington is a custom motorcycle builder and owner of Covingtons Customs.
Edward Dean Jeffries was an American custom car designer and fabricator, as well as stuntman and stunt coordinator for motion pictures and television programs based in Los Angeles, California.
The Honda Fury was the first production chopper from a major motorcycle manufacturer Honda. In a break with tradition, the Fury was the first chopper to have an anti-lock braking system The Fury's styling has been likened to custom-made choppers from Paul Teutul Sr. or Arlen Ness. The Fury has been sold not only in North America, but internationally as well, although in some markets Honda eschewed the Fury name and offered the bike simply by its model ID: VT1300CX.
The Green Leaf is an experimental rock and roll band from San Diego, California, led by Mark Whitney Mehran. It was formed in 1992 and released its first full-length original album, Green Leaf, in 1995. Mehran has composed, arranged and played all of the instruments and vocals on The Green Leaf recordings since 1996. In the 1990s, The Green Leaf toured the independent music club scene for a number of years playing live shows as a traditional three piece rock outfit. In 2007, Mehran teamed up with Harley Davidson of Deadbolt to record original instrumental music for the HOT ROD SURF How To Service Your Hot Rod! movie. The Green Leaf's music is published by HOT ROD SURF Publishing (ASCAP).
Cody Connelly is an American motorcycle builder, best known for his work at Orange County Choppers (OCC), the subject of the American TV show American Chopper. Cody left Orange County Choppers and joined V-Force Customs where he works with friend and former colleague of Orange County Choppers Vincent DiMartino. Cody has since made several appearances on the show American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior alongside Paul Teutul Jr. and DiMartino, helping out at Paul Jr. Designs.