Vincent DiMartino

Vincent DiMartino is most commonly known for his work at Orange County Choppers (OCC), the subject of the American TV show American Chopper from 2002 to 2007. In August 2007 Vinnie left Orange County Choppers and founded V-Force Customs, a custom motorcycle shop in Rock Tavern, NY. Several months later Cody Connelly, a friend and co-worker of Vinnies at Orange County Choppers left to join Vinnie at V-force Customs. Vincent, known as "Vinnie" was born in 1972 to John and Margaret DiMartino. He is the second child of four. Vinnie and his wife Melissa have three girls, Vanessa and twins Isabella and Ava.

History

Vinnie was born in 1972 in upstate New York's Hudson Valley. At the age of 9 Vinnie started hanging around his father's auto repair shop and soon he became a "gearhead". Vinnie loved to fix things and at the age of 14 found himself working for a small engine repair shop. A few years later Vinnie was rebuilding cars and motorcycles and pretty much anything else he could get his hands on. In 2002 Vinnie got a job at Orange County Choppers which was owned by high school friend Paul Teutul Jr.'s father. Although a pilot episode was shot just before he was hired, a month after starting his new job Vinnie learned that The Discovery Channel was turning his workplace into a reality television show. Starting in 2003 Vinnie had a camera crew following him around recording his work day. The show called American Chopperbecame a huge hit and Vinnie became a celebrity.

Career

During his years with Orange County Choppers Vinnie was the main builder on most of the bikes including almost all of the theme bikes that were shown on the TV show. Vinnie's work ethic and talent were obvious to anyone viewing even one episode of the show. Vinnie seemed to always have a solution whenever there was a problem during fabricating or assembly of a bike. Vinnie always seemed to be stuck in the middle of many of the arguments between Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. who were the main focus of American Chopper as well as Vinnie's bosses. Vinnie spent 6 years working for Orange County Choppers before leaving in August 2007.

The Bikes/ The TV Show

Although the Teutuls seem to get all the credit and limelight for their unique bikes, Vinnie played a major role in fabricating and building these bikes. Some of the better known bikes include The Fire Bike, The Liberty Bike, Pow/Mia bike and many more.After two years on the air, the show was a hit and Vinnie developed a huge fan base and became quite famous, Vinnie was enjoying his 'fame" without having to leave the small town where he worked and lived. There were however many road trips which meant time away from his family and Vinnie started thinking about what was really important in life, and that was time with his family. Vinnie then made the difficult decision to leave OCC and venture out on his own.Vinnie enjoyed his time at OCC and while there had the opportunity to travel the world and meet many celebrities. One of the last episodes Vinnie was in focused on him and Mikey Teutul spending a week in Australia.

The Departure from OCC

There has been a lot of discussion and on the internet on the factors that led to Vincent leaving OCC. The official report has been said that Vinnie just decided that it was time to leave and that "no fists were thrown". The American Chopper episode when Vinnie leaves dedicated a little over four minutes on the departure of Vinnie. After Vinnie gave his notice Paul Teutul Sr. was shown saying "everyones replaceable" which he claims was only a fragment of what he actually said. OCC has said that they have no control over the editing of the show and what parts of peoples dialog are left in or out. Regardless of what really happened, Vinnie is happy and building awesome bikes as V-Force Customs moves foward.

V-Force Customs

Soon after leaving OCC, Vinnie started V-Force Customs. The fact that Vinnie had become so well known made many vendors and others get behind V-Force Customs right away. Located in Rock Tavern, NY, V-Force Customs is located in a brand new building designed perfectly for working on and building bikes. V-force customs first build was "V-Force 1" a sharp looking custom that was unveiled in Daytona Beach, Florida. Soon after the success of "V-force 1", V-force got involved with their first commercial build, a custom chopper for the Tampa Bay Storm Arena League Football team. Vinnie and Cody Connelly announced the build from mid field at a Storm game at the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa Fl. The Tampa Bay storm chopper was unveiled at The Storms final game of the season on June 21st 2008. The bike was a huge success and is touring the southeast United States with all proceeds going to the Pinellas County Humane Society and The Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa. Also in June V-Force Customs had its ribbon cutting and Grand Opening in Rock Tavern, NY. Thousands of fans and well wishers turned out to what was a great weekend.

External links

* [http://www.vforcecustoms.com/ V Force Customs]
* [http://www.vforcecustoms.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2/ Autobiography]

Barnetts Magazine