West Coast Choppers
Photography of Jesse James + West Coast Choppers HQ / Los Angeles by Dirk Behlau
As the muscular, tattooed chief gearhead of the reality TV show Monster Garage, Jesse James chopped and welded a Lincoln Town Car into a custom fire truck and turned a Ford Mustang into a high-speed lawnmower.
Monster Garage ran on The Discovery Channel from 2002-06, and James won fans with his straight-talking, pit-bull-taming, motorcycle-outlaw charisma. James had been fascinated with motorcycles since childhood, and he opened his own shop, West Coast Choppers, in Long Beach, California in 1992.
The company grew into a builder of super-custom bikes with price tags of $100,000 and more. His choppers attracted celebrity customers like Shaquille O'Neal and Kid Rock, which in turn caught the eye of The Discovery Channel, which put him on the air in the 2001 special Motorcycle Mania. When that show was a hit with viewers, the series Monster Garage was born. James married actress Sandra Bullock in 2005.
As the muscular, tattooed chief gearhead of the reality TV show Monster Garage, Jesse James chopped and welded a Lincoln Town Car into a custom fire truck and turned a Ford Mustang into a high-speed lawnmower.
Monster Garage ran on The Discovery Channel from 2002-06, and James won fans with his straight-talking, pit-bull-taming, motorcycle-outlaw charisma. James had been fascinated with motorcycles since childhood, and he opened his own shop, West Coast Choppers, in Long Beach, California in 1992.
The company grew into a builder of super-custom bikes with price tags of $100,000 and more. His choppers attracted celebrity customers like Shaquille O'Neal and Kid Rock, which in turn caught the eye of The Discovery Channel, which put him on the air in the 2001 special Motorcycle Mania. When that show was a hit with viewers, the series Monster Garage was born. James married actress Sandra Bullock in 2005.