The Year of the Chopper

Designed and built by Josh Welton in the YOTC.

2009 feels like a lifetime ago.

Bankruptcy was looking more and more like a sure thing for my employer, Chrysler. There were so many rumors about how it would affect the rank and file. Some in the union were telling us we’d all keep our jobs, but maybe in different capacities. Others were saying we should get out while the getting was good. The truth was that the circumstances and events were unprecedented, and nobody knew for certain what the company, the president of the United States, or Congress would do. They most definitely couldn’t say for sure how we’d come out on the other end.

There was a pretty substantial buyout on the table. I was in one of the last apprenticeship groups to come into Chrysler to that point. With the lowest seniority in the plant, and perhaps the company, I decided to take the offer. I really did enjoy my time at Chrysler; I learned a trade and a lot about life working so many 7-day, 84-hour weeks with a great group of guys. But I never saw myself as a lifer, retiring to my cabin up north after 35 years. This was an opportunity.

Brown Dog Welding was a new business. I was a new artist trying to forge a style. There were a couple of local charities, LifeBuilders Detroit and HomeFurever, that meant a lot to me and my wife Darla, and with the healthy, skilled-trade income gone, it became impossible to give as much to these charities. Blogs were gaining in popularity, so we came up with a way to evolve the business on-the-fly while bringing in some money for the two organizations.

Thus, the “Year of the Chopper” (YOTC)was born. I committed to building one motorcycle sculpture a week for a year, from August 2009 to August 2010, with all proceeds going to charity.

It wasn’t a purely altruistic project, if there even is such a thing. It forced me to evolve as a creator, both in approach and design. I didn’t grow up as an artist; it’s something that happened later in life. This project accelerated the learning curve. I had to meet a deadline and come up with new ideas every week.

We learned a lot about how to interact with nonprofits, social media users, and just running a business in general … although not nearly enough. Over the 12-month span 74 bikes were built total (52 for the YOTC project), in addition to the hot rod, robot, boat, and dog sculptures. It seems like a small amount now, but we were able to raise more than $4,000 to split between the two charities.

I most definitely wasn’t ready to be a full-time artist then. A few months before the project ended, I went to work for General Dynamics Land Systems in its prototype shop, a job I still have and enjoy. Juggling life between working for GD, both in the shop and on the road, “my shop,” and writing all at the same time hasn’t always been easy, but much of how I cope with a crazy schedule now was learned in that time.

All images courtesy of Josh Welton, Brown Dog Welding. All 52 bikes in the YOTC collection can be seen at this link: www.flickr.com/photos/browndogwelding/collections/72157623308567689/.

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