AEE Choppers

[takehikes]

Im an ex-employee of AEE and am interested in any pictures or stories anyone might have of our golden years back in the day.

I also might be able to help idientify any suspected AEE parts. I was the guy that pulled every part that went out the door for a couple years. I had to know most of the stuff on sight. Now my memory ain't what it once was but I'd be willing to help out.


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[glorydays]

welcome! I have an old contour devil seat. Those were the best seats ever from this period...

-Junior

[takehikes]

All of our seats at AEE were made by Dons Trim Shop in Downey. He also did our owners famous 32 Ford upholstery and all of the seats on our bikes. For the time they were pretty darn good quality.

[45chop]

Hi there,
I've been trying to get the answer on these forks. I'm going to have to fab a top tree and fit a new stem. I was wondering how the stem fitted the bottom yolk bolt/weld ? What shape was the top tree ? Any pics ? I can post better pics if needed. Ignore the forks on the left, some English early 80's crap.

Thanks.

[Angelking]

Originally Posted by takehikes

All of our seats at AEE were made by Dons Trim Shop in Downey. He also did our owners famous 32 Ford upholstery and all of the seats on our bikes. For the time they were pretty darn good quality.

Are there any stories you could share? I have always been fascinated with the AEE story. I collected all their catalogs when I was a young teenager. At that time AEE was the chopper world to the masses. I had always wondered what happened to Tom McMullen and then read a couple of years ago he was killed in a plane crash. I even have the accident report on my blog. Whatever happened to Rose McMullen? From what I have gathered, she was not the wife who was killed along with Tom in the plane.

Here is a link to my blog post on his death.
http://evylchopper.blogspot.com/2009...-mcmullen.html



AK

[scraper]

there was a pretty decent article about the AEE history in the anniversary edition of street chopper magazine that came out a few months ago.

[Sled]

When I was a youngster I sent for an AEE stingray bicycle brochure. They offered parts to make your Stingray into a cool ride. Does anyone remember that?

[JGH]

Here's a link to the online version of the Street Chopper article:
http://www.streetchopperweb.com/feat...ory/index.html

[Horst Heiler]

This AEE story came from "PolarBear":
http://choppers.motime.com/

[takehikes]

Jeff and the guys at Street Chopper did a great job of telling the AEE/Street Chopper/ Tom McMullen story. I was just an employee but working there was pretty wild most of the time. We got the job done but it was with a certain flair. Take two volitile owners, lots of money, choppers and our clientele and it got interesting. Here is a nugget for you....Lenny that worked the front counter always wore a 38 in a shoulder holster, there was a sawed off shotgun on the wall behind the cash box and in the cash box was a 9mm. Tom was pretty adamant that if anyone was going to get to his cash it would be him! We made a lot of the parts in house and designed most of them in house but some things were farmed out. Dave Brackett was the designer and engineer for a heck of a lot of it, Tom was the ringmaster more than anything esle. One of my best memories was I brought in the 1963 issue of Hot Rod that had Tom on the cover with his famous 32 roadster. I had aquired it accidentally as a kid and one day realized itwas him and the car on the cover. He and I sat for about an hour in the back of the warehouse on a couple king and queen seats and he told me all about the car and his times with it. Lenny worked for Rose after AEE folded it's tent for a while but he has indicated he does not know what eventually came of her.
Jeff and Grant at Street Chopper have been instrumental in helping the chopper world not forget AEE and for that I am eternally grateful. I'll try to post more stories as time allows.

[takehikes]

That picture is Lenny at the parts counter at the location on Via Burton in Anaheim. AEE had moved there from Buena Park and eventually we moved to Placentia. Lenny's blog has an interesting story of how he came to work there and he mentions me in his story about dropping the 38 special on the ground between us one day....it was not funny!

[brianwjessop]

I've been doing alot of reading up on AEE, the history and of course the bitchin bikes and parts. From what i have been reading it sounds as tho they were quite a large company and sold alot of their product "back in the day" my question is this. Why is it so hard to find any AEE stuff these days?? i realize the outrageous prices are a reflection of this rarity, but there really isn't much out there. Were they alot smaller company than i realize, or is everyone just hoarding all their AEE parts, cuz they are so dam fine???

[lilbill]

by todays standards none of the companies back then sold very much product and aee was pretty pricey stuff at the time anyway. the chopper movement (and buyer pool) were WAY smaller than what you see today. most people (especially outside california) drooled and fantisied over the chrome magazine bikes and ads and then went and made their own parts or did without. plus the classic long bikes went out of fashion for many years and were even ridiculed and junked during the billit craze of the 80s and 90s. frankly i'm a little amazed that so much stuff HAS survived.

[do.cal]

....

["LOUIE"]

Great pics and history.

http://aeechoppers.blogspot.com/

[takehikes]

We did sell a lot back then, we had 4 buildings at one point, one the main parts warehouse, one a bulk parts warehouse, another the production/welding/fab shop and the last had prototype area and Street Chopper magazine in it. We shipped all over the world and sold a hell of a lot over the counter. Reality is compared to now it was a small amounts of parts. My best guess is we actually sold more via mail than over the counter. We had a dealer network that distributed around the country. We had a high concentration in the Northeast. My best ugess is time (hey guys its been 40 years!) and style changes and not that many parts in the first place makes our stuff scarce.
Also just when we needed to change our business model and style and type of parts Tom and Rose were battling it out in a divorce. Tom moved back to hot rods and Rose soldiered on but without some of the driving forces behind AEE like Tom and Dave Brackett and others the spark was gone........
That said I'm looking for AEE parts. I am trying to collect some. I have the aeechoppers/blogspot and am putting up the aee choppers web site soon and would like to show some of the parts as they are today. So if you have any parts that you coudl send pictures of that you own I'd love to have them. Or you could sell them to me!

[KreepaZoid]

found these and had to share...

[takehikes]

Might want to check out my blog about aEE

http://aeechoppers.blogspot.com/

pictures and stories and more coming....even a picture or two of me back in the day.



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[GottaGoJoe]

Is this a AEE seat? i can't find any markings on it.

[Larry T]

Originally Posted by GottaGoJoe

Is this a AEE seat? i can't find any markings on it.

I don't think so, looks more like a Cheetah. But I'd have to look and see.
I'm pretty sure this is an AEE, at least it was at one time. LOL
Larry T