Southern Metal Choppers opened their doors December 1, 2003 and while this may not seem out of the ordinary these days, cousins Bronson and Jason Willard did it àla Field of Dreams – If you open it they will come. You see, when the key hit the lock that first day they did not have a customer one, just a desire to do what the enjoyed.
Bronson like many of us got the motorcycle bug at an early age while messing with dirt bikes, he then made the natural progression into street bikes. Finally getting his first Harley, it was while living in the Bryan area that he became friends with the folks at K&K Cycle Works and began stopping by after work to hang out, help out if needed and gain knowledge. All the while never even harboring thoughts of opening his-own shop, just a quest for knowledge.
It was during this time that cousin Jason, a heavy equipment mechanic by trade also picked up his first street bike, taking a slightly different route with a Buell. He too had made the riding progression, seeing how both had the benefit of growing up in the country where riding dirt bikes is just a daily way to have fun.
They soon found themselves living in the Austin area; Bronson would work on friend’s bikes in the evenings, till someone asked why didn’t he open his own shop? This seemed like a legitimate question, which he mentioned to his cousin Penny who promptly got out the local paper and proceeded to scan for a suitable location. Hell if your gonna work on bikes all day you ought to do it with someone who will help pass the long hours it takes to get a new shop going. So Bronson recruited Jason to join in this new adventure.
As time went on the shop began to gain a loyal customer base. They drove in new ones by showing up any place where a motorcycle parked with examples of their art! They set up a booth at the 2004 Republic of Texas Rally, which gave them a helluva lot more exposure, unfortunately it has just a few days after the ROT rally that tragedy would make an appearance.
On June 10, while out enjoying the evening with friends and family, Jason’s Buell went down on the highway. Although he held on, Jason regretfully lost his fight two days later. At the time he was attending classes at ACC and was scheduled to begin a motorcycle mechanic classes that fall. Bronson decided to keep the shop going and debuted a new paint or metal creation every Thursday night at bike night gatherings.
So whether you are looking for basic maintenance, or maybe or a shiny new part, personalized with new paint or graphics, Bronson can handle it. Even the Full Blown, “What was I thinking, boy is my wife gonna be mad when she finds out how much I spent on my bike,” total transformation, is right up his alley. Bronson will be more then happy to help you achieve the custom look you desire. And while Southern Metal Choppers can handle all of these needs, they have built a reputation for having some Top-Shelf paintwork, even partnering up with Woods Fun Center, (they sell all the big 4 metric rides) to offer customers the option of having their newly purchased bike, custom painted prior to taking her out for that first ride, through the hill country of central Texas!
Bandit inquired about doing a piece on the “painter,” when I sent him some test images to check out, I had to tell the big guy No Can Do! You see while SMC does offer extreme paint, Bronson can’t seem to hang on to any one spray-jockeys more often than he changes his Under-roos. I do know that Darin and Tommy painted the stuff you see here, other than the current image of the Buell. I guess Bronson lost his crayon since that was all he sent, no last names.
Granted the reason for the continuing changes could be that the cheap fucker won’t buy them a paint mask, but my theory is it probably has more to do with his constant unwanted sexual advances. Whatever the reasons he does seem to attract some very talented people to assist in the growth of SMC, currently Enrique Arellano is the painter and has been putting up with Bronson’s bullshit for over a year now!
Back in 2006 Gibson Guitars choose Nashville, Tennessee along with Austin, Texas to take part in its Guitar Town Project, which featured 10-foot tall fiberglass replicas of Gibson Les Paul guitars. The individual cities then selected local artist to submit design themes based on that city's history, attractions, interests, etc. Once the artists were chosen and given their individual 10-foot guitars the designs were applied to these naked Gibson’s. One of the winning artist Ann Pinion choose Southern Metal Choppers to help bring her submission “Keep Austin Batty” to life!
For those of you who may be unaware the Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin becomes the spring and summer home to some 750,000 Mexican Free-Tailed bats with up to 1.5 million bats taking up temporary residence during the month of August. It's the largest urban bat colony in North America, during these peak times it can take as long as 45 minutes for all the bats to exit from under the bridge each evening in search of grub! It is estimated that the bats consume from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects.
So the artist vision for her big guitar design included several elements the bridge, people on the bridge and of course the bats! While Bronson’s version may differ slightly from the artist’s, there are people on the bridge. If you look closely you might even recognize a few famous TV folks from Arlen, Texas! Of course I’m talking about Hank Hill and his beer-drinking buddies, I wonder if she ever realized how popular her bat watchers are? After being displayed at selected locations around town the guitars were auctioned off with proceeds going to local charities.
You can check out all the winning Austin guitars at the link below:Click Here For Their Website
Southern Metal Choppers recently competed in the 2008 Republic of Texas Chop-Off, bringing home a second place finish with cousin Jason’s totally transformed (what shocks?) Buell. Seems like Rick Fairless of Strokers Dallas fame may have taken a likin' to the Once Upon a Time Buell, stopping by to talk with Bronson about the bike. Bronson later returned to arena area where the bikes were being displayed after a much needed beverage break, (I mean this is Central Texas in June delivering 100-degree days!). He found Rick filming a interview standing in front of the SMC bike! Not bad publicity, now if we could find out who the interview was for…
Can’t tell you too much about the little cutie Brittney you see in these images. This was her first time! She was the only girl in a shop full of horn-dog bikers and was a little shy at the beginning. However once we got a Shiner Bock or two in her and someone gave her the Doctor Evil, Mini Me finger idea everything locked in place! She is such a little hottie and was so easy to work with, but she just disappeared! I am not sure if she even got copies of the pictures?
Southern Metal Choppers is currently located at 11116 Middle Fiskville Suite E Austin, Texas. With shop growth you also need additional help, so Bronson has enlisted the services of a very capable crew of “Now & Then” (much better looking) employees to help keep things running smoothly on the office side. Depending on the time of your visit you may find wife Nicole, along with the Southern Metal Choppers “Counter Cutie” daughter Kailey or his cousin Penny helping out front. So stop by and see what SMC can do for you.
You can check out more SMC creations at www.southernmetalchoppers.com/, Click Here For Their Website Or call (512) 833-5044 just ask for the “Ugly Bald Fucker!”
Till Next Time
–Rigid Frame Richard
