Dave Perewitz painted bikes when most riders were just a gleam in their pappy’s eye. He taught Arlen Ness how to tie his shoes, Ron Finch how to kiss a girl and Mondo how to weld. Dave Perewitz is the emperor of the Hamsters, the man, who in a drunken rage, forced his wife to draw Hamsters on paper plates and pin them to 13 Hotel room doors in 1974, in a gin joint hotel in Daytona.
As the story has it, Dave was beat flat by some gangster outlaws and needed back up, so he forced his wife, the lovely Susie Cream Cheese, to launch the Hamsters. The next morning 13 bikers, including Berry Cooney, Arlen Ness, Arlen Fatland and Donnie Smith woke up completely hungover with the dread Hamster logo tattooed on their chests. “Back my shit, brothers,” Dave screamed from the hotel courtyard. They were all too hungover to care for anything except a frosty Bloody Mary. Hence the Hamsters were formed and Dave survived. He continued to build bikes, paint bikes for the high and mighty, like myself, and create parts from his shop in Brockton, Mass.
Let me shift gears, for a second, from the absurd to the heartfelt. Dave is the self proclaimed President of the 275-strong organization, called Hamsters, the anti-club. It was made up of friends who were hardworking members of the custom bike industry. Most started working on bikes in their garages. If they have any wealth today, it’s because they struggled through nearly 40 years of the Harley Custom industry and now realize some success.
Dave’s an example of a man who never lost track of his dream, to build and paint bikes whether it made him a dime or not. This decade he’s doing all right, probably because his two daughters and son run his new shop. Yep, Dave’s had a family all these years while being a biker and they’re still all together, and now they all work in the industry. It’s a fuckin’ miracle.
Okay, so Dave scrapped enough coin together to open his dream shop near his home. Get this. His shop is located in the epicenter of two major warring clubs, so he was visited by one group, then the other and finally the cops. They wanted to know what the hell was going on from both camps. Even Hamsters can’t be snitches, so mum was the word. Dave was forced to go it alone, negotiating with both factions for a successful annual party.
This was the second since the shop opened and orchestrated by his daughter Jody. Hamsters and builders from all over the country flew in including one of the original Hamsters, Bob Clark. Bob arrived early and made sure most of the shots included his old mug. That wasn’t enough, he hit on Dave’s wife Susie. I was impressed with the colorful array of bikes in the lot.
That’s what Dave the Perewitz name represents to this industry, color. His bikes don’t hide behind the common black. They dance along the highways glistening in wild hues, glittering metal flakes and iridescent pearls. He worked with John Kosmoski, the master behind House of Kolor custom paints, when John was still mastering glitter mixed with candies.
You might not agree with Dave’s attack on the eye, but you can’t deny his style. Neither can the Discovery channel. He’s currently being filmed for a Discovery Channel build-off that will end in Sturgis for voting. You can bet his bike will shimmer all across the country from Massachusetts to the South Dakota Badlands and Jesse Jurren’s Rock ‘n’ Roll campsites.
So let’s shift gears once more and cover some of the aspects of the second annual grand opening. “Connie Cohan The female drag racer, showed off her bike,” Jody Perewitz said, “My father painted her bike.”
Music rocked the location by the Dan Lawson band. They’re from Cape Cod, but they play at all the local bike events. They are secluded to play Sturgis, at the buffalo chip, with Lynard Skynard. They are a great band.
Bear Air was here with artist Steve Leahy handling tattoos. He tattooed everyone from young to old.
”We had a number of vendors including Kryptonite locks, Lucas Oil, Racing America, Brockton Cycle Center,” Jody said, “and Full Throttle was here.”Kryptonite gave away a flamed Perewitz trash can!!
The local VFW catered the event.There was tons of raffle prizes and free swag for Perewitz, Lucas Oil, PPG, and others.
We had about 2,500 people here on Saturday on bikes,” Jody said. “The weather couldn’t have been better! We had at least 15 ground-up Perewitz customs on display. This was the 2nd Annual Open House. We’re already planning next year.”
–Jody Perewitz
Perewitz Cycle Fab
910 Plymouth St
Bridgewater, MA 02324
(508)697-3595
www.perewitz.com
