American Outlaw - Jesse James [62]
“Okay, Karessa,” I grumbled. “Just let me get some sleep, how’s about that?”
“How dare you call me that in this home!” she snapped. “You want to sleep? Go sleep on the fucking couch.”
Despite my growing enthusiasm for drinking and carousing, I somehow always managed to be on point for work. Within a short while, I’d become the go-to guy when anything special came up for Perry or Ted in terms of custom design. One day, a customer named Bob Bowder came in to buy some wheels and brakes. He’d been a famous hot-rodder from Southern California in the fifties.
“Hey, I know who you are,” he said with a smile.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been hearing about this long-haired kid who practically lives in the back of Performance Machine nowadays. You’re Jesse James, aren’t you?”
“That’s me,” I admitted, wiping my hands on a grease-stained rag.
“Look,” Bob said. “I don’t want to get you red in the face, but Boyd Coddington’s been asking about you. Did you know that?”
“Nope,” I said, truthfully. Coddington was in the hot rod business; I was a motorcycle guy, not a car freak, so I’d never really taken the time to pay too much attention to his shop.
“I believe he’s interested in getting you to come work for him,” Bob said, casually. “The way I hear it, Boyd’s saying that if you’re half as good as what people have been saying, he wants you on his team.”
“I do bikes,” I said, shrugging.
“Well, don’t you see, that’s just it,” Bob said, lowering his voice to an excited whisper. “Boyd’s been trying to make some custom motorcycle wheels and parts, but he’s not having much luck with it.”
“Ah,” I said, beginning to understand.
“He needs someone who really knows his way around a Harley.” Bob looked at me. “Are you that guy?”
I wasn’t quite sure what to do. The only person I knew to ask was an old fifties greaser named Doyle Gammel, who I’d gotten to be friends with through the shop. He also happened to know my dad from back in the day. Doyle was savvy, but he was also Perry’s best friend, so I knew I was sort of taking a chance by asking him for advice.
“Are you fucking KIDDING me?” Doyle roared. “Boyd Coddington is asking you to come work for him?”
“Yes,” I said. “What should I do?”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to get into that shop?” Doyle’s eyes flashed, and he leaned up so close to me that, for a moment, I was sure he was going to clamp his teeth onto my face. “Boyd’s the best! If you don’t take that job, I’ll fucking kill you!”
With that even-keeled recommendation in mind, I went to Perry the following day and gave him my notice. A week later, I was working for Boyd.
“You’re going to be my wheel guy,” Boyd explained to me. “Understood? You are going to eat, shit, and breathe wheels.”
Boyd was the biggest custom-car wheel manufacturer in California. But he hadn’t been able to tap into the market for bikes yet.
“Motorcycle geeks are finicky,” he explained to me. “Man, if they give me a call, and they get a sense I don’t know what I’m talking about? They’re gone.” He stared at me. “What I need is an expert. Can you build me some bitchin’ wheels, and talk about them to customers?”
I cleared my throat nervously. “I can try, that’s all I can promise.” I motioned to the workers who walked confidently around the shop. “Some pretty intimidating company I have here.”
“Ah, you’ll be fine,” Boyd encouraged me. “You got some hot rod in you.”
The talent Boyd had amassed was truly staggering, though. I couldn’t help but take a tiny step back when I walked in for the first time. Twelve of the most talented dudes on the planet had been assembled together to build custom cars from the ground up. They were the all-stars of the hot rod world: Chip Foose, George Gould, Steven Greninger, Roy Plinkos, from El Paso, Texas—they were simply world-class. Each painter, each upholsterer, each fabricator sat at the very top of his field. And I had been brought there to work with them.
“Hey, everyone,” I said, on my first day on the job. I gave a small wave, then pointed to myself. “I’m Jesse James.”
No one even raised his head. The shop continued