Dave Brackett
AEE and Street Chopper employee
After I got out of the army in January of 1969, I went back to Southern California and looked up old friends. I had met Tom McMullen in 1962. We worked on hot rods and street raced together, so it was natural to look him up again. I had heard he had a chopper shop in Buena Park, California, so I went to visit him.
When Tom recognized me, he said that I was coming to work for him. Tom showed me around the shop and explained how he got into the chopper business. The business, AEE Choppers, had been going for a little over a year. Tom was always a good salesman, but his ability to sell chopper parts had exceeded his ability to produce them.
I went to work for Tom immediately, and my first attention was on the welding shop. AEE sold lots of sissy bars, but it could not keep up with the demand. There were no fixtures to mass produce parts, so each sissy bar was made one at a time.
While I was fixing the welding shop, Tom and I talked about the structure of the entire business. Tom and his wife, Rose, had started the business in their garage with the help of Jim Clark and neighbor, Robert K. Smith. The business became successful quickly, but it always had a problem delivering product. I also soon realized that most of the profits were being spent on advertising.
We often had meetings to talk about the money being spent for advertising in chopper magazines of the day. A conclusion was reached that AEE should produce its own magazine, sell advertising to others, our advertising would be free, and the stories and technical articles would lean toward AEE products.
Tom had been doing freelance photography and stories for several years for other magazines, so he had knowledge of the industry and had made friends with publishers. Tom had met Tex Smith in 1957. Tex worked for Hot Rod magazine, Petersen Publishing, and later formed his own publishing company. Tom decided to bring Tex onboard to help with the development of a new chopper magazine. Titles for the magazine were discussed, and Street Chopper was chosen.
AEE took a big risk to reduce its advertising with other magazines and rely on its own magazine, especially since Street Chopper would be sold by subscription only. It was difficult to get other magazines to advertise our magazine, but we placed information about the new publication in our 1969 catalog, which was being sent all over the country.
The strategy worked, which was great because I was designing many new products and creating the ability to produce parts more quickly. I was also building the first two AEE bikes to show these new products: "Quickstart," an electric-start Sportster and "Really," a 350 Honda. AEE sold four issues of Street Chopper in 1969 through mail-order only. Tom did the photo work, and Tom, Rose, and I wrote stories and we were utilized in photo sessions. There were many contributors to the magazine in those early years, but for the most part, they were really Tom, Rose, and the gang at AEE.
AEE Choppers created a publishing company in early 1970 to sell Street Chopper nationally on the newsstands. Jim Clark returned to AEE Choppers to help with the newly formed TRM Publications. This year delay of going national was the key to our success. By the time Street Chopper came on the newsstands in 1970, AEE Choppers was ready.
We had moved to a new 10,000 square-foot building. Our employee count had tripled and we could complete orders almost immediately. Our success was increased tenfold by the desire to create our own magazine. Over the next several years, AEE Choppers became the industry leader for chopper parts, unusual choppers, as well as new products and Street Chopper became the authority on all things cool.