Baddest Bossest Hosses

I first met Eddie about 25 years ago on an L.A. movie set where they were filming “Streets of Fire,” a fairly bizarre retro-futuro Wilhem Dafoe-starring flick about warring street gangs. Eddie had been hired to wrangle the “extras” for the biker sequences as well as gather a bunch of cars including propeller-nosed ’51 Studebaker. Eddie had called in a bunch of his friends from various bike “clubs” who historically had not been all that chummy with each other, but peace held throughout the filming. Eddie went on to direct the special effects for classics like "Gone in 60 Seconds II," aka "Junkman," and built cars for "Grease," Stallone’s "Cobra" and Vin Diesel’s "XXX" among many others.

He also took time out to ride from L.A. to Vegas on a bike without once touching the handlebars with his hands… 268 miles, something for The Guinness Book of Records. He also builds special construction motorcycles for Tinsel Town including several for a new George Clooney flick now in production.

One bike he calls “Chopper One,” built in homage to the U.S. Prez’s official aircraft, but without the wings.

But for his own putting around town chores he climbs aboard his favorite means of transportation, the Boss Hoss. He has a nice trio to choose from. One bike he calls “Chopper One,” built in homage to the U.S. Prez’s official aircraft, but without the wings. While the Boss Hoss comes with enough motor to satisfy any fast-lane cravings, Eddie wanted to up the ante and build the Bossest Hoss for the Boss of the Country, just in case he wanted to ride a motorcycle in the next Presidential parade. Yeah, Bush on a Boss. It could raise his public points standing.

In any case, while the Big Beef bikes are stuffed with 350 Chevy V-8 motors, Eddie put the bike on a diet, trimming 400 lbs. off the hefty bike (400 lbs.? That's an entire bike! –Ed.). Adding to that equation he bolted on a double cheeseburger of stacked twin Weiand superchargers, and as if that wasn’t enough to achieve Earth orbit, he plumbed an additional two-stage nitrous oxide system, all of it fed via a Holley 1050cfm Dominator. Build time: three weeks. Estimated top speed: 300 mph. Test pilots are not needed as Eddie is qualified. In fact, he’s garnered a security clearance from the Department of Defense as he also builds things like Deuterium lasers for the U.S. military.

Which brings us to #2 Boss Hoss, or as Eddie calls it, “Secret Weapon.” But first, some Eddie Paul/Boss Hoss history. Years ago he was going to build a V-8-powered bike but then heard about a small ad in Popular Science. “At that time there was only one in California and I got on it and rode it back to the shop. It was a ride I’ve never forgotten. I was hitting 120 mph in first gear. After first experiencing the Boss Hoss and seeing what a great job they had done I knew there was no reason for me to try to re-invent the wheel.” This bike became the donor bike for the custom “Secret Weapon.” At this time one of the car mags was looking for something with a military look for a San Diego event. The deal was they needed it in five days. "No problem, just trust me on this one," said Eddie.

“I came up with the idea to convert it into the Secret Weapon. It was a gamble. I didn’t know if I was going to be a hero or a laughing stock. We took it down to San Diego and it ended up overshadowing even the cars from “The Fast and Furious” we had built. Everybody loved this bike, from old ladies to kids to the military who actually thought it was a new vehicle they were getting.”

As a result Eddie was recruited to show the “Secret Weapon” throughout the West to a series of shows. Adding to the fun, Eddie says, “I had to take the press on rides on this thing right through the middle of shows, including burn-outs.”

"The windshield was the most difficult component. But it will stop a .44 Magnum..."

The project included fabricating all the body parts from metal, building the rotating replica Gatling guns which are twin 7.62mm electrically-driven rotary-action six-barrel mini-guns (similar to those on Puff the Magic Dragon gunship in ’Nam, or as seen in Schwarzenegger's film "Predator"), converting the fuel supply to the pair of five-gallon Jerry cans attached to the rear and constructing the bullet-proof Lexan windshield.

Yeah, Eddie believes in getting the details real. “The windshield was the most difficult component. But it will stop a .44 Magnum and the panels are angled to create maximum deflection. And as far as the bullets, we hand-machined them from scratch and every fifth one is a tracer. The guns are accurate enough that I got some questions from the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) at the show. And there was the instrument pod for the bike’s missile launchers, again a real component from military surplus. The taillight is off a tank.”

One day, and at the last minute, he was asked to appear at the Hawthorne airport for a show, so he jumped on the bike and blasted onto the 405 Freeway near LAX when a State Trooper pulled up alongside. “The bike didn’t even have plates, not to mention Gatling guns which aren’t California legal. But the Trooper just gave me a thumbs-up and went on his way.”

While he has built the two custom bikes (and did up another for Jay Leno), he basically left his third Boss Hoss relatively stock. “About all I did was enhance the tank logo, add some paint and incorporate a jockey shift. I’ve always liked jockey shifts and, even though it’s automatic, I enjoy it more.”

Eddie’s recently been approached to try his hand with one of the new Boss Hoss trikes and is again thinking going military. We suggested something with rear tank treads and a couple RPGs, something good for clearing L.A. traffic. You can catch more of the wild stuff happening at Eddie’s place by checking out DeadlineTV.net. Last time I looked they were making body parts for Great White Sharks to chomp on for the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week series.

And if you want something really, really bizarre and yet streetable, you can call Eddie at
310-643-8515.