California Dreams - by Tim Caraco
California Dreams - A film by Tim Caraco (Friend of Uppercut Deluxe.)
We first came to know of Tim Caraco and Cohen Arthur through social media. A number of mutual connections and interests meant their pages had popped up in the suggested feed on the Uppercut Deluxe Instagram account. A few taps here, and a thumb scroll there on the iPhone revealed a page upon page of amazing bikes that Cohen (And his late father Lloyd) had built for themselves and their circle of friends.
It wasn't just the bikes that drew us in but also the quality of images, majority of which were shot by Tim who, amongst other jobs, shoots bikes for a living for Dice Magazine. So we proposed a meet and greet over a few beers to find out more about the guys and what they had planned. Fast forward a few weeks and we found ourselves shooting a portion of our Xmas campaign (Launching October 15th) at Cohen's place on the Gold Coast of Australia. A haven for chopper lovers.
An organised system of complete chaos. Bikes, frames, tanks, engines, covered every surface of his two garages, which made for an awesome spot to shoot, But we digress. During the shoot the guys talked excitedly about their upcoming trip to the USA. A trip they’d been wanting to do for years. Which would see them visit LA, up to San Fran, Grimes Valley, Joshua Tree, Salvation Mountain, Mexico and everywhere in between. Cohen had already come to know Uppercut Deluxe Ambassadors Chase and Scotty Stopnik through importing bikes and parts into Australia so we suggested a catch up at the Cycle Zombies Garage to round out their trip and organised for Barber Ambassador Ron Talley to join the guys for some haircuts.
The trip structure would be relatively simple. Bikes were to be flown over to LA a few days ahead of their arrival (This required a stack of paperwork to be completed months in advance to ensure they could be legally ridden in the USA on their Australian Registration). Tim would be put to work - shooting stills, video and flying the drone and Cohen would be joined on two wheels by Kane Rafton, Ben Keevil (All on Panaheads) and friend Yui Nakama was to be behind the wheel of their support vehicle. So when Kane’s 1948 Panhead caught on fire and burnt to the ground just a week before they were due to fly, the boys knew they had a task ahead of them to source a replacement bike in the USA. What Cohen eventually stumbled on was a ‘needle in a hay stock’ kind of find… We’ll let you check out what they uncovered by watching the video but here's a 20 minute snapshot of the good times, the bad, the heat, the bikes and the places the boys encountered on their journey.
Thanks for sharing the ride with us lads.
