For a man who’s never owned a motorcycle, never driven a motorcycle, and has no discernible interest in motorcycles, Navy Command Counselor Chief Justin Maloney really wants a motorcycle.

And judging by the outpouring of support from Maloney’s fellow chief petty officers (CPOs), they want him to get this motorcycle.

But the aforementioned motorcycle is not just your average chopper. If Maloney has his way, it’s going to be a custom-made hog no doubt brandished with the familiar silver and gold anchors that have come to symbolize the Navy CPO.

However, as Maloney sees it, not just anyone can craft together such a bike. This is a work of art. This is something special that will represent every CPOs, past and present. 

Frankly, it sounds like a job for the boys at Orange County Choppers. “I happened to catch an episode of American Chopper on the Discovery Channel,” said Maloney. 

American Chopper is currently the number one-rated program on the Discovery Channel. It centers on Orange County Chopper’s proprietor, Paul Teutul Sr.’s custom-bike shop and the amazing choppers he crafts along with his son, Paul Jr. 

“It caught my attention because it was an episode about building a jet-themed bike,” said Maloney. “They were building a motorcycle in honor of military pilots and unveiled it on the show while on board the USS Intrepid’s museum.”

Other themes Teutul has built bikes around include, Christmas, the New York Jets, POW/MIAs, and the movie I Robot.

Maloney, who works at Naval Station Everett as Naval Reserve Recruiting Area West’s zone six supervisor, was intrigued by the show.  By the time the hour-long program ended, Maloney had an idea.

“I thought building a custom-made CPO bike would be a neat way to honor the Navy chief petty officer,” he said. “The USS Chief (MCM 14) (a minesweeper stationed out of Ingleside, Texas) is the one thing that really honors us. There’s not really much else going around that specifically addresses the CPO that we can look to as something we created.”

“This just seemed like a nice way to have a piece of art that honors chiefs, past and present. It’s something we can all pitch in and help create.” Said Maloney. 

And by pitch in, Maloney means fork up. A chopper built by Teutul’s crew doesn’t come cheap. The price tag for a custom-made chief petty officer bike could range anywhere between $100,000 to $150,000.

That’s why before Maloney did anything, he sent out email to test the waters with his fellow chiefs.

“Chief Maloney sent out an e-mail to about a half-a-dozen-people,” said NAVSTA Everett Command Master Chief, Eric Emery. “In a few weeks, I was receiving emails from fellow chiefs stationed around the world asking me to check out this great idea,”

“The email was a forwarded copy of a forwarded copy of a forwarded copy and so on.  The email went all around the world and back to me,” said Emery. “At that point, I told him he might be onto something. Not long after that, money started to roll in.”

A separate account was created to ensure the bike money didn’t get confused with the Greater Northwest CPO Association’s general treasury. 

“Right after we decided to go forth with the idea, the guys who run the web

site, http://www.navychief.com, decided to help us out by designing a T-shirt and selling it on their site,” said Maloney. “All profits from the T-shirt sales go directly to the project fund. In fact, most of the money we’ve raised thus far has come from the website’s sales.”

“The shirts are in their third printing. The first printing sold out within a week,” said Emery. “Right now, they’re looking into printing up some ball caps and a ladies tank top.”

But revenue isn’t only coming from the web site. Chief’s messes around the world are also helping to raise money.

“We have about 60 to 70 chiefs messes that are doing fundraisers to raise money for this project,” said Maloney. “We’ve also received donations from several retired chiefs.”

Along with money, ideas were also flooding in from all over the world. Chiefs, near and far, want a say on how this special bike is made.

“Ideas are coming in from Europe, I’m even getting ideas from retired World War II-era chiefs,” smiled Maloney. “We’ve received a lot of feedback about how the bike should be designed and what items it should have on it.”

However with the fundraiser in full swing, Emery says there is still one very important decision to be made.

“The only dilemma we have is what’re we going to do once we have it,” Emery said. “Because the finished product isn’t for Chief Maloney and it isn’t for me. It’s for the Navy.”

“We’re looking into different ideas of what to do with it once we have it,” he said. “We’ve contacted the Blue Angels about taking it on tour; we’ve talked to the recruiting command about having it travel with the Navy NASCAR team; we’ve talked about having it stationed with the USS Constitution; we’ve talked about having it located in the homeport of the USS Chief. There’s a lot of discussion, but nothing has been completely decided by the organization.”

“One of the ideas is having it go on tour for a couple years and then auctioning it off with all proceeds going to a scholarship fund,” said Emery.  “We have a lot of avenues to take but the first thing we need to do is raise the money.”

Regardless of where it ends up, Maloney says he’d like to unveil it next September.

“Our goal is to have the bike completed for a televised unveiling at next year’s chief’s pinning ceremony at the Everett Events Center,” he said.

While he’s confident it can be done, Maloney realizes it will take the collected efforts of chiefs throughout the Navy.

“I don’t think the project will be successful unless we get the participation of all chiefs, active, reserve, and retired,” he said. “That’s kind of the theme. There’s a lot of pride behind this project.”

For more information or to help the cause, contact NCC Justin Maloney at (425) 304-4761 or by email at .