Paul Teutul Sr. Had to Sell His Prized Car Collection to Keep 'Orange County Choppers' In Business

"American Chopper" star Paul Teutul, Sr. was forced to offload his prized auto collection just to keep the doors open at his famous motorcycle shop.

The revelation came about in the reality star's ongoing bankruptcy after a motorsports company claimed they were owed money from Teutul over work done on his Corvette.

JTM Motorsports say they took in Teutul's 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1 for custom improvements, and were promised to be paid in either TV exposure on one of Teutul's shows, or cash.

The car company says they have spent over $30,000 in parts and storage fees after holding on to the vehicle for months, and have not been able to get back in touch with the Orange County Choppers honcho. They wanted his bankruptcy dismissed on the grounds that he did not list them as a creditor when he tallied up who is owed money.

Teutul just responded to their claim, and says he never agreed to pay a dime on custom work from JTM, and had only bartered TV time. In fact, the star says he was so financially strapped that he had to sell off 17 vehicles from his personal collection "in order to subsidize business operations" at OC Choppers.

He says the selling of his prized possessions should show that he would never have agreed to pay for any custom work done at that time. He also says he is ready and willing to feature JTM on one of his TV shows, which may be back on the table with the reboot of "American Chopper."

As we reported, Teutul filed for bankruptcy earlier this year with $1,801,729 in assets, and liabilities totaling $1,070,893.44.

He's also been in jeopardy of losing his mansion, and claims the bankruptcy filing is a way of restructuring his debt.