Jason McCudden, the builder of this military Stinger Softail hails from Buffalo, the second largest city in New York. He stayed when most of his high school pals hit it to Charlotte, NC, where the jobs headed.

"I can run into more friends in the Charlotte Sports Bar than I can in a local pub," Jason said.

Buffalo lost most of its steel industry as America turned on the blue collar world, shut down Republic and Bethlehem Steel and began to buy industrial supplies overseas. The city on eastern shores of Lake Erie and the mouth of the Niagara River, just 10 minutes from Niagara Falls and a stone’s throw from the Canadian border, started to dry up.

"This place was the eighth largest city in the country in 1900," Jason said, and he ain't giving up on it.

He rode snowmobiles, jumped BMX bikes in the woods and peeled through the streets on three wheelers as a kid. Then he fell in love with a '59 Impala and almost killed himself on a Suzuki Katana sport bike,

"I'll never ride one of those bastards again," Jason said, and he built a chopper from parts and pieces.

He took machinist training and grabbed a regular job, but when the industry dried up, he returned to welding school and worked in a hot rod shop, a couple of Hog shops, and finally he said, "Why work for someone else when I can do it myself."

His shop, South Side Customs, kicked off three years ago, and although the economy hasn't backed his play, he's making it, sorta like Buffalo. He started building products and working on bikes, then building customs like this one for the Branson, Missouri, Military Biker Build-Off against the likes of Darwin Holdsworth of Brass Balls Bobbers. Now he's calling this his Stinger base model and selling choppers for $17,000. He plans to build an even dozen this year. By next year, he wants to develop new models and expand his shop to build hot rods.

Buffalo is also growing with new major companies moving in like Geico, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and the Red Cross headquarters.

"It was a rich town once," Jason said. "They're trying to switch it from blue collar to white, but I'm fighting for the blue."

He's working hard at it by developing his own Santee-styled Softail frames. His Stingers are available with this chopper tank, a Mustang tank or a Sportster tank. Bikes are available with any paint scheme you want, black and chrome driveline or chromed out.

"I'm the squirrel in this industry, looking for a nut," Jason said.

His hot rod line will include custom wheels, accessories, air suspensions and complete ground-up builds. He's working hard, like his dad, who was a mechanical engineer and built buildings for Toys-R-Us, Six-Flags, FMC and Marriot. His wife, Charyn, stands right beside him with their two kids, the Lego building maniac son and the artistic daughter.

Blue collar life has a shot at growth in Buffalo. Buffalo has a shot at growth with Indian casinos, the insurance industry and life rolls on. It's all nuts, but the Code of the West dictates that we keep the chopper alive, forever.

Jason is keeping that faith.