Garage Company Customs of Alabama was still in its infancy when we met founders Larry Pierce and Ashley at the Easyriders V-Twin Expo in 2009, but already the then 33-year-old motorcycle builder had made a name for himself and his business on the pages of leading chopper rags coast to coast. This should come as no surprise to anyone who's met Larry or seen the bikes he builds. When it comes to tailoring stylish, hard-riding motorcycles for customers, this affable southerner has a knack for making silk purses out of sow's ears.

We say "sow's ears" because Larry isn't finnicky about the donor bikes he uses to craft eventual Garage Company customs. Regardless of vintage or pedigree, Larry's bikes are rugged riders with tons of style. We'll be featuring a couple of Larry's more interesting personal machines in the coming weeks.

For now, please take a peek inside the brand-new GarCo shop Larry recently erected on a beautiful piece of wooded acreage next to his sweet Alabama home.

What year did you start your business? 2006

What did you do for a living before you started GarCo? I worked at a couple other bike shops

Who else besides yourself is involved with business at GarCo? Ashley is the HMFIC, and my friend Stewie has been a huge part of everything that's come out of the shop. I couldn't be in business without them. Of course I want to thank all the friends and customers who have supported Garage Company Customs over the years.

The laminated magazine pages that hang all over your shop are testimony to a healthy output of custom bikes over the years. What do you see is your biggest strength as it applies to building desirable custom motorcycles? I believe our strength is that we like building cool bikes. Regardless of their make. Although we prefer American iron, we generally don't discriminate

Do you think your location in Alabama helps or hurts your chances of finding the best donor parts for bike building. Who wouldn't love to be in California and have all the swap meets and vintage bikes and parts at their fingertips? But with that comes a cool shop on every corner. And I kind of enjoy the hunt for cool parts

If you could run your business in any other part of the country, where would you go? Probably SoCal. It's the Mecca for everything chopper and hot rod. Not to mention the perfect weather and all my buddies that live out there.

Do you think the Internet has helped or hurt today's underground chopper scene. Well I think it has definitely helped as far as getting more people into chopper shit. But at the same time the scene's nowhere near as underground as it used to be, and sometimes that's a problem.

You gave me a big dose of southern hospitality at your shop and the Dixie Roundup, and I loved it. Explain your motivation for starting the dirty south's best underground bike event. I always wanted to put on an event that people in the south could call their own. After seeing the success of the Born Free show, we decided to go for it

Well, I think you hit it out of the park. Thanks for inviting us. What other hobbies and interests outside of motorcycles do you enjoy? Mainly eating, and of course Alabama football. Roll Damn Tide!

Follow Larry and Ashley on the GarCo blog.