Boyd Coddington

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Boyd Leon Coddington (born 1944)^[1] is the owner of the Boyd Coddington hot rod shop and star of American Hot Rod on the Discovery Channel.

1 Background
2 Trivia
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Background

Coddington grew up in Rupert, Idaho, where he got his first car (a 1931 Chevrolet truck) at age 13.^[2] He attended machinist trade school at Idaho State University and completed a three year apprenticeship in machining. In 1966, he moved to California building hot rods by day and working as a machinist by night. He soon became known for building unique hot rods and in 1977 he opened his own shop, Hot Rods by Boyd, in Cypress, California. His first customer was Vern Luce whose car (a '33 coupe) won the Al Slonaker Award at the 1981 Oakland Roadshow. In 1988, Coddington founded Boyds Wheels Inc to manufacture and market custom automobile alloy wheels made from billet aluminum. In 1997, Coddington (along with his then chief designer Chip Foose) was inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame.^[3] In 1998, Coddington had to re-organize Boyds Wheels as the result of bankruptcy.^[4] On April 7, 2005, Coddington pleaded guilty of perpetrating a "Ship of Theseus" fraud. Coddington had registered completely custom-fabricated, hand-built cars as antique automobiles in order to avoid emissions and tax liabilities. [1]

As of 2006, Coddington has a 50,000 square feet garage located in La Habra, California and has 70 employees.

[edit] Trivia

Episodes of the Discovery Channel TV show American Hot Rod indicate that a fierce rivalry exists between Coddington and his former chief designer and company president Chip Foose.
Coddington's creations have won American Most Beautiful Car seven times.^[2]