Boyd Coddington, 63, King of Hot Rods, Dies

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By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: March 1, 2008
Boyd Coddington, one of the first, and perhaps the best known, of the Southern California hot-rod builders, who turned a backyard hobby of tattooed guys in T-shirts into a boutique industry of high-end car customizers, died Feb. 27 in Whittier, Calif. He was 63 and lived in La Habra Heights, Calif.

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Discovery Channel via Associated Press
Boyd Coddington, renowned among Southern California designers of hot rods and custom cars, starred in the show “American Hot Rod.”
The cause was complications of diabetes, said Brad Fanshaw, a former president of two of Mr. Coddington’s companies.

From 1978 to 1997, Mr. Coddington was the owner of Boyds Wheels and of Hot Rods by Boyd, each located in Stanton, Calif. In 1999, Mr. Coddington reincorporated the businesses into Boyds Hot Rods and Collectibles, in La Habra. He gained wide recognition as the host of a boisterous show (a lot of words had to be bleeped) on the Discovery Channel, “American Hot Rod.”

From plush offices beside body shops that seemed more like pristine studios than garages, Mr. Coddington — usually wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt — presided over crews that bent and welded sheet-metal car bodies into customized hot rods that captured the curves of, perhaps, a ’48 Ford or a ’55 Mercury.

Most of those bodies came from manufacturers who specialized in evoking nostalgia for vintage models. But the choice of details — everything from sleeker shapes for the fins and intricate patterns for the grille to the cushiest seats — would be to the taste of Mr. Coddington’s affluent customers. Lifted from a large crate, an engine supplied by one of the nation’s major car companies would be refitted and slipped into place — perhaps a 350-horse hemi with a four-barrel carb and a supercharger, able to race from zero to 60 in six seconds.

Of course, with flawless finishes of, say, flaming stripes or candy-flake graphics, most of those hot rods would rarely hit the road and certainly not a drag strip. Mr. Coddington’s cars were not for the kid on the block. In 2005, a Boydster II, which looked like a 1932 Ford roadster, sold at auction for $68,000, and his Whatthehaye, modeled after a Delahaye, a classic French car from the 1930s, sold for $500,000.

“They were hot rods for grown-ups, expensive and beautifully finished,” Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, said Thursday. “He stayed true to the old-time aesthetic while crossing over to the custom realm and had a unique way of blending the two.”

Boyd Leon Coddington was born in Rupert, Idaho, on Aug. 28, 1944, the son of Harold and Lorna Sparrow Coddington. His father was a dairy farmer and later, after the family moved to Salt Lake City, the owner of a landscaping company.

Mr. Coddington’s first marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife of 11 years, the former Jo Clausen; a sister, Klis Ruesch of Las Vegas; five sons, Boyd Jr., of Kansas City, Mo.; Gregory, of Santa Ana, Calif.; Christopher, of Whittier; Thomas, of La Habra Heights; and Robert, of Perris, Calif.; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Mr. Coddington was 13 when he started building cars. He graduated from a technical trade school in Salt Lake City and later owned a gas station. He moved to California in the 1950s and later worked as a machinist at Disneyland while tinkering with cars in his garage at night.

Eventually, his tinkering earned him two Daimler-Chrysler Design Excellence awards and induction into the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame and the National Rod & Custom Museum Hall of Fame.

Mr. Coddington was also a mentor to several other hot-rod notables. For most of the 1990s, his chief engineer was Chip Foose, who is now host of his own cable show, “Overhaulin’,” on TLC.

“He gave us the opportunities," Mr. Foose said Thursday. “He was the hub of this industry and all of us were the spokes."

[CRider]

Saw this the other day on Foxnews I think it was. Real bummer, the man was a genius with cars.

[Cycleman]

Death sucks.

[BlackKnight-cr]

Loss of an artist really sucks