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Car-Building Legend Boyd Coddington Dies

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
Holy Crap.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Car-building legend Boyd Coddington, whose testosterone-injected cable TV reality show "American Hot Rod" introduced the nation to the West Coast hot rod guru, has died. He was 63.

Coddington died at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in suburban Whittier at 6:20 a.m. Wednesday. His La Habra office spokeswoman Amanda Curry wouldn't disclose the cause of death.

Coddington, who started building cars when he was 13 and once operated a gas station in Utah, set a standard for his workmanship and creativity, with his popular "Cadzilla" creation considered a design masterpiece. The customized car based on a 1950s Cadillac was built for rocker Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,494
9,525
I think I would like his earlier stuff more than his later stuff.

Not a fan of billet sh*t.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
I think I would like his earlier stuff more than his later stuff.

Not a fan of billet sh*t.
:stupid:

Cadzilla is bad ass. I saw it at an IASCA show and there is no picture that does that car justice. One thing I love about his designs was he stayed true to the original lines of the car.



Chezoom:

 

Potroast88

YouTube Boy
Jan 18, 2004
2,834
4
Bomb City
I think I would like his earlier stuff more than his later stuff.

Not a fan of billet sh*t.
Whether you liked him or not, there is no denying the impact he has had on the hot rod scene for many years. He was truly an innovator and a bona-fide car nut. I met him on a couple of occasions and he was very gracious and was always ready to talk cars. His cars were absolutely works of art, billet or not. The custom car scene has lost an icon and he will be greatly missed.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
Whether you liked him or not, there is no denying the impact he has had on the hot rod scene for many years. He was truly an innovator and a bona-fide car nut. I met him on a couple of occasions and he was very gracious and was always ready to talk cars. His cars were absolutely works of art, billet or not. The custom car scene has lost an icon and he will be greatly missed.
Not to mention bringing up guys like Chip Foose and Jesse James as students.
 

Spunger

Git yer dumb questions here
Feb 19, 2003
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Not to mention bringing up guys like Chip Foose and Jesse James as students.
From being associated with a local car show in which we're able to bring Chip & Sam Foose as judges and getting to meet with Chip it must have been a scene to see with Boyd's ideas and Chips creativity. The last I saw of that show people from Boyd's outfit were leaving to go work for Chip (some of the bodyshop guys).

No matter what cars Boyd's shop turned out he would only do the cars the way they should be done. He didn't try chopping everything to pieces or make something that wasn't suppose to be there. He kept the cars clean, but while adding modern era items to them that would make them fun to drive. I think compared to some of the other hot-rod builders and their shops out there his might not be the highest of high end, but it was up there. If you've ever seen the show RIDES that use to be on TLC I think those were the high end of high end.

He'll be missed in the car community.
 

brungeman

I give a shirt
Jan 17, 2006
5,170
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da Burgh
that sucks I liked the banter on the show, and even though a lot of his newer stuff didn't do it for me, I respected the heck out of his accomplishments!

RIP Boyd!
 

DH Diva

Wonderwoman
Jun 12, 2002
1,808
1
Wow - he looked like he was in pretty decent shape during the show. Too bad.
I'll be curious to see what the cause of death was. He had been in and out of the hospital for the last month or so after a fall at his house some time in January. Initially, he was checked out and released, but then was still having discomfort of some sort. He was rushed to emergency surgery late January, but it was never disclosed what the actual problem was. Supposedly he was doing okay after that but looks like there was something major going on.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,931
13,129
Portland, OR
The amount of stress he put on himself didn't help. He had insane deadlines ALWAYS. It wasn't just one or two builds with tight schedules. That amount of stress when you are talking about trying to maintain a level of quality combined with the amount of money involved is crazy.