Boyd Coddington
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Boyd Coddington (August 28, 1944 – February 27, 2008) was an American
hot rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimized for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and ma ...
designer, the owner of the Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop, and star of ''
American Hot Rod ''American Hot Rod'' is a reality television series that originally aired between 2004 and 2007 on TLC and Discovery Channel. The series followed car designer Boyd Coddington and his crew as they built hot rods and custom vehicles at his wheel ...
'' on
TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...
.


Early life, education and early career

Coddington grew up in
Rupert, Idaho Rupert is the county seat and largest city of Minidoka County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho, Burley Burley micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,082 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
, reading all the car and hot rod magazines he could, and got his first car (a 1931
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...
truck) at age 13. He attended
machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...
trade school and completed a three-year apprenticeship in machining. In 1968, he moved to California building
hot rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimized for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and ma ...
s by day and working as a machinist at
Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
during the night. He soon became known for building unique hot rods and in 1977 he opened his own shop, Hot Rods by Boyd, in
Stanton, California Stanton is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The population was 37,962 at the 2020 United States census. The city was incorporated in 1956 and operates under the council– ...
. His first major customer was Vern Luce whose car, a 1933 coupe, won the Al Slonaker Award at the 1981
Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
Roadster show.


Design innovations

Coddington was known for clean, elegant designs combining old school with what would come to be known as the "Boyd Look". Some of Coddington's signature innovations were his custom-fabricated alloy wheels, typically machined from a solid
aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
billet In European militaries, a billet is a living-quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. In American usage, it refers to a specific personnel position, assignment, or duty station to which a soldier can be assigned. Historically, a billet w ...
, an industry first. Together with
John Buttera John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
,John Buttera obituary in Hot Rod Magazine: "He may very well have been the "father of billet components" in racing and street rodding, as his love of taking a chunk of aluminum and machining it into something uniquely functional were legend." Coddington and Buttera are often jointly credited for the popularity of billet componentry. Boyd pioneered this "billet" machined look and applied it not only to wheels, but broadly throughout the car. In 1988, Coddington founded Boyd's Wheels, Inc. to manufacture and market his custom billet wheels.


CadZZilla

In 1989, ''CadZZilla'', a customized 1949 Cadillac, was commissioned by
ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...
's
Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American rock musician, best known as the guitarist, primary vocalist, and only constant member of ZZ Top. He began his career in Moving Sidewalks, who recorded '' Flash'' (1969) and op ...
, conceived by Jack Chisenhall, and designed by Chisenhall and Larry Erickson. It is acclaimed as one of the great expressions of automotive customization. "The design language of the top, hood, side window openings, and front and rear ends was completely new and different from anything that had gone before it. CadZZilla created a stir and was instantly recognized as one of the all-time great custom cars." Columnist Gray Baskerville called CadZZilla "the most incredible transformation he'd ever witnessed", and in their "History of Hot Rods & Customs" the auto editors of ''Consumer Guide'' praised it as "the first really new type of custom since the heyday of the 1950s".


Artistic legacy

Many of the next generation of customizers started their career with Coddington. Larry Erickson, later the chief designer of the Mustang and Thunderbird for Ford Motor Co., worked with Coddington early on, and specifically credits the CadZZilla collaboration for jump-starting his career. Designer
Chip Foose Douglas Sam "Chip" Foose (born October 13, 1963) is an American automobile designer, artist, and star designer of the car-customization reality television series ''Overhaulin. Life and career Foose began working on automobiles at age seve ...
(''
Overhaulin' ''Overhaulin'' is an American automotive reality television series. The show originally ran for five seasons between 2004 and 2008 on TLC. After a four-year hiatus, sixth season premiered on October 2, 2012 on Velocity and Discovery ( Cablevis ...
'') and fabricator
Jesse James Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, Bank robbery, bank and Train robbery, train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie (Missouri), Little Dixie" area of M ...
(''Motorcycle Mania'') ''In 1992, after an apprenticeship of sorts with the legendary hot-rod builder Boyd Coddington, James started up his own shop.'' both started their careers in his shop. Coddington hosted the Discovery Channel show ''
American Hot Rod ''American Hot Rod'' is a reality television series that originally aired between 2004 and 2007 on TLC and Discovery Channel. The series followed car designer Boyd Coddington and his crew as they built hot rods and custom vehicles at his wheel ...
''. Coddington's creations have won the Grand National Roadster Show's "America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR)" award seven times and the Daimler-Chrysler Design Excellence award twice, and earned him entry into the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame, the SEMA Hall of Fame, the Route 66 Hall of Fame, and the National Rod & Custom Museum Hall of Fame. In 1997, Coddington was inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame.


Later financial trouble

In 1998, financial trouble due to a $465,000 loss from a bankrupt customer led Coddington to re-organize Boyd's Wheels and partner with his eldest son (Boyd Coddington, Jr.). In his later days, he began registering cars that were essentially completely custom fabrications as antique automobiles, avoiding major emissions restrictions and
tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
liabilities. California officials considered this a "
ship of Theseus The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus's Paradox, is a paradox and a common thought experiment about whether an object is the same object after having all of its original components replaced over time, typically one after the other. In Gre ...
" fraud, claiming that so many central elements were replaced, the cars ceased to be the same entity. Coddington was charged with a misdemeanor and pleaded guilty on April 7, 2005.''In 2005, he was accused of fraud by the State of California for titling his custom-fabricated creations as "antique cars" to avoid emissions controls and tax obligations''


Death

Coddington was hospitalized on December 31, 2007. He was discharged shortly after New Year's Eve, but was readmitted a few days later to Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in
Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...
. Doctors performed surgery; despite the prognosis of a complete recovery, Coddington died on February 27, 2008. His publicist stated that Coddington was a long-time diabetic who died from complications that were brought on from a recent surgery for a
perforated colon A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...
along with
sepsis Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...
and kidney complications.latimes.com
Boyd Coddington, 63; custom car designer starred on 'American Hot Rod'
Coddington was buried at
Rose Hills Memorial Park Rose Hills Memorial Park is a cemetery and mortuary located in Whittier, California. It is an affiliate of Service Corporation International (formerly Loewen Group) and is the largest cemetery in North America. Sites ; Mausoleums * Whittie ...
in Whittier, California.


References


External links


''American Hot Rod'' TV series

Boyd Coddington Helps Exhume Buried 1957 Plymouth Belvedere in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Boyd Coddington Virtual Museum
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coddington, Boyd 1944 births 2008 deaths American automotive engineers People from Rupert, Idaho Burials at Rose Hills Memorial Park 20th-century American engineers People from Stanton, California American automobile designers