# American Hot Rods



## s2kpaul

ANy one been watching ( weekdays 7pm on quest) American hotrods with ~Boyd Coddington. I think its brilliant .:thumb:

The old guy cracks me up !!


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## waxy

Yep, i watched it years ago when it was on the Discovery chanel,but i still watch it most nights on Quest,love watching the fabrication,welding etc,plus the old guy,Roy moaning,swearing shouting:lol:


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## WHIZZER

Yes i watch this sometimes but also like overhaulin and wrecks to riches usa some great cars on these


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## JohnZ3MC

I used to watch Boyd Coddington all the time. Most of his cars were just absolutely gorgeous - Crazyhorse, the Alumitub, Cadzilla, and the most spectacular rendition of a long past european style of elegance, the WhatTheHey. If I remember correctly, the WhatTheHey sold on Barret Jackson for huge dollars a few years ago.
He'd impose huge and impossible deadlines on his staff and usually, they'd pull off absolute miracles for him. 
Sadly, he passed away not too long ago, complications from diabetes if I remember correctly. He was a real icon in the American Hot Rod world.
-John C.


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## steveo3002

looks like a misrible sod to work for

i recon the "deadlines" thing is always set up for tv , cant see people working like that all the time

but yeah worth a watch


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## s2kpaul

Boyds passed away then ?


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## EastUpperGooner

He passed away a few years ago iirc, at least that was what wikipedia said.


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## tur8o

i love this program, always stop at it when channel hoping. also like overhauling too. i read somewhere that boyd and chip originally started out as partners.


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## DE 1981

s2kpaul said:


> Boyds passed away then ?


Yeh died a few years ago and Roy passed away a few years before him, if you think Roys funny wait untill the black guy Lee comes along the two of them were like a married couple

Gav


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## s2kpaul

Seen that lee lol Didnt know it was that old program.


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## steveo3002

mentioned 2005 the other night


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## TH0001

Like Overhaulin, Boyd's show was mostly for TV. Deadlines, problems, ect...

My understanding is Chip used to work for Boyd, then for some reason Boyd was forced to leave his company. Chip was voted to take over.

This is the reason that it used to be 'HotRod's by Boyd' and was changed to Boyd Coddington Hot Rods (or some varation of a name change).

I spoke to a person directly involved in the split up those two, but it is second hand so some information might be wrong. He also stated that Chip really did nothing wrong (but isn't the nice guy you see on TV) and Boyd was a difficult guy to know.

Take it for what it is worth, which isn't much.


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## Crafty

Boyd died in 2007.
He, along with John Buttera revolutionised the hot rod world back in the 80s. They both started to innovate by machining parts out of aluminium for their cars - no-one had really done this before and it made the cars very unique.
He was at one time a maintenance engineer at disneyworld.

He soon became recognised as one of the most influential builders of all time.
Chip did work for Boyd (as have _alot_ of other people, including the west coast choppers guy). Chip designed many of Boyds cars - the boydster series for example.
As I understand it Boyd was (somehow) getting himself into money problems, Chip headed up the design and wheel side of things. Chip was going to bail but Boyd convinced him to stick around, company went bust and chip lost money he'd invested.

Boyd re-started with a different name. Chip started Foose design. At the time all this happened Chip had designed a '34 Ford that was being built at Boyds, Roy actually did some of the initial metalwork on the car. The owner wanted Chip to finish it. The car became known as "Stallion" and won the Don Ridler award (probably the most coveted award in the hot rod world). 








more pics here : http://wallesdator.com/Foose design/Foose design main.htm

It was taking off, a guy from New York called Chuck Svatos got Chip to rework his boydster.. Chip credits this car as a defining moment as the money helped him setup up Foose design.

Since then Chip has won the Ridler award another two times with cars called "the grandmaster" and "impression". I've seen impression up close and flawless doesn't even begin to describe it. He is currently working on another Ridler car, which I guess will be for 2011 at the earliest.

Meanwhile Boyd has started again and opened his shop in La Habra. 99% of what you see on the show is hyped up for the cameras, in the same vein as OCC etc. To me the innovation that Boyd made his name with wasn't there any more - as impressive as the cars were it was just another shop I think. One might say he was trading on his name somewhat (he's not the only one..). 
Roy died of cancer less than a week after his wife died of the same.
Charlie Hutton (the painter) left because he wanted to paint "Impression" for Chip. Didn't end well with Boyd. He's gone back to his hometown in Idaho and set up a paintshop there doing high end work.
Jimmy the young chassis guy went to work for Kugel Komponents (quite a big name in chassis/suspension).
Chad/Bluebear left after rows with Boyd and worked for Jimmy White at Circle City Hot Rods, I understand hes now out of the industry.
Mike Curtis works freelance for the most part, designing wheels and other parts.
I can't remember his name, but in later episodes theres a guy they pick on a bit, he has a car crash at one point ? He was made to look like an idiot by the show but he actually does know what hes doing, works at scandanvanian street rods, just up the road from Chips place.
Dwayne the loud mouth foreman guy apparently had a disagreement with Jo after Boyd died and left, he has set up a shop in Anaheim somewhere with his buddy Bernt (who paints some cars after Charlie leaves).
Dan runs a shop from the unit that was Boyds paintshop called Poorboys hot rods.

Someone mentioned the "Whattheyhey" which was a delahaye lookalike. All the bodywork was done by Marcel Delay and his sons. We visited his shop in 2007 and 2008 - Marcel along with his sons are some of the nicest people you could wish to meet. Marcel is 80, smokes like a trooper, takes a few long holidays to Hawaii every year, but otherwise works full time. It soon became apparent that most things were followed by "having some beer" too ! Born in Belgium and trained as a coachbuilder he moved to the states in the 60s, originally doing crash repair work he soon got asked to make up patch panels by people in the trade. 40 years later he and his sons take flat steel and make a car!

I was in LA in Jan 2007, Boyd was in hospital by that time and not in a good way. A few months later he died. We went back in 2008 and the Boyd shop was gone, just an empty concrete shell, even the red floor in the showroom had been ripped up.

Some pics
2007
Rod shops tour http://www.flickr.com/photos/hotrods/sets/72157603840294563/
Edelbrock factory tour http://www.flickr.com/photos/hotrods/sets/72157603836886364/
Grand National Roadster Show http://www.flickr.com/photos/hotrods/sets/72157603837924545/

2008
GNRS, NHRA museum, A few rod shops http://www.flickr.com/photos/hotrods/sets/72157616042016877/


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## tur8o

very informative, it always interests me what people are upto later on/after leavin boyds. good pics, some gorgeous cars. i love to see cars being made, went a factory tour round morgan earlier this year, amazing to see their perspective on car buidling.


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## po-low

I didn't know that Boyd had passed away! More so that it was a few years ago!

Loved watching the show, but must admit i havent seen it for a while.

I knew there was a bit of history between Chip and Boyd but its good to know a little about what it was all about, and updates on where the people have gone.


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## Neil_S

Visited the shop in May 2008, the first open house after Boyd passed away, the cars were immaculate, lots of photos here...

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=71331&highlight=boyd+coddingtons


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## Mini 360

Seen them all. Some amazing cars but wouldnt have wanted to work for the guy! Grumpy old bugger but shame he is gone now...he was part of the old school hot rodders


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## JohnZ3MC

Good info Crafty,
The thin fellow who was picked on a bit and was involved in a car crash, which explained why his jaw never worked properly, was a relative of Boyd's. I'm thinking his name is Mike. The crash involved speed trials of one of Boy's earlier cars.

The details of the accident and family relationship were explained a bit during the testing time of the Alumitub at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

-John C.


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## steveo3002

JohnZ3MC said:


> Good info Crafty,
> The thin fellow who was picked on a bit and was involved in a car crash, which explained why his jaw never worked properly, was a relative of Boyd's. I'm thinking his name is Mike. The crash involved speed trials of one of Boy's earlier cars.
> 
> The details of the accident and family relationship were explained a bit during the testing time of the Alumitub at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
> 
> -John C.


yeah took me a while to suss that out...i thought he was a bit special needs or something at first , but yeah he got messed up in a bad crash


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## chunkytfg

steveo3002 said:


> yeah took me a while to suss that out...i thought he was a bit special needs or something at first , but yeah he got messed up in a bad crash


The guy you are talking about has appeared on some of the more recent episodes of overhaulin IIRC


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## Mini 360

Yup his names Mike Curtis. Crashed in a car on a saltflat years ago and has a metal plate for a top lip o it cant move. :thumb: he isnt related to Boyd though iirc.


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## Crafty

Mini 360 said:


> Yup his names Mike Curtis. Crashed in a car on a saltflat years ago and has a metal plate for a top lip o it cant move. :thumb: he isnt related to Boyd though iirc.


One of boyds sons was driving IIRC


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