RIP Boyd Coddington.

February 28, 2008 2:30 AM

RIP Boyd Coddington. American Hot Rod star and wheel maker is doing a big burnout in the sky.
posted by fixedgear (19 comments total)

... o_o

I enjoyed the American Hot Rod even though he sometimes came off as a bit of a pompous ass. He seemed to know what made a good car into a great car.
posted by Gungho at 4:16 AM on February 28, 2008

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posted by winks007 at 4:35 AM on February 28, 2008

I wasn't a huge fan of his hi-tech approach to some of his cars, but he was an innovator and truly a legend among hotrodders. He will be missed.

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posted by jbelshaw at 4:48 AM on February 28, 2008

Unfortunately, Coddington will be best remembered by many people as the asshole that ran that hotrod shop on TV. That was such a bad move on his part.

Still...

*
posted by Thorzdad at 5:11 AM on February 28, 2008

Wow. Never saw that coming (from the article it looks like no one did).

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posted by Ricky_gr10 at 5:13 AM on February 28, 2008

What a dick.
posted by billypilgrim at 6:40 AM on February 28, 2008

Sad. I spent many hours in study hall during the late 80's trying to capture the lines of his vehicles with a bic pen on the cover of my Trapper Keeper. Classics like the CadZZilla and CheZoom really did change the hot rod world back then, at the time they set a level of craftsmanship and near perfection no one had dreamed of. Hopefully he won't be remembered only for the awful show or his dishonest car emissions registrations, but instead for those slick lines he produced and that still haunt the garage of my teenage dreams.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 6:59 AM on February 28, 2008

Regrets and sympathies to his family. He was a very talented builder, but it's worth noting that his business practices made him more than his share of enemies in the SoCal car scene. WYSIWYG.
posted by mosk at 7:17 AM on February 28, 2008

Dude didn't seem too healthy when I saw him on TV now that I think back on it.
posted by so_ at 8:14 AM on February 28, 2008

My god, that Cadzzilla is beautiful.

I only caught the show a couple of times and I guess I just saw him on a good day, or perhaps it was the spin of the editing, but he always seemed like a fairly decent guy who had a few guys among his workforce who really just tried to take the piss out of him.

Great shirts, great cars.

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posted by jackiemcghee at 9:48 AM on February 28, 2008

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` : : . .O='o
posted by mosch at 10:22 AM on February 28, 2008

One of my project cars is sitting on Boyd Coddington wheels. Makes me want to go do a burn-out in his honor.
posted by mosch at 10:25 AM on February 28, 2008

While watching that show I couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't riding the ugly stages of chronic alcoholism. My old man looked and acted just like him about the time things got critical. Fortunately, for my dad, it only cost him his leg...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:56 AM on February 28, 2008

The cars he built were beautiful, but I could only watch one or two episodes of the TV show before I had to stop. He was such an asshole to his employees that it made me constantly cringe. In one episode I think he actually fired a guy for an offhand remark, with no second chances or anything. So yeah, RIP, asshole.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:08 PM on February 28, 2008

Boyd could build, er, design some really nice cars seeing as he probably hadn't turned a wrench in 20 years...but they all started to run together after awhile...if you've seen one of them, you're familiar w/ the styling cues. "Oh look, a really clean, well built hot-rod with a small/big block Chevy...that's never been done before." Still a great hot rodder. Didn't make too many friends over the years...gods know he and Chip Foose didn't get along.
posted by rhythim at 5:36 PM on February 28, 2008

Goes to prove that any asshole can have a nice car, but that doesn't change their basic nature.
IMHO its about how you treat people more than it is what cool stuff you can make them make.
And when you die, people will mark up the price because it was a coddinton or whatever, but in casual conversation they will all still remark at what an asshole you were.

Hows that for a legacy?
posted by isopraxis at 8:53 PM on February 28, 2008

How about everyone do everyone else a favor and refrain from thinking that their vantage point from the Magic Television Eye gave them any insight into anything about Boyd? Thanks.

Locals who dealt with him can proceed.

See ya, hotrodder.
posted by jscott at 12:42 PM on February 29, 2008

I too couldn't stand to watch his show. He came off as egotistical and mean which is sadly not uncommon among hot shot car guys. It was too bad because it would have been nice to sit and drool over the equipment, facilities and human resources he had at his disposal.

jscott writes "How about everyone do everyone else a favor and refrain from thinking that their vantage point from the Magic Television Eye gave them any insight into anything about Boyd? Thanks."

Well one would think Boyd had at least a little control over his show image. Either he was an asshole or he wanted the image he was an asshole. Either way that's going to be how a lot of people remember him.
posted by Mitheral at 11:43 AM on March 1, 2008

You know, I want to agree to, but everything I've read is that in some things Boyd didn't think them through. An old chestnut of my film teacher back in school was he knew a actor getting paid $400k a year to play a vampire on some TV show. The actor quipped to my teacher than $50k of that was for the acting job; the other $350k was all the times people in the streets who believed he was an actual vampire harassed the crap out of him.

I feel like this is just another one of those things where someone signs on and lets the people do their work, takes the paycheck, and just doesn't have a say for what he signed on. But that's the the thing, I just don't know.

I do know what editing can do to someone, though.
posted by jscott at 12:22 PM on March 4, 2008