Boyd Coddington dead at 63...RIP

[JPotter57]

Boyd died this morning.  Hate to hear it...too many of our pioneers are leaving us, guys....RIP Boyd..

[wolfpupsdad]

the guy knew how to build hot rods forsure, i've seen several at different shows, but i got to dislike hisTV show. NO onein his right mind would actually have a foreman like dwayne.

[JPotter57]

To be honest, I never watched his show.  I don't watch any reality shows anyway, since there's not much reality involved.  I never much liked the style of stuff he built after the early `80's, but Cadzzilla was super smooth, I loved that car.  I still like his early 32's and stuff better than the later ultra smooth handbuilt stuff....

[Amblewagon]

Thats to bad,I didn't even know or hear that he was sick.I was never a big fan of his work,not crazy about billet and tweed hotrods,I like the more tradional hotrod look,but to each is own.RIP
Joe

[EB338]

I too was unaware he was even sick.  Was this all a sudden thing?  Any relation to the alleged sale of his wheel manufacturing division?  Any word on a cause of death yet? 

  I liked some of his work and a few of his wheels.  I used to watch the show some just to see the cars, then got to where I had to watch it muted to avoid the stupidity, then it seemed more stupidity than cars and I lost interest. 

  Seems the hype got to be out of hand in my honest opinion.  The whole deal where he and his "crew" somehow became the center of the 57 Plymouth unearthing in Tulsa last year just didn't seem to fit for me.  Still a true enthusiast who furthered our hobby/addiction and he will be missed.  I wish all the best for his family.

[JPotter57]

He had fallen back in January, and had been to the hospital.  When he was about to get out, something happened, there were complications, and he had to have surgery.  This was around Feb 13 or so.  I am assuming that his death was associated with that, possible blood clot or something.  I had a gym teacher, had some knee surgery about 6 or 7 years ago, and a blood clot went to his heart and killed him.  He was only in his early 50's when he died...The body is a crazy thing, you know....I will see if I can find the news clip...

[JPotter57]

California car-building legend Boyd Coddington dies at 63
By JEFF WILSON, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

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(02-27) 11:43 PST 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.
"That was a groundbreaking car. Very cool," said d*** Messer, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
"This was your modern era George Barris," Messer said. "He did things to hot rods and customs that weren't being done by anyone else. But the main thing is he designed cars that were drivable."
Coddington was a machinist by trade, working at Disneyland during the day and tinkering with cars in his home garage at night and on weekends. His rolling creations captured the imagination of car-crazy Southern Californians and soon he was building custom cars and making money.
Most often, he customized 1932 Ford "little deuce coupes."
"It was one of those things when a hobby turned into business," Messer said, noting Coddington was also "one of the first guys to get into the custom wheel business."
Wheels by Boyd were fetching $2,000 apiece, which was unheard of two decades ago.
Coddington also surrounded himself with talent. Alumni from his shop include Jesse James and Chip Foose, who went on to open their own shops and star in reality TV shows.
Coddington twice won the Daimler-Chrysler Design Excellence Award and he was inducted into the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame, the National Rod & Custom Museum Hall of Fame and the Route 66 Wall of Fame.
Always dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, Coddington said he loved his "American Hot Rod" Discovery Channel show, which featured ground-up construction of $500,000 hot rods.
"The viewers are ... people who lived in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and loved these cars. Now, they have money," Coddington told The Associated Press in a 2004 interview.