LA HABRA, California — Boyd Coddington, the star of the TV show American Hot Rod and a central figure in hot-rod culture, died this morning at age 63. He had been hospitalized in early January after a fall at home and had been recovering. The cause of his death was not immediately announced.
"His mental and physical burners have been on full-bore from Day One," enthuses the Discovery Channel Web site for his TV show. Coddington grew up in rural Idaho and opened his first shop in California during the turbulent late 1960s. He is credited for creating a "new aesthetic" in customization and recognized for his genius in machining billet aluminum.
Boyd's special projects are too many to list, but he is especially noted for the 1980s Cadzzilla, a joint project with Larry Erickson for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. His name became so popular that Dupont paint even came out with a Boyd Red paint color.
Chip Foose and Jesse James went on to their own stardom after working in his shop. Among many honors and awards, Boyd is a seven-time winner of the America's Most Beautiful Roadster prize and a two-time winner of the DaimlerChrysler Design Excellence Award. He is in the halls of fame of SEMA, the National Rod & Custom Museum, the Grand National Roadster Show and the Street Rod Marketing Alliance — not to mention the Route 66 Wall of Fame.
In addition to his hugely popular shop and wheel-fabricating business, he and his wife, Jo, ran the Boyd Coddington Foundation.
02-27-2008, 06:16 PM
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