VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions He's At It Again!

Well.......our good buddy old Boyd Coddington is at it again! This time he was contracted to build a street rod for SoBe Company which is a beverage outfit. So, our good friend decided that he was going to try to find a 1960 Mercury "Woody" station wagon to destroy. After lots of searching with no results he finally determined that "these station wagons must be very rare". DUH!!!!! He's a car dude and he didn't know that?

At any rate, he finally located a prime example in a car museum in his area. The station wagon was on display in the museum and it was in extremely nice condition! He bought the car for $25,000 (the price alone should tell you how nice it was) and he drove it from the museum to the shop the same day before the owner of the museum changed his mind. Once at the shop, good old "Boyd Baby" did his usual............he smoked the rear white wall tires until they caught on fire and melted, and until the universal joint snapped. His crew then pushed the car into the shop where they started to chop, channel, rake, butcher, lower, cut, screw, glue and tattoo the poor old girl.

Another fine collector car bites the dust thanks to Boyd and his dysfunctional crew!

:cry: :cry:

What a shame...Oscar :cry: :cry: :cry:

Shame on that museum owner for selling it!!!

I agree. The museum owner should have never sold the wagon to Boyd...and the owner of the museum does have a reputation of hardly ever selling anything, but he did sell the wagon in this case. That is a real shame!

:) :grin:

You would think a network would try and do a show about restoring instead of destroying...IMHO.

Now there is another one called "Hard Shine" it is the SoCal speed shop making rods...

Wonder how many people will quit Boyd this season?

Hey Guys, after all it is a TV show, they have you angry and hooked so that you will watch next week. What do you reckon they get for the series about the Merc?

When and where does it get aired? I forgot what Directv channel and day and hour.

The show is being carried by The Learning Channel (TLC) in my area. However, this weeks show was a repeat of last week. I missed the first episode of this butchery but they showed it this week just before the repeat of last week. However, our TV Guide, being less than a stellar publication, had something else listed in that slot so I only caught the last few minutes of the first episode - missed it again!
As for the museum being at fault for selling the car, I agree any old car in half-way decent shape should not be destroyed but sometimes folks need the money. Anyhow, after the sale is made the seller has no control over the item no matter what the buyer said to get it. I would not sell my old car to anyone unless I was 100% sure they would keep it as original. I would even give it to someone I was sure would do that sooner than sell it to an unknown buyer I could not trust to do so. Beamer

The owner of the museum (a very rich dude) knows Boyd Coddington and he knew in advance what was going to happen to the Mercury wagon before he sold it to him. That's the sad part.

Yep, it's tv! these shows are nothing but soap opera with tires. I enjoy watching craftsmen apply their skills but don't care for the all the personal conflicts. American chopper was fun for the first season but the father and son constently in each other's face got old. no way a business can put a quality product with all that friction.....it's tv. and don't get me started on Two Guys Garage

Yep, "it's just a TV show". However, TV or not these collector cars are being destroyed in the process and this is nothing new with Coddington. Before he found his way onto television he was doing more of the same......taking nice original collector cars, and turning them into street rods all for the sake of a buck.

:o :( :(

Easy Guys. Easy.

There's no point in getting the BP all fired up or having a heart attack over a TV show.

Some of "his" cars look pretty good to me. I'll admit most are sorta over the top. But some are pretty nice.

To each his own. Obviously.....

Bill.

Easy? Hey 42bill........are you the mother hen for the group?

No one here is getting their BP worked up at all......we are just having a nice friendly discussion about our favorite "cut-up" Boyd Coddington.

Yes, his cars are nice looking on the surface, but what you don't see is what counts. And, from what guys are saying in the car hobby there are a lot of "things" on those cars that we don't see. However, having said that, his cars do usually bring a lot of money at various car auctions.

:) :grin:

Hey, if all the other "special interest groups" can challenge the big guys, how about us?
Do we as a group along with other pure stock clubs stand a chance to "double dog dare" Boyd and company into restoring a car to stock condition instead of cutting it up?
Let's see if his shop can do it the hard way!

By what I have been reading here on chatter Coddington would not have the sense or ability to do a restoration.
Tony

I'm not going to defend chopping up an original good condition car, but...Boyd's finished products are some of the most stunning rods I've ever seen. In the world of hot rodding his cars are just about the best. I don't think anyone can doubt that. What he does for a living (remember it's a business) can't compare to what we do as a hobby.

My challenge to him is to prove to us "special interest purists" that his shop can produce an all original restoration worthy of National Judging at an AACA (or other; NCRS, VCCA) Sanctioned car show.

That's a season's worth of shows that I would mark on my calendar to watch!

Coddington's cars are extremely nice, no doubt, but he is no longer considered "the best" in the street rod circles. As a matter of fact, some street rodders would not own one of his cars, and his reputation doesn't seem to be all that great among those in the know either. His TV show has done a lot to open the eyes of many car buffs around the country and his reputation with car dudes has gone down hill because of the show. And, from what is stated on the internet, Coddington has been in trouble with the IRS and other authorities more than once due to his business practices and etc.

Reports state that on April 7, 2005, Boyd pleaded guilty of perpetrating fraud. He had apparently registered completely custom-fabricated, hand-built cars as antique automobiles in order to avoid emissions and tax liabilities. Sources also say that he had to sell his custom wheel manufacturing business because of bankruptcy.

:o :(

Maybe he can butcher up a 66 mustang in the Folsom prison garage. :grin: :grin:

I think the problem with all of our TV channels ia due to more than just T.V. The only thing that seems to excites and stimulates a large segment of our population is more and more depravity and violence. We really don't know if the population is becoming more and more violent but that is what is emphasized on the tube that is blinking in almost every home and sports bar in the country. It has even spilled over into our old car hobby. It is no wonder that some of us have been spending more time at the keyboard and monitor instead of watching ABC, NBC,CBS, FOX, and The discovery channel. I still hear criticism of those of us in VCCA that "Spend all of the time on the WWW" But as we improve the quality and content of the site and our growing audience We will attract more Chat members, which ,I believe, will make for more new VCCA members that use the technology to build knowledge of the club and the hobby.

This VCCACHAT.ORG website is a new toolbox for the library and the shop.

Well I didn't give Coddington a lot of credit, but from what JYD said "pore old Boyd" needs every penny he can scrape off of the outhouse floor!

IMHO there is a lot of difference between getting a car out of junkyard that is missing its' driveline and etc. then taking an original running good shape or restored car and making a street rod out of it. Remember the totally rust free '27 model T in great running original condition that he chopped and made into a rod? And it turned out just plain ugly; what a waste.

But like we have said before...'it's the owner's car, so they can do what they want with it'... very sad but true.

PS...Silver lining is that it is a Merc and not a Chevy on the chopping block this time.

Junkyard Dog, where'd you find those reports on Coddington? I wouldn't mind seeing those; it would probably prove my pet theory about that show: The guy who's the real problem is...Boyd.

It isn't the guys who come and go; it isn't really even foul-mouth Dewayne(or whatever his name is, who only keeps his job by saying "Yes, Mr. Coddington" to whatever atrocity Boyd wants to perpetrate; if Boyd said, "Lift the shop building and rotate it 180 degrees, and do it by lunchtime, Dewayne would say "ok Boyd" and then scream and cuss at everyone till somehow, miraculously, it got done).

No, it's Boyd. It's his shop and his ideas, and his way. I gave up on this soap opera with a wrench when I saw them going after a '40 Found On Roads Dead ragtop for the purpose of making one of his "creations" out of it. That thing was pristine, really cherry. I had a '40 Ford Tudor Sedan as my very first antique car; it wasn't a Chevy, but it was a nice car. And that convertible was way too nice for whatever happened to it.

Oh well, it's his stuff. But I don't have to watch it...

The reports about Coddington were on the national news and they were also in magazines and on the Internet. Go to "Google" and type in "Boyd Coddington". You will have to wade through a lot of stuff, but the reports are there.....in detail. For example, AntiqueCar.com had the following:

"On April 7, 2005, Boyd Coddington, famed hot rod designer and star of American Hot Rod, pleaded guilty of perpetrating a "Ship of Theseus" fraud. Coddington's hot rods had been registered as antique automobiles in order to avoid emissions and tax liabilities. However, many of the vehicles no longer contained any parts from the original cars, and some were entirely unrelated to their supposed donor vehicles."

There is more if you surf around on the Internet.

As another point of interest, I have several car dude friends that have known Coddington personally for years. You should hear tell what they say......and they are not kind. Anyway, unknown to most of us not into street rods and customs, apparently Boyd has had a "not so great" reputation in the car circles for years. From what they say, his show is bringing out how things really are.......and those of us in the public are just now learning what the "in crowd" car dudes have known for years.

:( :cry:

Doh! The internet! Who'dve thunkit!

I guess my brain's just draggin'; that's what an obstinate oilpan will do for ya!

Thanks Junkyard Dog!

Yep, the Internet is a great thing. You can find just about anything on there, including some stuff you didn't even want to know!

:) :grin:

Boyd sure has your attention. He gets lots of press in the chat room.