VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Coddington Did It Again!

American Hot Rod started a new episode last night and "Boyd Baby" is up to his old tricks again. For their new "destruction" project Boyd drove a really great original 1961 Chevrolet Impala "Bubble Top" into the shop. Once there, and to show his contempt for original cars, he put the car in neutral and ran the engine at full throttle until the torque converter disintegrated and tranny fluid was all over the floor under the car.

Next, the "boys" removed the body from the chassis and discarded the complete chassis, including the engine. The chassis was very clean and it was in super nice condition by the way. Then the body was stripped of all of its pride and then sent to the chemical plant to have the body acid dipped.

As part of this destruction process a new, "one-off" prototype frame was delivered to the shop. Once the body was returned from the stripper everyone was amazed as to how nice the body was.....and they all agreed that the floor pan in this car was the best that they have seen in years. Then the dudes set the body on the new frame....and, as usual, Boyd and his boys did not do their homework......the body wouldn't fit!

Since the body would not fit the "one-off" prototype frame it was determined that a lot of modifications, both to the new frame and to the body would have to be made...including cutting the complete pristine floor pan out of the car!! Duane, the head moron, made the comment that they probably should have saved and used the old chassis so that they wouldn't have to destroy the nice original floor pan. DUH!!

Anyone have any doubts what a T.V. producer will do to get a slice of the limelight for themselves!

I prefer to see Matt Dillon, Chester, and Miss Kitty taking the bad guys to task in Dodge......
not to mention Sherrif Taylor, Barney and Obie over in Mayberry RFD!

...and my favorite Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners!

JYD
You must have nothing to do if you can watch boyd only to whinge about what he does. And I thought the English were bad.
Tony

Biker build off, Orange count choppers, Coddington, Foose are all phony shows designed to pull the best numbers of veiwers. No working stiff would put up with the BS these guys spew at their employees. I watch the weather channel instead.

Tonyw: I have way more to do in a day than you can imagine....maybe even more than you do. Because of my daily schedule, I only watch TV about two hours a day and that is in the late evening. Now.....with over 160 channels available, it is amazing that there is usually nothing on to watch except for idiot shows like American Hot Rod. Unfortunately, that is the only show worth watching on Monday nights in the time frame that I have available for TV.

glyn: "No working stiff would put up with the BS these guys spew at their employees."

Unfortunately, that statement is not totally correct. In the real working corporate world many employees have to put up with the crap their employers dish out. Only in a fantasy working environment would there be total bliss between the employer and the employee. However, watching the weather channel as you suggest does have merit....but it would be extremely boring.

You are right, American Hot Rod is a phony show....but it is a shame the number of really nice original cars they destroy in the process of being "phony".

:( :( :(

yeah, like scratching...and taking a nap...and sniffing around the yard...and taking a nap...and re-marking your territory...and taking a nap...and eating...and taking a nap...and gnawing at a few fleas...and taking a nap...and chasing the postal carrier...and taking a nap...


epi

ARF! ARF! Sniff, scratch, Bow Wow! humans anyway...Arf! Arf!

I'm with you Mr. Mack, give me Mayberry over the morons who destroy nice old iron anytime!

From 35 years in the radio and TV biz, I can tell you folks are watching American Hot Rod. Regardless of what program, when folks don't watch (listen), there's minimal ratings and advertisers don't buy "time" and shows get cancelled.

The Coddington show also proves, once again, that some folks have more money than brains.

Of course, it also proves that not all folks think alike. Which also proves that it would indeed be a boring world if the only available flavor of ice cream was vanilla.

Bill.

I see Boyd is now dyeing his beard, maybe he needs a total rebuild like he does to the cars?

Maybe he's a cousin of Frankenstein, except Frankenstein was much nicer, i mean, at least he started with the dead & brought them to life. Boyd has to kill his victim first but he only kills the victim if it's in perfect physical condition. Maybe he should go back to rolling his own bodies or start with tupperware containers like Downs or Old Chicago

JYD your comment is only partially correct, the employees mentioned apparently have skills that would be welcomed in any shop any where, so my assumptions is that the blarney coming from Coddington is put out there for ratings and not actual fact. If I have a skill that is needed in the market place I will take it where it is appreciated and not put up with coddington style verbal haranguing

glyn: I have two good friends that have known Coddington personally for years, and they both have said, on more than one occasion, that Coddington is like you see him on the show in real life. True, most of the show is probably a put on, but not as far as Coddington himself goes.....that is the real deal from what they tell me.

As far as skills go....they are great for getting hired onto a job, but if you are working for a major corporation, your skills, knowledge and quality of work soon take second place to quantity and speed.

JYD you and I will have to agree to disagree! But a good discussion any way.

I think both of you (Skippy and Glyn) are right..... each of you some of the time.

(How's that for PC.....)

For instance, some shops, companies, corps, etc. etc. operate on the "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" approach. Just turn out the work. As much of it as possible. Sorta quantity over quality. Etc.

On the other hand, others operate on "quality" of work, craftsmanship, "real service" to/for the customer. Etc.

I'd say the REAL problem is figuring out which is which before you (we / us / the customer) contract (buy) their product or service.

Bill.

Bill
You are right and I have worked in both types.
Tony

This is a good topic with lots of current automotive culture and wide visibility, and I agree, not having seen the first show in this project myself, that if they tore up and scrapped so much pristine original steel, the Coddington crew should be subject to prosecution and judged by the VCCA! (murmur, murmur, Yeah! murmur, murmur...)

That said, much as I love automotive originals and restorations, I think there's room for turning hopeless basket cases into shiny customs and Hot Rods when there is just no way to put it back to original. I love cake, but ice cream is nice too.

Which brings me to another show, on later at night on a different channel, called "Wrecks to Riches" that I find intriguing. Speaking of Frankenstein, these guys take a basket case, usually a '50's to '70's muscle car destined for the crusher, in short hollowing it out of all factory equipment to pouring in some $30-40K (yikes!) worth of high-end Hot Rod aftermarket parts, bells and whistles, and sell it at auction for about $70K when it's done.

On the one hand, it's a shame to the restoration purist that there is basically NO factory equipment on the finished product (or maybe it's better that it makes no pretense to being original), but the result, seeing the classic body painted, rolling and breathing fire again is much preferable to the tragic end that had awaited it before it's rescue.

Boyd's 15 minutes may be running out, he:

---had to sell his wheel shop;

---when from 20+ workers to 6 in his shop;

---looks like he might lose another painter;

---hiring outsider vendors to do wiring now;

---lost another quality employee, Scott;

---likes his new employee Tony, who thought that you had to shake a rattle can until the ball stopped making noise as per Duane joke instructions...and he kept shaking the can for hours. Maybe reading the directions on the can never occurred to him?;

---he looks and walks like a zoombie;

---has his problems with the government too.

I never cared for Dwayne or his overbearing belittlement of his subordinates. I think Boyd's loyalty to Dwayne is dragging the enterprise down. He may be the shop lead who "gets things done" when it's down to the wire (as it always is) but his tone leaves everyone around him miserable and if they're not miserable he sees to it that they are by the end of the episode. His idea of "fun" on the job is always at someone else's expense and usually has a sharp element of cruelty to it. Charlie, Mike and Scott all had pretty good attitudes, but they've been driven off.

Anyone else wonder if (or when) Scott will re-surface in Foose's shop?

Bottom line is that there is one less pristine 1961 stock Impala in this world. Too bad!


Wonder where they put that chassis???

Good question, maybe in the BFI with the motor/tranny?

Boyd is an idiot. there is a classic car dealer here in petaluma, ca who has nothing but outright dislike for boyd. it ****es me off even seeing his stupid face on tv. what a waste of broadcasting time.

*stepping off soapbox*