American Hot Rod is a reality television series that originally aired between 2004 and 2008 on The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel. The show documented the crew at Boyd Coddington's car shop and their personal struggles to build hot rods and custom vehicles under extremely tight deadlines. It was made on location at Coddington's car shop in La Habra, California. The series became well known for the constant turnover of crew members due to dismissals, walkouts and firings. Some have attributed this to Boyd's management and Duane's attitude creating a very stressful environment to work in. Some of these ex-employees went to work for Chip Foose, a former partner of Coddington.
Custom built cars built during the series included the "Alumatub", 61 Impala Bubbletop, 63 Chevy Corvette Stingray and a 42 Woodie. In July 2007, the shop made an Elvis Tribute Car, based on a 1957 Cadillac, sponsored by Reese’s.
Boyd Coddington died in February 2008. His shop closed its doors for the final time on Friday June 20, 2008.[1]
Crew members [edit]
- Boyd Coddington: owner, died on February 27, 2008 from complications from recent surgery.
- Jo Coddington: co-owner creator of the collectible store, TV builds, consignment store, hot rod events, licensing, trademarks: now works for Green Planet Group www.greenplanetgroup.com
- Duane Mayer: Projects Supervisor: now runs his own shop, American Hot Rods Inc.[2]
- Dan Sobieski: Fabricator/assembler, now runs Poor Boys Hot Rod in Boyd's former body shop.[3]
- Bernt Karlsson: Body Shop Supervisor. Worked for West Coast Customs in Corona, but is now working at The 401k Club Hot Rod Shop in Anaheim.
- Justin Bergsto: Body Shop worker
- Rafael Garcia: Body Shop worker, now works at American Hot Rods Inc [2]
- Lee Hayes: Metal worker
- Jimmy Pett: Fabricator/Assembler
- Departures (in order of exit)
- Sean Dooley: metal worker, fired by Boyd during the "65 Ford Mustang" build for insubordination to Duane.
- Jimmy "Tig" Krauss: metal worker, also leaves during the "65 Ford Mustang" after multiple bust ups with Chad "Bluebear" Geary.
- Chad "Bluebear" Geary: junior fabricator/assembler, fired for insubordination during the rat rod build-off. Against Boyd's explicit orders, Bluebear insisted on building the car like an old-school hot rod without boxed frame rails. Boyd felt this to be unsafe. Chad insisted on doing it his way, and was fired for it.
- Charley Hutton: Bodyshop supervisor, leaves Boyd's company after deciding to do work for competitor Chip Foose during the 42 Woodie build. Despite offering to return after the work was completed, Boyd said it was a gross breach of trust and told him never to come back. Hutton later appeared on the show Rides, it said he worked for Chip Foose and won a Ridler Award. Later Hutton appeared on Overhaulin'. He subsequently opened his own custom paint shop in Idaho.
- Andrew "Beetle Bailey" Petterson: Bodyshop worker, left at the same time as Hutton and went to work for Chip Foose.
- Al Simon: Chassis builder, quits during the Bud Light build-off though he subsequently returned to the shop. Left again at season 5 during the "59 Corvette" project. Now has his own shop
- Mike Curtis: Machine Shop Supervisor, fired for designing motor cycle wheels for competitor Chip Foose in his free time. Curtis later appeared on Overhaulin'.
- Roy Schmidt: Metal worker, died, aged 64, after a long battle with lung cancer.
- Thomas Loddby: Fabricator/assembler, left to start a shipping business but later returned to work part-time.
- Louie Biegler: metal worker, fired after doing hardly any work during his two weeks of employment.
- Jimmy Hudson: metal/worker, left during Season 4 '44 Woodie.
- Robert Taylor: Fabricator/Designer, now runs Fast Fab in one of Boyd's former buildings. Taylor was also featured on Discovery Channels Motorcycle Mania 3 with Jesse James
- Brad Johnston: Fabricator/assembler, left crying after failing to show up for work on a Saturday during the "61 Impala Bubbletop" build. Accused Duane of bullying and Boyd of never being around the shop.
- Scott Parker: Fabricator/Assembler, left to work for himself but ended up working for Chip Foose.
- Willie Johnstone: Bodyshop painter, returned to New Zealand and opened his own custom paint shop in Tauranga.
- Liz Miles: fabricator left the company, as claimed by the company's statement, after the show's producer set Liz up to work on Jo’s Hot Rod. But according to Miles's biography, she was asked to leave the company because of issues with Boyd's wife, Jo Coddington.[4] Now a freelance writer.
First Season: (2004) [edit]
| Image |
Title |
Original Airdate |
|
"Junkyard Dog Pt 1" |
January 13, 2004 |
| On this episode of American Hot Rod, Boyd Coddington and his crew resurrect a classic '56 Chevy. Rescued from a rust bucket graveyard, but turning this Junkyard Dog into a high end Hot Rod, pushes tensions to breaking point and puts the Coddington crew's mettle to the test. The talents and the tempers, the drama and the drive. |
|
"Junkyard Dog Pt 2" |
January 24, 2004 |
| Episode number 2 of the series finds the team dealing with extensive metal work problems particular to a car brought forth from the junkyard for resurrection into a hot rod. |
|
"Junkyard Dog Pt 3" |
February 6, 2004 |
| The "Junkyard Dog" has taken shape. The body is nearly finished and for once it looks like the team is ahead of schedule. Charlie starts to paint the car but because his Dad becomes ill and passes away he has to leave. The team celebrate Tommy's birthday with a party at Boyd's house. |
|
"Junkyard Dog Pt 4" |
February 13, 2004 |
| The paintwork is finished, the body remounted and the car is off to Gabes to have the interior done. Gabes pulls out all the stops and finish the car early. The car gets back to Boyd's for the final touches and Charlie returns. |
|
"Alumatub" (5 Parts) |
2004 |
| The team build an aluminium hot rod from scratch. |
|
"32 Hi-Boy Roadster" (4 Parts) |
2004 |
| Boyd resurrects a 32 Coupe 'the Coupester' as an educational exercise for the crew. |
Second Season: (2004–’05) [edit]
| Image |
Title |
Original Airdate |
|
"65 Ford Mustang" (3 Parts) |
2004 |
| The team rebuild a classic Mustang 2+2 fastback rescued from a barn. Boyd names it Crazy Horse. It was to be a birthday present for Scotty Gray's wife Nancy. The crew judge a bikini contest at Hooters bar and help with "Paint Your Heart Out, Anaheim". New members of the crew Sean Dooley and Jimy "Tig" Krauss are both dismissed during the build. |
|
"Rat Rod" (4 Parts) |
2004 |
| Bluebear and Boyd compete to build Rat Rods. During the build, Bluebear is dismissed for refusing to follow Boyd's instruction to box the frame rails on safety grounds. |
|
"42 Woodie" (3 Parts) |
2005 |
| The team rebuild a 42 Woodie. Fed up of the tight deadlines, Charley leaves to join Chip Foose. Boyd views this as unforgivable disloyalty. |
|
"63 Chevy Corvette Stingray" (3 Parts) |
2005 |
| Sean Dove asks Boyd to build a Stingray that will serve as a street car, a show car and a race car. With no one to run the body shop, Duane must supervise both shops while Boyd paints the car himself. Lee joins the team as Roy's assistant. |
|
"Bud Light Car" (3 Parts) |
2005 |
| Boyd builds a car for the Budweiser beer company for the launch of the new Bud Light product. He converts a 36 Coupe into a Roadster. Bernt Karlsson joins the crew as manager of the body shop. Al leaves to pursue his own projects. |
|
"Hildebrandt Car" (3 Parts) |
2005 |
| Vern Hildebrandt asks Boyd to restore his 34 Roadster. His father Dennis "the Menace" Hildebrandt originally converted it to a Hot Rod in 1954 and raced it. Mike is given the task of leading the restoration. |
|
"59 Chevy Low Rider" (4 Parts) |
2005 |
| Boyd buys a 1959 Chevrolet Impala Bel Air and helps the crew to transform it into a California-style speedster. Rocky Walker intends to present the "Ghetto Princess" and its matching motorcycle at Camp Pendleton to the US Marines heading for a tour of Iraq. During the build, Mike is found to be moonlighting for Chip Foose and is dismissed. |
Third Season: (2005) [edit]
| Image |
Title |
Original Airdate |
|
"Make-A-Wish Car" (3 Parts) |
2005 |
| Boyd's crew build the “MaxHEMI”, a street rod designed by 17 year old Max Cohen, who is fighting leukaemia. The car is based on a 1963 Dodge Polara shell with a 472 CID Hemi crate motor. During the build, Duane gets a tattoo dedicated to Max. Thomas takes part in a gravity race at Monterey in a soapbox racer built by the crew in their spare time. Thomas leaves to concentrate on his shipping business. After the show, the car was auctioned raising $500,000 from the sale for charity.[5] |
Fourth Season: (2006) [edit]
| Image |
Title |
Original Airdate |
|
"54 Corvette and 55 Chevy" (3 Parts) |
2006 |
| The team struggle to complete not one, but two cars for the annual SEMA show, a 1954 Corvette and a 1955 Chevrolet. On top of that, they have to help Boyd's son Chris to complete a Honda for the same show. Thomas returns to help Boyd as he is short on men. Roy passes away during this build and Boyd dedicates the '54 Corvette to him. |
|
"56 Chevy Convertible" (3 Parts) |
2006 |
| Boyd hires three new employees to work on the car. Tony Piro, a green but eager-to-learn intern, begins to annoy Duane. But "Screwie-Louie" Biegler, the new sheetmetal man, barely does any work in two weeks and gets fired. The work gets done but it's mostly thanks to Gabe at the custom interiors shop. |
|
"61 Impala Bubbletop" (4 Parts) |
2006 |
| Work begins well even though the shop has fewer skilled labor. But Chris Coddington begins using Scott on a truck side project. Then Tony goes off work with a brain contusion after a car accident. Brad stops showing up for work and walks out after a massive bust up with Boyd and Duane. Scott, who is disillusioned with the lack of creativity demanded by the tight deadlines, also decides quit and go freelance. |
|
"40 Ford" (3 Parts) |
2006 |
| The 40 Ford proves to be a tough build as more work is needed than was expected and a lack of employees jeopardise the progress of the car. It's left down to Duane to pull the team together. |
|
"36 Roadster" (3 Parts) |
2006 |
| Description |
|
"44 Woodie" (3 Parts) |
2006 |
| Tony gets moved around the shop as Duane tries to find him work and Jimmy gets increasingly frustrated. Tensions in the shop mount when the list of problems with the build stack up, turning the crew against each other. |
|
"31 Truck" (3 Parts) |
2007 |
| Description |
|
"57 Chevy" (3 Parts) |
2007 |
| A 1957 Chevrolet is turned into a Hot Rod by Boyd and his crew for the 50th anniversary of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Company. The car was sold at the anniversary and all the money was given to charity. |
Fifth Season: (2007) [edit]
| Image |
Title |
Original Airdate |
|
"Hershey" (3 Parts) |
July 2007 |
| Build of a 1957 Cadillac Coupe de Ville as an Elvis tribute car for Reese's |
|
"Sobe" (3 Parts) |
August 2007 |
| Description |
|
"59 Corvette" (3 Parts) |
August 2007 |
| Description |
|
"Bonneville Racer" (3 Parts) |
September 2007 |
| The team works to complete a 1926 Ford Model T project for Boyd's wife, Jo, to race at Bonneville Speed Week. Duane sacks the shop's parts driver for doing other work. |
See also [edit]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
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