Boyd's Bash

The weather threatened, but the rain held off and we had a good size crowd for an interesting evening with the "King of Hot Rods," Boyd Coddington.

Boyd and his staff were gracious enough to allow us to tour the hot rod shop and the wheel manufacturing plant with the large CNC machines that make the famous Boyd "billet" wheels. Boyd also showed us his own 456 GT, complete with a custom set of Boyd's wheels on it, of course!

Some of the interesting cars under construction were:

• A Lexus V-8 powered roadster with Ferrari-like pontoon front fenders and an Austin Healey-style rear end (being done as a Concours car)
• Three '32 Ford roadsters, one of which featured a molded slanted windshield frame with an oval rear view mirror molded into it, and another featured a Corvette ZR-1 4-cam motor for power
• A '41 Cadillac coupe being transformed into a wild "pro street" car with a 502 cubic inch Cadillac V-8 for power
• A '51 Mercury custom with a 3/4 inch chopped top that enhanced the lines of the car completely
• Several top shopping projects which feature a tubular steel frame over the cut section which will server as a pattern for the new top to be hammered out from

The quality of the workmanship is excellent, and most of the car parts are made right in the shop, from suspension components to hand formed body panels.

Among those in attendance was Robert Cumberford, the noted columnist for "Automobile" magazine. Many of us confessed to having grown up with hot rodding and still yearn for a "wind in your face" blast down the street in a big-block Chevy-powered roadster!

Boyd Coddington's shop produces state of the art hot rods, and his cars have won many awards for design and showmanship, and each car is really a work of art.

We would like to thank Boyd and Diane Coddington and their staff for hosting a great event!

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