American Hot Rod
American Hot Rod is a reality television series that originally aired between 2004 and 2008 on The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel. The unique series documented the crew at Boyd Coddington's car shop and their personal struggles to build hot rods and custom vehicles. It was made on location at Coddington's hot rod and wheel shop in La Habra, California. Many employees went to work for Overhaulin's Chip Foose, a former partner of Coddington, for a more relaxed environment. 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, a modified 1957 pink 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.
Episodes
The Coddington crew travels to St. Louis, Mo., to visit the Anheuser-Busch headquarters in preparation for their newest hot rod. But Bud Light challenges Boyd, choosing the hard-to-find '33 roadster for their build. Unable to find anything but a '36 coupe, the gang is forced to turn it into a roadster, a big metalwork job that falls on the semi-retired Roy and his assistant Lee. And to make matters worse, Al drops the bombshell that he's leaving Boyd Coddington's shop.
Master car builder and mentor Al resigns from the shop, and leaves Boyd and Duane with one less pair of hands to tackle the difficult challenge of turning a '36 coupe into a roadster. With no one in the body shop and a car that's going to require a lot of body work, Duane is forced to find some outside help. As the shop falls further and further behind, Duane's frustration increases, and Boyd and Thomas butt heads over the workday hours.
The garage's new guy, Bernt, feels the pressure as time runs out to finish the hot rod for Bud Light. Tensions run high as everyone scrambles to meet the deadline.
Vern Hildebrandt brings his dad's '34 roadster into Boyd's shop to be restored to the condition it was in back in 1956. The crew is challenged, as they must find parts ranging from 1934 to 1956 to use on the car.
Boyd's and Mike's creative differences on style and paint — Mike prefers to preserve the roadster's authentic style, while Boyd wants to update the look — generate tension as Boyd undermines Mike's authority during the restoration.
As the NHRA opening looms, Boyd and the crew get off track with the completion of Vern Hildebrandt's '34 roadster when the engine builders have a difficult time finding the old parts to finish their work.
Boyd and the crew take on the challenge of rebuilding a 1959 Impala two-door coupe — nicknamed "Ghetto Princess" — and turning it into a classic lowrider with an extra-low stance, wide wheels and a Chevy big block.
The garage continues to add speedster style to the Impala and to build a matching one-off motorcycle also requested by the client.
The pressure to finish the 1959 Impala and matching motorcycle intensifies.
The builds finally complete, Boyd unveils the new masterpieces at Camp Pendleton in Southern California to boost morale among Marines being deployed to Iraq.
Boyd and the guys take on the nonprofit Coddington Foundation's first project: a '63 Dodge Polara designed by Max Cohen, a 17-year-old leukemia patient who will also help build it.
Work continues on the "Max Hemi."
Boyd and his crew complete the hot rod and unveil it at the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Work starts on the ‘36 Ford, but typical last minute changes threaten the project. One member of the team is so frustrated that he storms out.
Work continues on the Ford, staying on schedule is harder than expected. A small side job is taking up too much time.
The first annual Boyd Coddington collector-car auction is getting close and the team races to complete three cars.
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