Bing, I don’t know where the kid is now, but he was a good kid and Coddington treated him like a slave. Coddington would make totally, completely unrealistic promises to clients and work his crew day and night to make the commitment, yelling and screaming at them the whole time. I saw the show when the kid left, and Coddington accused him of disloyalty and made the poor kid feel like crap. It turned my stomach. I would have loved to have been there to “take on” Coddington. Nobody should be treated like he treated the poor kid.
@ok4450; When Chip Foose (a butcher of originals IMO)
That’s for sure!!! maybe he is great at designing wheels, but when you restore a classic, don’t change the body lines, don’t chop the bumper to fit like you’d prefer, don’t turn it into a low rider,
don’t make a 68 roadrunner’s grill look like a Mustangs.
That show just made me ill. Watching them hatchet some classic up like Rozanne butchered the national anthym.
Bring back public linchings!!!
Yosemite
IMHO Chip Foose is too loose with the shaving and slamming; everything gets shaved and everything gets slammed. It’s a taste thing I suppose. But, then, he has a popular TV show and I don’t, so who am I to judge?
Quoting @ok4450 "Regarding that Gas Monkey show, one of the worst episodes was the '59 Rambler wagon rust bucket. "
That was the ONE episode I saw. I didn’t need to see another.
I think public lynchings are too quick. Maybe the William Wallace treatment in Braveheart…
How about that bone stock 65 Corvette that had been a birthday gift for that lady and half of it gone after Foose was through with it. Wheels, suspension, brakes, original 327 scrapped for a 350 crate motor. It just about made me puke and if Foose can do that to a straight original car then I have zero respect for him and don’t care how much money and positive press he gets.
@MG McAnick, that Rambler was something else wasn’t it? Barometric pressure was the only thing holding the rust together.
What I would love to see is some detective doing follow-ups on exactly where those cars are after they’re allegedly sold. My feeling is junked, parted out, or parked in some cubbyhole where they can finish, as James May said on Top Gear the other night, dissolving like a soluble aspirin in water…
Or the early 60s Falcon that was made into a Pikes Peak racer. I saw about 15 minutes of that show and seemed to remember that white paint was being shot over metal with no primer. A look inside after painting and I could see rust in the seams…
A guy has a right to work for or do whatever he wants in his off hours as long as he doesn't steal materials or designs.
Unfortunately that’s not true. Everybody in my company has to sign a letter of non-compete. You are allowed to moonlight as long as it is not in direct competition with our company. If you do…you not only can be dismissed…but also sued. This is very common in the world of engineering.
Coddington would make totally, completely unrealistic promises to clients and work his crew day and night to make the commitment, yelling and screaming at them the whole time.
I use to watch the show…and I too remember when that kid was laid off. I have to believe that these builds with the ridiculous deadlines had to be for show. I sure wouldn’t buy a custom car from someone who admitted to building the vehicle in 3 weeks when it should take 6 months. Too easy to make mistakes and cut corners.
the guy from kounting cars appears to do great work
Just think of it.
You find an old 1959 car just like grandpa had, and you have so many memories of riding with him doing chores, running errands, going to fairs in it, and sitting in the back on a summers night at the outdoor theatre.
You bought it 10 years ago and have struggled to make it just like grandpa’s old car. You got a little done, but never really had the time or money to dive into the project full speed.
Suddenly the doors open and they surprize you with something that looks like grandpa’s car…it’s the same color…kind of…close.
It looks like a low rider, it has 22inch chrome wheels with blue pinstriping & low profile tires, the front bumper that went straight across now looks like someone hooked a chain in the center to pull a car out of the snow, the interior is blue suade with blood red carpet, and there are two huge speakers in the trunk. Oh and the little hula girl doll that it took you four years to track down…just like grandpa had on the dash…the one he brought back from the war… got thrown out.
I’d cry…just after beating Chip Foose with one of the original wheels that he took off my car.
Yosemite
I see that the “money” guy on the show is also on the Dallas car sharks show. He is the face of a local jeep supply store? I am 98% sure he has no money. Xcept what the producers give him.
Dennis Collins is one of the owners of Collins Bros Jeep which handles custom later model wranglers and at least in the past nice original 70’s-80’s Jeeps. They’ve branched out into various collector cars more recently.http://www.collinsbrosjeep.com/
I realized immediately that all “reality” shows have nothing to do with reality. The only reason I enjoy Pawn Stars, Counting Cars, American Restoration, and American Pickers is the interesting historical items that frequently appear.
Mike, he was a machinist not an engineer and the show didn’t say anything about having signed a non-compete agreement. If you sign an agreement, that’s one thing (although they need to be very limited and specific to be enforceable), but employers do not own people, they pay for services.
@Bing - we have the same non-compete clause for our technicians also. I agree with the Boyd Connington case it probably doesn’t apply. But I was commenting on your statement that they have the RIGHT to work where they want as long as they aren’t stealing materials and designs. If you steal customers from a company…they don’t like that either.
I know a guy who worked for Coke and got fired for repairing a friends Coke machine during off hours.
I agree with that as long as the conditions are made up front. Employers sometimes have a habit of interfering too much into personal lives though.
Not mentioned though was the guy that “snitched” on him. Running to Boyd and telling him about the moonlight job. I dunno, the whole thing seemed like an unhealthy atmosphere.
@Bing You don’t suppose the snitch was staged too, do you? It’s also possible that the kid had already quit and was fired due to the script.
Not mentioned though was the guy that "snitched" on him. Running to Boyd and telling him about the moonlight job. I dunno, the whole thing seemed like an unhealthy atmosphere.
I wouldn’t work there. And then Boyd got p*ssed when his painter left. Gee let’s have the ungodly schedules…because everyone just loves them.
I probably get too worked up over these shows. One watches and hopes that something educational and technically entertaining will happen but most of those car shows are the equivalent of that Honey Boo Boo bilge.
On a few occasions my wife has watched bits and asked me if things are really like that in a shop or if a certain procedure is correct. The answer is no and if yes, not usually for long.
Some may remember that Coddington shop foreman Duane who doesn’t know nearly as much as portrayed. Most mechanics I know would adjust Duane’s attitude very quickly; probably about 5 minutes after loading the tool box up …
Some may remember that Coddington shop foreman Duane who doesn't know nearly as much as portrayed.
He went on some other show to build a Coddington memorial vehicle. It was for one build only. He had the same attitude there too. Unfortunately those people exist - and not just in blue collar jobs either.
God must love people like this; he made a bunch of them.