Ford Boyd Coddington Roadster Pick-Up Convertible, Red, for sale in San Juan Capistrano, California, price on application.

1931 Boyd Coddington Ford Roadster Pick-Up

In the Hot Rod world, the phrase “built by Boyd Coddington” captures immediate attention by collectors and admirers.

Boyd, a hands-on builder and designer, turned the Hot Rod and custom car industry on its collective head when he won his first major Hot rod award in 1981. His designs and craftsmanship were a revolutionary approach that quickly became known as “the Boyd Look;” a transformation of vintage bodies that were re-engineered with scratch-built components. It was as sleek as “vintage tin” could be coerced, with hinges hidden, hood sides smoothed bodies and fenders slightly re-arched, all subtle changed, and fitments finessed to the highest degree.

Coddington left his day job as a machinist at Disneyland and never looked back. His shop built more cars for clients and continued winning more awards. After creating a new billet wheel segment for aftermarket wheels, he even hosted his own TV program: American Hot Rodder, featured on The Learning Channel. Young contemporary designers/fabricators Chip Foose and Jesse James got their start working in Boyd’s shop. When Boyd died in 2008 of complications following a surgery, the Hot Rod world mourned.

This Roadster Pick-Up (RPU) was a rare vehicle in 1931. It offered top down motoring with the ability to haul larger items in the pick-up bed. In 2007, White Cap, a construction supply company with more than 200 locations nationwide, commissioned Boyd to build this show vehicle to capture their customers’ work-truck roots, and to send this attention getter On Tour to celebrate all 200 of their locations.

We offer the opportunity to purchase a virtually brand new Boyd Coddington 1931 Roadster Pick-Up, built in the last year of Boyd’s life. This red beauty may be the very last RPU that Boyd built. The build quality is impeccable and pure Boyd, and it was documented on American Hot Rodder. The DVD disc comes with the vehicle. Smooth as smooth can be, the design is “Barb free” - the door hinges do not show, the passenger compartment surround is gracefully shaped, the 3-piece aluminum hood assembly, fabricated by Marcel follows the cowl and grille contours perfectly. The little truck rides on a Boyd-built Pro Chassis 100 inch wheelbase custom frame, with shortened and smoothed frame horns. The pick-up box, shortened to 4 feet, was custom fabricated to shape and scale, and lined in highly polished wood strips. The rear fenders were painstaking “bobbed” to capture the proper effect, with the front fenders and “smoothie” steel running boards contribute to the overall, critically important to the eye, vehicle stance. The 1931 truck body has a welded-in firewall, and a smooth dash with a center inset to accommodate a minimum of gauges. The leather interior, hand-built by Gabe’s, matches the Boyd Red exterior color to offer a flowing visual feel to the overall design of the vehicle.

While this show truck has only 81 miles since the build, care was given to selecting the drive train and suspension. The “motorvation” is from a 400 cubic inch Ram Jet small-block Chevrolet, carefully styled and set in place after being painted to match in Boyd red. There are polished and custom billet aluminum accessories and components, including the vale cover plates. An automatic transmission completes the drive train, shifted by a column-mounted shifter on the tilt steering column.

The all important Boyd Coddington signature logo adorns all of the custom components on the RPU; it can be seen on the steering wheel, the road wheels, the independent rear suspension (IRS) and the disc brake calipers. The one-off road wheels were designed for this Roadster Pick-Up, with the 15 inch fronts wrapped in Goodyear Eagle 19/55/tires, and the 17 inch rears wrapped in similar Goodyear’s of 255/55 size.

After completion, White Cap kept their Roadster Pick-Up busy on a formal nation-wide appearance schedule in more than 110 cities across America in 2007 and 2008, transported in its own 22-foot custom Pac West aluminum dual axle trailer. Mission accomplished, it was sequestered away in storage.

Coddington’s legacy lives on in “the Boyd Look” vehicles built two decades. His legend and recognition factor is extended far beyond automotive circles. These limited number, one-off rolling sculptures continue to be in high demand by knowing collectors, with each vehicle setting new selling price records for hot rods and custom cars the few times one actually becomes available.

Do not miss this rare opportunity to acquire a virtually brand-new custom Hot Rod built by the iconic Boyd Coddington, along with its accompanying trailer.