Before Boyd Coddington, hot rods proudly sported raw bolts and rough welds.

Goodguys

Boyd Coddington stars in cable TV's American Hot Rod .

But in the early 1980s, Mr. Coddington thrust himself and his smooth, low Southern California cars on the hot-rod scene, shaking the billion-dollar business and now defining it.

Mr. Coddington, the scowling star of cable television's American Hot Rod, and fellow California builder Chip Foose are raising the profile of hot-rodding so high that it's spilling into the mainstream, industry officials say.

Mr. Coddington has logged 30 up-and-down years in the hot-rod business – including once taking his company public and ending up bankrupt. Mr. Foose, a former Coddington designer, now has his own cable TV show and following, and the two designers are seen as rivals.

"Their stardom and our industry's profile are growing simultaneously," said Peter Mac Gillivray, vice president of marketing and communications at the powerful Specialty Equipment Market Association, which represents the aftermarket parts business.

Because of the attention that Mr. Coddington and Mr. Foose draw to their six-figure hot rods and street machines, a growing number of consumers are buying aftermarket parts such as custom wheels and exhaust systems to personalize their vehicles. Moreover, SEMA says, people are starting to add custom items to new cars and trucks.

"It's really exciting for us because it's a new industry," Mr. Mac Gillivray said. "In the past, a car that got customized was typically second- or third-hand. These days, the trend toward personalization of new cars is growing. We're seeing a lot more consumers being turned on about their cars."

Sales of auto accessories are already huge – $34 billion last year, up 9 percent from 2004. And Mr. Mac Gillivray expects more.

"This represents the single biggest opportunity for us," he said. "It's a new market. This is not repair and replacement. These are things you want, discretionary income."

Goodguys Rod & Custom Association

This car, which resembles a late '40s Ford Woody, was fabricated from scratch on Boyd Coddington's TV show.

'Not in a million years'

For his part, the 62-year-old Mr. Coddington remains mildly surprised about his celebrity status and its impact on the business.

"Not in a million years could I have imagined it," he said recently from his 50,000-square-foot shop in La Habra, Calif., where 22 people work to create some of the cars on American Hot Rod.

The bearded Mr. Coddington, always recognizable in his Hawaiian shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses, worked as a machinist at Disneyland in the early 1970s on the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift.

"I'd come home after my shift, get a few hours' sleep and go work on cars until I had to go to work again," he said.

Mostly, he customized or altered friends' cars. But by the late 1970s, he had opened his first shop and was starting to attract attention.

Mr. Coddington and another builder in that era, John Buttera, used their skills as machinists to fabricate many of their own hot-rod parts, giving their cars a highly finished, professional look.

Most hot-rodders "cut and welded and bolted things together," said Pat Ganahl, a respected hot-rod writer and historian who was editor of The Rodders Journal, Hot Rod and Rod and Custom magazines.

"We wanted them smooth," Mr. Coddington said. "We go from front to back and make sure that nothing [unsightly] catches your eye – no hinges or bumps or things like that."

Gary Meadors, founder and president of Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, recalls the shock of seeing Mr. Coddington's first carefully crafted cars.

"Perfect bodywork, perfect paint, perfect brackets on everything," Mr. Meadors said. "He brought a lot to the party."

'Rolex rodders'

Coddington cars contrasted sharply with the typical rough T-bucket hot rods of the era, ultimately attracting affluent buyers – so-called "Rolex rodders," said Mr. Ganahl, who acknowledges that he doesn't like the gruff, polarizing Mr. Coddington.

"Things got a lot more serious when Boyd came on the scene," he said. "People who had never bought a hot rod and were driving around in Mercedes-Benzes were suddenly buying hot rods."

"He made a huge impact on the street-rod world 20 years ago," added Bobby Mikus, a veteran builder who recently opened a shop in Fort Worth, Texas, called Kustom Classics.

Although many Coddington cars are controversial – hot-rod traditionalists proclaim "Avoid the Boyd" – they changed the hobby, said Tom du Pont, chief executive officer of du Pont Publishing and a longtime car enthusiast.

"He fits the term hot rod –something out of the norm, something that is not politically correct," said Mr. du Pont, whose publications include the du Pont Registry, which lists hundreds of exotic and high-end vehicles for sale.

"This is basically a car shop guy with vision. He has pushed the envelope of design further than anyone in his era."

Fueling growth

Street rods and cars from Mr. Coddington, Mr. Foose and others are so good that a few rank as classics, further fueling the hobby's growth, Mr. du Pont said – which in turn has attracted cable television.

"I'm a boomer, and I've got a couple of sports cars, a couple of classics, a couple of muscle cars," he said. "I've also got two hot rods. Ten years ago, would a guy in his late 50s have two hot rods? Probably not."

Mr. Coddington is known as a private man. In an interview, he is as he seems on television, giving short, sometimes terse answers.

He claims not to think much about his influence on hot-rodding.

"I'll work till I fall over," he says when asked whether he's thought about retiring.

He also believes that some people are getting tired of hot-rodding's "old" cars and will drift back to '60s and '70s vehicles.

"We're doing a '60 Mercury four-door station wagon right now," Mr. Coddington said. "We'll do it top to bottom – frame, engine, transmission, interior, tires and wheels, everything. We'll do it right."

Terry Box is the automotive writer for The Dallas Morning News.