Boyd Coddington’s The French Connection. Photo by author.
Boyd Coddington may well have been the man who brought hot-rodding into the living rooms of Middle America, via his successful TLC television series American Hot Rod. Before his untimely 2008 death, Coddington was growing ever more determined to take the hobby in a new, coachbuilt direction, and next January his final creation, a 1938 Lincoln known as The French Connection, heads to auction in Scottsdale.
Remaining photos courtesy Barrett-Jackson.
If The French Connection conjures visions of the cars of Emil Delahaye, specifically the 1939 Type 165 and the 1949 Type 175S, the resemblance is purely intentional. Like Delahaye, Coddington was inspired to push design boundaries, and his son Boyd, Jr. credits the Lincoln Zephyr-inspired Led Zephyr for turning his father’s eye toward streamlining, and later, European design influences. Coddington’s Delahaye-inspired WhattheHaye followed, and this set the stage for The French Connection, built for longtime customer and family friend Rocky Walker.
Though it’s listed by Barrett-Jackson as a 1938 Lincoln, The French Connection is really a custom build from the ground up, starting with a chassis from Art Morrison. The body was handcrafted of steel and aluminum by Marcel and Sons, while the interior required two complete cow hides and 15 ostrich skins to dress out. The wheels, hidden behind fully skirted fenders, are a one-off creation by Boyd Coddington, and even the colors should be familiar to those acquainted with Coddington’s work, as the red is “Boyd Red” and the black is “Boyd Black.”
There’s no Lincoln V-12 beneath the expansive hood, either. Rather than going a traditional route for the engine, Coddington acquired a 12.8-liter (781-cu.in.) aluminum V-12 from Italian marine engine supplier BPM, then crafted a fuel-injection system designed to resemble a sextet of dual-throat Weber carburetors. Though the precise output to the car’s Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission (and later, nine-inch Ford differential) isn’t specified, manufacturer BPM states that its 60-degree V-12 can be tuned to produce up to 820 horsepower.
According to Boyd Jr., WhattheHaye and The French Connection were his father’s initial steps towards taking hot rodding to the “next level,” with a focus on larger and full-fendered cars. The French Connection was reportedly completed by the shop while Coddington was hospitalized, just prior to his February 27, 2008 death, and Boyd Jr. recalls that the pictures of the finished car brought a rare smile to his dad’s face. It is, according to Boyd, Jr., the last fully hand-formed metal-body hot rod to leave Boyd Coddington’s Garage, and the car will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Jo Coddington, Boyd’s widow.
The world will never know what might have been had Boyd Coddington lived a longer life, but The French Connection seems a fitting tribute to a life spent creating four-wheeled automotive art. Titled as a 2015 Special Construction, The French Connection will be offered at no reserve as part of Barrett-Jackson’s upcoming Scottsdale, Arizona, sale, slated to take place from January 23-31, 2016.
For more information, visit Barrett-Jackson.com.
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