Yahoo Autos Boyd Coddington’s Final Creation: The French Connection Roadster
Boyd Coddington may well have been the man that 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.
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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 long time customer and family friend Rocky Walker.
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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 hand-crafted 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.”
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