Hey guys, just thought id break the news. This is a shelby forum, however there is not denying this man's contribution to the hotrod industry. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/02/27/state/n103701S80.DTL Best Regards, Vern
Surprised to see him die so "young" Being of a similar age, I consider that age "young." I visited his shop once with a Cadillac designer who really admired his work. I thought they would talk about cars and I could thereby listen in to two masters but instead they talked about how cool it was that Boyd hired an autistic man to work in the shop (the Cadillac designer's son was also autistic). I knew he was getting back on his feet from one of his business failures and looked forward to new things from Boyd. I will miss him.
As the article says, there has been no cause of death issued....does anyone know of him being sick.....i certainly hadnt heard anything. Best Regards, Vern
If you ever watched that TV show about his shop, there was always some kind of last minute goof up, and a threatening deadline...blah, blah, blah. Some of the help was always a problem (according to the show). The Feds came in a couple of years ago with some Title problems (as in how can a new fiberglass bodied car with new everything have a title from 1932?) It all adds up to a bunch of stress. not good.
That is nothing compared to having the Hot Wife at home and the EX Wife working for you............... I think the show would have been a lot better if they did not try to make it like American Chopper. 63 is way to young for someone as active as he was. I knew of him back in the early 70's but it was not until I saw the Hot Rod Centerfold of the Blue 57 Chevy CeZoom that made me take notice of him. Very cool Car as are many others that he built. David.
One article I read noted he had been in and out of the hospital the last few months, but no illiness was mentioned. As stated, 63 way too young.
I read a news article that said he was diabetic and that his passing was due to complications from a recent surgery, although I'm not sure how diabetes and the surgery would be related. Regardless of the cause, 63 was too young. I'm personally not a fan of the smooth look that he made so popular, but there's no denying the enormous contributions he made to the hobby. My condolences go out to his friends and family.
Friends of mine ate bad Oysters (sp) at a sea food restaurant and both ended up in the Hospital. She was released the next day. He had complications due to Diabeties and died several days later. Diabeties is nothing to mess with. If you have it, keep a close eye on it. David.
I had a friend that died like that, he crashed a car that was on fire but he died because he was diabetic and had two or three other diseases and in the hospital it all caught up with him. I was also worried that Boyd might have worked with dangerous materials earlier--I don't know if he used lead but once i watched a lead master use lead to fill in holes on a car body , unaware that use of lead in bodywork has been banned for years. I also know there's some paint (urethane?) that can kill you if you used it in a closed room, and once saw a letter in Old Cars admonishing them for recommending the use of that paint which has killed several hobbyists who didn't know it was much more dangerous than regular paint.
