Coddington grew up in Rupert, Idaho, reading all the car and hot rod magazines he could, and got his first car (a 1931 Chevrolet truck) at age 13.
He attended machinist trade school and completed a three-year apprenticeship in machining. In 1968, he moved to California building hot rods by day and working as a machinist at Disneyland during the night. He soon became known for building unique hot rods and in 1977 he opened his own shop, Hot Rods by Boyd, in Stanton, California. His first major customer was Vern Luce whose car, a 1933 coupe, won the Al Slonaker Award at the 1981 Oakland Roadster show.
Coddington was known for clean, elegant designs combining old school with what would come to be known as the "Boyd Look".
Some of Coddington's signature innovations were his custom-fabricated alloy wheels, typically machined from a solid aluminum billet, an industry first. Together with John Buttera, Boyd pioneered this "billet" machined look and applied it not only to wheels, but broadly throughout the car.

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