West Coast Customs
Automobile repair shop focusing on the customization of vehicles / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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West Coast Customs (abbreviated by the company[9] as WCC) is an automobile repair shop focusing on the customization of vehicles. It was started by co-founders Ryan Friedlinghaus and Quinton Dodson circa 1994.[1][2] According to Friedlinghaus, he began the business with a $5,000 loan from his grandfather,[10] but other sources claim that he raised the seed money for the business while working at his father's liquor store.[1] Owing to the patronage of celebrities such as Shaquille O'Neal and Sean Combs,[1] along with appearances in the reality television programs Pimp My Ride and Street Customs, the company has gained a high degree of notoriety and has become a multimillion-dollar[2] business.
Company type | Private company |
---|---|
Founded | 1994[1] (LA Times), 1997[2] (USA Today), 2000[3] (incorporation) |
Founder | Ryan Friedlinghaus |
Headquarters | Burbank, California, U.S.[lower-alpha 1] |
Key people | Quinton Dodson, Chris G. Cooley, Dana Florence |
Products | Custom cars, branded merchandise,[4][5] franchising,[6] trade school courses[7] |
Revenue | $10 million (2008)[2] |
Number of employees | 40 (2015)[8] |
Website | www |
Besides celebrities, West Coast Customs has also created vehicles for global brands such as Virgin,[10] Nintendo,[11] and Microsoft.[12] It is frequently characterized as one of the best custom car shops in the United States.[13][14][15] However, the company has also at times been accused of missing deadlines,[16][17] using aggressive sales tactics,[17][18] and producing low quality and potentially unsafe customized vehicles.[17][19] Some observers and past employees have also criticized the company's employment practices.[2][20]
It has had some success franchising outside of the United States; it has opened franchises in Dubai,[21] and Shanghai (as Chinese: 西海岸汽车定制).[22][23] Other franchises, however, such as the one in Berlin, closed shortly after opening due to becoming insolvent. With a long history of different locations within the U.S. state of California, its current flagship and largest facility of 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2)[24] is headquartered in Burbank, California.