Exclusive with West Coast Customs' Ryan Friedlinghaus Ahead of Charity Auction

Miami Herald

14-05-2025

West Coast Customs founder Ryan Friedlinghaus has spoken with Autoblog ahead of Saturday's Mecum Auction in Indianapolis, featuring five custom vehicles from his personal collection. The auto shop legend's five lots include a Darth Vader-themed 2012 Volkswagen Passat, a NASCAR-inspired 2022 Toyota Camry, a Star Trek Discovery 2018 Polaris Slingshot, a Dukes of Hazzard-themed 2006 Dodge Charger, and a 1997 Toyota 4Runner featured on the cover of Minitruckin' magazine in 1997. The proceeds from each lot will benefit the West Coast Customs Academy, which centers on giving the next generation of custom automotive professionals hands-on training through instructional classes within specific disciplines, culminating in a final custom car project. West Coast Customs Academy has already graduated three classes of emerging professionals. "Each one of these cars [listed for Mecum's auction] has been a very special moment of my journey at West Coast Customs," Friedlinghaus told Autoblog.
When asked how he formed the West Coast Customs Academy, Friedlinghaus said: "The academy was something I thought about back in 2016 when we were just struggling trying to find good talent, good workers. [I] kinda pushed pause on it for a bit and focused back on the business, and then during COVID, I think it was really obvious that people were starting to get lazier, and there were less and less workers, [so I thought], 'how do we create the new generation of people who work with their hands?' And not just in automotive, but in anything. From plumbers to electricians, the trades have been dying. So I just started doing it again. We teamed up with Burbank Unified School District, which is a local school district here, and took kids that were graduating from high school that really didn't have a career path and didn't wanna go to college and put them in the program and basically taught them hands-on the 360 of building a car from start to finish."
"I think that's what's unique about the shop is we do everything here, so we're able to train them [students] through the process, from bodywork and paint, to interior, to suspension and fabrication. I mean, just pretty much everything we do here [at West Coast Customs], we take the students through that, and they build a car." Friedlinghaus noted that California used to have many auto shops for students in high schools, but their presence has significantly declined. The West Coast Customs founder said he wants to teach his academy's students that custom automotive work is a career path, and if you're passionate about it, you can do it and make a lot of money.
When detailing more aspects that he believes set his academy apart, Friedlinghaus explained: "I think what's unique about our program is we do it all. They [students] get to learn every aspect of building a car from start to finish. So it gives them the ability to kinda try everything, because I've noticed a lot of the students when they come, they're very interested in one trade. Like, one of them wants to learn how to be a painter, but in the end, they really wanna focus on being a fabricator. So I think it has given them the ability to do it all and really come back and say, 'this is what I wanna go and focus my career on.'"
Friedlinghaus added that his fans had been asking him what he was going to do with his 1997 Toyota 4Runner featured on the cover of Minitruckin' magazine since it had been sitting at his shop, so he designed a program around the vehicle for the West Coast Customs Academy and had students rebuild it. The process consisted of redoing the suspension, the interior, and the audio system, in addition to a repaint. "It [1997 Toyota 4Runner] turned out, I think, better than it did in the beginning."
Friedlinghaus also described his experience working on the auction's Charger given by Dodge: "I did my thing to it. I was a little uneasy, thinking, 'What is Dodge going to think of [me] cutting this car in half, shortening it, widening the door, and chopping the roof?' I basically changed the whole look of the car, but I think, ultimately, it got their attention, and they gave us a design order for it."
Mecum's upcoming auction, featuring custom builds from Friedlinghaus's personal collection, tells the fascinating story of an automotive professional who followed his dream and is giving back after achieving success.
"I think it's really [about] staying focused on what your dream is, and I think, when I was younger, there weren't a lot of opportunities. I had to kinda go down the path and learn on my own. But I gotta say, if I didn't have wood shop and auto shop in high school, I probably would've never even chosen this path, you know, because it really gave me the ability to say, 'This is something I like. This is something that I wanna do," and I found a way to do it," the West Coast Customs Founder emphasized.
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