West Coast Customs has developed into one of the premier garages for the super popular custom vehicle industry. Based in Burbank, California, WCC is mostly know to the public from their hugely successful show, Inside West Coast Customs.
Co-founder and CEO Ryan Friedlinghaus is somewhat of a prodigy of the business, having his custom vehicles on the covers on magazine by the young age of 14, and soon after had his own ideas of how to revolutionize the custom vehicle industry.
Known for taking the most ordinary, factory made cars and turning them into truly unique customs, Inside West Coast Customs prides itself on being able to fit any customer request and making it happen, no matter how challenging.
They are mostly successful, but like any show there are plenty of things behind the scenes that most viewers are unaware of.
Unhappy workers, missing back pay, and less than ideal results are just some of the problems Inside West Coast Customs has faced over the years.
With that said, here are the 15 Secrets Even True Fans Never Knew Behind Inside West Coast Customs.
They Were Sued For Not Paying Their Workers Properly
Probably the biggest known scandal WCC had to deal with is federal accusations that the company did not pay their workers for overtime.
According to an investigation by the Department of Labor, WCC paid many of their workers on a set salary when they should have been paid hourly and with overtime.
Considering that the amount of hours the job entails, that’s a whole lot of overtime, and the case covers two years worth of financial mismanagement. Ryan Friedlinghaus agreed to settle with the DoL for over $150,000 in back pay owed to low-level workers.
This was a relatively serious hit for the reputation of WCC, as it was discovered they incorrectly classified workers as independent contractors and failed to maintain proper work logs -- both clear violations of federal labor laws done to increase company profits.
This was in 2014, and WCC has been on the straight and narrow since.
Some Cars Were Returned Unsafe
Inside West Coast Customs prides itself on getting the job done, so much so that anything less than perfection makes news.
In 2014, Youtube star Trisha Paytas purchased a brand new Mercedes-Benz G550 (commonly called a G-Wagon), and in a few weeks wanted a some modifications done.
The requests were minor, but when Paytas got her G-Wagon back, she discovered a long list of modification that she didn’t ask for.
In fact, they were the modifications that a salesman had tried to get her to agree to but she declined. Basically, anything electronic had issues -- lights not working, windshield wipers were unreliable, and displays giving false readings.
This was on top of repeated deadline push backs from the garage, who cited several reasons for not finishing the job on time.
Clearly, even the talented people behind Inside West Coast Customs can be overwhelmed by their work volume.
Ryan Friedlinghaus’ Friendship With Shaq Was His Big Break
Every success story has a pivotal moment, and for WCC is was when Friedlinghaus met basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal.
Shaq was so impressed with his first WCC experience that in addition to becoming friends, he put the company name out there among celebrities who are willing to spend absurd amounts of money for their work.
As a personable guy who knows a lot of people, Shaq was instrumental in helping West Coast Customs establish themselves as one of the premier custom garages in the world.
Friedlinghaus has said that what kept the company name growing was their association, and the fact that O’Neal let them use his name in their marketing. He gives full credit to the big man for the word-of-mouth popularity that got them to where they are today.
There Have Been Accusations Of Employee Mistreatment
Probably the biggest secret of all revolve around the accusations of employee mistreatment. WCC settlement for back wages is known, but there are other instances that make Friedlinghaus seem like a horrible dictator.
Mauricio Hernandez said he worked a regular shift of 10-12 hours a day, six days a week, without benefits or social security.
Deadlines were the most important thing, and workers sometimes stayed late and even overnight on certain projects.
There was even an instance of a man having to fight to be there when his baby was born, and was called into work the very next day.
According to Friedlinghaus, he never wants to hear “when can I go home” from his employees. The people who stay at WCC must love the work they do and have unshakable loyalty, because the conditions would break anyone without them.
Ryan Friedlinghaus left Pimp My Ride Over Creative Differences
The WCC garage first gained national notoriety for being the workhorse behind the massive MTV hit show Pimp My Ride.
Focusing on young car owners in Southern California who need more than a bit of touching up for their vehicles, Pimp My Ride excelled thanks to the WCC garage and were a huge moneymaker for all involved.
However, Ryan Friedlinghaus grew tired of the format after some time. Working with MTV for 4 seasons, and hosting the show in the 4th, Friedlinghaus left after citing concerns of his company’s image as well as the desire to have more control over what clientele to cater to.
Seizing an opportunity to capitalize on custom vehicle shows like American Chopper and American Hot Rod, WCC and MTV amicably parted and Inside West Coast Customs was born, much to the delight of Friedlinghaus and his fans.
The Work Schedule Is Brutal
Nothing worthwhile comes without time and hard work, and the crew at WCC is certainly an example of that axiom.
The garage works on much more than the projects shown on TV, with former workers saying that there were as many as 20 projects going on simultaneously at any given time.
Workers have spoken of a minimum 60 hour work week to meet the demands, with more hours often put in by newer members.
Also, contrary to working for Chip from Overhaulin’, Ryan is said to be a demanding, even aggressive boss who is a micromanager and is seemingly never satisfied.
Add a rich client base, and you have a very stressful situation that is not for everyone. While there is a core group of members, there’s also a high turnover rate for the newer members.
They Have Pulled Publicity Stunts For Ratings
Perhaps more than any other business, TV is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ model. A dip in ratings of any kind will force the hand of producers to shake things up a bit, and even highly successful shows like Inside West Coast Customs are not immune to that.
Seemingly taking a page out of Overhaulin’s playbook, WCC worked with rapper Will.I.Am to stage a theft of the star’s $700k Delorean.
After arriving to a party one night, Will inexplicably did not leave his car with the valet and parked it somewhere out of sight. It was missing after the party, but was miraculously "found" by WCC and soon after was featured on the show.
Maybe this would have gone over better if it wasn’t so painfully obvious a setup. WCC has largely stayed away from gimmicks since.
They Have Expanded And Become A Global Brand
Years of high profile clients and a national hit TV show will bring some benefits, and for WCC it was the chance to grow the brand around the world.
The first foray into international territory was in 2008, opening a new factory in Berlin, but this was not successful and closed less than a year later.
After, longtime WCC employee Mauricio Hernandez was given Ryan’s blessing to open a shop in Mexico, which was more successful and ran on Mexican TV for 6 years.
The company also expanded to Dubai with Al Ghussein Global Investments in a deal worth over $18 million, as well as an opening in Shanghai, which was considered a major media event in China.
There were other expansions that never came to fruition, such as in Japan and Malaysia but the successes have thus far been very profitable.
The Mods Bring The Street Value Up Dramatically
While other like shows often work on personal passion projects for working class people, WCC deals mostly with rich clients -- very rich.
Celebrities with enough money to house their own personal collection in private garages are regulars, and Inside West Coast Customs can cater to their every whim.
Sometimes, the cars are kept for collection but a good amount of them are flipped for profit. Shaquille O'Neal, Justin Bieber, and Paris Hilton are just a few of the names who have done so.
Even going back to Pimp My Ride, the work the garage does can reach epic proportions, and without the fundamental changes that can happen in other mod shops.
Because of this, even less wealthy clients can take a car they bought for a few thousand, and after a substantial investment, walk away with a custom that is worth many times the price they bought the factory model for.
They Are Notoriously Slow
The ‘no job is too big’ mentality of WCC has mostly served them well, but the workload has been shown to be too much sometimes.
There have been several instances of disgruntled clients and late jobs.
Perhaps the most famous incident was that of the Fireball bus for game company Red 5 Studios. As part of the marketing for the game, WCC was contracted to build an enormous bus with a game room inside to tour around the country.
While the show made it seem like the work was done on time, not only did the garage go over budget, but they were painfully slow in the process and ended up being late.
They pushed deadlines back repeatedly and ended up causing the company to not deliver the vehicle for the 2012 Electronics Entertainment Expo, essentially wasting all that time and work because now the bus is derelict in a garage somewhere.
Ryan Started WCC With A $5 Thousand Loan
The story of West Coast Customs is a textbook example of the American Dream. Ryan Friedlinghaus said he started the operation back in 1994 with business partner Quinton Dodson while he was still a teenager.
His original shop in L.A. was a small 1500 foot space that had little more than basics and Ryan’s drive for success. Part of why he says the company is successful is because he thinks of it like a family not a corporation.
Many of his workers have been retained for years and some have been with him since the beginning.
That original investment, and the loyalty and hard work of the crew, has grown the company to a multi-million dollar operation with shops across the country and the world.
Ryan Friedlinghaus himself has a net worth of $20 million -- not bad for a guy who started with a $5k loan.
They Are Contracted By Giant Corporations For Work
The kind of skill it takes to produce the custom vehicles Ryan Friedlinghaus and his team have does not go unnoticed.
Since the show got so big, WCC has done work for some of the biggest companies in the world. In 2012, they partnered with Microsoft to retrofit a new Mustang with Dynacom's 1967 fastback replica body, resulting in a then state of the art mix of car and tech.
They also worked with Nintendo to create a series of life-sized karts from the Mario Kart games.
Hollywood has used them multiple times as well -- WCC customs have appeared in some A-list action movies like The Expendables and Mad Max: Fury Road.
They’re so prominent in the industry that chances are you have seen some of their work, even f you don’t watch the show.
Some Cars Needed Extra Work After The Episode Aired
Ryan Friedlinghaus’ drive and rather insane work ethic leads him to take on a lot of work, too much in many cases.
The constant backlog of work is known, but WCC also had another issue with it - the cars are not always road ready when given back.
The show has never highlighted this on screen so we don’t know if it’s a lack of supervision or something else, but several former employees have spoken about faulty mechanics.
Issues such as bad suspension, poor brakes, and meters not working or showing the wrong information are just a few that have affected the show.
There have also been issues of certain parts installed to look good for show, but are practically useless. Even though some of the problems are minor and easily fixable with a return visit, they still fly in the face of the "excellent customer service" WCC says they are committed to providing.
Breaking With MTV Forced Them To Focus On Rich Clients
WCC first made their name through MTV and Pimp My Ride, but Friedlinghaus grew tired of the show format after a few years and wanted to do something where he was the creative force.
The main problem with that was that breaking from MTV meant they didn’t have access to those deep corporate pockets any longer, so the costs fell on WCC themselves.
As you would imagine, the costs for the parts on the kind of jobs they do are often far too high for anyone but the rich to manage.
Luckily for Friedlinghaus and his crew, WCC customs was already known throughout celebrity circles from his association with Shaq, so he had access to the clientele he needed for his business to thrive.
Breaking from MTV was one of the best decisions Friedlinghaus has made and led to WCC being known as the best.
The 2008 Financial Crisis Almost Tanked The Business
One of the biggest disasters in modern history was/is the 2008 Financial Crisis. Affecting everyone in every tax bracket, it changed the landscape of every business, and the custom vehicle business was no exception.
Friedlinghaus said that the event was the biggest hit the company has ever taken, and that for a little while in the beginning he wasn’t sure what would happen. He was forced to let go of half his staff in one fell swoop.
The rich clients were no longer having multiple cars done a year, but maybe only one. That might sound out of touch but the WCC business needs that level of work to be maintained.
They also had to take on a lot of smaller projects to compensate for many of the big jobs that weren’t coming in. They recovered, but were in very rocky territory for a little while.
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Can you think of any other secrets behind Inside West Coast Customs? Let us know in the comments!