Ryan Friedlinghaus is a popular Automotive Technician, Reality TV Show host, and also he is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the world-famous automotive repair shop called West Coast Customs which he started in 1993. In WCC he and his team provide the service of car customizing, repairing, and modifying the vehicles as per the customer’s needs and wants.
His WCC shop has modified cars of several big brands like Nintendo, Virgin, and Microsoft and not only these but also of several celebrities too like Chris Brown, Sean Combs, Shaquille O’Neal, etc. Apart from this, Ryan is also a co-host of the popular Discover’s MotorTrend Tv network show called “Inside West Coast Customs.”
On April 22, 1975, Ryan Friedlinghaus was born in Los Angeles, California, the United States. Ryan Friedlinghaus is 47 Years Old (as of 2022) and he holds American nationality.
Ryan Friedlinghaus Wiki/Bio
| Full Name | Ryan Friedlinghaus |
| Nickname | Ryan |
| Gender | Male |
| Profession | Automotive Technician, TV Show Star, Businessman |
| Date Of Birth | April 22, 1975 |
| Age | 47 Years Old (As of 2022) |
| Place Of Birth | Los Angeles, California, the United States |
| Hometown | Los Angeles, California, the United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac Sign | Not Known |
| Ethnicity | Not Known |
Physical Appearance
| Height | Not Known |
| Weight | Not Known |
| Eyes Color | Gray |
| Hairs Color | Brown |
| Body Measurements | Not Known |
| Body Type | Healthy & Fit |
| Shoe Size | Not Known |
| Tattoo | Not Known |
Also, read about Dan Short (FantomWorks).
Family & Relationship
| Father | Not Known |
| Mother | Not Known |
| Brother | Not Known |
| Sister | Not Known |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Megan Friedlinghaus |
| Son(s) | Ryan Jr. Dylan |
| Daughter(s) | Briana |
Ryan Friedlinghaus has not revealed his father’s and mother’s names, however, a few years back he shared a picture on Instagram of his late father and mentioned that he is the man who believed and trust him. Well, Ryan’s wife’s name is Megan Friedlinghaus and the couple are blessed with two boys and one girl.
Their son’s names are Ryan Jr. and Dylan, and their daughter’s name is Briana. Dylan is a singer and a popular YouTuber. And, Ryan Jr. is an entrepreneur as he owns a clothing brand namely Pas De Faux. Also, read about Mike Finnegan (Roadkill).
Education & Qualifications
| School | Not Known |
| College/University | Not Known |
| Qualification | Not Known |
Career & Achievements
Ryan Friedlinghaus has been interested in cars and motor vehicles since his childhood. He also often does tweaks on the skateboard and bikes of his friends and knowns. Ryan Friedlinghaus‘s interest in custom works increase gradually and his parents also supported him. When he grew up he owns a Mazda pickup truck and he did several changes to his vehicle.
Ryan has done custom works in some vehicles and his confidence was built up so he decided to start his own custom works shop. So, Ryan Friedlinghaus borrowed $5000 from his grandfather and started an automotive repair and custom works shop called West Coast Customs in Laguna Niguel in Orange County, California, United States, in 1994.
He focused on repairing motor vehicles and also doing custom works on cars. After working for around four years in Laguna Niguel he moved WCC to the outskirts of Compton in 1998. Then, again after two years, Ryan Friedlinghaus moved WCC to Inglewood in the year 2000, and currently, their shop is located in Burbank, California.
Well, according to Ryan one of the first customers of West Coast Customs was Shaquille O’Neal who is an American former professional basketball player, and Ryan & team customized his Chevrolet Suburban car. Because of this connection or contact with Shaquille, Ryan got several celebrities’ customers who want to customize their cars.
Ryan and his team handle several big projects of customizing and repairing cars and other motor vehicles. He came into the limelight in 2004 when he and West Coast Custom featured on a TV show called “Pimp My Ride” where other cast members find ruined cars and take the cars for renovation to West Coast Custom, and then Ryan & Team repairs the car.
Ryan and his company West Coast Customs featured in several TV shows where he and the WCC company got a lot of fame and love from millions of people just because of their amazing vehicle customizing and repairing work.
TV Shows
#1. Pimp My Ride
Ryan and West Coast Customs came into the limelight after they featured in the show called “Pimp My Ride” in 2004. This show is fully based on West Coast Customs company as in the show, the WCC shop was featured. The concept of this show was, that a Film producer at MTV finds some Americans who want to customize or repair their ruined or used cars or motor vehicles.
Then those people give an interview to Xzibit, Ryan Friedlinghaus, and to other crew members of West Coast Customs, in which they talk about what they want in the customization of cars. Then Ryan and his crew members repair and customize the cars of clients as per their requirements and want. In this show, all the process was shown.
Well, according to some members of WCC, most of the work they do in cars to repair and customize was done behind the scene of Pimp My Ride. In the 12 to 34-year-old demographic in the 9:30 PM time slot, the Pimp My Ride show was ranked first, according to CBS News.
In the fifth season of the show Pimp My Ride, Ryan left the show and the show moved to another garage that is Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) because Ryan moved West Coast Customs to California, and also then he has signed a contract with another reality show. Also, read about Scott Hoke (Mecum Auto Auctions).
#2. Street Customs and Inside West Coast Customs
After leaving and moving the WCC to another place, Ryan Friedlinghaus signed a contract and started another show called Street Customs aired on Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel (TLC) simultaneously. In this show, Ryan & Crew customizes or repairs cars of West Coast Customs customers and not the ones chosen by the producers.
Just because they are only working for the customers selected by Pimp My Ride producers, the relationship of WCC customers is ruined. This is also one of the reasons that Ryan left the Pimp My Ride show and then started Street Customs, in which he shows the work in the garage where the customers are of WCC.
This show is also loved by millions of people, and Ryan and his team customized several cars and vehicles. He has also built and customized cars for celebrities like a Cadillac for Shaquille O’Neal, and Carroll Shelby, a Cadillac CTS-V for Justin Bieber, and also he has customized a Range Rover for a royal family of Dubai. According to Tyan Shaquille O’Neal already has 30 cars customized by West Coast Customs shop by July 2007.
In 2011 his three customized 1955 Ford F-100 pickup trucks were featured in a movie called “The Expandables” and later one of them was sold in an auction for $132,000. Later, in 2009, the show Street Customs was renamed Inside West Coast Customs. And it started airing on Discover’s Velocity Tv network (currently MotorTrend TV), which is a separate channel for vehicles and cars.
Controversies
- Mistreatment of employees
In early 2008, USA Today noticed that in West Coast Customs, employees are given insane deadlines and they have to work routinely 60 hours a week and six days a week, just to meet the deadline of their show. Employees have to work several hours to customize and repair cars to meet the deadline.
Mauricio Hernández who is one of the former employees of WCC working on the Mexican franchise of WCC gave an interview to National Public Radio and claimed that he was employed at the California branch (2004–2009) and worked in the WCC garage six days a week and around 10-12 hours per day and also there is no social security and any other benefits given, and he is working as an undocumented worker.
The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) investigate and, on April 23, 2014, they found that the company not paying overtime money to employees and paying weekly salaries instead of paying them for how many hours employees are working. After that, Ryan has to choose to go to court or to pay a fine and Ryan Friedlinghaus chooses to pay a fine to USDOL which is amounted to $157,592 in back wages. And also he pays $16,830 in civil penalties for the wronged employees.
- Issues With Quality
In 2010 and 2015, Ryan Friedlinghaus and West Coast Customs faced controversies of people saying that didn’t get the good customized cars and several other allegations were made. One of the controversies was in 2015. Trisha Paytas, who is a singer and a social media influencer gave her 2014 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen to WCC for customization.
She wanted the car to be pink in color and ask for several other customizations. West Coast Custom missed the deadline of giving car two times. Then, she makes a video explaining the experience with WCC and uploads it to her YouTube channel. Then, on December 17, 2015, she came to pick up her car and found that several components are not working.
Including some safety components which are necessary and also compulsory in the United States. After she found these things, the WCC company told her to go home and ask the dealer of the Mercedes from whom she bought the car for in-warranty repairs. She created several videos about this incident and uploaded them to YouTube. She got her car back with a full repair after some arguments.
Net Worth
Ryan Friedlinghaus is the CEO of one of the popular Automotive Repairing and Car Customizing companies. Also, he is the host of the Inside West Coast Customs reality tv show host. He earns a very good amount of money through his Grage, TV Show, Merchandise, etc works. Ryan also has some franchises of his West Coast Custom companies.
Ryan Friedlinghaus announced the WCC Dubai franchise in 2007, and also announced the WCC franchise in Shanghai in January 2016. According to some sources it is estimated that Ryan Friedlinghaus’s net worth is $15 Million+ (approx.).
Contacts & Social Media
| @ryan (480k+ followers) | |
| Website | https://westcoastcustoms.com/ |
| YouTube | West Coast Customs (900k+ subscribers) |
| @SelfMadeRyan (580k+ followers) |
Ryan Friedlinghaus Google Trends
Some YouTube Videos Of Ryan Friedlinghaus
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