West Coast Customs

West Coast Customs (abbreviated by the company 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. According to Friedlinghaus, he began the business with a $5,000 loan from his grandfather, but other sources claim that he raised the seed money for the business while working at his father's liquor store. Owing to the patronage of celebrities such as Shaquille O'Neal and Sean Combs, 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 business.

Besides celebrities, West Coast Customs has also created vehicles for global brands such as Virgin, Nintendo, and Microsoft. It is frequently characterized as one of the best custom car shops in the United States. However, the company has also at times been accused of missing deadlines, using aggressive sales tactics, and producing low quality and potentially unsafe customized vehicles. Some observers and past employees have also criticized the company's employment practices.

According to two contradictory statements in the Los Angeles Times, West Coast Customs was founded in either 1994 or 1998 by auto enthusiast Ryan Friedlinghaus. In a 2008 article, USA Today put the foundation year as 1997. The legal entity, West Coast Customs International, LLC, was incorporated in California on October 20, 2000. A young Friedlinghaus had gotten his custom vehicles featured on the covers of auto magazines by age 14, but he became frustrated with the tedium of dealing with multiple specialty shops, which led to longer times to build the vehicles. According to Entrepreneur, this frustration, coupled with his love for custom cars, was what led to his opening of his own shop.

The company moved many times in its early years, but it was at its Inglewood location that WCC began to gain a reputation for quality, which caused celebrities to have their cars modified there. According to Friedlinghaus, one of his first customers was Shaquille O'Neal, who wanted a customized Chevrolet Suburban, and this relationship helped him get contacts with other celebrities who were looking for custom automobiles. Owing to this, Music Television (MTV) offered Friedlinghaus the opportunity to have a reality television show filmed at his business with co-founder Quinton "Q" Dodson as the star and rapper Xzibit as the host; his acceptance of this deal led to the 2004 TV show Pimp My Ride.