Respect tradition. This is the motto Troy Ladd’s Los Angeles-based Hollywood Hot Rods proudly lives.
“That’s my biggest dream is that would be my legacy. For people to respect what we have done,” Troy said.
Ladd’s Burbank, California shop has produced stunning hot rods and custom cars since it opened in 2002, including the notable Mulholland Speedster, a 1936 Packard dubbed America’s Most Beautiful Roadster in 2017.
“I talk about the evolution of the process and my evolution of tools and experience and skills and things like that. The Mulholland Speedster is a perfect example of the culmination of that evolution.”
Fabrication-wise, Ladd detailed the extent to which the Mulholland Speedster tested his evolution of skill.
“From a metal shaping standpoint, it’s a very complexly shaped car. Many compound curves. We literally hand hammered and rolled and pressed and you know shaped the entire thing from flat pieces of steel.”
Troy is a lifelong fabricator, having started at the age of 16 when he said he became obsessed with cars.
“My whole life is cars. Building cars, looking at cars, driving cars. So, what we do here is literally so important that it encompasses my entire life,” Troy said.
Like Troy’s long-standing relationship with cars, Troy and Baileigh Industrial have evolved together over the years of projects. His Los Angeles shop is filled with Baileigh products, including power hammers, metal shrinker stretchers, and two BB-4816M Magnetic Sheet Metal Brakes.
“I was kind of involved with Baileigh when they started really pushing their higher end line of machines like the PH-19 power hammers and things like that.”
“One of the things that Baileigh has really done well and has stood them apart over the years is they are coming up with metal shaping tools and equipment that are needed but are hard to get. Baileigh’s line of equipment is affordable and it works. They’ve really done well at filling in a gap in the metal shaping industry that really needed to be filled.”
Learn more about Ladd’s award-winning hot rods in this installment of A Baileigh Biography.