User:Hhrteam/sandbox

Troy Ladd (born April 4, 1969 in Newport Beach, CA) is a hot rod shop owner, custom car designer and fabricator and featured guest of multiple Automotive TV programs.

Contents
 * Life and Career
 * Awards and Honors
 * Television
 * References
 * External Links

Life and Career
Troy began working with old cars began when he inherited a ’66 Mustang and fixed it up as high school transportation. His family wasn't into cars or fixing them up so he had to learn how to do it all himself by reading books and magazines. The Mustang served its purpose and soon Troy was looking for a new challenge. He tracked down a ’36 Ford Five-Window Coupe that he fell in love with. He quickly sold the Mustang and invested his money into the old Ford. This opened him to the world of street rods and their owners. Not yet feeling totally accepted by his older peers in the automotive world, Troy enrolled himself in Vangaurd College and picked up a degree in business management and went to work at a construction company as a project manager. In this position Troy realized it wasn’t far between planning out the construction of buildings and planning out the construction of vintage cars. With a solid business plan and shop vision in place, Troy opened Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank, CA and began building high end traditional cars. Hollywood Hot Rods gained initial notariety with a few technical articles in the magazines, and soon after the magazine audience was ready for a peek at whatever was going together inside the shop. It wouldn’t take long before multiple T.V. appearances followed as well as titles such as SEMA’s 2007 Trendsetter of the Year, Grand National Roadster Show 2010 Builder of the Year and L.A. Roadsters 2012 Builder of the Year. The project cars kept getting more and more interesting as well, from Troy’s own “Respect Tradition” ’32 Roadster to the beloved “Black Widow” ’27 T Roadster Troy took off the modeler’s table and turned into a full-scale reality. The hits just kept coming from that point with Ron Lee’s “Euro Roadster”, Zack Norman’s “Platinum Bomb” and Bugs’ “Ruby Deluxe”. Troy was soon taking on full projects like the ’32 Ford Roadster Pickup built as a giveaway car for Raybestos Brake Products. Street Rodder Magazine was next to reach out to Hollywood Hot Rods when they needed a shop to build their latest Road Tour car, this time being a 100% reproduction 1940 Ford Coupe. Without even a flinch, Troy took on the project. He could have just built a straight forward ’40 Ford Coupe and been hero, but he decided to throw in a few extra challenges like chopping the top and fitting the first ever Ford Coyote engine in a ’40 Ford. Troy continues top build trendsetting cars at Hollywood Hot Rods.

Television

 * American Icon: The Hot Rod, “The next Wave”, 2011, Discovery Channel HD, Troy Ladd’s work is analyzed and featured in an episode that highlights the next wave of iconic car builders. In addition Troy make various cameo appearances throughout the series.
 * Hot Rod TV, 2010, “Code name Coyote”, Troy Ladd & crew build 32 Roadster Pickup with new Ford “Coyote” engine.
 * SPEED Channel SEMA Special, 2010, Troy Ladd discusses the features of the Raybestos 1932 roadster pick-up truck.
 * Hot Rod TV, 2010, Troy Ladd drives a Cadillac powered roadster to car show, and discusses significance of Hot Rods & Cadillacs.
 * Hot Rod TV, 2010, Troy Ladd discusses significance of customs & lead sleds.
 * Nationally syndicated television commercial Keystone “Keith Stone” beer, cameo guest appearance.
 * Car Crazy, 2010, Grand National Roadster Show (“GNRS”), Barry Mequire interviews Troy Ladd about being honored as the GNRS 2010 Builder of the Year.
 * Optima Challenge Special, 2010, Troy Ladd races a roadster pickup at the Optima invitational in Nevada. Aired on the Speed Channel.
 * Car Crazy, 2009, Bonneville Speed Week, Barry Meguire interviews Troy Ladd while at Bonneville speed week.
 * Ultimate Car Build-off, 2010, multiple episodes on Discovery channel. Troy Ladd and crew compete in a build-off competition building one-off creations.
 * Hot Rod TV, 2009, “The Black Widow Build” Hollywood Hot Rods builds the “Black Widow” for competition at the Grand National Roadster Show.
 * Whipnotic, NBC 2009, Highlighting Troy Ladd & Hollywood Hot Rods.
 * Rides TV show, Season 2 Episode 10. “Hollywood Hot Rods” 1 hour feature on TLC/Discovery, Troy Ladd & crew build twin roadsters “Big Sister” and “Little Sister.”
 * Hot Rod TV 2006, “Hollywood Hot Rods in Paso Robles” Hot Rod TV follows Troy Ladd as he travels to a classic car show in Paso Robles, CA.
 * Human Wrecking Balls, G4 Network 2008. Troy Ladd is featured as an expert commentator on vehicle engineering.
 * Hot Rod TV, June 2007. Troy Ladd attends the Grand National Roadster show for the annual Pin Stripers reunion.
 * HUB TV, January 2009. Troy Ladd is interviewed by Chris Jacobs (host of Overhaulin)
 * VIMBY TV, May 2008. “Hollywood Hot Rods” a feature spotlight on HHR
 * Vintage Vehicle Show 2008, “Hollywood Hot Rods” featuring current HHR projects.
 * Vintage Vehicle Show 2008, “Hollywood Hot Rods Open House.”
 * Live car show Web TV, Nov 2008. “Hollywood Hot Rods Open House” http://livecarshows.com/2008LCSshows.html
 * Troy Ladd of HHR appears or cameos in 8-10 additional Hot Rod TV & Rides episodes.
 * WheelsTV.net December 2006. “Hollywood Hot Rods” feature. Part 1 & 2, spotlighting Troy Ladd and the background of Hollywood Hot Rods.
 * Truckstop TV Show 2005. Hollywood Hot Rods builds a Model A pickup.
 * Moonlight, 2006, network series, drama about vampires. Troy and one of his cars appear as background characters in one of the scenes.
 * Blind Date, 2004. Hollywood Hot Rods shop was visited by participants during a date.
 * 5th Wheel, 2004. Hollywood Hot Rods shop was visited by participants during a date.
 * TV commercial for Iron Clad work gloves featuring Troy Ladd and the Hollywood Hot Rods shop.

Awards and Honors

 * “SAR Mark of Excellence in Metalworking Award”, awarded to Hollywood Hot Rods (2011)
 * Grand National Roadster Show “Best Roadster Pickup” winner for Raybestos RPU (2011).
 * Grand National Roadster Show “Best Roadster” winner for “Brooklands Roadster” (2011).
 * Hollywood Hot Rods/ Troy Ladd selected as “Builder of the Year” (2010).
 * Hollywood Hot Rods built 35 Ford named “Kustom of the Year” (2010).
 * SEMA “Showstopper Award,” 32 Ford “Raybestos” Roadster Pickup (2010)
 * “Black Widow” Roadster Pickup, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Finalist (2009).
 * Grand National Roadster Show “Best Display” winner for Black Widow (2009).
 * "Respect Tradition" 32 Ford hi-boy roadster, Outstanding Elegance Award at Blackie's Invitation only Autorama (2009).
 * "Respect Tradition," 32 Ford hi-boy roadster, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Finalist (2007).
 * SEMA Trendsetter of the Year Award Recipient: Troy Ladd (2007).
 * “Respect Tradition,” 32 Ford hi-boy roaster, Best 32 Roadster Award (2007).
 * The cars "Big Sister" and "Little Sister" America’s Most Roadster Finalists (2005).
 * “Big Sister” and “ Little Sister” finished in First Place at Goodguys and NSRA car show.
 * Mooneyes Car Show in Yokohama, Japan, featured Troy Ladd as a guest of honor (2005).
 * SEMA “Respect Tradition” Featured Vehicle Award in Hot Rod Alley (2005).
 * “Respect Tradition” Goodguys Rodders Pick (2005).
 * PLUS multiple local & national car show awards for the cars built by HHR