Auto customization guru and reality TV personality Ryan Friedlinghaus is on the move, hanging a $4.6 million price on his souped-up multi-acre spread that’s scenically tucked into the affluent and guard gated Bell Canyon enclave in the rolling hills that form the rugged, northwestern border of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.
The much-tatted car nut made a local name for himself with his auto customization business, West Coast Customs, which he co-founded in the mid-1990s with Quentin Dodson. It wasn’t long before he was launched into reality TV fame in the mid-Aughts with the MTV series “Pimp My Ride” and, later, on Discovery Channel’s “Inside West Coast Customs,” the latter of which ran from 2011 to 2018.
Along with his success he’s had his fair share of public controversies, from allegations of subpar workmanship on some of the cars overhauled on “Pimp My Ride” to a $150,000+ fine levied by the U.S. Dept. of Labor to settle a case about underpaid employees. There were also some unhappy celebrity customers who let their displeasure be publicly known, including internet sensation Trisha Paytas, who was initially disappointed with the alterations WCC made to her then brand new Mercedes G-Wagon.
Nonetheless Friedlinghaus has amassed a vast and impressive rolodex of celeb clients who include Shaquille O’Neal, Sean Combs, Post Malone, the Jonas Brothers, Travis Scott, Conan O’Brien, Kid Rock, Chris Brown, Mark Wahlberg and will.I.am. One of his most recent customizations was done for pop star and pimped car aficionado Justin Bieber who had WCC transform his $330,000 Rolls Royce Wraith into the menacing ride of a sci-fi villain.