Bankruptcy Ends With Change in Boyds Wheels

Custom wheel and auto accessories maker Boyds Wheels Inc. ended its year-old bankruptcy Monday with court approval of a reorganization plan that will turn the once-glamorous manufacturer of expensive alloy wheels into a sales and marketing company whose products will be made in Asia.

The plan will also give Automotive Performance Group of Tempe, Ariz., an 80% interest in Boyds. APG will pump about $2 million in cash into Stanton-based Boyds Wheels and will pay about $950,000 in administrative claims relating to the bankruptcy.

Jim Dunn, APG’s chief operating officer, will become president of Boyds, replacing Jack Karkosky, who shepherded the company through the final months of the bankruptcy.

Karkosky is the company’s only employee, but Boyds “should be up and running pretty quickly, and employment should grow” as the company gears up its sales, marketing and distribution units, said Evan Smiley, whose Costa Mesa law firm, Albert, Weiland & Golden, handled the bankruptcy.

One of the company’s potential competitors is B. Coddington Wheels, the custom aluminum alloy wheel company that Boyds Wheels founder Boyd Coddington started with his son last year.

Coddington, one of the country’s premier hot rod designers and builders, started Boyds Wheels because he couldn’t find wheels he liked for the cars he was building. He was removed by investors he had brought in after running into financial trouble in 1997.

The Boyds Wheels reorganization plan, which was approved in federal Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana, gives the company’s unsecured creditors a 17% stake, with current stockholders retaining a 3% share.

APG markets Royal Purple Motor Oil and owns two major auto racing teams. Its stock closed Monday at $3.06, up 6 cents, in Nasdaq trading.

Boyds Wheels shares closed at 22 cents, down 22 cents for the day in heavy trading in the over-the-counter market.