Ryan Friedlinghaus divorce, married, net worth, salary, affair, girlfriend, wife

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Ryan Friedlinghaus is known as an entrepreneur and reality TV star. He is most famous for creating West Coast Customs and his appearances on MTV’s Pimp My Ride.

<h2>Background</h2>

Ryan Michael Friedlinghaus was born on April 22, 1975 in Los Angeles, California. Growing up, Ryan would customize his friends’ bikes and skateboards. His first real project was his own car, a Mazda Pickup, which he customized to demonstrate his ability for future clients.

Ryan proved himself to be a worthy entrepreneur when he started his own business in 1994 when he was only 18 years old. He founded his company West Coast Customs in the city of Laguna Niguel located in Orange County, California. The company was cofounded with Quinton Dodson and a five thousand dollar loan. The five thousand dollar loan is speculated to have come from one of two sources. The first theory was that his grandfather loaned him the start-up money. A second theory suggested that his father, a liquor store owner, loaned him the money.

<h2>Marriage, Wife, and Children</h2>

Ryan lives a quiet and private life with his wife, Meagan Elliot. They have two children, Ryan Jr., and Dylan. Ryan’s family is very rarely seen in public. The only time his wife made an appearance on TV was on a special episode for his show “Inside West Coast Customs”. The episode showed him surprising his wife with the personal customization of her Mini Cooper. Her car was decorated with over 80,000 crystals strategically glued to the top of her car, giving it a gleaming appearance.

<h2>Career and Net Worth</h2>

Ryan Friedlinghaus' fast success opened the door for him to move his company closer to Los Angeles. In 1998, he moved his company, West Coast Customs to the outskirts of Compton. In the year 2000, he was able to move his company to a nicer neighborhood in Burbank, California.

While Ryan worked hard to grow his business he was approached by several other opportunities, one being the ability to grow a franchise business. He has opened franchises in Tokyo Japan, Moscow Russia, Kuala Lumpur, Berlin Germany, and Mexico. Ryan did not stop at simply creating a shop for car modifications, he also expanded into clothing and apparel.

Despite his growing company, there were questions about the practices of all his shops, including his headquarters in Burbank. In the shop, he is known as “Shady,” a nickname that has stuck with him while at work. Ethical and moral implications have been cited by customers and concerned workers. Some customers feel pressured to accept alterations that were not originally agreed upon. Getting pressured into sales and up sales and customer orders not being completed promptly were among some of the complaints listed against them. Also, some workers have reported unethical behavior in the shop and find it difficult to work for a variety of reasons.

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<h2>Reality TV Star</h2>

While Ryan has a successful business, much of his claim to fame comes from his exposure on television. His first high profile opportunity appeared with NBA <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O'Neal">star</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O'Neal">Shaq</a> who wanted a customized, one of a kind, Chevrolet Suburban. This opened his door to many celebrities that wanted the same sort of one-of-a-kind customization. These popular customizations led to MTV wanting to create a show with him based on creating customized cars.

This was when Pimp My Ride came to fruition. Hosted by popular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xzibit">rapper</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xzibit">Xzibit</a>, the show would find people with vehicles that were considered to be “junkyard ready”. The host would ask them questions to find out their likes, dislikes, interests, and hobbies. This information was then taken to Ryan. His team would then perform a complete makeover on the individuals' car. They would do modifications like Installing spinning rims, custom paint jobs, TV’s, and automation.

While the show was incredibly popular, Ryan felt that the show had become too much of a gimmick and he felt he was no longer spending enough time doing the things he loved, namely, fixing up cars with a serious focus. He felt that spent too much time recording the show for MTV. In 2007 he ended his contract with the network after four seasons.

Soon after leaving MTV, he started a new TV series called “Street Customs,” which aired on the Discovery Channel and TLC. His new show demonstrated a much more realistic approach to car customizations. They would rebuild real customer cars to ensure real customer satisfaction instead of the ridiculous modifications they did for MTV.

Ryan launched a third TV series called “Inside West Coast Customs” which aired in January 2011. A second season began in February 2012. The show did well and ran until its final season on March 10, 2014. His company, West Coast Customs, has even been featured in popular video games such as “LA Rush” and the “Grand Theft Auto” series.

While West Coast Customs has worldwide customers, some of the most notable customizations have occurred at his Burbank location, which includes a taco truck for Chronic Tacos, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Hilton">Paris Hilton</a>’s Pink Bentley, a Cadillac hearse for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Audigier">Christian Audigier</a>, designs for NASCAR’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusty_Wallace">Rusty Wallace</a>, and a mobile style ticking booth for the LA Dodgers.

In 2016, he announced that a franchise would be opening in Shanghai, China. He has also announced his desire to open a training center to teach students what he considers to be a dying art of car customizations. He understands that he is partly to blame because of his show on MTV. He tried to undo the damage by making more realistic shows after leaving MTV.

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