Boyds Wheels Rolls Into Arizona Haven

The rescue of bankrupt custom wheel maker Boyds Wheels Inc. was quietly completed Friday as an 80% stake in the Stanton manufacturing company was transferred to Arizona-based Automotive Performance Group, or APG.

The previously announced deal gives APG control of Boyds and its car design and construction subsidiary, Hot Rods by Boyds. In return, APG has said it will pump $2 million into resurrecting Boyds and will pay about $950,000 in administrative claims relating to the bankruptcy.

APG markets Royal Purple Motor Oil and owns two major auto-racing teams and a race-engine development company.

Boyds filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization petition in January 1998. Its reorganization plan was approved a year later.

James E. Dunn, APG’s chief operating officer and Boyds chief executive, said APG will move its offices and about five administrative employees from Tempe, Ariz., to Orange County this summer. The new headquarters site has not been selected, he said.

Dunn said that Jack Daly, the former Boyds national sales director, has been hired as executive vice president.

The 20% of Boyds’ common stock not held by APG is owned by unsecured creditors and other investors.

Boyds stock, traded in the thinly followed over-the-counter market, closed at 32 cents a share Monday, unchanged. APG stock, also traded in over-the-counter, closed at $6.13, down 13 cents.