Tremulus told Foose about the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He has perfected each specialty.įoose was 7 when he met Alex Tremulus, the designer of the groundbreaking 1948 Tucker. Chip Foose picked up his dad’s gift to design, fabricate, paint and weld. Most people have one particular knack when it comes to building cars. He was competitive, and he taught his son to be competitive. He told his son no one remembers second place. He said it’s the best way to learn from mistakes. Then he picked up a hammer and swung it into the freshly painted hood. When Foose was 9, his dad gave him a wrecked Volkswagen hood.įor weeks, after school and on weekends, Foose hammered out dents and reshaped the splintered metal. People paid seven, eight bucks for a picture of their hot rod. When Foose spotted a car he liked, he’d plop down on the ground with his sketchbook and colored pencils. Some nights when Sam couldn’t make it home, his wife, Terry, brought dinner and the kids to the shop so they could eat together.įoose rode by his father’s side in a maroon ’48 Ford Club Coupe to rod runs and car shows. He made up for missed time with family vacations. Sam appeared next to his custom creations on the pages of hot-rod magazines. At night, he pursued his real passion: hot rods. He did repair work for insurance companies to pay the bills. The lure to the shop wasn’t just the fast, shiny cars. “So I pinch myself to make sure I’m still alive.”īy the time Foose was 7, he was sweeping the cool cement floors at his father’s Santa Barbara shop, Project Design. “As Leslie Kendall, who is the curator of the museum, told me, he says, ‘You’ve got to realize most of the time people are dead before they have a show,'” says Foose. “Chip Foose: From Pen to Pavement,” uses his sketches, drawings, models, wooden bucks and completed cars to illustrate the complete construction of vehicles. Right now, the grille is on exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Still, he accepts compliments so graciously, you’d think it’s the only one he’s ever received.Ī mangled Rolls Royce grille Foose busted when he was 12 is nailed to the wall of every shop he works in. Cars like these often earn the highest accolades in the business: The Don Rid-ler award at the Detroit AutoRama and America’s Most Beautiful Roadster at the Grand National Roadster show. The smoothed-out curves of these one-off rides can take up to six years to build. But Foose stars in “Overhaulin'” on TLC, where he and a crew turn old cars into tricked-out spectacles in eight days.Īt Foose Design in Huntington Beach, raw sheet metal becomes pedals, bolts and bumpers individually crafted with the philosophy that each is made well enough to stand on its own. Most automotive designers don’t become pop-culture icons. Maybe you have to settle for three or four hours of sleep a night to accomplish what Chip Foose has at 42. He plays with the kids, Brock, 6, and Katie, 2.īy the time the children drift off to sleep, he’s kissing his wife goodbye. Now Foose leaves work most evenings to be home for dinner. So the couple made a deal on that Father’s Day almost two years ago: He would find family time. His pursuit to perfect each ride has kept him away from home for days. So it’s normal for him to work through the day, into night, into morning. The timeless visions he translates from paper to pavement influence the direction of both street rods and factory-churned vehicles.Īs far as Foose is concerned, the possibilities are endless. If praise from some of the country’s leading vehicle manufacturers is any way to measure, then Chip Foose is one of the most significant automotive designers. Choose to be a father and a husband or choose to leave. He just didn’t know that it would happen on Father’s Day. Chip Foose knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
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