Thursday, November 30, 2006

Award-Winning Auto Designer Chip Foose!



This is a blogg with focus on the worlds best automotive designer:
Chip Foose, the renowned designer behind some of the most famous vehicles of the past decade and the star of the popular TLC series "Overhaulin'.

Bacground
Foose began working on automobiles at age seven for his father's company (Project Design). Encouraged by Ford and Preston Tucker designer Alex Tremulis, Foose started to attend the Art Center College of Design in 1982, however dropped out after two years due to financial difficulties. After working for four years at ASHA Corp., Foose returned to the Art Center to complete his education. After graduating in 1990, Foose worked full-time for Sterenberger Design and part-time for Boyd Coddington. In 1993, Foose resigned from Sterenberger to work for J Mays at Ford, however Coddington was able to convince Foose to work for him instead. Working for Coddington full-time, Foose eventually became the president of Coddington's company Hot Rods by Boyd. While working for Coddington, Foose designed many of Coddington's well known creations such as the Boydster I and II. In 1998, with Hot Rods by Boyd facing bankruptcy, Foose resigned his position and with his wife Lynne started his own automotive and product design company called Foose Design in Huntington Beach, California. Foose gained more exposure in 2003 as a result of a TLC documentary on his design and creation of a modified 2002 Ford Thunderbird called the Speedbird. In 2004, the TLC program Overhaulin' began to air with Foose as the star of show. As of 2006, Foose continues to operate Foose Design, star in Overhaulin', and provide design consultations to the Big Three automakers. Foose and his wife live in Southern California with their two children Brock and Katie.

Honors and Awards
Foose has won widespread recognition for the excellence and originality of his automotive designs and creations. In November 1997, Foose became the youngest person to be inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame. Additionally, Foose was inducted into the Darryl Starbird Rod & Custom Car Museum Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame in 2003, and the San Francisco Rod and Custom Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2005. Foose has also won the following awards for his work:

America's Most Beautiful Roadster Award in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2006. Some of these cars were designed by Foose and completed by other builders including such as Boyd Coddington, Barry White, and Bobby Alloway.
Detroit Autorama Ridler Award in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
The Good Guys Street Rod of the Year Award in the years 1990, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001.

Trivia
In April 2006, Foose unveiled a quarter-scale model of the Hemisfear Hot Rod, a custom coupe he will create with sponsorship from toy company JL Full Throttle. The public unveiling of the full-size Hemisfear occurred at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show in November 2006.
Episodes of the Discovery Channel TV show American Hot Rod indicate that a fierce rivalry exists between Foose and his former boss Boyd Coddington.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

chip my name is David Lee i live in sawyerville,ILL my grand son has
cf and he loves cars they have a 69super B that needs some work on it
he loves this car he's only 9yrs old but i like to see him happy and for something good happen in has live i like to know if you can make it a overhaul for your tv show
can you help i like to see him and has dad have one good thing happen in there live
thank you

David Lee

Anonymous said...

this is David Lee chip i did not put my email on it mom38@madisontelco.com or leftonman2003@yahoo.com

Rebecca said...

this is David Lee chip i did not put my email on it mom38@madisontelco.com or leftonman2003@yahoo.com