Club Dirty Auto: Automotive Backgrounds: Chip Foose

-Many times I sit and daydream about people who represent the car culture, either someone devoted to the automotive world or someone having a strong passion for cars outside of their daily tasks. Questions like, "How did they get that job?" or "What steps led them to be recognized as automotive enthusiasts?" come up and I find myself looking for answers. I will do my best to collect the most appropriate information and discuss people that are key in the automotive culture, in no particular order. Hopefully this will put some pieces together for those of you looking into get further into the automotive world, or on the other end, to keep you from quitting your day job!

Automotive Backgrounds: Chip Foose

President and CEO of Foose Designs

Courtesy: Machine Finder

Samuel Foose, Jr. aka Chip Foose, began working around cars at the age of seven in his Dad's Californian company, Project Design. His Dad repaired cars for insurance companies prior to Project Design. Samuel Foose Sr. made the transition into the hot rod world by following his passion, fabricating sheet metal. During the years of working at his dads shop, Chip had an encounter with Alex Tremulus (The designer of the Tucker Sedan), who holds credit for inspiring Chip to attend the Art Center College of Design.

1970 Dodge Challenger: Foose Designs

After Chip graduated high school, he went on to attend the school in Pasadena, California at the age of 19. In 1984, after two years of attendance, he could no longer attend the college due to financial constraints. From there he got a job working for the ASHA Corporation, which is a company that made auto prototypes. Chip was successful at ASHA and made a deal with his employer, that included returning to the Art Center College of Design to finish his degree at the expense of ASHA. It was during this time that he met his wife-to-be, Lynne Foose, who was supportive of Chip to finish his degree.The main stipulation of the deal for Foose included returning to ASHA after he received his diploma. Unfortunately Chip lost his younger sister, Amy, during this time in 1985 at the age of 16. Amy had a genetic disease called Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria that she had since her birth (More information about Progeria). Chip Foose was promoted to the Director of Design at ASHA in 1989, and graduated with honors from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1990.

Courtesy: Bill-Dunn.com
1968 Ford Bronco designed by Chip Foose on Overhaulin'

Later the same year after graduation, Chip started talking with Boyd Coddington, leading to a part-time position at Hot Rods by Boyd while still fulfilling his obligation to ASHA Corporation. In 1993, Chip Foose made the transition to work full time at Hot Rods by Boyd. Some consider Boyd Coddington, Sr to be the founder of commercializing the hot rod industry, which started in his backyard garage in 1977. Chip worked with Boyd for five years, when in 1998 Chip Foose and his wife, Lynn, started Foose Design. It was around this time that Chip got news that he was a father to be, which added to the drama of starting a company from scratch (This was about all the news I could find easily about his family life. Its either a good thing that its private, or bad that they are not mentioned that much in the media). Chip made the decison to pursue Foose Design after seeing Hot Rods by Boyd was falling into financial trouble around the time of his exit. Since opening up shop, Foose has won multiple awards for his craftsmanship and design. Chip has won seven AMBR (Americas Most Beautiful Roadster) awards, with the most recent in 2006 with a '36 Ford

Courtesy: Pat Durkin

Foose Design is based in Huntington, California. Most of the country became familiar with Foose and his shop via the popular television show Overhaulin', which aired on TLC from 2004-2009. The show featured regular guys(and gals) that had a car they loved that was in need of some restoration attention. The Overhaulin' team would "steal" the cars and restore them within roughly 8 days, mostly in Foose's shop. The series will be making its return with all-new episodes, starting 10/2/2012 on the Velocity cable channel.