Overhauling Chip Foose

Flying SWA from Chicago to Florida and back in 2 days - I had 5 hours and free TV shows to watch and it all came down to 3 episodes of Overhauling - cheesy? Yes.

But Chip Foose is not afraid to work and does a great job on the cars. He comes across as a nice guy but the show gets on my nerves. I just couldn't watch 3 episodes of Richard Rawlings that I already saw.

Any fans?

I don't get his obsession with two tone paint jobs and giant wheels, but otherwise like his style and I admire his work ethic. I'm also glad they've given up on 'stealing' people's cars and the lame stunts from the earlier seasons.

Yeah, I forgot about the giant wheels - not a fan either

I dig his work. I sometimes question certain things he does, but other than that, I usually like the way his stuff comes out.

The two-tone and 'Foose Fade' is a bit repetitive, but I have to say the guy does know colors. His combinations frequently start out making me go "What? That sounds horrible" to it being finished and "Damn, wish I'd thought of that".

The big wheels are 'in' right now; it's not exclusive to Foose.

The quality of work that he and his team performs is impressive.

I will agree, a lot of his cars are not really how I would want it or how I would have thought to do it. They almost always look good and his quality of work is top notch. I would prefer one color to the two tones he usually goes with. All that being said I don't really watch overhaulin that much. Caught an episode last night which is probably what my comments are mostly based on.

I like his work, mostly, the show is OK. The results are typically a bit flashier on the coloring side than I go for, but his eye for altering sheetmetal and body lines is outstanding. I agree on the oversize wheel thing, that seems pervasive in the market though

Not a fan of the huge wheels either. Also agree that the "stunts" were stupid and took away from the show. I think they put too much of an emphasis on crying on TV and making an ass out of yourself. Although, I may cry like a baby if they did that to one of my cars.

+a million on the big wheels … but that's the "style" now-a-days … I do enjoy the show (or used to when I could watch it … where's Speed channel when we need it ?)

as to the big wheels .. my new car came with 16" and I wish I could have found it with the base model 15's

I remember an episode a while back when they were taking the 4-speed manual out of a Roadrunner. The owners wife stopped them. "That's the reason he bought that car", she explained. Foose and crew looked a bit surprised... It was a bit of a scramble to find a 5-speed for the car, but they did it.

Gearheadotaku wrote: I remember an episode a while back when they were taking the 4-speed manual out of a Roadrunner. The owners wife stopped them. "That's the reason he bought that car", she explained. Foose and crew looked a bit surprised... It was a bit of a scramble to find a 5-speed for the car, but they did it.

It used to be every car got a small block Chevy and an automatic, but more and more often now they are sticking with the original drivetrain, or at least a new engine of the same brand.

Don't watch the show anymore, but I met him and his cohost at Daytona earlier this year. Super nice folks.

I have met Chip a few times but the encounter I remember the most was at SEMA a few years ago. I was walking the outdoor area on Monday, getting a preview of the show and I see Foose's booth sign and the Hemisfear sitting out front. I grab a quick photo of the car and look over to see Chip assembly the booth. No helpers to be found, he's over there hammering together beams and hanging canvas sides. He noticed me looking over the car and asked what I thought. We talked for a few minutes and I remarked that I was shocked he was putting together his own booth. He chuckled and said he was the only one who knew how it worked. Dude has enough money that he could just fly in and out for the show, but there he is busting his butt like the rest of the show crew guys. I respect that.

I usually like the bigger wheels (I put 19s on my 740iL and 20s on my Mustang), but he doesn't always put them on (I've watched pretty much all of the shows, so I actually know what he does). He aslo doesn't always do 2 tone, though he'd usually dealing with cars thet lend themselves to that treatment (usually classic American iron, but he didn't do 2 tone on the Porsche 356 or the '32 Ford, or one of the GTOs or a number of other cars).

I like that there's no builder drama and that everyone sems to get along. If a car looks to be difficult to get done in the alloted time, they just put more expert people on it and get it done. I AM glad that they got rid of the major pranking.

I've seen many of the cars well after the show and they do hold up. The build quality is excellent. I wish I was on teh west coast so he could do my car. (and I wish I had the metric butt ton of money it takes to have him do the car when not on the show)

True Story:

So, I’m in the back of a pickup with Foose, and a live deer! Well, he grabs the deer by the antlers, looks at it and says, ‘I’m Chip motherf_ckin Foose! Say it!’ Then he squeezes the deer in such a way that a sound comes out of its mouth – ‘cheepfoosh!’ It wasn’t exactly it, but it was pretty good for a deer!

Also, there was an OH episode with a 60s Nova in it. It was cool, and I liked it.

I Really would like to see Foose do a Corvair. Especially a late model. I like that he changes certain things on the cars and says how it's how it should have come from the factory. Like when he removes the license plate pan out of a front bumper or changes the sheet metal just enough that it doesn't look custom. Also the fact that he does it himself is great.

I would like to see a Corvair also (the DID do an aircooled bug) but it's probably unlikely. The primary reason is the same reason a lot of people avoid the car, the drivetrain, they don't understand it. More importantly, finding someone to build up a "custom" motor for them is going to be a LOT more difficult (no crate motors) and of course doing in a hurry (yes, I know, they will fake it) is almost impossible. I would like to see what he would do though. If he did my car, the first thing I would do is take off the ridiculous rims he would put on it.

I also like it subtle changes to cars that make them look better, but also make them look factory, not obviously custom. If you don't know the car and you see something on it and it looks custom, you are not doing it right.

I saw him at LAX a few months ago... tiny guy.

Based on the thread title, I thought someone stole Chip out of his own home, kept him for a week in a shop while 30-40 mechanics crawled all over him and after the week was up they returned him to his family with a two tone paint job and some really big shoes.

aircooled wrote: I would like to see a Corvair also (the DID do an aircooled bug) but it's probably unlikely. The primary reason is the same reason a lot of people avoid the car, the drivetrain, they don't understand it. More importantly, finding someone to build up a "custom" motor for them is going to be a LOT more difficult (no crate motors) and of course doing in a hurry (yes, I know, they will fake it) is almost impossible. I would like to see what he would do though. If he did my car, the first thing I would do is take off the ridiculous rims he would put on it.

If he did your car you'd have a say in the kind of wheels he put on it. Remember, he's not doing the "steal the car" prank, and the owner and the collaborators do have a lot of say in how the car comes out.

This is a VW he overhauled, notice lack of big wheels?

Also notice this '32 that Overhauling did:

Chris_V wrote:

aircooled wrote: I would like to see a Corvair also (the DID do an aircooled bug) but it's probably unlikely. The primary reason is the same reason a lot of people avoid the car, the drivetrain, they don't understand it. More importantly, finding someone to build up a "custom" motor for them is going to be a LOT more difficult (no crate motors) and of course doing in a hurry (yes, I know, they will fake it) is almost impossible. I would like to see what he would do though. If he did my car, the first thing I would do is take off the ridiculous rims he would put on it.

If he did your car you'd have a say in the kind of wheels he put on it. Remember, he's not doing the "steal the car" prank, and the owner and the collaborators do have a lot of say in how the car comes out. This is a VW he overhauled, notice lack of big wheels? Also notice this '32 that Overhauling did:

Yeah I was going to say, they definitely let them have a say on the wheels.

However, I wouldn't be too worried about engine work. They will find people who specialize in that stuff and bring them in. They always do it with the VW stuff. They also did it with the Porsche.

I have to compare the show to the stuff I've seen Boyd Coddington (RIP), and I have to say, Foose gets the nod.

I just watched an old episode from 2005 where they did a 1965 Chevy SS409 Impala. It came out pretty nice, although the wheels were too big . An interesting thing was Richard Rawlings and a couple of the Gas Monkey guys worked on the build.