Any gearhead who loves custom cars has at least heard of the legendary Chip Foose. For the past few decades, Chip Foose has been one of the best custom car builders. Foose is so good at his job that he has built a successful vehicle customization business and hosted the popular reality TV show Overhaulin', where he finds old beat-up classic cars and breathes new life into them.
Chip learned a lot about cars at a young age from his father, Sam, who was a hot rod builder. He then attended the ArtCenter College of Design where he perfected the art of car customization. Since then, Foose has built some of the best custom cars ever, nine of which have won the coveted America's Most Beautiful Roadster title. Let's delve into ten of the best custom cars Chip Foose has ever built.
10 1971 Mach 1 Mustang
Dubbed the "Mach Foose," this custom Mustang is the perfect example of breathing new life into an old car. From the outside, the Mach Foose looks like a '70s muscle car but underneath, it's a whole different story.
To build this incredible custom, Foose started by dropping a classic 1971 Mach 1 Mustang body onto a fifth-generation Mustang GT chassis. He then re-engineered the front end and installed a one-off grille inspired by some of the best American muscle cars of the '70s. He then finished it off with an elegant champagne silver hue, ensuring it would wow everyone at its SEMA Show debut.
9 Impression
One day, Chip Foose was having dinner with his friend Ken Reister when a new custom car idea popped in his head. He wanted to build the modern version of a mid-30's roadster. Foose immediately drew a sketch on a dinner napkin, and that's how the story of the "Impression" began.
The Impression was an exceptional build that required a lot of work, which explains why it took Foose seven years to build it. It had more than 4,000 individual hand-built parts, with the only OEM parts being the engine, transmission, and the rear end center section. The Impression was such a design masterpiece that it won the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award.
8 P-32
Chip had always been fascinated by World War II-era warplanes, so he decided to build a custom hot rod that emulated the planes. Starting with a 1932 Ford Highboy Roadster, Chip raised the rear wheel well, reshaped the cowl, lengthened the doors, added a custom hood and nose piece, and finished it off with olive drab paint.
Foose also modeled the car's exposed exhaust manifold tips after a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and installed bomber seats from a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress to maintain the aviation theme.
7 1967 Dodge Charger
Like many gearheads, Chip Foose believes that the Dodge Charger is one of the greatest American muscle cars. So when he got a chance to work on a 1967 Charger for his TV Show Overhaulin', he knew he couldn't pass it up.
This particular Charger belonged to a man who inherited his dad's cherished car but didn't have the funds to restore it. Chip and his team stepped in and restored the car in front of a live audience at the Las Vegas SEMA Show. The end result was truly gorgeous — Chip redesigned the car's grille, installed new wheels with shiny chrome rims, and gave it a new black and silver paint job.
6 1957 Chevy Convertible
This stunning '57 Chevrolet convertible is one of Chip's most recent projects. When Chip received the car, he immediately realized that its classic shape is still as iconic as ever, so he decided to make it a highly detailed restomod instead of an over-the-top custom.
One of the best decisions Chip made for the car is its unique paint job — it has a striking Tropical Turquoise Pearl paint job that Chip achieved by mixing several shades of Turquoise. Under the hood lives a stout LS3 V8 paired with a 4L80E transmission.
5 The Hemisfear
Back in the early '90s, when Chip Foose was in his final year of college, Chrysler sponsored a project where Chip and his classmates were required to design a car for a niche market. However, Chip didn't want to design a vehicle for an existing market, so he came up with the awe-inspiring Hemisfear. This part supercar, part hot rod, and part custom gained a lot of recognition and was even featured in motoring magazines.
Sadly, Chip didn't have the resources to build the Hemisfear at the time, so he abandoned the project. Sixteen years later, Chip finally secured the seed money he needed for the Hemisfear project and built two versions for the 2006 SEMA show.
4 1970 Plymouth Barracuda “Terracuda”
The story of the Terracuda began when Darren Metropoulos — who owned a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda — showed Chip Foose his beautiful gold and brown Breitling watch and asked him to use it as inspiration when customizing his Barracuda.
Foose started by designing an entirely new frame and molding a new one-off steel hood for the car. He then reshaped the front and rear fascias and installed a new front grille, giving it an aggressive look. Other significant changes included installing a Corvette C5 suspension system, moving the front wheels forward, and replacing the original engine with a HEMI crate engine that packed a punch.
3 1948 Cadillac “Eldorod”
This 1948 Cadillac is a historically significant build in Chip's illustrious career. This is the first-ever car Chip designed in the '90s when he was working as a Chief Designer at Boyd's. It's also the last car to be built by Boyd's before the company went out of business in 1998.
Years later, the new owner of the car heard that Chip had a different vision for the car back in his Boyd's days, so he requested Foose Design to redo the car as per Chip's initial designs. The first thing Chip did was change the car's paint job from Maroon to brilliant blue, as he had originally planned. He then installed a new Carson top, new grille, new leather interior and redesigned the bumpers.
2 1965 Chevy Impala “Impostor”
What if Chevy's Corvette studio built a muscle car in 1965 instead of the beloved sports car? Well, the answer is this Foose-built 1965 Chevrolet Impala "Impostor." As its name suggests, the Impostor may look like a 1965 Impala, but underneath it's really a Corvette C6.
To make this project a reality, Chip Foose purchased a brand new 2009 Corvette from a Chevy dealership just a few blocks away from his business and stretched its chassis by more than seven inches. He then shortened a 1965 Impala's body by 14 inches and dropped it on the Corvette chassis, creating an absolute beauty.
1 1974 Jaguar E-Type
The iconic Jaguar E-Type is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful sports cars ever built. However, one customer wanted an E-Type like no other, so he asked Chip Foose to work his magic on a 1974 model.
The E-Type was one of Chip's most important projects, so he spent more than two years on it. The result was better than anyone could have imagined — the Jag had a stretched trunk lid, redesigned headlights and taillights, extended rocker panels, a new dashboard and pedals, wire-lock chrome wheels, and a Magnaflow quad exhaust. Foose also replaced the original V12 with a 6.2-liter Chevrolet V8 producing 525 horsepower, giving the E-Type a sweet American soundtrack.