Well a traditional hot rodder made it into Motor Trend Magazine's 2007 Power List. This is their annual list of the 50 most influential people in automobiles in the world. Most HAMBers will have heard of maybe four or five of these people and we could generally care less about them since they make "new" cars. Well they selected Chip as number 50. They listed him as a "hot rod designer, reality television star". Their "Bottom line: The car guy's Marta Stewart". Chip is a rookie on their list. For others on the list: Jay Leno at number 48 and Craig Jackson of Barrett-Jackson Auctions is number 49. Its nice to see that a really nice guy and a hot rodder gets some recognition outside the hot rod world.
Yep. Kudos to Chip. I really want to know more about the work his dad, sam has done. I like the way he credits his pop with so much of his knowledge and drive for detail. I think you're right about the majority of the industry guys. Who cares. They will get their credit in a couple of decades if it is really warranted, like Harley Earl and Lee Iacoca did. It is nice to see jay getting credit for his preservation efforts. He is literally the savior of many unique cars. Craig Jackson is cool, too, but he is only the most recent face on a family that has done that business for 30+ years.
Kudos to Chip.... but... What a lame *** list, bunch of automotive CEOs and a few "others" thrown in. How the hell does the designer of a playstation game rank 29th and a guy whose won the Ridler several times rank 50th? Rich
I second the motion about seeing and hearing more of Sam's work. I think Chip is great and hate to see him tangled up in a political list like this one. I'd like to know what it takes to make this list and who picked them.
Sam Foose did work on a lot of famous cars. Look no further than the Rod and Custom 29 Highboy of Bud Bryan. The Summer 1971 Hot Rod Magazine Street Rod Quarterly has a summary of the work on the Bryan Roadster and shows pictures of Sam working on the car. You know his work was good as they painted this car black and it looked sharp. More of his work is shown in a feature on his chopped 48 Ford custom coupe. It starts on page 32 of the Hot Rod Magazine Rod and Custom No. 9 from 1979 by Gray Baskerville. There is even a picture of Sam's coupe with a kid on a bicycle riding next to him. Maybe its Chip? Oh, yeah it flathead powered! Sam also worked on rebuilding Chip's F100 for the Overhaulin episode. No wonder Chip was so moved when they revealed that one to him. Sam Foose: a real legend in hot rod bodywork.
Chip is a good guy. He is nice to anyone that wants to talk to him about anything. I have noticed that even though his stuff doesnt really fit in here, no one ever has anything to say about the guy ather than how cool he is and how happy we are about his success. Thats cool. good for him.
I guess you missed the threads here about his P-32 roadster with the Lincoln V12 at last year's Detroit Autorama. He does do some traditional stuff. In his business, he needs to do some more "modern" designs to keep the paying customers coming in the door. I think that most people here admire his expert craftsmanship; which he did learn from his Dad. For Big Tony, The editors of Motor Trend Magazine pick who is on the list. Its made up of who the editors think are the movers and shakers in the world of automobiles worldwide. That's why the list is mostly CEO's and executives of the different manufacturer's. The website probably has more info on the list and the criteria of how to make the list. http://www.motortrend.com
Bingo. This is Exhibit A in the case "Why Mainstream Auto Journalism ****S." Fer crissakes, what kind of bubble does Motor Trend live in? With a couple of exceptions like Foose and Leno (two very excellent REAL car guys), this list is mostly a collection of Eurotrash industry viscounts who probably wouldn't have a clue how to change their own oil. Why do these magazines think that car enthusiasts give 0.0001% of a flying **** about the latest boardroom intrigues between VW's Wolfgang Von Phlegmburgh and Renault's Jacques de la Merde? When I buy a car magazine, I want to read about CARS, not freaking corporate personalities.
It just ain't fair a used car salesman in position 48 above Chip, Chip's got more talent in 1 little finger than those Barrett boys, I just don't get it!
I met chip at a GoodGuys event a few years back. Very humble. Crazy he can stay like that with that amount of talent and fame. Hell of a nice guy. & Jay Leno's garage has found it's way into my WET dreams many times.
Chips photo is on the front page of yesterdays Motor City section of the Detroit Free Press with Carroll Shelby and Edsel B Ford. It's a real nice article about "customizer retains edginess as he moves to mainstream" and describes how Foose created a special edition F-150 pickup that will be unveiled this weekend at the North American International Auto Show. Goes on to describe his other contribution to the automotive world as well.
Truth of the matter... Motor Trend is greasing the wheels that will give them access for the next exclusive preview they print for each manufacturer and gadget designer. "put a name on the list now and you'll get behind the scenes tomorrow". Who would care to start our own Top 50 car guys? I'll go first. Change the order if you like. I'm not very familiar with the real alumni of rodding.... 1. Harley Earl - godfather of factory style 2. Sam Foose - Pop's to Chip and helluva body guy, rodder. 3. Chip foose - Execution Genius, traditional or not 4. Carol Shelby - Duh, he bested ferrari with his idea, Ford financed it. 5. Zora Arkus-Duntov - Cool heads for your flatty and the SBC. Who's got 5 more?
Screw chip and his P.O.S. cars now that i've seen one stripped i know of his lack of quality like raised pannels and fender peaks, made of bondo, ****ty spot welds on sheet metal, super glued in taillights and firewalls made of bondo with blocks of wood covering holes the sort of **** i wouldnt put on my cars
What you just described sounds like a typical full scale car show prototype model manufacturers make for show only and usually destroyed afterwards. You sure this example was ever intended to be driven? Which Foose car you taking about? There aren't that many you know...
Yeah. Spoken like a true expert. I wondered how "Impression" was gonna hold up. Or the "Grand Master" as well. WTF, over? I can smell the sour g****s right through the screen.
I myself was glad to see Chip, Shelby, and Jackson on the list. I find it odd they listed one of Shelby's creds as a huckster. Those guys for good and bad have impacted the auto hobby and I like them being mentioned with designers and such. People should be complaining more about some of the CEO's on that list IMHO because a few of them to me have really done some damage...esp. to American car companies. Calling Chips stuff junk? Man, I have seen several of his cars firsthand...I don't see it. As for the game guy, he deserves it. I don't get how you can knock the guy. The GT games on the PS2 have introduced far more kids to cars than any mag or TV show. They may not be the kind of cars most people on the HAMB are into but the games are creating future gear heads. How many times has somebody on the HAMB said Hot Wheels and model cars got me started when I was little? I know that is true of myself. Gran Turismo on the PS2 is the Hot Wheels of today. That guy that owns that company really has a p***ion for cars, the product shows it in the details. I wish somebody could do something of that quality featuring hot rods and muscle cars at the drags, salt, lakes, and streets. Start the game in the late 40's and end in 1972 adding the cars and parts as the years go by. It will never happen, but one can dream. Dose not beat the real thing but is better than much of what is on TV these days.
I met his dad,Sam when I had my pinstriping booth set up with Gene Winfield in Paso Robles in 05.Gene introduced me to him and he is a really nice guy. I was suppose to meet Chip at the show but he was somewhere else that week.Gene let me meet alot of his friends the two weeks I stayed with him .It was the greatest two weeks of my life.Two friend of mine and I flew out to his garage in the desert and work with him for two weeks.He had me pinstripe everything in the garage,the doors his louver machine everything.
I'll just add three: - Edsel Ford - The aesthetic heart of the Ford Motor Company from the Model A through '42 - Sam Barris - Raised the bar on custom metal shaping - Bill Mitchell - Earl's successor, and the force behind all the '60s GM cars
I'd add in: Spence Murray - Long time editor of Rod and Custom. His Dream Truck and later the 36 Roadster custom were killer cool. How many of us old timers were influenced by his writing and work? Too many to count. Tom Hanna - Premier aluminium body man. There are countless Hanna FED bodies that were beautiful even without paint. I'll second the nomination of Sam Barris. Gene Winfield - One of the greats. Rich Gurasco - Yes, most of what he built was drag race cars, but they were all innovative, beautiful and fast. One heck of a compe***ive hot rodder still today, just ask Denise. Vern Tardel - Why do you have to ask? More nominations, please.
aah ahhh .. ahh FOOOOOOOSE .. excuse me That fool would put graphics on 32 high boy .. wait he has !! There , I said it .. Poser Yeah, Yeah .. I know he is the man, his stuff rocks Whatever , that **** he is slinging his name on with You-neek Please ..
What the hell is wrong with you guys.... How could you have missed.. Ed Roth?? Ed Iskederian? Vic Edlebrock Sr.? Alex Xidias? Dean Moon? There's my 5!
Different strokes for different folks. I don't like or care for the ricers in the world. But that isn't my "stroke." Maybe you are just jelous that he makes bank, is on tv, and people come out of the wood work with signed blank checks. People that hate should be shipped off to a small island were they can duke it out over who is right. I have been grateful for the amount of control that most show on this forum but everyonce in awhile someone has to pipe up and ruin it for everyone. Chip has done great things for bringing our hobby to the rest of the world. And rather than have the next generation of builders get a their beginning from a Playstation game, they can see a real car built by a real team with real skills while learning actual techniques and proceedures. I say props to ANYONE like Chip, Earl, Iacoca, Shelby, and even some names from the ricer world that I don't know. I agree that the movers and shakers for Motortrend's list might not matter to us as much and politics are probably the motive behind some of their choices. So what, there is more to life than arguing over Chip's contributions or lack of.
The #2 guy on the list is the head of a company that lost $6,600,000 last year... Maybe if Chip robs a liquor store or kicks a puppy or two he can crack the top ten! Maybe it's a good thing to be at the bottom of that list.
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