“Gregarious as well as cantankerous, he was always good for a belly laugh. “Sam Foose was one of a kind,” Drummond said. John Drummond, former Goodguys all-around talent and long-time veteran of the hot rod scene, was effusive about Sam’s talent and influence.
#Chip foose house update#
Sam Foose was also good friends with Goodguys founder Gary Meadors, who in the ’80s recruited Sam to update his ’32 Ford Tudor – the Goodguys logomobile – and later had him build a contemporary custom ’56 Continental Mark II with help from Denny Olson and Street Rods by Denny. Sam also made regular appearances on Chip’s successful television show, “Overhaulin’,” where he was quick to recite such maxims as, “you’re only as good as your customer allows you to be,” and, “less is more, but doing more with less is better.” Naturally, the two would often team up on projects. Sam eventually sold the car, but decades later Chip tracked it down and presented it to his dad – who hadn’t seen it in 40 years!īy the early ’90s Chip – schooled informally by his father and formally at Art Center College of Design – began his own career in automotive design. It looked sleek enough to fit inside mail slot. The car’s profile was dramatically angular. Ford V8 rumbling mid-ship behind the passengers. Sam’s version began with a crashed ’72 DeTomaso Pantera, which came stock with a 351c.i. Sam could pull off unconventional projects as well, none more so than his unique take on the Alfa Romeo Carabo coupe concept shown at the 1968 Paris Motor Show. The buff books agreed, providing extensive coverage, which enhanced Sam’s reputation. It’s difficult to improve on the lines of a shoebox Ford coupe, but the stretched and smoothed Foose/Bradly creation was indeed stunning.
One of his most prominent builds was a ’49 Ford coupe, built in partnership with designer Harry Bradley and fabricator/customizer Donn Lowe, for owner Jack Barnard. This commitment gradually paid off when Foose’s creations began to grace the pages of hot rod magazines. This prompted Terry to bring dinner and the kids to the shop, so they could all eat together. Chip recalled the time his father stayed in the shop for four straight days and nights. It’s here that Sam’s tireless commitment to his craft intervened with traditional family life, as 100-hour work weeks became common. But off-hours Sam continued crafting cars in 1970 he opened a shop of his own in Santa Barbara, called Project Designs.īy this time, Sam was married to Terry, a car-gal extraordinaire, and had four children at home (one named Chip). That job landed him a position with Minicars, where he put together “safety car” prototypes as part of a government-funded program that ultimately yielded air bags, crumple zones, and pedestrian impact standards. Then he got a break, a gig with model kit maker AMT.Īt AMT, Sam worked alongside legendary customizer Gene Winfield, building full-size custom cars for later shrinkage down to 1:24-scale model kits. Upon his return to the States, he continued to work on rods and customs. While in the service, he convinced his superiors he could repair all those broken Jeeps piling up, war casualties as it were. Sam’s journey toward car-crafting greatness was temporarily sidetracked by the Korean War. Later, the car won honors at the 1955 Los Angeles Autorama car show. All this scrambling instilled in him a dogged, untiring work ethic, one that would power his life.ĭuring high school Sam built his first hot rod, a customized ’42 Ford coupe, which was a portent of great cars to come. To survive, Sam bunked in his girlfriend’s garage and turned wrenches to make ends meet he’d learned basic metal and mechanical skills in junior high school shop. Sam, age 14, decided to stay in Santa Barbara and take his chances going solo as a teenager. After a few years, the job went south and the family did too, back to LA. When he was young, his father – also named Sam – took a job in the root-beer business up the coast in Santa Barbara. Sam Foose was born in 1934 in southern California. Huh? But what about Chip Foose, the design pioneer who overhauled the entire look of hot rods in the 1990s and 2000s? No, we’re talking about Sam – Chip’s father – who bent and shaped custom car metal long before Chip was old enough to sweep a shop floor. It’s the purpose of this column to chronicle these giants, the icons who created the hobby we enjoy today.
It’s a name as essential to the history of hot rodding as Parks, Petersen, Roth, Shelby, Barris, and dozens more.
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