Stallion Breeder During one busy day, we pestered Chip Foose about his work with the Foose Stallion and his Foose Design
5.0: How involved are you in the design and engineering of the vehicle?
Chip Foose: Well, actually, I went back to Tecstar in Detroit and worked with the modelers on all the clay parts. So we did a complete new front face shift, headlights, side markers, grilles, and then side markers-oh, I'm sorry, side rockers. We also did a rear face shift and a rear wing, and we got involved with a lot of interior details. We got a complete new gauge pod and it's got a hoodscoop. And one model, if it's got the hoodscoop, you know it's got the blower on it. If it doesn't have the scoop, then it's not a blown version. We've also done the bigger Baer brakes and the Foose wheel with the 'Goodrich tires.
5.0: What was your assignment when you were given this project of the Stallion?
CF: Well, the original mission was-because Unique Performance sells that version-reproduction of the Eleanor from the movie Gone In 60 Seconds. And that was my job to design and build it in conjunction with Steve Stanford who did the original drawings of the Eleanor. And then I took it over and did the production design. Then Unique Performance contacted me to design an '05 Eleanor. So I started the drawings and midway through, they came back and said, "What if we sell this as a Foose Mustang? Would you be interested?" And definitely, yeah. It's still my design work. I think it's a great design and it makes the car-you know, it's still playing with that heritage of the Mustang, that '67-'68 Mustang.
5.0: Did the concept change from Eleanor to Foose Mustang?
CF: Yes, it did because now it's more my design, where originally I had it a little more coarse in design where it looked a little rugged. I thought the car needed to be a bit more refined, so we took it a few steps further.
5.0: So you describe yourself as being fairly refined?
CF: Uh, no, but the vehicles we do are.
5.0: How has your lifestyle changed?
CF: I don't consider it's a household name, but you know, this whole celebrity . . . I don't consider myself a celebrity. I like to build cars. The television brought a lot of attention to it, but I also know that it'll go away and my plan is to be back in that shop building.
5.0: Do you hope it'll go away?
CF: Not necessarily, but if you look at how it's gone for other people, this is a reality television show, and the reality is people might get tired of watching cars being built. So we're just gonna ride this wave out and where we go from there, I don't know. We've got other ideas for television shows, but let's see what happens after this.
5.0: Any you can talk about?
CF: I think it'd be a lot of fun to do a how-to-draw with kids. Maybe something like that.
5.0: Have you done illustration instruction before?
CF: Yes, up in Art Center. Don't we have a book deal? Licensing Agent: Yes, book deals . . . six books in total.
5.0: Will you give instruction on how to tear a single sheet out of your sketchpad?
CF: Yes, I will. That's number one. Hold that up, don't wrinkle it, but then tear it up. Never be afraid to destroy a piece of paper.
5.0: There's a Foose exhibit at The Petersen?
CF: In the making.
Lynn Foose: It opens in March, March 23 I believe, all the way through November. So he's gonna have previous reserved cars there, some Overhaulin' cars, his art work, his snowboard, just to kind of show that he does do stuff outside the car arena. But we're still figuring out exactly what we're gonna have in-obviously his more important cars-are gonna be displayed there. So we're excited about that.