Builds
Long before the automotive world was familiar with the name Chip Foose, he had already honed his skills working with his father, custom car builder Sam Foose, at Sam’s Goleta, California, shop since he was a mere seven years old. Armed with this hands-on knowledge of the mechanics of hot rods, Chip enrolled at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
For many of us, the culmination of money and time spent on our street rods comes through experiences with our friends, whether it’s at the corner drive-in on the weekend or at a national event with thousands of people. It’s there we can share stories, laughs and the fruits of our labors, namely, the cars that bring us together in celebration of history, creativity and realized possibilities.
When news of the Show Car Buildoff began circulating, the team at DuPont Hot Hues saw it as an excellent opportunity to not only become involved, but also to provide a sound platform to help all of us better understand what is involved in painting a car. The color selection is a process in and of itself, but having a better understanding of the characteristics of the materials used, how to use them and what is involved in using them is helpful as well.
Carl Casper’s name has been synonymous with the custom car movement for a long time. As a teenager, Casper created his famous ’51 Chevrolet custom, the Exotic Empress. The car went on to win the 1961 NHRA National Custom Car Championship. (You know it was a long time ago if NHRA was promoting car shows!) Carl Casper is a talented guy who can perform virtually every task required to build a world-class custom car, from metal fabrication to paint and upholstery, and while many of his creations took the form of wild custom cars, they were all driveable.
While it may be somewhat of a surprise that muscle cars have become some of the most highly prized cars on the market today, the prices people are paying for them really have enthusiasts reeling. With some cars easily surpassing the million-dollar mark at the Barrett-Jackson auctions and others swelling in value in the wake of it all—well beyond the prices paid for the most treasured of European exotics—muscle cars have been transformed into commodities. That’s a good thing and a bad thing.
Xtreme Velocity Motorsports is a muscle car builder whose name is not a put-on. While there are a huge number of shops around the country with a ton of talent for fabrication, much of this fabrication is performed for cars that will hardly see a world beyond the show schedules and their trailers. So XV takes its name seriously, and it builds its cars to drive hard—on the street or on the track. In fact, the company’s reason for being is to make old Mopars drive like new sports cars, but to pull off a trick like that, you need a lot more than dead reckoning.
Leon Sneed and Chris de Melo are the men behind Big House Customs, a Mustang restoration and customization shop in Dayton, Tennessee. We met them after moving our company to Dayton, the town we now call home. Like anyone else who runs their own shop, they are constantly on the lookout for project cars to fill in the gaps when customers don’t bring in cars, and that’s exactly what De Melo was doing when he saw a newspaper ad selling miscellaneous Mustang parts.
The 55th Annual NSRA Street Rod Nationals brought a roaring good time to the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville from August 1st to 4th, 2024. The event, a turbocharged celebration of classic cars, drew a massive crowd of enthusiasts. The Auto Builder was on the scene, capturing every thrilling moment. In this exclusive pictorial review, we’re showcasing some of our favorite builds from the show.
It seems to more than the occasional observer that there are about five Fords that make up the heart of the super rodding and custom car culture: the ’27 T pickup; the ’32 roadster; the ’33-’34 Ford coupe; the ’40 coupe; and the ’49-’51 “Shoebox” Ford, in all of its deviations.
It all started with my buddy Dave Collins, a flooring contractor who happened to own a ’55 DeSoto sedan, complete with terminal rust. I told him I would be interested in buying the engine,” says Jim Moore, owner of this roadster. “He replied that if I would buy the entire car, he would sell me new carpet for cost plus five percent; this enabled me to haul the DeSoto hulk home and part it out without any complaints from my wife as she gained new carpet in the deal.” And so it goes in the world of hot rodding!
