Serious television fans are well aware that on Tuesday nights it's time to tune in to TLC and check out Chip Foose and his crew of craftsman as they "steal" a car and totally rebuild it in one week's time before returning it to the owner. During that week the owner will often be pranked by calls to throw them off the track of what's really happening to their beloved vehicle, but in the end they're always thrilled with the transformation made by the "A-Team" under the supervision of designer Chip Foose and team leader Craig Chaffers.
For the first few seasons of "Overhaulin'" the formula has been to rebuild cars and trucks from the 1950s through the musclecar era because that's the style of car Chip and the team felt had the most visual impact, and were also the kinds of cars that the owners had usually stalled out rebuilding and had left in storage or in the driveway as one of those "someday" projects. Cars from the 1930s had not been touched as projects because Chip knew from his lifelong experience of building these cars that it would take much longer than one week to tackle such extensive builds. But, after the crew had plenty of late-model rebuilds under their belts, the decision to build an early hot rod just became too tempting.
From the many letters that were sent in by friends and family members to the "Overhaulin'" program, one from Aimee Wyatt that included a song about her husband's car was selected as the one. Led by host Chris Jacobs, the car was "stolen" from the owner's garage and quickly shuttled over to the "Overhaulin'" garage/studio. The team quickly assessed the car and tore it down into two piles of what they would reuse and what they would not. The pile of parts they would reuse was actually very small and was a bit misleading because originally it looked fairly simple since 90 percent of the parts would have to be brand-new. But that 10 percent that consisted of the outer body skin, '32 commercial grille shell, and set of '36 Ford rims would eventually be the biggest challenge, as the body would require much more work than had originally been anticipated. While work on the body got started, a completely new chassis from Total Cost Involved was built, and a 312ci Ford Y-block engine and transmission was located and rebuilt by L&R Automotive Supply and SW Performance Transmissions, respectively. At the same time, parts were being researched and ordered so it could all come together, as planned, on the last couple days of the incredible seven-day rebuild.
In this "episode," we'll show you how the project got started and how the intense bodywork became the focus of the team's efforts. Next month we'll show you how the project finished, and if they made the deadline to return the car back to the unsuspecting owner. Tune in next time to Rod & Custom for all the exciting details!
