Jun 12 2008
California native Chip Foose, car designer and host of the internationally known TV series Overhaulin’, is considered to be one of the world’s best-known and admired designers. And now, Foose will be developing an exclusive Line of special colors for BASF Coatings’ R-M automotive refinish brand, adding a special feature to the brand’s CARIZZMA Premium paints, which have just made their public debut. The name of the exciting new color Line, which will be produced in a limited edition, is “Foose.” During the course of this year, it will be available for purchase as an environmentally friendly waterborne basecoat.
Famous US car designer Chip Foose.
Design or no design – that’s not the question
The saying “Fine feathers make fine birds” applies to cars, too. And “Foose Design” has already been using R-M to give their vehicles a fantastic outward appearance for years. Chip Foose’s life is dedicated to asphalt art. He earned his design degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and turned his passion for hot wheels and design into a career. His success was meteoric. By the age of 31, Foose had already made it to the “Hot Rod Hall of Fame.” These days, Foose’s passion includes both designing new hot rods, like the Foose “Hemisfear,” as well as souping up older vehicles. Whatever he does, his motto is “quality, not quantity.” Individual design is everything. Foose applies his unique ideas to production vehicles, lending them a distinctive appearance. This look is so unusual and new that the English language has had to be expanded to accommodate it. Foose’s fan club has a special word for a car that has seen his magic: “foosified.” To get an idea of how this works, viewers from all over the world can tune into Foose’s series Overhaulin’, in which he introduces them to all aspects of automotive design, from rebuilding the body to designing the interior, as well as sophisticated paintwork design. To add even more spice to these designs, R-M and Foose are now working together to develop new colors. “Chip Foose has long been a friend of BASF and a fan of our automotive refinish paints,” said Darlene Eilenberger, Director of Marketing for BASF Coatings in North America. She is particularly looking forward to the new joint project. “We are very excited about taking our relationship with Chip to a new level as we work with him to create a new line of custom colors.”
Formula for success
In his series Overhaulin’, Foose is known for playing tricks on celebrities like Lance Armstrong to get a chance to make over their vehicles. But when it comes to quality, he’s dead serious. When selecting the people and products for his company, Foose accepts only the “best of the best.” When he started up “Foose Design,” he made a point of selecting R-M paints. “I talked to the people who really know their paint – the painters and the retailers. And every one of them gave me the same recommendation for paint: R-M,” said Foose, whose passion for paint was probably nurtured at an early age. As a young boy, he much preferred sprayguns to water pistols, using the paints in his father’s workshop to spray his bicycle. His father, Sam Foose, was already using R-M 40 years ago. “I probably repainted my bike a hundred times,” Foose recalled. It has been over 30 years since he spraypainted his first car at the age of 12. In what has come to be his standard, even back then he didn’t cut any corners when refinishing a Porsche 356, turning it into a real gem. Now, at 41, Foose is particularly enjoying his partnership with BASF Coatings, which is allowing him to create new colors with its proven quality. The new R-M colors are the next step toward greater individuality and exclusive paint design. The cooperation shows that even the best quality can be improved when two partners share their visions. “BASF Coatings and I share a goal: We want to take paint to a new level,” he said. In his cooperation with R-M, there are no limits to his creativity. And so the formula for unique design of the future is as follows: Take one portion of tradition and add a portion of solid quality. Add in the “Foose factor”. And voila. That's all it takes to come up with individual and high-quality solutions: R-M CARIZZMA paints with a Foose effect.
R-M Automotive Refinish : an important part of BASF Coatings
Under the R-M brand, BASF markets a comprehensive range of automotive refinishing paint systems, focusing on eco-efficient waterborne basecoats and high-solids paints. By using these systems all legal solvent-reduction requirements can be complied with anywhere in the world, and with regard to appearance and resistance, the products meet the same quality standards as solvent-borne paints. In this area, the company offers a wide variety of services to support its customers. R-M Automotive Refinish is approved by most of the leading car manufacturers for aftermarket repair and chosen by the world's most prestigious car companies for its color expertise.