The One That Started It All!

OK this is not the car that started the JL Full Throttle / Foose Die cast line. It wasn't even the first car we chose for the line. This hot rod 1971 Chevelle wasn't responsible for starting the career of one of the greatest automotive designers in Chip Foose either. This car was, the one that got the Overhaulin' party started and helped launch the career of Chip Foose into the stratosphere!

Chip Foose and Overhaulin' producer Bud Brutsman had the idea for the ultimate car makeover show. Chip and Crew would steal an unsuspecting but deserving guy's car and in a few days turn it into their dream machine.

Chip and Bud enlisted many of their automotive industry friends and colleagues to help one being, Jim Holloway from Mothers. Jim knew of just the right car to start with. Jeff Miller, owner of a beat down bowtie happened to work up the street at Original Parts Group and dreamed of fixing up his cherished Chevy.

They had their "Mark" and with Jim's help they took possession of Jeff's Chevelle under the guise of it being in an infomercial. Jeff was told he'd get his car back unharmed in a week.

That's when Chip and the Overhaulin team took over transforming the worn out muscle car into a ride that would turn heads. Chip had the car lowered down and sat it on some billet Budnicks. This is one of only a few rides on Overhaulin' not to sport Foose Wheels!

Chip and crew pulled the engine and dropped in a fresh 350 from the guys at Edlebrock. Mitch Lanzini from Lanzini Bodyworks, in Huntington Beach, California, sprayed the fresh candy apple red paint and coated the champagne flames laid out by Foose.

Inside Cobra Racing seats and fresh panels from Original parts group finish off this fresh ride. The Overhaulin' guys though it would be funny to pull a prank on Jeff so they sent one of the crew over with some of the parts from his own Chevelle that needed to be replaced. Jeff had no idea what he was looking at as he filled the customer's order and actually finished off his own Chevelle!

JL Full Throttle replicated the Overhaulin' Chevelle in both LRG and SM scales. The SM scale features a brilliant Candy Apple Red paint with miniature Foose flamed stripes over the opening hood. Mini Budnicks are located at the corners of both the LRG and SM models. The LRG model has a finely detailed engine and an opening trunk complete with a custom stereo system. Opening the doors you can see the bucket seats and more. The shots of the SM Scale die cast again come from Noah out of Ohio who continues to find the mini Foose rides very photogenic.

The '71 appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine in April 2005 with former Overhaulin' host Courtney Hansen. Jeff drives his Chevelle to work from time to time which is where the JLFT Team caught up with him and snapped these shots back in 2005. JL Full Throttle's Eric Tscherne wanted to make sure that such a monumental car was captured and replicated in the Foose line. "Overhaulin' didn't make Foose" noted Tscherne. "Foose made Overhaulin' and with that they made dreams come true and inspired countless others.-JLFT Team

FT Unit

When we first conceived the Rock Rigs line of trucks there were a couple of things we wanted to do:

#1 They had to have working suspensions on BOTH scales.
#2 They had to capture the attitude of the off-road enthusiast.
#3 They had to be cool.

Scaling the intricate suspensions of full size lifted trucks down to the SM and LRG Scales was not easy especially in the SM Scale. The complex suspensions had to be simplified and recreated in a way that we could manufacture them. The next thing we had to do was figure out how to make it work like the real thing or reasonable close and where to hide the oversized springs! Once this was done we could focus on the killer decos we planned to apply.

We knew that many of our servicemen and women had some of the best real life Rock Rigs. We knew that the attitudes of our armed forces synced up perfectly with the rugged, go anywhere attitude of the off-road enthusiast as well. We immediately felt there was a way to combine these two ideas into one killer combo, enter the FT Unit! The FT Unit combines the look and feel of military machines with our Rock Rigs vehicles and serves as JL Full Throttle’s tribute to our troops.

The first one we did is this camouflage Chevy Silverado. Flat Army-spec green covers the sides with an old-school camo print. Sure our boys have entered the new millennium with their digital camo but everyone recognizes the classic pattern. We also added some inversed shoulder stripes (technically those of a sergeant) as a bold graphic element and some Rock Rigs signature kill marks, signifying some conquered trails. Those who look real close will see the serial number AWT-001. JL Full Throttle’s Eric Tscherne included this marking as a tribute too his brother 1st LT Adam Tscherne of the 3rd Special Forces Unit currently stationed in Afghanistan. Eric wanted his brother and the other soldiers to realize that while they are away they are not forgotten. Eric says this is by far his favorite of the Rock Rigs vehicles.


JLFT Superfan and photo-guru, Noah captured this rugged Rock Rig and all of its details! The SM Scale model has an opening hood to go with the previously mentioned suspension. The wheels are covered with a special olive-gold chrome finish and are accented with some matching flat green.

The second model featured in the FT Unit is the bomber inspired Ford F-150. Noah captures this one too. He titled this set of photos: Peace; Through Superior Firepower.

The House of Kolor silver F-150 has a killer set of teeth painted on each side with the eerie eye of a shark focused on the terrain ahead. The bolt pattern laid over the sheet metal evokes the feel of a fighter jet’s skin. Also scattered over the body are a series of warning labels reminding us to use caution and where we shouldn’t tread. With the custom chromed suspension under this Rock Rig there is not where it shouldn’t step. The Wheels on this model are special edition Weld Racing wheels in chrome with the edges accented in candy blue. The sides also feature the insignia of our US Naval jets. The Navy like the Army and the rest of our armed forces are actively defending our freedoms throughout the globe.

The Silverado and F-150 are the first of 5 trucks dedicated to our troops. Look out for the Flying Belle Dodge Ram and a Guerrilla style 1970 Chevy Blazer ready to ship out soon. The JL Full Throttle Team would like to salute all of our servicemen throughout the country and around the world. They are our Brothers, Fathers, Uncles, Sons, Daughters, Nieces and Nephews. They are our neighbors and friends and they have given us the ultimate sacrifice. We thank them.