Outrageously cool custom cars

Chip Foose, arguably one of the best contemporary hot-rod designers on the planet, shows off his skill every week on his car-makeover show, TLC's "Overhaulin'." Still, transforming other people's clunkers into classics wasn't enough. "I have always dreamed about building my own car, and I started sketching the Hemisfear [the coupe's original name] in art school," says Foose, 43.

With the help of Metalcrafters -- a Fountain Valley, Calif., fabrication specialist -- the steel-tube-framed, carbon-fiber-bodied Foose Coupe -- inspired by both the '33 Ford coupe and the '70 'Cuda -- is now in production. Pick your power poison: a 550-horsepower Hemi V-8 or a 500-horsepower supercharged Ford V-8. But don't be distracted by such numbers -- this hot rod is really a work of art, not a track car.

Price: $298,000

metalcrafters.com