TLC's Overhaulin' has gathered a large and devoted following, and with good reason. Each episode showcases a limitless supply of creativity and technical skill, all spearheaded by the show's chief designer, the famous Chip Foose.

Oh, and thanks to co-hosts Chris Jacobs and Courtney Hansen (don't forget to check out our interview with them on the last page of this article), it's pretty dang entertaining, too.

Chip, Courtney, and Chris all help make Overhaulin' a huge hit.

If you've never seen the show (and judging by their ratings, if you're reading this, you've almost certainly seen it), here's the premise: a family member or friend of someone with a beat-up old car secretly arranges to have the Overhaulin' crew take the car and completely restore and customize it. Chip Foose designs the project, and a crew of some of the best technical specialists in the country make it happen. The catch, though, is the prank: the "mark," as the car owner is called, has no idea what's happening. He or she is told that the car has either been stolen, or taken for a specific, and false, reason. Chris perpetrates the prank, dressing up in disguises, pretending to be someone else. So far, each prank has worked.

For this year's SEMA Show, the producers of Overhaulin' decided to try an exciting project: they taped an entire episode of the show right on the Convention Center floor. What's more, they put up a set of grandstands in front of the set so that showgoers could watch as much of the show's activity as they liked.

A view of the grandstands and the live studio audience from the SEMA set of Overhaulin'.

Over the course of four days, the crowd witnessed as a 1970 Ford Mustang was transformed from a pile of rusting parts to a Chip Foose signature work of art, right before their eyes. Chris and Courtney entertained the crowd daily, giving them updates on the progress of the car and the status and effectiveness of the prank, and taking pictures and signing autographs.

In the course of five days at SEMA, Chip Foose worked his magic on an out-of-shape 1970 Mustang and produced this masterpiece.

I was lucky enough to be able to go behind the scenes a bit, getting a close-up, first-hand look at much of what goes into making Overhaulin' the hit that it is.