Carson Lev
- Actor
Growing up in Southern California, Carson Lev was immersed in hot rod
car culture at an early age. His friends and schoolmates were the
children of race car owners, builders and drivers. His early teenage
years were spent hanging out at Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's customizing shop
and the studio of automotive artist Kenny Youngblood. Through the early
influence of "Big Daddy" and "Blood", a passion for hot rods, car
design, illustration, pin-striping and lettering was nurtured and
encouraged. As his automotive passion grew, so did Carson's foundation
of friends and contacts in the Hot Rod Community, resulting in many
life-long friendships. Through High School and College he continued to
build hot rods, letter race cars, attend car shows and races of some
kind nearly every weekend. Graduating in 1977 from California State
University at Long Beach, with a degree in Industrial Design, Carson
pursued a career in Biomedical Product Development but still managed to
stay active in the automotive field. His strong interest in car culture
and Automotive Design resulted in his taking a break from the Medical
Product Development field to work for Dick Cepek Off Road, as the
Director of Product Development, Marketing and Advertising. He also
began consulting on numerous automotive after market projects. Carson
combined his interest in computer technology and design by founding
Compression Engineering, an Advanced Product Development and Design
Firm in 1994. Located in Orange County, California, projects were
completed for Medical Product Manufacturers, and Automotive Design and
Manufacturing clients utilizing state-of-the-art computer technologies.
Suddenly, all the old friends in the Hot Rod community were becoming
customers. An experimental project with Boyd's Wheels and noted
designer Chip Foose, led to a new computer based machining process to
produce custom billet wheels. It also resulted in Chip and Carson
becoming close friends. Through Compression Engineering Carson began
his first association with Mattel Inc., successfully completing
projects for the Hot Wheels division. A deal was struck to bring Carson
to Mattel, where he successfully served as Director of Engineering,
Director of Design and ultimately Director of Hot Wheels Licensing,
where he achieved first-year milestone sales in excess $4 million. As
Director of Design Hot Wheels, Carson was responsible for the
successful growth of the Hot Wheels Racing and Collector product lines,
the creation of the Hot Wheels Licensed Automotive Program, the Hot
Wheels Exhibit at the legendary Petersen Automotive Museum and the 35th
Annual Hot Wheels Hall of Fame Event hosted by Jay Leno. Additionally,
Carson managed the construction of the full scale Twin Mill and the
Deora II, the only Hot Wheels toys to be turned into fully functioning
full-scale vehicles. In April 2005, Carson left Mattel after ten years
of service to work with licensing giant Equity Management, Inc. as
Senior Vice President / General Manager. He was responsible for the
company's General Motors Licensing programs, including Service Parts
Organization and Accessories. He also directed EMI's expanding die-cast
program, chairing a new committee to provide strategic planning and
vision for the company's die-cast operations. However, with the rapid
rise of Chip Foose, now starring weekly on TLC's hit show
"Overhaulin'," Carson felt the time had come to start his own licensing
agency. Redphin Productions, LLC was created as the exclusive Licensing
Firm for Foose Design, Inc. and has since added Discovery Channel's
Overhaulin" Brand, Ivan "Ironman" Stewart, Troy Sumitomo of Five Axis
and Mike Lavalle of Killer Paint, and has completed projects for
companies such as Ford, John Deere, Pirelli, MAC, BASF, Magnaflow,
WD40, 3M, Lincoln Electric, Motor City Casino, NBC/Universal and Disney
Pixar/Cars, to their expanding roster of clients. Lev's unique
combination of management experience and extensive real world,
practical knowledge of the car hobby give him a unique perspective on
the current state of the licensing industry. Carson has hosted and been
a featured guest on numerous hot rod and automotive related television
and radio programs. He was inducted into the Inaugural Die-cast Hall of
Fame in 2008. In 2011 Carson was celebrated as the CSULB Distinguished
Alumni and delivered the commencement address for the College of the
Arts.