On a recent trip to Southern California, I paid a quick visit to Galpin Auto Sports. Anyone who is even remotely interested in custom cars has heard of Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) and their outrageous creations. Besides being affiliated with the biggest Ford dealer in the world they are famous for being featured on the now discontinued TV show MTV’s Pimp My Ride, creating unique concept vehicles, cars for movie sets, and custom builds for variety of promotions and charity events.

Showroom

I couldn’t walk by without stopping to admire a Ford sedan with an immaculate flat green paint job only to then notice a shiny black widebody Ford Mustang GT. You can see cars from the early 1900’s and as recent as 2010’s. Some cars are heavily modified, and some are featured in their original state. Like 1993 Jaguar XJ220 in factory condition with less than 3000 miles on the odometer.

Their fully custom Scythe may be the most unique and extensively modified car, The Scythe is based on a Convertible 2008 Ford Mustang GT. The chassis of the Mustang had to receive extensive modification to make the Scythe what it is today. The body of the car was first carved out of clay to make fiberglass molds. Scythe is powered by a Ford Racing stroked 5.0 V8 engine that has been Twin-Supercharged to produce 1000+ horsepower.

The driver is given the ability to drive the car on the left or right hand side. To help with the stopping power, Galpin had to install enormously sized Wilwood brakes on the front and rear of the car.  All of the features in the car are controlled by a voice activated computer system, and unlike other concepts the car is fully functionable and has been driven on the street.

The showroom also has a lot of other vehicles that reflect the awesomeness of Galpins work, and their collection of highly rare and desirable automobiles.  Galpin also has the VW Bettle from the Herbie: Fully Loaded that starred Lindsay Lohan. A 1965 Ford Mustang that was used by Ronald Reagan during his first gubernatorial campaign. There are also a few very rare Mustangs from the 1960’s which include the GT500 KR Fastback, as well as a convertible. Any time you deal with such valuable vehicles, enclosed car shipping  is recommended and the method GAS uses to get their cars to automotive shows and auctions.

Behind the Scenes

Later in the day Steve Carpenter took us back to their shop on a little tour. I found out that Galpin uses sheet metal manufacture their widebodied cars. Manufacturing a steel kit is very impressive considering that most shops use fiberglass overlays that are attached with screws, rivets and different types of adhesives which are prone to cracking. Galpin’s widebodies are welded on to the car. We got a glimpse of yet another widebody Mustang in the works, one of a kind Ford Focus with a mixer board and guitar amps custom made for a band.

Time was nearing their 5pm closing time and had to say goodbye and continue on my journey.