Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) brought plenty of noteworthy vehicles to SEMA this year. We stopped by the GAS booth to talk with the company’s Brandon Boeckman. It’s been a busy year for GAS and Ford. With new models rolling out on a regular basis, Galpin was anxious to showcase what they’re capable of with Ford’s latest and most popular products, as well as show off their racing and performance heritage at SEMA.

2015 GT

We showcased this car in one of or pre-SEMA previews. To make a splash with what you know will be the hottest car at SEMA, you have to go big or go home, and GAS did just that.

Beginning with a Mustang GT, GAS added a 2.9 liter Whipple supercharger under the hood, that’s been treated to some gold chrome paint. That gold chrome paint was necessary to match the black and gold theme that’s present throughout the car. Continuing in the performance end of things, GAS also added a Magnaflow exhaust system, as well as springs and sway bars from Steeda.

“We chose to do the black and gold theme in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Mustang,” says GAS’s Brandon Boeckman. “Everything on the car is just over the top.” The front bumper has been reworked, and GAS took out the front marker lights. They then had new custom headlights constructed that use the shark gills as the turn signals, a nice touch that we think would have been very cool from the factory. The gills can be programmed to change colors as well. “Lighting is really big at SEMA this year, and we wanted to show a few things off like that, so you can change the colors of these lights, like if you’re parked at a show at night, or something along those lines, just to draw more attention to the car,” says Boeckman.

Additional body work includes a unique carbon fiber front splitter, side skirts, and rear spoiler. Custom black paint with heavy gold flakes is also sprayed all over the outside of the car, giving this S550 a unique shine wherever the light hits it.

MV2 two piece wheels from ADV1 are also on board, and have been given the gold treatment as well. The interior also received a tremendous amount of high polished gold chrome accents to tie it together with the interior.

Given their history of producing over the top Mustangs, we asked Boeckman what GAS might have in store with the 2015. “We’re going to be doing some R&D work on the suspension for the 2015 Mustang when we get back from SEMA, there’s a possibility we may be producing some of our own parts in the future.”

He went on to hint that we need to watch for something big to drop at the LA Auto Show coming up later this month. “At the LA Auto Show we’re going to be unveiling our new wide body with Henrik Fisker, and it should blow everyone’s minds.” Boeckman also said there’s another Mustang project that is top secret, debuting at the LA Show he can’t even comment on yet.

Raptor

Even though it’s presently out of production, the SVT Raptor has been the ultimate off road vehicle you could buy off the showroom floor. Wanting to highlight what they’re doing with Ford’s off roader, GAS brought out a customized version to this year’s SEMA show.

“We were trying to figure out a concept to do with this truck, and we saw this swatch in our new wrap book. We decided to go with that,” says Boeckman. “That” is a beautiful blue chrome wrap, that covers nearly the entire truck, and was drawing the attention of everyone walking by the GAS booth.

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The custom touches don’t end there, The Lighting Firm, built custom headlights for the truck. Their parent company provides OE headlights, and Boeckman says they provide an impressive line of products for the aftermarket.

Improvements to the Raptor’s already capable platform are also present on this truck. There’s ICON stage 3 suspension with coil overs front and rear. Under the hood a ROUSH supercharger pumps up the 6.2-liter engine. Exhaust rumble is also courtesy of ROUSH Performance exhaust.

Road Armor bumpers add some toughness and protection, and custom off road lights from Laser Star make sure driver’s can find their way even in the dark, no matter where the trail or desert roads take them.

Trans Am Pinto

Built in 1973, by GAS, this Trans Am racing Pinto was just recently brought back into the GAS family a few months ago. “We just found this car in Tennessee, we’re trying to locate and acquire cars from our past, that originated at GAS, and bring them back to our shop as part of our heritage,” says Boeckman.

Boeckman had GAS’s Ray Petrossian fill us in on the specs on this one of a kind Pinto. “In the 1970s there was a 2.5 liter class in Trans Am. The 2.5 is basically a 2.3 Pinto engine that’s been worked up.” Worked up it has been indeed, the engine feasters a .540 lift cam, Webber DC OE 48 side draft carburetors, a dry sump oiling system, and a long tube header. Petrossian says idle is at 1,500 rpm with a power band of 4,900-9,000 rpm. “It’s a zinger, and you gotta rev it up.” Gear changes are done via a four-speed Jericho transmission.

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The suspension for this car is mostly what Petrossian says is home built and engineered. “It looks very shade tree, but it’s very functional and well thought out. At the time this was built there were no aftermarket parts, so everything had to be custom built by the guy working on the car.” Those customer parts include custom tubular control arms, custom built strut rods, and a custom Watts-Link for the nine-inch full floater rear end. It all rides on a set of original and now very collectable and desirable aluminum Mini-Lite wheels. “If you put it on a tight track with a V8 car, it would probably be quicker, because the wheelbase is smaller, the car is lighter, and it just can get around the turns so fast,” says Petrossian.

GAS has yet to wring the car out on a road course, but since they’re known for tracking nearly every one of their creations, and putting on a show for their fans, we imagine this thing will be seen sometime next year making some laps and showing off on road courses in and around the SoCal area.

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2015 Skyliner Van

We can see your eyes rolling from this side of the monitor, a van, really? Take our word for it, vans were a big deal at the SEMA show this year, and that was mostly driven by Ford with their all new, and very big Transit line of vans. GAS built two Skyliner vans to bring to this year’s show, one of which was a concept on display in Ford’s outdoor display. The one featured hear, according to Boeckman, is more functional, and was in the GAS booth. “People are going nuts over these vans, it’s a huge winner for Ford,” says Boeckman.

This Transit 350, started life as a cargo van. GAS then converted and essentially did all the customization from scratch, turning what was once probably a vehicle ideal for plumbers, and other contractors, into something we’d love to take to the track or a ball game any weekend of the year.

Inside a track system has been added that allowed GAS to place the custom leather seats, with 10-way power adjustment, foot rests, heat, and massage features where they wanted. This system allows the conversion of a cargo van, to carry passengers, and is DOT legal. It doesn’t end with custom seats.

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“We wanted this one to be a comfortable van, built for lounging and having fun.” The fun starts with a custom bar, with custom lighting, built just behind the driver seat. Then there’s the 50-inch 4k ultra high-definition TV that folds out of the ceiling, giving whoever is lucky enough in the back, a life like view of whatever entertainment they choose to enjoy. Dark hardwood floors add to the elegant styling of the interior, which is color matched to the PPG purple hew and French racing blue accent on the exterior.

There’s also a full Crestron automation system which handles nearly every aspect of the interior entertainment and seating functions via one of the two installed iPads.

Outside the van the headlights have been upgraded with custom built units to give the Skyliner a more executive look and feel. There’s also a retracting power step for easy access through the the passenger side sliding door. An airbag system replaces the stock springs, and an EcoBoost engine provides power under the hood. “The EcoBoost engine does really well in these vans, plenty of power, and works well.”

Whether you like vans or not, this thing would be a great way to take the family or friends to a race for the weekend, or could be the ultimate tailgating party machine for the next big game you take in from the stadium parking lot.

With a slew of new vehicles on the horizon, plus an all new Mustang to continue to play with, the next year is sure to see many high end vehicles coming out of the GAS garage.