It is not unusual for new-car dealerships to host classic and collector car shows. But what is unusual is that more than 1,000 cars are expected to be on display at the 7th annual Galpin Car Show, scheduled for October 7 at the Southern California dealership which is the world’s largest Ford store in terms of sales volume.
Galpin also sells several other brands, including Honda, Volvo and Aston Martin, and is the home of Galpin Auto Sports, a vehicle specialty shop which traces its roots to 1952, when Frank Galpin created the Galpin Custom, a brand-new Ford convertible believed to be the first new car customized by a dealership.
The car, painted enamel cream-yellow over green two-tone (and with matching interior) was modified with frenched and peaked headlamps, Mercury bumpers with a Capri bumperette, Mercury front valance, fenders, hood and grill surround, as well as a ’52 Mercury Continental kit, raised fins, side scoops, half skirts and modified tail lamps.
Galpin Auto Sports specializes in such “Galpinized” vehicles.
The Galpin show is open to everything from hot rods to muscle cars, race cars to antiques, off-roaders and lowriders.
Among those already scheduled to be on display are the famous “Gypsy Rose” Impala lowrider, Metallica front-man James Hetfield’s “Black Pearl,” the Speed Racer Mach 4, a Smokey and the Bandit Trans-Am, Herbie the Love Bug and the “Round-Door” Rolls from the Petersen Automotive Museum.
For the first time, the show will include a lowrider “hop off” that will benefit the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission.
For more information, visit the Galpin website.
