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Tour the Amazing Galpin Car Collection From Home, With Beau Boeckmann as Guide

These are strange times we’re living but, if you’re starting to feel that dreaded cabin fever after weeks on lockdown, there’s a new YouTube series that will allow you to virtually tour one of the most diverse and awesome car collections around.
1965 Shelby GT 350 from the Galpin Collection 12 photos
Photo: YouTube / Petersen Automotive Museum
The 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod everThe 1968 iconic Bathtub Buggy remains weirdest hot rod ever
Beau Boeckmann, COO of Galpin Motors Inc. and CEO of custom shop Galpin Auto Sports (and star of the current Discovery series Car Kings), is opening the doors to the Galpin Collection in Van Nuys, California. A one-person crew from the Petersen Automotive Museum got to follow Boeckmann around as he gave a guided tour of the collection.

This tour is part of a new YouTube series from the Petersen Automotive Museum, which includes interviews and garage tours with some of the biggest collectors and industry players. The Galpin name couldn’t have been left out. You can see the entire tour in the video available at the bottom of the page.

Included in the collection are some of the rarest and weirdest cars ever made, which were either acquired by the Galpin family throughout the years or created by them in the GAS shop.

A notable mention goes to a 1965 Shelby GT350, one of the first ever made and which Carroll Shelby himself delivered to Galpin back in the day, after he’d taken over the Galpin Ford dealership. Boeckmann says it’s still running perfectly and adds that they’re adamant about keeping its patina intact.

Other awesome rides featured in the 10-minute tour include a four-engine Mustang called the “Mach IV,” a truck with the entire drivetrain placed backwards so that it can drive in reverse, the Scootacar and other funky (and not exactly comfortable) microcars, something Boeckmann describes as the perfect “Liberace limousine,” Elvis Presley’s Lincoln (“which feels like driving a couch down the street in a weird but great way”), George Barris’ Little Red Wrecker and the actual Pink Panther Limousine, which is the first-ever vehicle designed for laying down, so it sort of looks like you’re in a (fuzzy, pink) coffin.

The impressive tour wraps with what is arguably the strangest hot rod ever created, another former George Barris property: The Bathtub Buggy. This hot rod, which has two bathtubs for passenger seats and a toilet throne for the driver’s seat, along with some other vehicles from the collection, will also be featured on Car Kings, Boeckmann promises. And, frankly, that’s the only consolation you get for feeling this amazing collection deserves more than 10 minutes of coverage.

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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