"It started out as a Mustang," Beau Boeckmann began, explaining the Scythe, the latest creation from Galpin Auto Sports.

Actually, you have to go farther back than even the Mustang, back to the beginning of a Southern California car dealership called Galpin Ford. Beau's father, Bert, started working at Galpin in 1953, bought it from the owner in 1963, and soon set about finding ways to offer more than just bone-stock cars straight from the manufacturer. He found quite a few.

If you follow the Galpin historical script, you would say that Galpin Ford was single-handedly responsible for the automotive evolutions that became the custom van, the 4x4 pickup craze and painting and graphic designs on new cars too numerous to name.

Bert Boeckmann hired a young immigrant named Heinz Prechter to install some of Prechter's wacky European sunroofs on Galpin cars to see whether they'd help move the iron. They did. Prechter went on to found American Sunroof and make millions of cars with sunroofs (and no roofs) for carmakers throughout the world. So add the sunroof to trends started at or by Galpin.

Anyone who listens to all the ads on Southern California radio stations knows that Galpin is the No. 1 Ford dealer in the United States, and part of that success is the result of the dealership's constant desire to set itself apart--hence the customization.

In the 1960s and '70s, car customizing done the Galpin way became known as "Galpinizing." Galpin made everything from leopard-print T-Birds to flying Pintos. The Galpinization of Southern California has been going on for almost four decades.

It was into this crazy car-customizing world that Bert's son Beau was born. Beau grew up not only amid these various Galpin projects, but also as an admirer of the work of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. So much so that, as he worked his way up through the dealership and the means became available to him, Beau purchased (so far) four original Roth cars and "more assorted Roth stuff than I can name."

Beau also founded and runs Galpin Auto Sports, a modern take on the great SoCal custom shops of the '50s and '60s. At its most elemental, the Scythe is meant to demonstrate the capabilities of the crew at GAS to do to your car anything you want them to do. For the last four seasons, GAS has been the home of the MTV show Pimp My Ride. So Boeckmann is living his dream.

Keep all that in mind when you look at the Scythe, or when you see it on the Ford stand at the SEMA show.

"It's the most customized car of all time," Boeckmann said when he showed it to us.

Let's start with the body. It was designed with help from Ed Newton, who worked for Roth in the '60s. Up front is a Roth-like snout flanked by triple headlights and antipedestrian pincers down at shoe level.