L.A. Auto Show 2019: Galpin Auto Sports Jaguar I-Pace

A famous custom shop gave this electric Jaguar a fresh new look.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for us at Team Speed. Between SEMA and the L.A. Auto Show, we’ve had our work cut out for us — but hey, we’re not complaining. We live for this stuff.

When we headed back from Vegas to check out the new cars at the L.A. Auto Show, we weren’t expecting to see much in the way of custom cars in the week after SEMA. As it turns out, we were in for a pleasant surprise.

What will custom cars look like in the electrified future? Galpin Auto Sports, perhaps best known as the home of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride,” offers one possible look.

Galpin Auto Sports — also known as GAS — turned their attention to a 2019 Jaguar I-Pace. As much as we love the sound of a powerful gasoline engine, we can’t get enough of the instantaneous torque offered by an electric motor.

While many of the electric cars on sale now are built more for economy than fun, the Jaguar I-Pace bucks the trend. It’s quick, fun, distinguished, and elegant — but a little naughty at the same time. In other words, it’s everything a Jaguar should be.

GAS didn’t radically alter the I-Pace to prepare it for its auto show debut. They didn’t have to. It’s already reasonably quick and reasonably handsome, so they didn’t have to try to hard to improve it. It’s a far cry from the cars we saw them build on “Pimp My Ride.”

The GAS I-Pace features a 3M vinyl wrap in a stealthy matte black. Shiny, metallic paint? That’s so 20th century. The most dramatic departure is the wheels.

Instead of buying fresh rollers for their project car, they simply refinished the stock wheels. We think you’ll agree, though, that the results are dramatic.

The stock I-Pace wheels feature an attractive, but boring black and machined finish. GAS opted for gloss black powdercoat with carbon fiber accents. It’s a dramatic look that complements the matte black wrap. We’d be more than happy to have this in our garage!

Photos by Derin Richardson for Team Speed

Join the Team Speed forums now!

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

Instagram