Is this the ultimate Ford Transit?

Ford Transits have been built, used and generally abused in the UK since 1965. So it might seem a bit odd to think of it being driven in any other country. But the truth is that, thanks to the One Ford mission, it’s now on sale on six continents and in 118 countries. The latest of those is the US, where it is replacing the trusty but ancient E Series van for the 2015 model year.

To celebrate this fact, Ford handed over one of it’s max-cube, high-roof versions of the new Transit to Galpin Auto Sports – the tuning division of Galpin Motors in Los Angeles, the biggest Ford dealership…in the world. Galpin and GAS, which rose to fame as the Pimp My Ride garage, have a bit of history customizing vans.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s the dealership was well known for its van conversions – think A Team and Scooby Doo era vans – so it was only natural to let them have the first go at the new Transit. The result of which is the Transit Skyliner you see here. If you were expecting a van with just a shagadelic interior and blacked out windows, think again.

The Skyliner is what every luxury limo wants to be when it grows up.  The Star Wars style interior features a hardwood floor, full bar, four reclining and swiveling seats, a 52-inch drop down movie screen, LED mood lighting, Crestron remote control of everything and a sound system that is quite possibly the loudest thing on earth.

It’s powered by the standard 3.5-litre V6 EcoBoost, which is going to have it’s work cut out hauling all that lot as well as passengers. But who cares how fast it goes? When you’re sitting this comfortably, you actually want to take a little longer to get wherever you are going.

Ford isn’t saying how much the Skyliner would cost to put in your oversized garage. But there is a ready market for custom vans costing anywhere from $500k to a cool million dollars. So it doesn’t just look like a private plane – it could cost about the same, too.