Los Angeles auto dealer juggernaut Galpin Motors has announced a partnership with legendary German design firm bb-Auto, which was founded 50 years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, by the husband-and-wife team of Rainer and Kathrin Buchmann.
Launch during Monterey Car Week
Galpin holds exclusive rights to bb-Auto in North America and plans to bring the legendary brand to the United States by delivering new and classic Porsches and other European brands. The partners will celebrate the U.S. launch of bb during this year’s Monterey Car Week when Porsche Santa Clarita (a Galpin dealership) shows off its first bb Porsche at the 2024 Porsche Restoration Challenge at the Werks Reunion.
President Beau Boeckmann & Founder Rainer Buchmann
“Galpin started customizing Fords in 1952, so it runs in my blood,” said President and CEO of Galpin Motors Beau Boeckmann. “I’m thrilled to bring together the pioneering spirit and innovation that my family and bb share and offer our customers an exclusive opportunity to create their dream vintage or new Porsche with bb.”
“The future is tomorrow,” said Rainer Buchmann. “This partnership marks an exciting new chapter for Kathrin and me. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner with Galpin and Beau Boeckmann, the other bb in our ever-growing family! In the United States, bb will stand for Buchmann and Boeckmann. My father was a famous tailor around Germany,” explains Rainer Buchmann. “I saw all of his customers and how they loved to have something custom-made. I believe there is a part in all of us that wants to have something special and unique.”
Industry trailblazer
Bb was decades ahead of the automotive industry with its unique styling, Silicon Valley-inspired tech and runway-fashion-infused marketing campaigns. From the first digital dash displays, multi-control steering wheels, remote door locks, backup parking sensors, electric steel hardtops, flat-nose conversions and pioneering the use of pearlescent paints, the list of bb firsts is a story that few in the United States are familiar with—until now. “When I learned about bb, I was blown away at how cool this brand was and wondered how I had never heard of it,” said Boeckmann. “It felt oddly familiar, as if Galpin were in Germany. It’s what we would have been doing.”
Porsche Santa Clarita
Boeckmann’s family-owned Galpin Motors opened Porsche Santa Clarita in March of 2020. It is the only Porsche dealership in the world to have its very own museum, the Wunderground, as well as its own restaurant, Boxxenstopp and a Porsche Design boutique. The team at Porsche Santa Clarita has applied its extensive experience in car restoration and design to all its entries in the Porsche Restoration Challenge and has won the People’s Choice Award every year of the challenge.
The car it will show off in Monterey this year is an homage to the infamous bb “Rainbow” Turbo Targa, which was originally built in 1976 for Polaroid. Bb’s Rainbow Turbo Targa superseded the factory’s efforts by 10 years, and only one Rainbow was ever built by bb. “Our Turbo Targa restoration challenge is inspired by the original bb Rainbow but made for today,” states Boeckmann. “I can’t wait to show the United States this incredible brand and see how far it can go!”
Above content provided by © Kahn Media
Wunderground Gallery
