Hi! I am Angus Mackenzie Editor-in-Chief of Motor Trend and this is Ford's new Flex. It's a cross over vehicle that combines the best attributes of a sport utility vehicle with really car like comfort and driving quality. What I like about the Flex though is it's a vehicle with lot of possibilities. This is almost like a blank canvas, a box if you like to which you can add all sorts of things and that's exactly what we are going to do.
We are booting a Flex that we think would be very special. It takes the concept of space inside to a new dimension. So let's go and see how it's coming along. The basic concept is ground based private jet, so we have taken a stock Flex triple black. And the big thing is we have removed the second and third row seats and installed a partition, so we completely blocked the passenger compartment off from the cockpit. That big partition is actually going to have a 42 inch monitor in there and that can be used for entertainment or playing play station games, watching DVDs. We are also going to mount camera looking forward so that when you are driving down the road you'll be able to get a better view than you could sitting in the back of a regular Flex. As you can see the guys here at Galpin Auto Sports have already removed a lot of the exteriors panels from the Flex, what's happening is that every piece of chrome on the exterior is going to be switched to a brushed finish.
Because what I am after is a really monochromatic effect. It's going to be triple black and the highlights are all going to be this brush steel look. So the alloy wheels, the grille panels every bit of chrome on the exterior of the car is going to have this brush, this satin look. So that to me, it looks quite a technical vehicle when its finished. This is going to be the cockpit and the interesting thing is we pooled this seat out here. This passenger seat now is going to become a luggage area for the luggage that you would carry and the pilot literally will be sitting in this cockpit. Again we are going for monochromatic theme here. This is all going to be black the wood is going to be replaced with piano black and this brushed effect here and little chrome highlights. So it's going to be a very clean high-tech looking, business like looking cockpit. Complete partition off here to the rear and the way that the passengers will be able communicate with the drivers, we'll have a camera in here so that we have a buzzing and you know home James and don't spare the horses and he will be able to look at the camera and say yes sir right away.
The idea here is when you are at the back doors of this thing. This is going to be a luxury high-tech cabin for two people to be transported in style. So the color scheme as you will see will be in an chocolate brown and tan and very pale almost cream leather, and we have got this fabulous seats. The guys here have done an amazing job and I am just going to try that now.
The idea is we are going to seat back. These seats are going to be already shaped and transported and this is a fabulous idea. That's cool. I am ready for Martini already speaking of which we are going to have a fridge down, the fridge access through there and the play station there, yes and a decanter set, big screen monitor there and the instruments. So you'll be able to relax and these new side panels here, all clean and smooth, going to be trimmed in leather. This is going to fantastic guys. Humidor, we are getting a humidor.
Well it's, 10 to 3 on Halloween Eve and the Moto Trend Flex has to be on the transporter to make to SEMA Show 12'o'clock tomorrow. That means the guys here at Galpin Auto Sports have may be 21 hours to finish this vehicle. They have got a lot work to do but these guys know what it's like to work under pressure. After all this is the crew that did pin my ride for a couple of seasons. They say they are used to pulling together a car very quickly. I still can't believe how much work there is to do but the crew is very confident.
Well it looks like a bomb is gone off in a computer factory but trust me this thing is coming together. The trick is getting everything measured and made in advance and then all at the last minute comes together and you can see the team is working on this car to make it happen. We've got the side panels yet to come in. They have already been pre-trimmed and pre-measured and pre-fitted. It's just a matter of holding them in. All the sound system has been fitted in here and wired up. We've got a big subwoofer for speaker to go in yet. There's switch gear wires up here. They are just ready for the console to be placed in. Once the light bits are in almost the last bit to come in will be the custom made seats. We've got 21 hours to go but this car will be at SEMA.
Well, we made it. Here we are on the show floor at SEMA with the Motor Trend Flex. A few days ago it didn't look like we'll get here. The car look like a bomb had gone off inside. Bits of wiring everywhere, bare metal, no panels, no interior fitting but the crew at Galpin Auto Sports worked all night to get this thing here. I have got to say looking at the finish result I am really pleased with it. Let's take a look at some of the details. Our concept was to create a ground based private jet, and we had some pretty firm views on how we wanted it to look. I really like the shape of the Flex, this big boxy architectural vehicle. It's really a blank canvas, you can do a lot of work on it. One of the key elements for the vehicle for me was this panel here, this satin finished steel panel. Now on the production car all the rest of the trim is chrome. I wanted the trim to match. So we send it all at and if you look around the vehicle the door handles, this molding here, the mirrors the grille they are all in this satin finish which really complements the triple black exterior.
The brushed satin finish is really discreet really subtle, and it really works well this dark limo tint. So we have got the black roof, these black windows, black body side and just this subtle break up with the line here. And of course we got the CC wheels in a very similar sort of tonal value. So the exterior of the vehicle is very either silver or black and very subtle. The finishing touch of course is the satin finish version of the three bar grille, and in fact the guys at Galpin think that there might a demand for customers coming to their custom shop to get this sort of treatment to their Flex.
I am not sure they would go this far though. We've got a black oval, this is a Black Label Ford. Well this is the business end of our ground based jet. Here is where the pilot sits. The basic interior is fairly stock Ford but with a few extra tweaks. We have taken away the wood trim and replaced it with a piano black finish. So we have got a monochrome theme going here on monochrome palette. This black, grey, silver.
Now you'll notice the passenger seat is missing. That's because this is the luggage area for the people who are traveling behind us in the passenger cabin. And here is where you ride in the lap of luxury. The interior has been completely gutted. We have removed the second and third row of seats and we've replaced them with this row of seats which kind of fits between the two. We had to chop the floor so that we can get the head room we want and the legroom we need.
The Galpin guys have done an amazing job here. I wanted the interior to be totally different in terms of the look and the feel and the colors to the business end of the Ford Flex, so we have lots of chocolate brown carpet and leather. This brick tanned leather, and a fully leather trimmed hood lining everywhere. There's all sorts of gadgets in here. We have giant 40 inch Sony TV. Now that can hooked up to you play station game, the internet or to watch a DVD or at the flick of a switch, you can look and see what's going on down the road via our camera mounted on the rear view mirror. We have got a humidor in here we have got a fridge we have got all sorts of creature comforts its the perfect way to ride in style.
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