In 2007 when his friend Michael Lightbourn made, “the greatest barn find ever,” the planets aligned for  Dave Shuten. Galpin Motors’ President Beau Boeckman gained ownership of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s long lost creation, “Orbitron,” and hired Shuten to lead the entire restoration process. He temporarily left Michigan and landed at Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) in Van Nuys, California. Shuten assembled the most appropriate and expert restoration team to properly restore “Orbitron” (including everyone that was still alive from the original 1960s build). This cast of historical “Kustom Kulture” heavy weights included “Orbitron” designer Ed “Newt” Newton, custom painters Larry Watson and Bill Carter along with upholster Joe Perez. Boeckman convinced Shuten to stay on at Galpin Auto Sports full-time. Shuten packed up his enormous collection of NOS parts, memorabilia, machines, cars, etc. and made a permanent move to California.  

 

His passion is finding and saving significant hot rods & customs, researching and finding all the rare hard to find parts, then doing the complete restoration. In 2017 Shuten founded a new division of Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) called Galpin Speed Shop which specializes in period perfect hot rods, customs and restorations of historically significant cars. ​