Chevy

When I think about El Camino's (which is more often than I should probably admit) it's usually fifth generation, or very occasionally fourth gens, but hardly ever anything earlier than that and almost never first generation models. A lot of that could be attributed to my age but another contributing factor is, at least locally, there are very few first generations driving around in stock form and even less have anything of note done to them.

Looking back it's a little strange that one of the events I was looking forward to most at SEMA 2012 was the roll-out at the end. They were pushing it pretty hard in the media centre and my imagination conjured up visions of an epic parade full of awesome cars dragging, drifting, and generally acting a fool on the streets of Las Vegas.

About a year ago a post title with a Dexter influenced title 'Body Dump' showcased a hot rod flatz black, bodied, 400hp, s10 I spotted on s10 forum. Last week the owner Erik came across the post, and emailed asking if I would be interested in running a quick update on the truck.

Heading back outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center for this extra long SEMA coverage post today. I'm not sure the exact criteria for parking outside of the Convention Center but if I were to guess I'd imagine it's similar to one of the larger "invite-only" car shows in the states.

I love American classics and this year I didn't get the chance to check out nearly as many classic cruise nights as I would have liked so SEMA served as a great way for me to catch up on American Iron. There were awesome builds literally as far as the eye could see and I had to constantly remind myself not to spend all of my time (or card space) on the classics.

The Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational is an event that happens every year right after SEMA so it's only fitting that most (if not all) of the competing cars are on display at the show. With a field consisting largely of classic American vehicles modified to go fast and handle pretty well every car with the OUSCI sticker on the door was right up my alley.

Traditionally a Theme Tuesday post would be in place of this one but since I didn't have time to get one finished before leaving for Vegas I am going to get right into the 2012 SEMA coverage. Since attending in 2010 I've been itching to get back and based on what I saw outside the convention center yesterday SEMA 2012 is going to surpass my expectations.

Recently a couple s-10 owning friends of mine stripped their trucks down to bare metal and seeing them both paint and rust less (at least for the time being) triggered this weeks Theme Tuesday. Interestingly enough it was common to come across posts that read 'this car was later painted' due to how hard it is to keep a bare metal car looking pristine no matter what you coat it with.

I had visions of starting the week off with some event coverage and not a message board find but I pushed all of that aside the second I saw this truck. In my opinion this build perfect from bumper to tailgate; the wheel selection is on point, body work is straight, the interior is fantastic, the raised dark stained wooden bed floor looks great, and it sits on the floor where it should.

I've heard good things about Rockstar Motorsports through Brett, Kiwee, and Neil but up until Saturday I had never actually been to the shop myself so after helping (standing around) Lyndsey with a photo shoot we rolled the new support vehicle over to the Rockstar facility in Oakville to see what was up. The turnout was better than I expected which was great to see because it was a charity event aimed at helping a family that recently lost someone to cancer.

Remember two years or so ago when an x5 owner from Thorn Hill went 4x4ing all over two innocent cars at the gym? Hilarious right? Well that scenario is slightly less hilarious when one of the cars used in the makeshift monster truck rally happens to belong to your better half.

My friend Keith gave me the heads up on the Roadmates Corn Roast a few Saturdays back so I swung by in the loaner FR-S for about an hour on my way down town with the misses. Similar turnout and atmosphere to last year, less about the cars and more about hanging out amongst cool cars.