Event Coverage: SEMA Part 7

By

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Nov 24, 2010

This is going to be the second last set of coverage and it’s pretty substantial, 50 plus photos from the outside of the show so if you are on a phone or a stressed connection give it some time.

Imagine the net worth of all the cars on the convention center grounds during the week? That’s a lot of money.

The Bandit

When I was growing up there was a 1979 Trans Am that sat at the end of the street I lived on from when I was 8 to the time I got my license.

I tried to convince my dad we should have it but he thought otherwise. I watched this car fade from a bright orange to a dull peach before it vanished and all that was left was a rust stain on the interlocked driveway.

This car reminded me of that, and obviously Smokey & The Bandit.

bandit_2 — I like the updated wheels a lot

bandit_3 — Someone once told me the 78/79s were fairly slow, I bet this one goes though

The Derelict

Speedhunters did a feature on this ’52 Town and Country, which was basically a modern updated chassis under an un restored barn find body.

Epic sleeper status.

derelict_1 — While it looks rough I would wager it rides well

derelict_rear — The tailgate was in great shape for original

derelict_specs — Quick shot of the specs for those interested

Rolling Canvas

This mini truck had a lot of work done to it but what was interesting was the airbrush work over the entirety of this truck.

The devil was in the details and the details were everywhere.

green_truck_blower — The eyes were one of the more obvious details

green_truck_bed — While details like the strapping on the tanks were more subtle

green_truck_front — The entire body was covered in art, and it was RHD as well

green_truck_interior — Cup holders in the middle of the seat? Brilliant as I do this anyway

green_truck_tailgate_2 — I think the overall theme of the artwork was under water/ pirate related

Trucks

While we are on the topic of trucks here are a few more that were outside

burban — Gas pig for sure but looks great

blue_chevy — Solid colors are always a safe bet

customtruck — But I LOVE this paint and color scheme

rat_1 — Rats are always very interesting

rat_2 — and this one's got a bed so it's a truck

hi_lux_1 — This High Lux was also pretty unique

hi_lux_2 — I believe it was the only older JDM truck at the show

Vip Styled cars

Some of these are obvious VIP builds while others just have a little bit of VIP influence to them.

vip_tl_front — This Ac looked pretty classy and was well fitted

black_1 — This car made me think of Sic Ryde..

silver — This Lex is very 'grown man business'

vip_forgestar_celsior — Job Design Neo Hybrid Celsior

vip_forgestar_celsior_2 — With Forgestar getting in on the pin striping

vip_platinum_1 — I posted about this car on facebook a couple of times, very clean

Assorted

A mixed bag of awesome

vip_acura_front — Pretty crazy wide body Acura

e30_1 — Eurostop brought these two e30s out

e30_2 — Fitment was a little off for the wide body but pretty eye catching none the less

e46_white — e46 on awesome TSW wheels, though the Kitsuna is a little out of place

green_copper_civic — The copper finish on the wheels really pops

impala_higher_education — This Impala offers higher education

infiniti_g35_rear — Reppin' canibeat plate covers

lincoln_cont_front — Beauty of a Continental

lincoln_cont_rear — Could fit a lot of bodies in this trunk

miata_xxr_rear — Equipped with a serious diffuser

rothmans_porsche_1 — Had to take some shots of this for the Rally fans

rothmans_porsche_2 — Probably the cleanest this car has ever been

subaru_wb — Love this flat blue paint, Hot Rod Flatz perhaps?

type65_Coupe — End things off with a Type 65 Coupe replica

Even at part 7 I am still in shock that one batch of SEMA coverage is equal to an entire set of car show coverage I do normally.

I should have the final coverage from SEMA tomorrow, I’m going for the title of ‘The only blog still posting SEMA coverage‘ haha.

Theme Tuesdays: Dat Ass

By

DaveT

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Nov 23, 2010

8

I swear I did a Theme Tuesday like this before but it turns out I only posted a small collection of car derrieres. It’s kind of funny that not even two years in I am already losing track of what I’ve posted, anyway my poor memory aside today’s Theme is the ass end of cars.

I tried my best to get only direct back shots but I made a few exceptions in cases I deemed appropriate, hopefully you do as well.

datass_cobra — I need this car and road in my life.

datass6 — One of those exceptions I was talking about

datass11 — Nice view as it pulls away from you

Event Coverage: SEMA Part 6

By

DaveT

-

Nov 22, 2010

7

It’s time to get to the outside of SEMA, finally! While the entire SEMA show was impressive I would have to say the outside had the most modified cars per square foot.

However it was also hot, very hot compared to Ontario and walking around with a laptop in my bag wasn’t helping so I did it in stages between the halls.

Here’s part 1 from the outside.

Drift

Because it was hot, and drinks were expensive, I figured first I should head over the Monster track area and see if I could score any free Monster.

I failed, but I did get to see a couple of Ford Mustangs with the new 5.0’s put on a drift demo.

drift_1 — I've never actually seen a new Mustang drift in person before this

drift_2 — The new 5.0's sound as good as the originals

drift_3 — These cars look pretty good sideways

DUB at SEMA

I’ve never been to an official DUB show before (I’m not even certain whether or not the come to the Toronto area) but I will say they are certainly an experience of sorts.

I saw cars at the show unlike anything I had seen before many of which were not my taste at all, however I did manage to find a few interesting ones to photograph.

black_impala_2 — Would this classify as a low-rod?

buick_regal_1 — I wonder how long a car can stay on 3 for?

burg_gmc — 70s or so slammed Jimmy? Either way looks great

chevy_custom10 — Chevy Custom 10 on biiiig wheels

chevy_van — Other than the fact that you might be the crumple zone these vans are awesome

chop_lex — There is way over the top and then there is this

huge_dualie — Ya this truck is pretty big

huge_red_truck — But this is even bigger

huge_orange_truck — And this is just massive

lifted_what — This looks incredibly odd.

updated_stang — This was some sort of update/retro kit

Outside

After making my way away from the track and Dub show I checked out some of the car a little farther away from the convention center.

mini_monster_1 — The kid who drives this truck is 7, I am jealous

mini_monster_2 — I wish I had one of these when I was 7, though I might not have made 8 then

mysterion_1 — Another unique creation from the crew at GAS

mysterion_2 — Roth's creations are always worth a second look

The Golden Sub and The Webb Wedge Roadster

Both of these cars were downright amazing and had I taken better pictures of them (and had I had more card space) they would have easily made Showstoppers. Both are built by Webb Automotive art and are just that, pieces of Automotive art.

I figure these two are probably the best cars to end today’s post with.

web_wedge_roadster_2 — Took some waiting to get a clear shot

golden_sub_1 — The body alone on this was a work of art.

golden_sub_2 — I've never seen rotors like this in an automotive application

golden_sub_3 — Probably a bit of a handful to drive, actually not sure if I would fit

SEMA Showstopper: The Syborg

By

DaveT

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Nov 22, 2010

4

I’m an early gen S-10(/Blazer/Jimmy/Sonoma) fan, and have been for as long as I can remember, even before I knew that they came in potent Sy/Ty versions.

I’m actually still convinced Sy/Ty’s are two of the best production trucks ever made. One big problem with my love for these trucks is that few survive our winters. I can think of a handful of clean s10s/blazers in the area and one Typhoon, and that’s one of the reasons why seeing this once Sonoma GT at SEMA was such a treat.

Another reason seeing this truck was so awesome is because I’ve been following the build for years perhaps even the second one I started following, the first I remember was Project Vixen (Twin Turbo Delorean), it’s still probably one of the most engaging builds I have ever read on line.

After initially spotting the truck on our way out the day before, the next day I walked around the truck and let all of the details of the build sink in.

sy_4 — Love this shot, the two turbos just peeking out

First I looked under the hood at all of the work done therein.

At this point clean engine bays were nothing new to me having seen a number of exceptional ones already. However I could appreciate this one just a little bit more having spent a decent amount of time under the hood of my own Blazer.

I saw absolutely no resemblance between this bay and the one in my accursed truck, a lot of work had been done to clean it up and smooth it out so that it showcased the crown jewel under the hood: a twin turbo 4.7L v6 that replaced the “I make a lot of noise but not a whole lot of power” 4.3L v6 Vortec lump that laid there previously.

sy_5 — A twin turbo 4.7L that's had every detail carefully calculated

The interior of this truck was also a work of art that hardly resembled the factory s10 living quarters.

Redone in all suede and leather the interior was so well put together that if I didn’t know from reading the build I would have never known an 8 point roll cage was somewhere inside.

sy_1 — If you have ever seen a stock s10 interior you know how amazing this is

After spending so much time on the interior, under hood, and body of this car the owner new that it needed a serious suspension setup to keep things rolling and looking good so it sits on an Air Ride Technologies setup which is configured so this truck looks great aired out but can also air up and put the power down at any time.

To help keep all that power from going up entirely in tire smoke this truck has huge rubber on all four corners (225/245) along with 14″ Willwood binders behind the 18 and 20″ wheels for when the fun needs to stop.

sy_3 — Should have grabbed one of thise myself...

Finished this truck is one of the cleanest Sonoma’s ever built and it’s hard to believe it started as what was essentially a Syclone with all of it’s go fast parts stripped out.

But that’s not even the craziest part of the build, the craziest thing about this all is that after building the truck since around 2003 the owner sold it basically right as it was finished to a private collector.

Unless Jay Leno was that collector chances are pretty good that we will never see this truck again.

Damn.

More info can be found at syborgtwinturbo.com.

WTF Friday: What were you thinking

By

DaveT

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Nov 19, 2010

4

I’ve got a few cars today that make no sense but first this news:

Some knuckle headed thieves stole the 35 Ford Custom known as “Ruby Deluxe“. It was stolen in it’s trailer along with the truck towing it from a residence in Burbank. More information about this mind boggling theft cam be found on the H.A.MB. If you have any info email [email protected].

Now to the rest of this Fridays wtf….

bestlimoever — Quite possibly the best limo EVER... if it doesn't break in half

longcivic — Honestly I'm as impressed as I am appalled

fblike — Dude I have the best idea ever... lets make a Facebook car...

Site Updates

Not much to tell you guys about site wise. I should be finishing up my SEMA coverage early next week, I’ve got a couple showstoppers left, one of which I am really surprised hasn’t popped up anywhere else yet, and
once that is all wrapped up I’ll have to find a new way to fill the rest of the winter.

However I am not too worried as I have lots of ideas written on a napkin somewhere.

In other news as some of you know I ride BMX and last night I laid the ground work for a trick that I have wanted to do for years.

I’m pretty stoked on it even though I have a lot more to do (consistency wise) before I take it to a real ramp:

Pulled my first flair. from Dave Thomas on Vimeo.

Flashback Fridays

Since we are on the topic of Donks (sadly) I might as well rewind to the last time I posted Donks in a WTF Friday.

I wonder how long it took to get up to highway speed?

I just don’t get these things

SEMA Showstopper: Slammed Box

By

DaveT

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Nov 18, 2010

4

Today’s showstopper is recently appeared on Slammed Society, and one of Lyndsey’s favorites from SEMA.

Sitting practically in a corner away from a lot of the hustle & bustle this Scion Xb might have been easy to miss if it wasn’t for the super white, almost glowing, paint and the very wide 17×10.5 and 17x 11.5 BBS RS wheels with teal centers.

When the shine off one of these lips blinded at a distance my blurred vision fooled me into thinking I was looking at Heyyy Mikey’s Xb but as I got closer I realized that this was an entirely different build.

Even though I am not a Scion aficionado and I couldn’t see a spec sheet this car was worthy of several photos on stance alone, so I snapped some pics and decided to figure out the rest of the information later.

box1 — Both the fenders and lips were very very clean for the height and clearence

box3 — The only thing I would change is where the rear flare terminates

If you want the complete mod’s list and more pictures Neek’s got you covered over on Slammed Society.

A walk around the Giovanna Booth

By

DaveT

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Nov 18, 2010

5

Alright, bare with me guys and girls, I know a lot of these cars don’t really have the best stance and are just expensive cars with stock suspension and fancy wheels, however I felt if I didn’t share this booth with you I would be skipping out an interesting part of the SEMA experience.

And since I am doing my best to share as much of SEMA with you as I can I present the Giovanna Wheels 2010 SEMA booth.

The Carpet

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the booth was the plush carpeting. Most of the booths at SEMA had carpet but a lot of it was pretty firm and most certainly not white.

Giovanna though, they decided to go all out and get white carpet AND hire someone to clean it as the day went on. Ballin?

cleaner — Poor guy, I can't imagine how often he had to do this

The Trucks

The next thing to catch my eye, being a mini truck fan, were these two heavily modified full size trucks which both happened to be blue.

chevy_truck_1 — Topless, indecent exposure.

other_chevy_truck_1 — No shortage of TV's in this truck, more than I have ever owned

other_chevy_truck_2 — Those look like the seats in rusty...

Go DJ…

To the right of the mini trucks was a DJ who was spinning at the booth the entire time I was there. He played a good mix of mainstream rap which actually fit the theme of the booth quite well.

The Luxury rides

Then there was Giovanna’s cream of the crop. A collection of very expensive cars I could never afford sitting on rims that probably weigh in near a metric ton.

bentleys — Some cars you drive, some cars you get driven in

benz_sls_amg — SLS Amg rockin' Giovanna wheels

blue_black_camaro — Whoops how did a Camaro find its way into this booth? Who's checking the door?

Ferrari_black_1 — Which looks pretty good on those wheels

porsche_panemera — This Panemara was fairly tasteful as well

ferrari_white — Do it look good? Do it ride good?

model_sign — They had lots of model signings and what not

The Pimp

As we were making our way through the booth looking at all of the stuff we could never afford a pimp walked in.

He wasn’t affiliated with the booth in anyway that I could tell it just seems he was walking around the entire show dressed as such.

pimp_2 — Mink, gator shoes, cane, money rag

Whether or not he was an active pimp I’ll never know…

Event Coverage: SEMA Car Crazy Showcase

By

DaveT

-

Nov 17, 2010

7

Outside of the Las Vegas convention center SEMA was held at Meguiar’s put on a little something they called the Car Crazy Show case. It was a collection of mostly muscle, classic, and hot rodded vehicles and was really quite interesting.

I spent a lot of time in this area and this batch of coverage contains most of the shots from there. Thinking back I know there are a few I missed so those will show up in the rest of my outdoor coverage.

Bigfoot 3 window

This three window coupe was really interesting. I’ve seen these cars done a variety of ways but never anything quite like this.

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, whatever you call it where you are from, and whatever you want to call it this car if nothing else was very unique.

bigfoot_frontfender — Gotta keep him chained up

bigfoot_underhood — As he is waiting to get out

bigfoot_rear1 — The follow through on this idea is nothing short of amazing.

bigfoot_side — Bigfoot Fiedl Researchers Organization. How bout that.

And outside of the forest…

Now that we have found Bigfoot lets take a look at some of the other rides

charger_1 — This charger was one of the newest cars in the showcase

chevelle — This Chevelle had some of the largest wheels I have seen on a Chevelle

chevelle_underhood_2 — So nice I had to shoot it twice

monogram_32 — I swear I built a Revelle-Monogram kit of this exact car

ramp_2 — Guys worked these blocks of wood all day to insure no car got damaged rolling up

spectre — Spectre Mustang looking proper

streetnik_front — The Streetnik Bandit built from all sorts of random parts

streetnik_rear — Can anyone spot the Fiat parts?

teal_mavrick — The best Maverick I have ever seen

So, so, much win, though I dunno what it is?

tt_underhood — And this is a beautiful, kinda bird looking, engine bay

Mythbusters

I wasn’t going to post this today but then I realized (should look at calendars more) that this episode airs tonight 9pm so no time like the present right?

The myth is whether or not the Porsche 928 is more aerodynamic backwards than it is forwards and apparently the best way to test this is spin the inner workings of one around underneath the body and stitch it all back together.

So they did.

mythhbusters_3 — I originally approved from this angle and thought 'rear steer?'

mythhbusters_1 — But then I saw the tailpipe in front and was confused

mythhbusters_5 — So I looked inside and saw this which was perplexing

mythhbusters_2 — and then this and it made more sense

mythhbusters_4 — Can't wait to see what happens

I have hockey at 10:30 today so I am not sure if I will be able to watch all of this episode but my money is on that it’s not better but might be close.

Feel free to rub it in my face if I am wrong tomorrow!

SEMA Showstopper: Holley’s Shop Truck

By

DaveT

-

Nov 17, 2010

8

The last few SEMA Showstoppers I’ve posted have been fairly involved, very custom builds that don’t really represent what most people do in their own garage, so today I decided to post something a little more reasonable built buy the guys and gals over at Holley Performance.

This C-10 is the type of resto-mod you could see someone do to the truck they rode in as a child with their mother or father, and that’s probably why I like it so much.

Holley kept things relatively simple on the exterior by painting it (what I think) is a factory color and letting the custom Indy roadster inspired wheels and lowered stance (Classic Performance Parts Suspension) do all of the talking.

holley_shop_truck_3 — I think a lot of people overlooked this truck due to how simple it is

Under the hood (and to the frame) is where most of the improvements have been made as the factory power plant has been replaced with a hot cammed LS3 and Tremec T56 Transmission.

Holley engine mounts and cross member make it all fit while the Holley HP EFI harness makes it all run.

This truck just keeps things simple and looks great doing it, enjoy the rest of the pictures:

holley_shop_truck_2 — LS3 has tons of room in there

holley_shop_truck_1 — If your wondering there are 13" Baer brakes behind those wheels to keep things under control

holley_shop_truck_4 — Love the look of the C-10 front end

holley_shop_truck_5 — The bed was beautiful and you couldn't tell the tubs were widened

holley_shop_truck_6 — The vintage styled logos finish the look

More info on the build can be found here on Holleys website.

Event Coverage: SEMA Part 5

By

DaveT

-

Nov 16, 2010

5

So I was doing some thinking when working on this post: If each post had a minimum 30 pictures, and this is part 5 then that means that at the end of this post (not including the showstoppers) I will have posted at least 150 pictures from the 2010 SEMA show, damn.

I’m not even all that close to being finished, I am however done with the inside of the show after this post (more or less :P)

4×4’s

If I lived near the desert I could see having a 4×4 to blast around the dunes.

donk — I'm kidding of course this thing is useless

4x4_2 — Check out the dude in the back, the wheel gap is about half his body size

Boom Crafts Celsior

These guys were all the way from Japan and while their was a little bit of a language barrier we still managed to talk shop for a bit. Crazy build…

crazy_boze_front — The vinyl work took 2 guys two days to complete

crazy_boze_interior — While he couldn't quite say how much went into the car itself

crazy_boze_rear — It certainly made an impression

crazy_boze_trunk — I didn't hear it playing though I really wanted too

Rods, Customs, and Classics

rod_1 — Some of the more contemporary wheels I have seen on a roadster, thoughts?

nascar_1 — I saw this Torino and had to shoot it, it was out of my control.

Continental Tire

I didn’t realize until last night, while editing, that the Continental Tire booth actually had quite a few nice rides in their booth. I also got a lanyard from them, thanks guys!

conti_tire — If it was me behind the wheel 0-dead in 2 seconds?

conti_audi — Dig the vinyl, luke warm on the wheels

1957 Ford Thunderbird

This has to be the most modified Ford Thunderbird I have ever seen. I looked all over the place for a spec sheet but I was unable to find one.

tbird_1 — Big old supercharged Ford Power Plant

tbird_2 — The flames were very traditionally done but clash with the blue a tad

tbird_4 — The chute and wheelie bar make me wonder how often it sees the strip

On The Carpet

This category will make sense once you scroll down, but really it’s a catch all.

carbon — This car had a hell of a lot of CF

colors — What you don't see is the sun burn the guy in the back got after looking at this car

hummer — This looks like a Jada 'Dub' Toy

gtm_1 — The first GTM kit I have seen in person, it was beside the Thunderbird above

infiniti_1 — This Infiniti had a nice stance

xxr_supra1 — Interesting looking Supra at the XXR booth

xxr_supra2 — I don't know if I have seen XXR's this wide before

Feature Cars

I heard owner of one of the cars in this area complaining about how he had been promised a better spot not one in the back of a hall.

He was really mad and I didn’t really get it, your car was in SEMA man relax that’ an accomplishment in itself.

hurricane_4 — This Trail Blazer was known as the Hurricane

hurricane_1 — It was on huge wheels with an interesting wide body

hurricane_2 — The specs of those rear tires is 405/25/R24

hurricane_3 — I'm not even sure if it was lowered, truthfully

intim_1 — Interesting homage to the Intimidator

Clean wrx repping wheeldude.com and AWFilms

cookies_1 — Some booth had an older lady making the best smelling cookies ever, I took this shot to torture myself later clearly

I’ll have more coverage tomorrow, shots of the Meguair’s Car Crazy setup that was outdoors, a showstopper, and perhaps the only booth at the show with it’s own pimp!