WTF Friday: SEMA oddities

By

-

Nov 12, 2010

With any car show you are bound to come across cars that make you go ‘huh?’ and SEMA was no exception. Today’s WTF Friday includes some of the cars, at SEMA that caused that reaction.

I am sure there were more I’m sure but I was too distracted by the awesome to pick up on them.

DW Drum Machine

This one has a bit of an excuse, see as how it’s obviously an art car, and for an art car it’s not all that bad.

However I’m not sure who would drive this daily, also not sure if the drum sticks would hold up to the elements daily.

drum_3 — The little drums around the headlights are actually kind of neat

drum_2 — It even had it's own mascot! (Which is a little creepy)

Party Limo

How would you like to show up to your next social function in this Limo? You would be sure to make an impression.

limo_interior — When I stuck my head in to take a look I regretted it, this car smelled of stale smoke and poor judgment

Over the top show beasts

These cars would both rack up a lot of points at a traditional show just for the sheer amount of modifications thrown at them.

Both were built fairly well for what they are, and the airbrushing on the second was great from an artistic stand point.

green_civic — Does this car run with the TV there? Who knows

ice_2 — It's kind of like Superman's Fortress of Solitude got invaded by monsters...

ice_1 — After you notice the wheel check out the corner of the tank of liquid on the right

The Scythe

This car from Galphin Auto Sports, aka GAS, aka the last crew I saw working for the show ‘Pimp My Ride‘ brought out their Scythe concept car.

This was about the last car I saw of the weekend and upon seeing it I thought perhaps maybe I had been out in the Vegas sun too long and my mind was playing tricks on me, but nope it was real.

This car was completely over the top and that way on purpose, sometimes this approach works very well (see: Beatnik Bandit) but I wasn’t really that much of a fan of this final product, it looked a little to alien for my taste.

gas_2 — Twin supercharged this car is reported to make 1500 hp

Since I have not done a contest in awhile, the first person to correctly identify what this car started as wins a couple of stickers. It’s not hard to find google helps 😉

Site Updates

Not too much in terms of updates this week however the store has been updated and the pink/white stickers I like em dropped are now back in stock with one important difference, there are nolonger white panties under the pink ones.

This was done so that the panties cover move of the legs than the previous versions which results in a better looking sticker over all.

Flashback Friday

The Starlet I posted in part 4 of the SEMA coverage reminded me of this one which I posted in a post titled ‘Clean Dinah Bitch’

Check out JDM Chicago when you got a sec too

That saying still makes me laugh, I’m going to drop at least one more post over the weekend so keep an eye out!

Event Coverage: SEMA Part 4

By

DaveT

-

Nov 11, 2010

11

Here is another photo overload from SEMA 2010. For those of you who are waiting for photos of the cars that were outside of SEMA rest assured I lots of great coverage from the outside as well that will be making it’s way up to the site over the next few days.

In the meantime enjoy some more of what was going on inside the halls. After this set I believe I’ve got one hall left along with some of the adjacent hallways before taking it outside into the Vegas sun.

Random

Painters, 4×4’s wine, and emotion

ford_32_trunk — For some reason I can't find any other pictures of this car, but I guess this is enough

I know this blog is about low cars but 4x4s intrigue me

4x4_1 — I guess it's just my general respect for suspension mods?

suffering — I suffered for you guys, I tell ya

American rides

fins — Rims are a little out there but the color sure is purdy

chevy_camaro — The Camaro is inescapable

mopar — This would have been so much cooler if the marks were real

mustang_drift — Vaughn Gittin Jr's drift Mustang

Mazdas

The Mazda section really excited me when I saw it in a distance because they had the new 3 all decked out for time attack, a worked over Miata, and a pair of serious RX-8s.

mazda_3_shinka — These wheels are absurdly expensive for oem wheels

mazda_2 — A Mazda 2 in street trim, like I said these are going to be hot

mazdaspeed_2 — Now this is what I'm talking about, a great functional and beautiful Mazda 2

mazda_3_timeattack — Time attack turbocharged Mazda3 putting down around 520hp, NUTS, hows that smile look now?

mazda_rx8_2 — No word of a lie this is the November car in my office Formula Drift Calendar

mazda_rx8 — This car wasn't completely finished but still sick

mazda_rx8_rear — Once done it should be a track terror

Nissans, Toyotas, and Kias

kia_koup_r — Kia Koup-R, pretty aggressive looking for a kia

datsun_eneki — Eneki brought out this beautiful Datsun

nissan_skyline_gtr_front — Skyline + BBS + CF

nissan_skyline_gtr_1 — Winning combination

scion — On the other side a wheel was missing, for some reason or other

starlet_2 — I didn't even have to ask Lyndsey to take photos of this

starlet_underhood — So, so clean, kudos to the builder(s)

Euros

Audi’s BMW’s, and Mercedes, though I somehow this missed one.

audi_privat — I like the way the black roof flows into the hood which flows into the grill

porsche_mastermind — Mastermind Fairy Design Porsche Panamera

porsche_gt3rs_2 — GT3RS, I might have bowed down to this car

bmw_x5 — Not really sure how I feel about X5 modification

bmw_orange — One of many track ready BMWs at the show

bmw_white — Wouldn't mind taking this out for a spin on the track

bmw_white_2 — And something a little more fit for the streets

team_forged_benz — Going wide with Team Forged

Exotics

I have a love hate relationship with exotic cars. I love them because what they are capable of but hate them because of the people who often own them and the fact I will probably never be able to.

audi_r8_rear — Perfect color combo on this car, nothing fancy and attention grabbing

Ferrari_1 — Still not big into Ferrari's (out of my league) but this 458 on HRE's looks great

bugatti_wrap — Most expensive street car to be wrapped? Epson of all people

Hope you guys are enjoying the photos so far, I’m doing my best to share the SEMA experience with you.

SEMA Showstopper: Twin Odyvia’s

By

DaveT

-

Nov 10, 2010

4

While walking through the ‘Dub Show Tour Live‘ at SEMA two cars caught my eye amongst the sky jacked 4×4’s and boxes on 24″ wheels. Even an s-chassis noob like myself could tell that the two cars Mastermind brought to the show were something special.

Never before had I seen two cars that compliment each other so well,while at the same time represent the very different tuning styles of the United States and Japan.

The first thing you probably noticed about each car is the unique Sprit Rei Odyvia body kit, but really the exterior just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the modifications done to these cars.

The first car, brought over from Japan, is courtesy of Restored.jpand has a lot of unique, traditional JDM modifications done to it.

Under (and creatively airbrushed on) the hood is an L28 motor which has received some aftermarket love including, but not limited, to Kameari adjustable sliding cam sprockets, Kameari twin idler gears, and a stainless steel header mated to a modified S13 exhaust.

jdm — This car sat low and had a unique two tone paint job

Between the doors some of the modifications include the dash and aluminum gauge panel from a Ken & Marry Skyline, Datsun type bucket seats, and a Vertex steering wheel.

The engine’s vital internals are monitored by a combination of Oomori gauges and an Autometer tach, while aural pleasures are provided by a Carrozzeria high end audio system.

jdm_2 — It's pretty crazy that this kit uses JDM Honda Odyssey headlights

The wheels tucked up under that clean two tone paint job are Kranze Cerberus II which are 18×10.5 in the front (-22 offset) and 18×10.5 (-31) out back.

At first glance The Mastermind Odyvia below might not look too different from the restored.jp one above.

Yes this car does also has the Sprit Rei Odyvia body kit installed but in addition to that it’s also had Spirt Rei wide front fenders and quarter panels mounted to increase the cars wheel stuffing ability by 55mm up front and 85mm out back.

usdm_2 — Gotta love the extra aggressive stance from the American version

The result is a wider, custom PPG Radiance II Candy Brown colored, body which is suspended inches from the ground, and millimeters above the black face/solar rain lip custom widened 18×10 (-25) and 18×12 (-32) Leon Hardiritt Orden wheels by Buddy Club D1 spec suspension.

usdm_4 — The custom PPG paint really does look great

The stance of this car is on point, the exterior is flawless, and the interior has been treated to a healthy dose of suede (front & rear seats, dash, a-pillar trim, b-pillar trim, headliner, and door panels), but what really sets this car apart from it’s JDM counterpart is the power plant.

This car has an LS6 crate motor which the Mastermind was able to make live and breathe (scroll down for video) between the strut towers thanks to custom one off items like the wiring harness, drive shaft, and header.

usdm_5 — Mastermind showing love to those who made it all possible

The Mastermind team really pulled out all the stops for their SEMA build and were very great at providing me with lots of information for this SEMA Show Stopper feature, be sure to check them out at MasterMindNa.com, Facebook, and on YouTube.

You can keep in touch with their japenese counter parts on restored.jp

With all the power their s13 has on tap I can’t wait until they take this car out on the track for a shakedown, let’s hope they record it!

Theme Tuesdays: The Women of Sema

By

DaveT

-

Nov 9, 2010

7

I’m sure you guys may have noticed a surprising lack of women in my SEMA coverage and perhaps wondered where they all were.

Well wonder no more because I have put all of the ones that myself and my girlfriend did manage to capture into today’s Theme Tuesday.

Some girls got shot more than once, but that’s not really a problem is it?

camaro — This must have been my shot, cause she's not looking at the cam...

clev — I should have grabbed one of those posters in hindsight

2cravechicks — Girls at the 2Crave wheels booth

mercedes — My stanceiseverything.com shirt grabbed her attention, obviously

knight — There was a crowd around this girl like you would not believe

stillthere — 'I think I just went up a cup size'

Back with another Show Stopper later today, just waiting on a response from the builder 🙂

Event Coverage: SEMA Part 3

By

DaveT

-

Nov 8, 2010

9

I’ve got another round of coverage from the central hall of SEMA today. Today’s post is very picture heavy (50+) so those of you on smart phones consider this your warning.

Lot’s of variety in today’s post so there should be something for everyone, there is also even a little something for Transformers fans…

House Of Kolor

The H.O.K booth probably could have been a SEMA Show Stopper now that I think about it because it had a lot of amazing examples of what you can be done with their paint if you are very talented.

hok_tank — This bike had all sorts of detail but I liked the tank the most

hok_boards — I've got a whole book full of skateboard art and these would easily make the cut

hok_monroe_bomb — Marilyn was a bombshell

hok_cone_head — Man, this movie used to creep me out

hok_vette — Check that dude doing a double take at this car

hok_truck — My favorite vehicle at the House of Kolor booth, love the frenched headlights

Anzo’s Bumblebee

I’ve gotta be honest I am still not 100% behind Michael Bay’s choice to turn Bumblebee from a VW bug to a Camaro, however I do like what’s been going on with the new Camaro’s so I can live with it.

camaro_transformers_taillight — These tail lights were rad

camaro_transformer_headlight — But these headlights were incredible, check out the projector

Gene Winfield

We met Gene Winfield in an elevator on the way to the washroom, really nice humble guy. Later I took a look at ‘The Wildcard’ he painted parked in the PPG booth and was blown away…

gene_winfield_4 — That stripe down the middle isn't glare, it's great paint work

gene_winfield_1 — Apparently as Lyndsey got close this door opened on its own, magic!

gene_winfield_5 — The diner theme of the PPG booth sure was something

gene_winfield_3 — Clean doesn't even begin to describe the work that was done

gene_winfield_2 — This car was all the way from Australia

BC Racing

I checked out the BC Racing booth for quite some time and was able to give Mike from BC a personal thanks for all the work he did helping me get my suspension on point.

BC is also doing made to order wheels which means they should be a much larger player this year.

bc_4 — Mike and I putting a face to the name

bc_3 — A quick look at BC's wheels and suspension lineup

bc_1 — Sitting low on their racing suspension

bc_camaro — BC also had this awesome, very dumped, Camaro at their booth

The rest of the floor

Cars and people from the rest of the floor, lots of great stuff here.

std_nsx_front — NSX by Rick Design, first I've ever seen

widebody_bmw_2 — Interesting widebody 3/M3

widebody_bmw — With a very aggressive front end

block_2 — He was ripping one of these out on the test track as well

block_mini — Traxxas is coming out with this Mini Block Ford this year

mini_camaro — Even the RC Camaro's had great stance

ball_burnished — One of the most unique finishes of the entire show

silver_camaro_3 — Nice looking 60s Camaro

silver_camaro — Hey, what's that guy checking out?

crazy_camaro_1 — Check out the nose panel, all CF

crazy_camaro_2 — This car was packing serious rubber

audi_acuair_rotiform — Injen/Accuair/Rotifom Audi wag, fantastic.

camaro_slammed_2 — Can't wait to see these done up on the street, bright future for this platform

slammed_mustang — Ford was not about to let Chevy have all the slammed fun however

These Rally Fighters are a sort of Semi kit car vehicle

mazda_3_front — H&R did up these Mazda2 in a real functional fashion

mazda_2_rear — These should make decent little track cars

time_attack — Speaking of functional check out one of the many time attack cars at 2010 SEMA

green_hornet — This was a treat, one of the movie cars from the upcoming Green Hornet

magnaflow_andretti — Mr. Andretti at the Magnaflow booth

raybestos — Raybesto's theme custom at the Ford booth

salt_flat — Phil Remington dry lakes roadster, a real piece of automotive history

silver_dollar — Another piece of history, Mike Bambers Silver Dollar - A 340 Chrysler-powered '41 Willys

seibon_350z — Seibon had this nicely done Nissan in it's booth

scion_front — A number of manufacturer's collaborated on this Scion and it looked great

scion_underhood — I think I am slowly becoming an engine bay fanatic

scion_trunk — No expense spared in the interior

SEMA Showstopper: The Big Job

By

DaveT

-

Nov 7, 2010

3

Previously I mentioned that I had a few different plans for some of the in depth vehicle and booth coverage I got from this years SEMA event. Dubbed ‘SEMA Show Stoppers’ these are the things that stopped me in my tracks and demand further attention.

Today’s SEMA show stopper is the ‘Big Job‘ which is a 1956 Ford F-750 merged with a Chevy HD chassis that was brought to the show by Dieselwheels.com and Insane Kustoms.

What drew me to this truck initially was it’s sheer size, I have never seen something so large with such classic Ford truck styling.

What kept me near the truck was interesting Chevy chassis merge that supported the entire thing.

Also helping draw my eye to the truck were the custom wheels, air ride and a number of unique features like the side exit exhaust below the running boards and the beautiful wood lined bed.

bigjob_front_pass — Just look at the size of this behemoth

bigjob_bay — The Big Job is powered by a Duramax diesel with Banks inter cooler

bigjob_int — The interior had all the creature comforts like A/C heat, GPS, and satellite radio

big_job_detail — The paint was flawless throughout which could not have been easy for such a big truck

bigjob_rear — Gotta love the space of a crew cab, almost as big as those wheel lips

bigjob_rear_pass — Beautiful color and integrated tail lights

bigjob_bed — While this truck had a hitch and I am sure it could haul for days I hope it doesn't for the beautiful beds sake

Update: This beautiful truck was built by Insane Kustoms in Utah, check them out on facebook.

More SEMA coverage and Show Stoppers to come.

Event Coverage: Lowballers VIP Meet

By

DaveT

-

Nov 5, 2010

3

Last night, after SEMA, I hit up the Lowballers SEMA VIP meet.

I knew I had to make a point to head out to this meet from the first time I saw the ad because the Lowballers do it big and the VIP scene in Toronto is still pretty small still so this meet served as a great opportunity to check out an established VIP scene.

While at the meet I also got to meet John from VIP Style cars and hang out with Toronto VIP boss Sharad from SK performance with whom I chatted with while my girlfriend worked her way around the meet taking the following pictures.

speed3 — Aggresivley fitted Speed3 on highlighter yellow wheels

miata_threequarter — The Miata game in the states is serious buisness

whitebox — The whole Vegas experience really turned me around on the new boxes

One of several sets of Junction Produce curtains

Just some of the lineup, these guys roll deep

black_lex — One of my favorite cars of the night

I'm normally not a big fan of pinstripes but I didn't mind this one

dope_2 — Another one of my favorite cars of the meet so sick in person

Big shout out to Neek, and Sean D for the Vegas hospitality and the great meet. Wish I could have made it on the cruise but there is always next year!

Event Coverage: SEMA Part 2

By

DaveT

-

Nov 5, 2010

10

At this point we are all done the shooting at SEMA and now all I have to do is sort through the 100’s of photos to give you guys the best of what I’ve got.

In addition to standard Event Coverage, like today’s, from SEMA (which now has it’s own category) I have a few special types of posts in mind for some of the more in depth coverage I’ve got.

For now here is a good variety of cars that were in the Central Hall.

Spectra Chrome

Spectra had a pretty cool booth, depending on the price I could see a lot of people messing around with this.

wild_sling — Dennis Anderson's King Sling, I have a cd about this I have yet to watch

spectrachrome_anderson — I'm not going to lie the kid in me was stoked to see Dennis Anderson

Classics, Rods, and Customs

firstcar — This was actually the first SEMA photo I took, I should frame it

gasser — Gassers are one of the originators of functional stance

american_shifters_custom — This was sitting in the American Shifter group booth

classic_industries_shop_truck — Classic Industries shop truck

hok_ultra_roadster — House of Kolor Ultra Roadster

smooth_custom — I've always had an appreciation for Customs but SEMA made me appreciate them even more

deuncenberg_32_ford — Deucenberg 32 Ford, my god it was nice

American

camaro_stewart_warner — So many new Camaro's at SEMA this year here is one from Stewart Warner

camaro_stewart_warner_underhood — Twin forced induction

supercharged_camaro_front — Another Camaro, super slammed

supercharged_camaro_underhood — This one was supercharged

supercharged_camaro_rear — The wheel wells on these new Camaro's just swallow up big rims

Imports

hyundai_gen_sedan — Hyundai is really out to step up their reputation

crz_drew — It was rad to see a CRZ with a BMX up top

crz_drew_sig — Even cooler to see it was Drew's colorway. Google Drew Bezanson

bisimoto_crz_front — Bisimoto Hybrid CRZ project

bisimoto_crz_rear_threequar — Pretty crazy build all around

bisimoto_crz_rear_facts — The coolest mods list ever?

For now I am about to head out to the Miracle Mile and do some shopping with some of the money I won at the slots (true story) but when I get back later, and before we do some shows, I will post some photos from last nights Low Ballers VIP meet.

Event Coverage: SEMA Part 1

By

DaveT

-

Nov 4, 2010

5

The first day at SEMA was intense, the show basically blew me away in every regard. It’s larger than I could have imagined. If you think you have anyway of getting out to one of these do what you can to make it happen, it’s a car enthusiasts paradise.

Each hall is massive and the parking lot out front of the show is the size of a large car show never mind the multiple halls that actually make up the event.

Today’s coverage is a small lot that was behind the Center Hall that was all Source Media Interlink feature cars.

Random

Is it wrong that I wanted to drive this?

lamboquad — Probably the closest to driving a real one I could get...

4×4’s

I don’t normally post many 4×4’s but I don’t normally see one’s like these…

articulation — This rig could articulate

rockcrawler_2 — I'm sure one of you know more about this than I

Rods & Classics

32_ford — This highboy was done traditional and clean as hell

street_rod — Loved the color scheme on this Street Rod

impala — One of many beautiful Impalas I saw today and yesterday

impala_bay — The bay of the above Impala

juxtapose — Loved the contrast of the two types of vehicles in this shot

Minitrucks

truckin — Loved this truck, which I believe was a Truckin' mag feature

minitruck — Homie @solefoodog shot this truck at WCN

minitruck_interior — It's quite a work of art all around

Lexus

Lexus had a few heavy hitters out in this back lot

rotiform_2 — Rotiform is killing it at SEMA lots of cars had their wheels

rotiform_1 — This set was a good reason why

Other cars

gti_2 — This GTI caught my eye because it was clean, simple, and something I could see as a daily

gti_1 — ...and of course it was sitting right on LM's

blackorange — This is the type of classic JDM you just don't see in the GTA

The Chronicles…

I was very excited to see some of the cars I see from The Chronicles… in person.

tony_nsx — The NSX that used to just sit buried in clothes

big_mike_1 — Big Mike's Prelude is crazy clean in person

big_mike_2 — I just stared at the bay for some time taking in all the details

big_mike_3 — In person I liked the color way more than I thought I would

A Vegas Vacation

By

DaveT

-

Nov 3, 2010

5

Yesterday was a long day, we woke up at about 5am Toronto time to hop on a plane to Denver, stop over for about an hour and then go to Vegas. I can’t really remember what time we touched down Nevada time but I do recall being tired and hungry.

While we could have just rushed and went to SEMA in our current state, this is also our first time in Vegas, so we decided to do some Vegas sight seeing instead and head to SEMA fresh today.

This is probably the least car dedicated post to ever appear on Stance Is Everything but don’t worry the next few days will probably have some of the best content to appear on this site so it evens out.

The sights

As much as people say it over and over Vegas really is one of those places you have to visit. I’m not much of a gambler but I enjoy having a beer on the sidewalk and watching people piss their life savings away.

Oh and women if you like women come to Vegas.

skyline — This is the view from the tower on our hotel, The Stratosphere

boxes — Vegas is seemingly all about the skin trade

circuscircus — We didn't stay at Circus Circus but we checked it out

Inside Circus Circus was Zoltar, these things are creepy and funny

rasta — You could also win these funny Rasta Bananas, odd

dancer — Let your imaginations run wild guys...

wynn — The Wynn apparently has a great buffet, can't wait to try it

fountains1 — Mandatory Bellagio fountain shot

Cars and Vehicles

Here are some of the cars and vehicles I saw just out and about on the streets of Vegas and in the Casinos. Nothing compared to what I will see today of course.