The first day at SEMA is always the best. You're fresh and excited about the upcoming week. When you greet familiar faces, you smile and shake hands, maybe even exchange a hug depending on how much you like the person (especially if it's a girl).
Nimble on your feet, browsing the halls is no task at all at this point; you still like the shoes you are wearing and they aren't hurting your feet. In fact, you may even carry your backpack around with you, maybe even a small point-and-shoot (DSLR for us). Before you know it, day one is a wrap and now the trouble starts - the after parties.
This is where you get yourself into trouble. An after party in Vegas during SEMA week usually doesn't consist of busting a piņata and having chocolate cake, depending on where you go. If you are lucky, you can get your business associates to buy drinks, but the courteous thing to do is to buy a round - of 10-dollar beers.
If you are really lucky, there's an open bar, at which point you'll be ordering 15 drinks for you and your friends. You have a great time at one of the casinos' clubs and you head back to your hotel where your non-party-going friends are sleeping in the room and you have to use your cell phone as a flashlight while trying not to stumble on the clothes that you threw on the ground before you dashed out of the room to get to the club early.
It's now the morning, and you have to repeat the process, only now, your feet hurt, you're tired, and you have a headache because it was open bar the night before. Not exactly a great day after a night on the town, but during SEMA week, it's worth it.
Day two was interesting to say the least. We caught glimpse of some great cars on display, and we can pretty much confirm that the Camaro is the most popular car at the show.
As promised, we have the results from the Scion Tuner Challenge. We all quietly made our predictions as to how the winner and the runners up would place, but it was all confirmed today at 11am. The contestants stood next to each other in suspense as the VP of Scion made the gut wrenching announcement.
Third place was announced and awarded to Eneri Abillar with the orange BRS widebody xB. This left the last two, but as second place was announced to be awarded to Brandon Leung, that left only Pete Collelo with his teal blue xB to be crowned the champion for 2009. Pete was awarded a check for $10,000.00 and a slick looking carbon-fiber trophy, which weighed next to nothing, a seriously nice piece. Congrats to the three contestants on a hard fought battle.
You may recognize Aaron Vaccaar's name from our showstoppers feature on his Subaru STi in recent times. You may also recognize his name from the ridiculous tour he trekked on this year to different car shows across the country.
Well his hard work has finally paid off. Vaccaar got together with the guys at Ford to put together this 2010 Ford Fusion. Vaccaar dressed up the Fusion with his own unique style and was worthy enough to be parked front and center in the Ford booth.
Vaccaar upgraded the stock engine with a custom turbo kit complete with a sweet front mount intercooler. The lowered body of the Ford sat on Nutek three-piece forged wheels with K sport brakes hiding behind.
Inside, Vaccaar upgraded the interior with a set of custom bucket seats and a full MB Quart audio set up. Vaccaar and his father Carl stood by the Fusion all day answering questions and giving onlookers a full tour of the Ford. The Vacaars are seriously hardcore.
Holy, holy, holy Lord! This Camaro is low! This tubbed out Chevy Camaro was scraping the floors of the convention center on 26-inch wheels and a nice tub setup under the hood to keep the chassis rigid. This is the perfect example of less is more; we are so in love with the stance of this Camaro. What an awesome build!
Reese Millen is a household name. You probably have a magnet on your fridge next to the magnetic alphabet with his smiling face and a thumbs up (we do). We all saw what Millen did to Pikes Peak in his Red Bull clad Hyundai Genesis, which was impressive to say the least, but let's take a look at his latest creation, a mid-engine mounted Hyundai Genesis!
This V8 powered Hyundai is the real deal. The first thing you'll notice as you look into the engine compartment located just behind the front seats are the eight individual intake runners that poke straight up, which is a glorious sight to see. Your attention will then be drawn to the massive exhaust system that crosses over itself just above the transmission that points towards the rear of the vehicle and exits through the rear bumper.
If you can get passed looking at the engine, you'll also notice that Millen has fitted the Genesis with one of the slickest sets of HRE Wheels we have ever seen, the perfect fit for the Hyundai. Behind the front seats, a firewall and a piece of glass separate occupants from the mayhem that is happening behind the cockpit. A seriously impressive build from Millen, but what else would you expect?
Lexus was in top form as usual. Located just beyond the doors of the convention center, Lexus had their traditional setup showing off their hottest new cars, that being the new IS C. The C we believe stands for convertible, which is blatantly obvious. In the booth, you'll catch a glimpse of a variety of ISC's including Fox Marketing's, 0-60 Magazine's, and David Huang's throw back to the original gangster IS300.
Unfortunately, the army of Lexus ISC/300s was no match for Lexus' newest flagship vehicle, the Lexus LFA. It's Lexus' sophomore release in the F Sport lineup, and what a way to stir things up at SEMA than to release the hounds in the form of this sinister looking supercar.
This flat black beast boasts a 4.8L V10 engine that pumps out 552 horses which will accelerate from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. Not quite breaking the three-second mark, but it makes up for it with a top speed of 202mph. The majority of the body panels are constructed from carbon fiber, which was almost a given; all the cool kids are doing that kind of stuff. We're only hoping that Lexus will offer the LFA in this Batmobile-like finish. We can't wait to see these things on the street!
The Falken Tire booth is a staple in the wheel and tire hall at SEMA. Every year they come out with a serious set of cars and a serious set of gorgeous models. And this is why we love Falken Tire. Vaughn Gitten Jr's Ford Mustang, a Nissan 370Z and a rad looking Nissan Cube took up space in the booth among other great display vehicles. Keep up the good work, Falken!
This is the first time we are seeing a Pagani Zonda in the flesh, or carbon fiber, and it's absolutely stunning. This unique looking supercar was never released in the States, which makes it amazing and well built because we never get anything that's this cool, and we'll take that to bank, sukkas.
The Zonda was displayed front and center in the Pirelli Tire booth and it took quite some time to get an opening to get a proper shot of this beauty, as onlookers were snapping photos and throwing up peace signs on one knee as they posed in front of this ultra rare car. Adding more fuel to the fire, this particular Pagani is an R model, whose body is constructed entirely of carbon fiber. Please excuse us while we wipe the drool from our chins.
There was a buzz floating around SEMA for the past two days about a unique VIP-styled Toyota people mover that was displayed under the sunlight. From 50 feet away, you probably won't be impressed much, but as you get closer you'll start to realize what you are looking at. This Toyota was completely wrapped in red leather. Red leather!
The sponsor logos on the fender were stitched into the leather showing off a seriously unique look. The hood and roof featured raised diamond stitching, while various other parts of the Toyota sported stitched seams that prove that you are looking at leather. The super low stance is brought to you buy Air Runner suspension, while a set of Wald Wheels and Rotora brakes hide in the wheel wells. Is this a trend that will catch on? We hope so - this is so fresh!
Traxxas had one of the coolest displays we have seen in all our years at SEMA. Check out this crazy off road 4x4 that was covered in dirt and mud, so much to the point that there was a residual mess on the carpet just under the 4x4. Cool idea!
That's a wrap for day two, and more after parties tonight! We'll have more coverage tomorrow stay tuned!
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