***Go with Solo.. SEMA 2008***
11-10-08, 02:54 PM
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***Go with Solo.. SEMA 2008***
This year SEMA fell on election day. To no surprise, that was the talk of the week. With the economy still trying to recover, I must say SEMA was still big as ever. Although, rumor has it that vendors were down 35% and general attendance was breaking an all time low of 40%.
The SEMA car of this year was a clean 3 way tie. Dodge Challenger, Nissan GT-R, and surprisingly the SMART car.
6 days in Vegas, 4 days of PR, 1 Hot Rod banquet and plenty of great food, these are my top SEMA 2008 cars and booths to keep an eye for in 2009.
Enjoy!
TETSU GT-R, complete widebody in matte white with signature designs throughout the entire car. My pick, of best of show. This car was shipped over from Japan to the Toyo booth. Those that follow may remember this car when debuted to be a different color. It was flat gold on black. By far the meanest looking Bently I have ever seen.
Aristo fans will appreciate the Ueno drift demo car that sports none other than Ueno's own Vertex aero parts, HKS motor, and Project Mu bbk. Still great to see after all these years of competition. The roll cage is a very famous work of art by a well renowned fabricator. To give you an idea, the cage cost nearly $30k and you would be on the waiting list for 10 months.
ENEOS sported a huge booth that included some very nice cars. The Zele orange GT-R, AutoConcept widebody flat orange EVOX, a Formula 1, and a rather nice 997 by Vertistiner. Check out their lovely eye candy!
Not too many Hot Rods this year, but this fine '32 sure caught my eye... okay it was the tiny Popeye decal that got me.
Another company that have been pushing hard these couple of years is K Sport. Although I do not have first hand experience with their product, they seem to represent every year with a very nice booth. This is their new product, complete Air Sus System. I did find out they will be using UAS bags with their setup in the future.
My favorite GT-R at SEMA had to be the Northern Cali owned GT-R in the Status booth. This car had the best blend of parts especially the custom finished HRE wheels in step-lip. Brushed lip and clear coated and rough matte dark grey face. That is thinking outside the box!
The SEMA car of this year was a clean 3 way tie. Dodge Challenger, Nissan GT-R, and surprisingly the SMART car.
6 days in Vegas, 4 days of PR, 1 Hot Rod banquet and plenty of great food, these are my top SEMA 2008 cars and booths to keep an eye for in 2009.
Enjoy!
TETSU GT-R, complete widebody in matte white with signature designs throughout the entire car. My pick, of best of show. This car was shipped over from Japan to the Toyo booth. Those that follow may remember this car when debuted to be a different color. It was flat gold on black. By far the meanest looking Bently I have ever seen.
Aristo fans will appreciate the Ueno drift demo car that sports none other than Ueno's own Vertex aero parts, HKS motor, and Project Mu bbk. Still great to see after all these years of competition. The roll cage is a very famous work of art by a well renowned fabricator. To give you an idea, the cage cost nearly $30k and you would be on the waiting list for 10 months.
ENEOS sported a huge booth that included some very nice cars. The Zele orange GT-R, AutoConcept widebody flat orange EVOX, a Formula 1, and a rather nice 997 by Vertistiner. Check out their lovely eye candy!
Not too many Hot Rods this year, but this fine '32 sure caught my eye... okay it was the tiny Popeye decal that got me.
Another company that have been pushing hard these couple of years is K Sport. Although I do not have first hand experience with their product, they seem to represent every year with a very nice booth. This is their new product, complete Air Sus System. I did find out they will be using UAS bags with their setup in the future.
My favorite GT-R at SEMA had to be the Northern Cali owned GT-R in the Status booth. This car had the best blend of parts especially the custom finished HRE wheels in step-lip. Brushed lip and clear coated and rough matte dark grey face. That is thinking outside the box!
Last edited by solo; 11-10-08 at 10:29 PM.
11-10-08, 02:54 PM
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Mobile 1 housed 2 very anticipated cars for SEMA, the Bulletproof GT-R and the iForged widebody TechArt 997. The GT-R rocked a set of BBS LM, Endless monoblock racing calipers, and all the eye candy and go fast products fresh from the East. I counted almost 4 sets of BBS LMs on GT-Rs and Bulletproof almost supplied each and every car. Rumor has it the owner of this GT-R shed out another $80k on top of the car to get it ready for SEMA. Deep pockets. The widebody 997 had a very clean set of wheels and the body work was flawless.
The HONDA booth was bumping with music and great cars. Danica Patrick was present with her Formula 1 car. Neil of Tjin Edition built a '09 fit with old school BBS wheels and this crazy looking Accord stole the show. This is clean execution of what an Euro Accord can look like. HOT!
CUSCO was present with another killer booth with 2 very special cars. Funny, Monday night Dave takes me to the best Japanese food in town. Strangely it was where we met the president of CUSCO and J's Racing. I guess even they know which restaurant to eat at when in town. Anyways, the STI is all business and will be running the US Time Attack events in '09. The other car is one mean looking G37 or Skyline in Japan. You may recognize this car to be on the cover of Super Street a few months back and yes it was white. This is the AutoConcept HIGH END built Skyline repainted in matte black. It also sports a complete redesign bumper. What is unique about this car is almost everything. The exterior is the only widebody G37 so far since this new body style is pretty new. The custom design engine is a work of art and was tuned by the famous MINES Japan ECU with a custom 1 of 1 certificate. Wheels are SSR, suspension is all CUSCO, and seats are BRIDE. When asked if the car will be seeing any track time, the owner prefers HIN which is why this car also has a host of monitors and Ice. On Thursday, media was storming their booth. Why? Sony just awarded the G37 their Grand Turismo Award which means this car will be made into the next GT game. Such an honor.
The HONDA booth was bumping with music and great cars. Danica Patrick was present with her Formula 1 car. Neil of Tjin Edition built a '09 fit with old school BBS wheels and this crazy looking Accord stole the show. This is clean execution of what an Euro Accord can look like. HOT!
CUSCO was present with another killer booth with 2 very special cars. Funny, Monday night Dave takes me to the best Japanese food in town. Strangely it was where we met the president of CUSCO and J's Racing. I guess even they know which restaurant to eat at when in town. Anyways, the STI is all business and will be running the US Time Attack events in '09. The other car is one mean looking G37 or Skyline in Japan. You may recognize this car to be on the cover of Super Street a few months back and yes it was white. This is the AutoConcept HIGH END built Skyline repainted in matte black. It also sports a complete redesign bumper. What is unique about this car is almost everything. The exterior is the only widebody G37 so far since this new body style is pretty new. The custom design engine is a work of art and was tuned by the famous MINES Japan ECU with a custom 1 of 1 certificate. Wheels are SSR, suspension is all CUSCO, and seats are BRIDE. When asked if the car will be seeing any track time, the owner prefers HIN which is why this car also has a host of monitors and Ice. On Thursday, media was storming their booth. Why? Sony just awarded the G37 their Grand Turismo Award which means this car will be made into the next GT game. Such an honor.
Last edited by solo; 11-10-08 at 10:52 PM.
11-10-08, 02:55 PM
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FORD once again had their same location in the Central hall. They push this year was the FLEX. Plenty of examples built by tuner shops were on display alone the 3 modified Focus and some rather interesting cars. This over-the-top build started life as a Focus but evidently it turned out to be nothing compact and more alien. The rollers in the rear was a massive 24" inches and it actually had 2 steering wheels, one on each side. Crazy.
Another car causing much attention inside FORD was this all steel one seater Hot Rod looking like an old school fighter plane:
SSR & Tanabe was present with another fresh booth with equally fresh cars. I was lucky enough to also meet the president ot Tanabe, turns out he is super down to earth and spoke perfect English. We chatted about different cultures, hard times in the industry, ie. Trust/Greddy Japan, and what's new for 2009. Auto Concept was again rocking with new cars. This time it was another widebody Top Secret Supra and a matte black 350Z. Are there any other show team that can compete..? I doubt it.
SCION for the third straight year had their build-off challenge right in the entrance of Central Hall. This year our very own local Mark of FATLACE were chosen to build one of the TCs. Check out the wide body by B Magic. Notice the gloss on flat color. Very subtle. Great job Mark!
The winner of the SCION Tuner Challenge went to John with his Porsche inspired widebody all CF TC. The wheels are Jlines in a ridiculous 20x11 in the rear all finished in track ready matte black. John took a gamble and went over budget and ended up shooting out of pocket for this build, but surely it has paid off. Congrats homie!
The last competitor was Eddie Hahm from Fast Eddies. His rendition was completely a different direction with influence taken from the traditional hot rods. In recent years more examples are surfacing with Imports converted into a Domestic theme. I love it. Keep on thinking outside the box.
Beside the TETSU GT-R inside of TOYO Tires booth, they also had another Bulletproof Nissan GT-R. BBS LM, Endless BBK.. do you see an obvious relation here:
Team Hybrid had their own GT-R in the Falken booth. Check out that custom wing and carbon goodies:
Yokohama booth had a Porsche 997, a track ready BMW Z4 and one sore thumb.. a Shebly Cobra on Work Rezax wheels.. strange.
Another car causing much attention inside FORD was this all steel one seater Hot Rod looking like an old school fighter plane:
SSR & Tanabe was present with another fresh booth with equally fresh cars. I was lucky enough to also meet the president ot Tanabe, turns out he is super down to earth and spoke perfect English. We chatted about different cultures, hard times in the industry, ie. Trust/Greddy Japan, and what's new for 2009. Auto Concept was again rocking with new cars. This time it was another widebody Top Secret Supra and a matte black 350Z. Are there any other show team that can compete..? I doubt it.
SCION for the third straight year had their build-off challenge right in the entrance of Central Hall. This year our very own local Mark of FATLACE were chosen to build one of the TCs. Check out the wide body by B Magic. Notice the gloss on flat color. Very subtle. Great job Mark!
The winner of the SCION Tuner Challenge went to John with his Porsche inspired widebody all CF TC. The wheels are Jlines in a ridiculous 20x11 in the rear all finished in track ready matte black. John took a gamble and went over budget and ended up shooting out of pocket for this build, but surely it has paid off. Congrats homie!
The last competitor was Eddie Hahm from Fast Eddies. His rendition was completely a different direction with influence taken from the traditional hot rods. In recent years more examples are surfacing with Imports converted into a Domestic theme. I love it. Keep on thinking outside the box.
Beside the TETSU GT-R inside of TOYO Tires booth, they also had another Bulletproof Nissan GT-R. BBS LM, Endless BBK.. do you see an obvious relation here:
Team Hybrid had their own GT-R in the Falken booth. Check out that custom wing and carbon goodies:
Yokohama booth had a Porsche 997, a track ready BMW Z4 and one sore thumb.. a Shebly Cobra on Work Rezax wheels.. strange.
Last edited by solo; 11-10-08 at 11:29 PM.
11-10-08, 02:56 PM
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Jon of Jonari was once again on hand displaying why they are the elite distributers of some very hard to obtain products, including: WALD, Rinspeed, VITT, and more. Jon came out full force with a Smart, BMW M5, new C-class and one sick Bently.
Iforged brought out their own GT-R with 22" inchers. What do you think.. too big?
One good thing with iForged is they will be offering Step Lip barrels for all their 3-piece applications. It's about time!!
GT HAUS had their GT-R in their booth.. everybody had a GT-R.
Best Porsche of SEMA had to be the 997 GT Street R by TechART. This car had ppl picking up their jaws. Check out the dry carbon kit, grey on black color design, and just an overall well executed package. I know a few ppl already planning on ordering this kit.
NITTO Tires had this GT-R equipped with some rather interesting parts including complete ASR BOV and piping, kit, tiny wheels, and a rear center exit exhaust.
Iforged brought out their own GT-R with 22" inchers. What do you think.. too big?
One good thing with iForged is they will be offering Step Lip barrels for all their 3-piece applications. It's about time!!
GT HAUS had their GT-R in their booth.. everybody had a GT-R.
Best Porsche of SEMA had to be the 997 GT Street R by TechART. This car had ppl picking up their jaws. Check out the dry carbon kit, grey on black color design, and just an overall well executed package. I know a few ppl already planning on ordering this kit.
NITTO Tires had this GT-R equipped with some rather interesting parts including complete ASR BOV and piping, kit, tiny wheels, and a rear center exit exhaust.
Last edited by solo; 11-10-08 at 11:45 PM.
11-10-08, 02:56 PM
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Tuesday night while watching the Election on one of the Jumbo Tron in one of the Hilton banquet halls, I met a nice guy who turned out to be a major distributer for BMW Germany Motorsport OEM products. Located in Arizona, he specializes in track car fabrications. This was his car in the RAYS Machin booth:
Platium VIP FORD Flex rocking Lexus LS460 tail pipes:
KW suspension from Germany debuted their new hydraluic height adjustable coilover. This thing actually had a pump and oil line to raise and lower the coilover up to 2 inches. Pretty trick using old school technology. Currently the application is only for exotics, but the company plans to launch this as an adaptable unit to any KW coilover suspension.
Neil of Tjin Edition debuted their GM G8 project at the GM booth. Highlights include Corvette brakes, One Lug wheels, custom interior, ICE, pinstriping and the GM Design Award. Congrats buddy! Now get this to the Goodguys events!
Airrunner of ACC had a new product this year. Instead of using other third party digital controllers, ACC have developed their own controller to control dampening. Nice!
Airride Technologies took Air Sus to another level and won an award for their new product.. The Internal Ride Height Sensor. This little chip board sits inside the bag and sends out readings digitally to the brain. The new system will forever by pass any analog pressure sensors mounted through fittings and lines and will ease up install and less hardware. Always ahead of the game is Airride Tech.
SEIBON must be doing very well.. just check out their booth. This year they had 7 cars on display all in white with nothing but the best wet carbon, dry carbon and a few interesting carbon fabric options. Their GT-R had the cleanest dry carbon pieces including bumpers, hood, trunk, wing. a complete widebody E46 was causing much attention as-well-as their Lexus ISF. Check out the optional fabric that almost looks like chrome metal weaves. HOT!!
Platium VIP FORD Flex rocking Lexus LS460 tail pipes:
KW suspension from Germany debuted their new hydraluic height adjustable coilover. This thing actually had a pump and oil line to raise and lower the coilover up to 2 inches. Pretty trick using old school technology. Currently the application is only for exotics, but the company plans to launch this as an adaptable unit to any KW coilover suspension.
Neil of Tjin Edition debuted their GM G8 project at the GM booth. Highlights include Corvette brakes, One Lug wheels, custom interior, ICE, pinstriping and the GM Design Award. Congrats buddy! Now get this to the Goodguys events!
Airrunner of ACC had a new product this year. Instead of using other third party digital controllers, ACC have developed their own controller to control dampening. Nice!
Airride Technologies took Air Sus to another level and won an award for their new product.. The Internal Ride Height Sensor. This little chip board sits inside the bag and sends out readings digitally to the brain. The new system will forever by pass any analog pressure sensors mounted through fittings and lines and will ease up install and less hardware. Always ahead of the game is Airride Tech.
SEIBON must be doing very well.. just check out their booth. This year they had 7 cars on display all in white with nothing but the best wet carbon, dry carbon and a few interesting carbon fabric options. Their GT-R had the cleanest dry carbon pieces including bumpers, hood, trunk, wing. a complete widebody E46 was causing much attention as-well-as their Lexus ISF. Check out the optional fabric that almost looks like chrome metal weaves. HOT!!
Last edited by solo; 11-11-08 at 12:07 AM.
11-10-08, 02:57 PM
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Troy's 5 axis GS460. Notice the LED fogs built into the bumper.
0-60 ISF was properly tuned with many go goodies including a Greddy supercharger, quad exhaust cans, Performance Friction BBK, Seibon carbon pieces, and a light set of Advans. Check it out!
Rj Devera built a subtle ISF but very tasteful. Black wheels, black lip, black roof, black trunk and black rear bumper valence.. all on white with blue calipers. Notice the rear trunk borrows from the BMW CLS trunk with an elevated lip. Very nice!
0-60 ISF was properly tuned with many go goodies including a Greddy supercharger, quad exhaust cans, Performance Friction BBK, Seibon carbon pieces, and a light set of Advans. Check it out!
Rj Devera built a subtle ISF but very tasteful. Black wheels, black lip, black roof, black trunk and black rear bumper valence.. all on white with blue calipers. Notice the rear trunk borrows from the BMW CLS trunk with an elevated lip. Very nice!
Last edited by solo; 11-11-08 at 12:22 AM.
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11-11-08, 12:39 AM
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Haltech GT-R:
TEIN promoted a FORD Mustang along with a EVO X. In the changing auto industry today, the only to survive is to adapt with different cultures and trends, therefore look for more companies to produce more domestic products just to continue to last State side.
Hyundai made a huge presence this year with the all new Genesis and 2 door version along with a full Drift ready track car driven Rhy Millen. HKS built the red 2 door demo with a complete Kenstyle kit. Kenstyle actually sent their best designer to the states and produced the kit here in SoCal. Awesome job!
House of Kolor had this Rice Fink.. check out the graphics.
Airrunner had this Dodge Challenger in their booth along side a BMW X3. This Challenger was over the top. Ones with a keen eye will notice the 4" inch wider rear quarter panel all chizzled in metal. The Forigato wheels are a massize 24" inch with a 7" inch lip. crazy!
TEIN promoted a FORD Mustang along with a EVO X. In the changing auto industry today, the only to survive is to adapt with different cultures and trends, therefore look for more companies to produce more domestic products just to continue to last State side.
Hyundai made a huge presence this year with the all new Genesis and 2 door version along with a full Drift ready track car driven Rhy Millen. HKS built the red 2 door demo with a complete Kenstyle kit. Kenstyle actually sent their best designer to the states and produced the kit here in SoCal. Awesome job!
House of Kolor had this Rice Fink.. check out the graphics.
Airrunner had this Dodge Challenger in their booth along side a BMW X3. This Challenger was over the top. Ones with a keen eye will notice the 4" inch wider rear quarter panel all chizzled in metal. The Forigato wheels are a massize 24" inch with a 7" inch lip. crazy!
11-11-08, 12:52 AM
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Recaro race buckets, office chairs, and Baby seats:
Rows and Rows of new product.. looks like everyone is doing just fine:
The very attractive Jeri Lee:
The only surviving Kinesis wheels.. sad.
Vossen wheels made a huge push this year. Check out their 2 piece weld and 3-piece debute. HOT wheels!
Rows and Rows of new product.. looks like everyone is doing just fine:
The very attractive Jeri Lee:
The only surviving Kinesis wheels.. sad.
Vossen wheels made a huge push this year. Check out their 2 piece weld and 3-piece debute. HOT wheels!
11-11-08, 12:59 AM
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Klassen ID Wheels, rumor to be equal quality as HRE and if not even better. You decide:
SSR Kleid: new wheel for 2009
Worlds first 365/15/24 tire.. Talk about Rubber band!!
Eye Candy break:
SSR Kleid: new wheel for 2009
Worlds first 365/15/24 tire.. Talk about Rubber band!!
Eye Candy break:
11-11-08, 09:14 AM
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Good job to bring the update.
It seems like the GTRs won't look good without JDM BBK huh...
Btw, I will stock a dozen of these bubbers for Solo's private use only.
It seems like the GTRs won't look good without JDM BBK huh...
Btw, I will stock a dozen of these bubbers for Solo's private use only.
Last edited by josephdoc; 11-11-08 at 09:20 AM.
11-11-08, 09:42 AM
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Really enjoyed your pictures!!!! It would be nice to have that new product showcase rows as vending machines for parts huh..very neat..it seems The GTR was the "must have" since there was soo many of them showcased.
