Event>>sema 2009: Day Three

I'm back home in Los Angeles now, still feeling the pain from three days of traversing the Las Vegas Convention Center, and glad to be done with the crowds and madness of Vegas. Now that I'm settled in at home, it's time to dig in for some more coverage from the show. One trend that's seemed to stand the test of time is pro-touring muscle cars. Even though you can buy brand new retro muscle cars from these days, I guess you can't beat the real thing. The 'Cuda above was one of my favorites. Under the gleaming bodywork is a twin turbo Viper V10.

I quite liked this satin blue S2000 sitting low on a set of blacked-out Work Equips. Note the surprising lack of stickers and vinyl for a SEMA car…

This wild turbodiesel-powered rat rod has been featured in a number of magazines this year. It's always nice to see homebuilt projects like this holding their own against the high dollar shop cars at SEMA.

Ford's "Fiesta Movement" was in full swing at SEMA. I had the chance to take one of these for a spin around the course, and was very impressed with the little car. This is going to be a huge model for Ford, and I can't wait to spend more time in one when they go on sale in the USA next year.

Sticking with the Blue Oval, this sexy-looking Fusion was part of Ford's huge display in the central hall.

Vaughn Gittin Jr's. Mustang RTR-C. After all his teasing I was pumped to see this car in the flesh. Now to arrange a test drive….what do you say, JR?

K&N's G35 Coupe time attack car looks ready for the track. Will this car pop up at the Super Lap finals next week?

Flat black might be "sooo four years ago", but it helped make this two door-converted Chrysler 300C look mean as hell.

Just as I wondering where all the European cars were, I stumbled across this huge line of BMW's stowed away in the corner of the North Hall.

The "MFest" included cars like this E90 M3 sedan sporting satin white bodywork…

…and this Laguna Seca Blue 5-series wagon. iScrape…haha.

Challengers and Chargers galore in the "Mopar Alley" display. This has been a part of the SEMA Show for years now.

A group of time attack cars gathered in the outdoor area, led by Ryan Gates Evo X.

Yep, just another dreamy '69 Camaro that likely cost more to build than a small house. Check the bitchin' sidepipes!

Toyota had this interesting hot rod-themed Tundra in their booth. I actually almost skpped over the Toyota display as it was pushed way back in the offroad section of the show.

High tech pro-touring muscle cars are great and all, but you can't go wrong with original fat-tired drag cars like this Mustang fastback. To me this type of "stance" is just as important as the slammed and stretched rides we've been featuring this month.

And speaking of stance, here's an RX8 tucking a set of Work Meisters.

The ALMS M3 GT2 was the centerpeice of the Escort booth this year. It feels strange seeing a race car like this all shined up on the carpet.

5Zigen's Accord has been a familiar machine at time attack events over the past couple years, and it looks ready to go again next week at Buttonwillow.

I thought the hood-mounted spoiler was an interesting touch. Inspired by Chris Rado perhaps?

The award for "most slammed Camaro" (i think such an award exists) goes to this red car tucking some giant rollers.

JUN Auto had a small booth with this Evo X demo car, but Japanese tuners didn't seem to have big presence at SEMA this year.

On the other hand, JDM luxury and dress up companies seem very keen on expanding to the US market. These Lexus SUV's were brought over from a Japanese company called Midwest.

Doug VanDenBrink's Mustang drift car was out with some new changes to the exterior, including a set of WedsSport Wheels.

And finally, a WRX sitting nice on some HRE's. This was in the "The Club" booth of all places…

OK that's all for now. Much more from SEMA on the way!

-Mike Garrett

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1

Sema such a weird show.

2

When can we get a full feature on the RTR-C Vaughn? Stunning Photos as normal Mike:)

3

damn that JUN evo looks hot !!

colored CF for the win !!!

4

Love the Cuda. The new Camaro is a mean looking car.

5

flat black will never go out of style :) :) :)

6

Get that 'Cuda's engine bay desktoped! :D

7

That tucking Camaro is insane!!! The 300 sure is mean but, I think they screwed it up with the suicide doors...

8

wow, im really impressed with the ford fusion, as well as the uber slammed camaro. Any chance of getting a frontal shot of that bimmer wagon?

9

that hood spoiler actually looks good, i can imagine a electronic actuator to make it work like a air break, that would be cool for time attack cars

10

Doug VanDenBrink's Mustang just looks mean, much better than the last time I saw it. Autoblog saw a quad rotary RX-8 somewhere. Just asking, but did you see it Mike?

11

For some reason, my brain refuses to comprehend the words "Mustang", "drift", and "WedsSport" being used all in the same sentence. It just seems so weird to me...not that there's anything wrong with the car.

12

Whats the deal with the silver E30 back of shot with the S2000?Looks dope!

13

Loving what I can see of the 5-series wagon.



So did K&N steal Hanook's livery, or vice versa? Damn near identical.

14

I'm not traditionally a fan of pro touring styled cars, but that 'Cuda at the top looks so right! That Fusion sure fits with this month's theme; I've been pleasantly surprised at what the 'Oval has been coming up with recently. That RTR-C is sure a win from me, way to go, Vaughn! Could we see more pics on the Ford hot rods? That Bimmer wagon sure is sweet, too. That blue Evo X is one of the meanest I've seen. The front aero on that Accord/TSX is pretty wild; I like it! Not sure about the Camaro on "dubs", but looking at coverage on other sites, there were plenty of new Camaros that fit the bill for me. Any pics of that matte dark blue Camaro, Mike?

15

that rat rod is pushing a 4bt 3.9 cummins with a compound turbo setup btw

16

I have never seen so many good looking cars. Absolutely amazing.

17

iScrape. Awesome. Period.

18

Love pro-touring! I wish the Mustangs being drifted would be built with more style. :) There is so much potential with those big wheel wells to get some big and wide wheels under there nice and flush!

19

SEMA= Awesome.Period

oh and whatever happened to the genesis mounted with the V8 in the back?

20

I wonder if the canards on the JUN Evo X will ever make it to production

21

normally, i look at media coverage from SEMA, and think "holy crap, i missed that car..."



This year, I can name where almost all of these cars were.





SEMA was definitely hurting this year....not to say the quality of cars in attendance were worse, but overall, SEMA wasn't the same as 3 or 4 years ago...

22

I agree that stance is not always about slam. The stance on that stang is classic and iconic. Its all about the right stance for the right application.

23

Hot Rod Tundra is incredibly ugly... aswell as flat black paint jobs. Gotta love that iScrape sticker :)

24

The 12th picture down, the one with the yellow challenger and blacck charger, Whats that car that you can barely see to the right?

25

That M3 sedan looks quite similar to Tyler McQuarrie's.

Both are rockin' white paint on black DPE wheels!

Also all the other cars in the show are just special in their own special way. Keep posting Mike!

26

that hood spoiler reminds me of the old garage fukui MR2's!!

27

@RacerrRex, the car to the right is a '68 Plymouth, either a GTX or Roadrunner, basically different trim levels of the same car. It's built on the same "B" body platform as the Charger in the background.

28

Ohh, I thought it was a Roadrunner but i couldmt tell. Those tailights kinda threw me off

29

Damn that Red Jun Evo X is HOTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!

30

if you want to see more of the JUN EVO X CAR

please vote for it

Timothy S. and his car EVO X from Sta. Ana http://www.autoshowoffcontest.com/voting.php?cID=3

31

if you want to see more of the JUN EVO X CAR

please vote for it

Timothy S. and his car EVO X from Sta. Ana http://www.autoshowoffcontest.com/voting.php?cID=3

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