You can’t walk around SEMA for more than a few minutes without passing by several different first-gen Camaros. Many people try to put a “modern twist” on this muscle car classic by adding LED headlamps or other accents that look out of place. It was nice to see a ’69 Camaro that looks like a Camaro.
This car belongs to Mark Stielow, who has nicknamed it “Jackass v2.0.” Right off the bat, there is a supercharged LS9 engine from the Corvette ZR1 under the hood! This supercharged crate motor pumps out 683 horsepower and 604 ft-lbs of torque from its 6.2 liters. Continue reading →
The custom car scene at SEMA is largely dominated by pro-touring Fords and Chevys. When you do see a Mopar around, odds are it is a classic Challenger or Charger. You just don’t see a lot of Belvederes around these days, which made this one all the more interesting.
This 1956 Belvedere convertible is nicknamed “Rare Air” and was built by Steve Cook Creations in Oklahoma City. The car is owned by Gil Losi, who is no stranger to custom cars. We featured his 1961 Impala “Under PreSSure” from the 2013 SEMA show on this site before. Continue reading →
The business of building custom cars is highly subjective to the tastes of each car’s owner. In some cases, people try to restore a car to its original condition. With resto-mods, people build cars that look old but offer modern reliability and performance. In the case of this 1971 Plymouth Barracuda, it’s kind of a strange cocktail of old-and-new parts combined.
This car is the work of All Speed Customs in Muskegon, MI. I saw it on display at the Meguiar’s booth at SEMA 2015.
The SEMA Show in Las Vegas features hundreds of custom cars built by hot rod shops from all over the country. I was wandering around at the 2015 show looking at cars, when I stumbled across a 1972 Camaro built by a shop in my own city of Phoenix!
The company is Miranda’s Custom Cars, and they have been around since 1989. Their pro-touring Camaro was on display at the HiFonics booth outside of the show.
HPI Customs is a full service hot rod shop in Beausejour, Manitoba, a small town on the outskirts of Winnipeg. We’ve featured their work on the site before, with a full write-up on their 1966 Chrysler Imperial that had a supercharged V10 from a Dodge Viper under the hood!
The guys from HPI were back at SEMA 2015 with another new project, also a Mopar. This time, they had a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner with a Gen3 6.1L HEMI crate engine under the hood. But just to push the envelope even further, it also has a rear-mounted twin-turbo setup from STS!
We don’t often cover import cars. This year, we had the honor to see Hot Import Nights here in Scottsdale, AZ. I was genuinely excited for a few reasons. Not least of which was it’s venue, Westworld, where we have the absolutely massive Barrett-Jackson auction every year. I assumed this was supposed to be a big show for the import scene.
It’s too bad that it didn’t work out that way.
The day of the show I receive an email from one of the shows corporate staff. Unlike any other car show or event I’ve ever been to, it has a list of demands that need to be completed and submitted within a week or else I would not be eligible for media coverage next year.
I understand how a traditional shot list works to benefit the promoters, but I’ve never been held to one at an event like this. Not to mention how absurd their requests were.
The list includes making sure that we’re really putting a focus on the vendors and models (not models as in the cars, but the barely dressed attention mongers standing in front of the cars) and to be sure to portray an overall positive experience.
As you may be able to tell in the above picture, there’s really not many cars there. In fact, there were probably less imports inside this building than at the pavilions off Indian bend and the 101 just miles from the show. That was my major gripe of the evening:
There were hardly any imports.
Look at these pictures of these amazing “import” cars found at Hot Import Nights:
Are you kidding me? I came here to see the imports I think are cool like the z31, z32, 3000gt, Starion, 1g DSMs, and anything with a turbocharged Toyota inline 6. Not Scions with fast and furious wraps and any other car that is all mouth and trousers.
When I imagined this website almost half a decade ago it was to represent the automotive counter culture. At one point in time, I’m sure the import scene was the counter culture to the rest of the performance auto world. If this show is truly representative of today’s import scene then I must say good riddance. You’re dead on your feet.
You can’t walk around SEMA for more than a few minutes without passing by several different first-gen Camaros. Many people try to put a “modern twist” on this muscle car classic by adding LED headlamps or other accents that look out of place. It was nice to see a ’69 Camaro that looks like a Camaro.
HPI Customs is a full service hot rod shop in Beausejour, Manitoba, a small town on the outskirts of Winnipeg. We’ve featured their work on the site before, with a full write-up on their 
