SEMA 2023 – What Happens in Vegas…

If you’ve never heard of SEMA, it’s kind of a big deal. Originally founded in 1963 as the Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association, it was legislatively toned down to ‘Specialty Equipment Market Association’ in 1970, and the show these guys put on has become the stuff of legend and so with winter well and truly approaching we thought we’d hold on to a little bit of Vegas sunshine at SEMA.

Held annually since 1967, the SEMA show is a mighty and unparalleled display of contemporary, traditional and cutting-edge modified car culture. The huge and hallowed halls of the Las Vegas convention centre are jam-packed with incredible project builds, and all imaginable angles are covered, from trad hot rods and massive lifted pickup trucks to custom choppers and everything in-between. A special highlight every year is the Toyo Treadpass showcase, situated outside in the sun between two of the halls.

Treadpass always pulls together a bunch of beautifully strange ideas (this year’s line-up included an electric G-Wagen and a Datsun 240Z with cantilevered inboard suspension among many others), while the Battle of the Builders is there to blow your mind with its gathering of astoundingly detailed custom creations. A wide variety of modding names from television and YouTube were there with their latest builds, including Gas Monkey Garage, Ringbrothers, Tavarish, and oodles of others. And there was a whole world of trends to explore.

A particularly notable concept for 2023 was the polarising notion of electrifying classics. EV conversions are growing in popularity and the technology is advancing rapidly – we saw electric drivetrains grafted into Mustangs, F-150s, MX-5s… the revolution is here. But Americans have always loved a V8 and that symbol of Americana isn’t going anywhere any time soon. It’s interesting to note that the most common daily-drivers out on the streets of Las Vegas are the Dodge Charger and the Tesla Model 3; this is an increasingly polarised scene, but all of these things can happily coexist.

Because what’s most notable about the SEMA show is the diversity. Naturally there are lots of lifted trucks, lowriders and old-school hot rods, but everything else you can think of is here too. That’s what makes it one of the world’s greatest car shows – the level of quality and the sheer quantity of incredible cars really is something else. And so, with much whittling and more than a few arguments, we’ve narrowed down our findings to our top-20 of SEMA 2023.

GAS MONKEY TESTA

The notion of converting classic cars to electric propulsion is a polarising one – particularly if the classic in question had a particularly interesting engine to start with. But what if you find yourself with an interesting classic that doesn’t have an engine at all? That’s the situation Gas Monkey Garage found themselves in when they picked up a job lot of battered Ferrari Testarossa movie props, so they opted to swap this one to run Tesla power.

Well, why not, eh? And rather than just doing a straight swap, they decided to put a bit of further wrenching and fabrication time in and turn it into a sleek roadster with a central driving position. Because it wouldn’t be any fun if it was easy.

TWIN-TURBO DELOREAN

Great Scott! It’s a DeLorean that can actually do 88mph!

Forever associated with the Back to the Future movies, the DeLorean DMC-12 is an icon of retro wedge-shaped sports car culture… although it was saddled with a bit of a duffer of an engine from the factory. But restomod specialists Moceri Auto Craft sought to address this, fitting a full-fat Chevy LSX crate motor in the back, then going a step further and hanging a pair of turbos out of the bottom.

To get the aesthetics matching the new-found performance, they then treated the DeLorean to an imposing wide-body kit dreamed up by infamous custom designer Khyzyl Saleem (aka The Kyza), fitting air-ride and Skol wheels along with bespoke LED lights and a tasteful interior retrim. It’s the car the DeLorean always should have been.

TESLA LOWRIDER

Tesla culture is an increasingly diverse and intriguing thing, although we’ve never seen one quite like this. It’s a Model Y that’s been treated to the full old-school lowrider treatment; everything you might expect to find on a hopping ’64 Impala has been artfully applied to this modern EV, from the full hydraulic suspension setup and chrome wire wheels to the astoundingly detailed paint job. (Just check out the girl on the C pillar making a little heart symbol with her fingers around the Tesla logo…)

The difference here is that the wire wheels are massive, the hydro setup’s in the frunk, and… well, it’s a Tesla. This, we did not expect.

JH RESTORATIONS MERKUR XR4Ti

The Sierra is a familiar sight to Brits, but it’s a bit more of a curio in the States. Sold as the Merkur XR4Ti, their version of the XR4i didn’t have an Essex V6 in it like ours did, but instead a turbocharged 2.3 Lima. And what Canada-based JH Restorations have done here is to restomod an XR4Ti to an exquisite degree; it’s still a 2.3, but there’s no Lima here; nope, it’s got a boxfresh EcoBeast (like you’d find in a new Mustang or Focus RS), coupled with Cosworth styling – you’ll note that it’s got a whaletail rather than a biplane, and the split side windows have been replaced with full-length Cossie panes.

The chassis features Corvette C6 hub-based QA1 suspension and Wilwood brakes, and the interior has been beautifully retrimmed with some cunningly integrated modern upgrades. The car took the Battle of the Builders Top Sport Compact title as well as the People’s Choice award from BASF.

REVOLT SYSTEMS ’65 MUSTANG

Electrifying classics is a love-it-or-hate-it idea, but you can’t deny the quality of the execution here. Revolt Systems’ electric powertrain boasts 600bhp and 900lb.ft, which sounds like a whole lot of fun, and the notchback it’s wrapped up in features bodywork by Hot Dog Kustoms, paint by TCP Global & Custom Shop, and bespoke HRE wheels.

Revolt reckon that “the torque is exhilarating, and leaves you feeling like you’ve just launched off an aircraft carrier.” Crikey.

PETROLHEADONISM COROLLA

One of the most hyped and talked-about cars of the show was this, the 1973 Toyota Corolla KE25, built in Britain by @PETROLHEADONISM.CLUB specifically for SEMA. This was a no-holds-barred build with a six-figure price tag, the intention from the start being to create the best possible version of a KE25, take it to SEMA and display it on the EBC Brakes stand, then sell it to fund the next one. (Indeed, for $125,000 you can take it home…)

It’s got carbon parts by Elite Carbon Composites, wheels by 6AD Forged, BC Racing suspension, a custom cabin by @davethetrimmer, and a fabulous 4A-GE motor built by Petrolheadonism Performance. Just check out the carbon intake trumpets and the gorgeous exhaust manifold. This build really is something else.

V12 BMW Z4 GT3

There’s a lot to unpack with this one. Quite probably the world’s most powerful Z4, this unhinged creation is powered by a supercharged Mercedes-Benz M120 V12 engine, putting out somewhere in the region of 1500bhp.

The brainchild of Florida-based Gooichi Motors, the Stage 3 V12 is boosted by a ProCharger blower and mated to an HGT Precision sequential transmission; externally it’s a pukka GT3 race car body converted to street-legal specs, and it still has the factory air jacks. A truly insane build.

RINGBROTHERS ROLLS-ROYCE

‘Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?’ That’s the line that’ll instantly spring to mind for any Wayne’s World fan when they spy a white Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. And this particular Roller, a 1961 Silver Cloud III, was one of the more unexpected builds of SEMA ’23; it was crafted by notorious high-end restomod specialists Ringbrothers, who are more usually found playing in the muscle car sphere.

And as with all their projects, they’ve gone all-in – it’s got a full custom chassis, a supercharged Chevy LT4 V8, larger custom wheels to replicate the original design (with floating gyro centre caps like modern Rolls-Royces), a full custom interior with ’57 Chevrolet front seats, and a starlight headliner featuring 1,000 LEDs. And yes, there is a jar of Grey Poupon in the back.

TJIN EDITION MACH-E SAFARI CONCEPT

Sitting on the Ford stand was this one-off concept ‘designed to stretch imaginations and highlight the possibilities of EVs’. It’s got hand-fabricated steel wide-arches housing 18” Black Rhino Barrage wheels, along with custom RPG Offroad suspension which features Fox shocks, Eibach springs and a 1.5” lift.

Inside it has bespoke Recaros and Holley data monitoring, while outside there’s a whole load of lamps and a winch. Which is all very cool.

DIESEL LAMBO

The builders of this Gallardo reckon it’s the world’s first diesel Lamborghini, and it’s certainly an idea that’ll give the purists something to think about. What began as a crash-damaged baby Lambo (don’t worry, they didn’t cut up a good one) has been fitted with a twin-turbo Cummins straight-six, with everything custom-fabricated to be as beautiful as it is functional.

1 Way Diesel Performance carried out the install, mating the derv to an open-gate manual ’box. Sacrilege? No, it’s magnificent!

S-KLUB TESLA 300 SL

Cat, meet pigeons. If there’s one surefire way to really wind up the purists, it’s to take a revered classic that many consider to be untouchable, and comprehensively remix it. Such is the case with this Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’. A sports car icon, a racing legend, a symbol of timeless boulevardier chic… but this one – this one is a bit different.

Built by S-KLUB LA, the 1955 300 SL has been stuffed with the guts of a Tesla Model 3; the Tesla’s monocoque was gently teased (with big hammers, probably) to fit the Merc’s slender profile, and all of the Model 3 systems are fully functional – not just the drivetrain, but the infotainment, sensor cameras, climate system and self-driving features. Very clever indeed, and very, very polarising.

BADD GT

310.8mph. That’s the headline figure here. The hotly-contested title of ‘fastest street car in the world’ belongs to the BADD GT, a heavily modified 2006 Ford GT that you could, if the mood took you, conceivably pop to the shops in. It’s got functional a/c, electric windows and a stereo, and its owner Johnny Bohmer regularly uses it for the school run – and in 2022 he took it to the Kennedy Space Centre and smashed through the triple-ton.

The twin-turbo V8 still runs the stock block – it’s putting out around 2,700bhp, and that’s actually a relatively conservative state of tune, they have the potential to wind it up a lot further if they feel like it. Which is pretty rad.

C7 AUDI RS6

It’s always fun to spot a car on UK plates at a foreign show, particularly when it’s over 5,000 miles from home. And this brutally styled RS6 has an interesting story behind it. Bought by YouTuber Mat Armstrong as a crash-damaged wreck (which, he says, was the only way he could afford to buy his dream RS), he brought it back from the dead in record time – and as you can see, he didn’t build it to stock.

Nope, this beast has some seriously hardcore aero. How often do you see door-mounted canards…? ‘Hard work beats talent,’ so the man says. Yeah, we can relate to that.

E-CHARGER CHIEFTAIN

Well now, this is interesting. What if you’re into classic cars, and you’re also into low-emission vehicles and reducing your carbon footprint, but you’re a bit turned off by the idea of swapping electric motors into old cars? Here’s another way of thinking, courtesy of E-Charger. This is a bolt-on system that can turn any car into a hybrid, which they reckon can boost peak power by up to 150bhp while also lowering tailpipe emissions.

Their demo vehicle at SEMA was this 1957 Pontiac Chieftain, fitted with a modern 6.0-litre Vortec V8 along with the E-Charger setup; positioned above the Vortec manifold is a 50kW AC motor turned by a supercharger pulley, while there are 35 lithium-ion battery cells and a battery charger in the boot. And fresh for 2023, they’ve also installed an autonomous driving kit from Perrone Robotics!

TEXAS SKIDMARK

The electric Testarossa wasn’t the only car built for SEMA by Gas Monkey Garage. Nope, those boys have been very busy. Being Texan-based, pickup trucks have always sat at the core of the business (after all, such things are an integral fibre in the fabric of the South), and the truck they’ve built here is particularly cool. Plucked from their ‘POS row’, where all the very worst project bases live, it’s been fully reworked into a flawless show-stopper, with paint to die for and a killer stance thanks to its Air Lift Performance suspension.

Under the bonnet is a Chevy L8T race motor from Scoggin-Dickey, which makes some truly unholy noises, and the cabin is tastefully trimmed in olive green. The masters of the pickup really knocked it out of the park with this one.

SUPERCHARGED SHELBY

Any Shelby is a special Shelby, and the GT350 has passed into the rarefied pantheon of all-time desirables over the generations. And this one… this is more special than most. You see, back in 1966 Shelby American began experimenting with the addition of Paxton superchargers, with the aim of offering them to customers as an optional extra to boost their 289ci V8s up to a heady 440bhp.

Eleven such prototypes were built, and this is one of them; its first owner was a Dr Robert Mowrey of Los Altos, California and, unlike other buyers, he didn’t wring its neck and give it a hard time on track, meaning that this is one of the very few survivors. It now resides in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

LUCID AIR

It takes a healthy slug of grit and a certain amount of steely-eyed forthrightness (or, at least, a decent marketing budget) to buy a brand new car and start mucking about with it. You’ve got to be very sure about your intentions before you commit to chucking your warranty away. Hence the inclusion of this particular car in our SEMA top-20 list.

What is a Lucid Air? Well, it’s a luxurious electric four-door sedan, conceived with the Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan squarely in its crosshairs. Its party piece is that the entire back end acts as the bootlid (take a look at where the shutlines are), and these cars are still a pretty rare sight – so it’s intriguing to see one that’s already been modified. Yes, it’s a simple air-and-wheels build, but the combination of Vossen wheels, air-ride from Universal Air, and a colour-phasing vinyl wrap from Eye Kandy Wraps adds up to something very cool. It’s the world’s first Air on air!

EMPI BEETLE GTV II

This fresh new build from EMPI is proper next-level stuff. Built by Victor Gonzalez, Larry Hole and Tyler Kitchen, this ’62 ragtop is a stellar showcase of what the legendary air-cooled tuning outfit has to offer. The motor is an all-new EMPI Long-Block Plus, built by Jack Sachette, featuring a magnesium case, forged crank, H-beam rods, Stage 1 heads and twin 44 HPMX carbs. That killer stance is thanks to a 2” narrowed beam, forged spindles and trailing arms, and Bilstein B6 shocks, while the rims are EMPI x Chip Foose 15” BRMs that have been artfully weathered for a mag-look; there are disc brakes all round too.

And just check out that interior, fabulously retrimmed by Sewfine Interior Products with real Scottish-sourced tartan. This is a masterclass in early-sixties Beetle modding.

KEVLAR VTEC 356

Quite possibly the only car at SEMA to have your nan’s old living room rug as its carpet, this offbeat Porsche is a proper purist-needler. And at what stage does a 356 stop being a 356? It depends how much of it is left, really… this one has a full carbon-Kevlar body, Impul wheels, Kevlar seats, and – as subtle as a jab in the eye with a lemon-soaked pinkie – a Honda K20 VTEC motor mounted in the middle.

A magnificent example of the your-ride-your-rules philosophy; it may not be winning any trophies at Pebble Beach, but it’s won a place in our hearts.

LOADS OF MASSIVE TRUCKS

This was inevitable really, wasn’t it? The pickup truck is such a crucial cultural trope in the USA that the bigger-is-better ethos has been running rampant for decades, and the result in 2023 is a compelling and beguiling subculture of lifted trucks – ideally so extraordinarily tall that you need a ladder to climb in.

We got talking to a truck enthusiast from North Carolina who’s been building such things for years and bringing them to SEMA, and he expressed a great deal of surprise that this cult of lifted trucks just isn’t a thing in the UK. We had to explain that they simply wouldn’t fit.

If after all of this your fervour for modified classics has been suitably agitated then head on to Car & Classic to begin your very own journey. We don’t all have to be as outrageous as the cars at SEMA but once bitten by the custom and modified bug it’s a difficult affliction to shake. Better to just embrace it then…