Editor’s note: As you read this, Chad and I are both on the way to the 2013 SEMA show in Las Vegas. We’ll have photos, live streaming video, and all kinds of kick ass stuff for you this week. Chad gets in before me so he’ll be hammering photos and other stuff for your viewing pleasure as Monday load in day goes in full swing. To get your juices flowing and to take a quick look back at the 2012 rendition of SEMA, here’s the 10 cars and trucks that I saw and loved lots and lots both in and outside of the show.
Picking my 10 favorite cars from the 2012 SEMA show was literally harder than deciding which of my kids I liked the best. It took me about 45-minutes to get that sorted out and this took hours! (Cue emotional scarring when they read this in a few years. Guys, I am KIDDING…or am I?) It is an impossible task. A top 100 list would be far more accurate and make room for at least the majority of stuff that I saw and really liked. From lifted trucks to Pro Touring cars, this list of 10 machines has a little something from many genres on display at the event. You know what you won’t see? A Pro Street car because I am fairly certain that not a single one was being displayed at the show. We still love them to death, but apparently ’13 will be a quiet year for steamroller meats and exposed blowers. Only time will tell.
Onto the list! Here are my Top 10 Favorite cars and trucks from SEMA 2012 in no particular order!
I am a total freak for old Cadillacs that are laid all the way out. Add the cool Rocket wheels and the polished metal finish on this one and I was in hog heaven.
Jeep’s Mighty FC concept has been a smash hit around the globe since being introduced this year. They’ll never make a production model but damn is this thing cool! We’ll be running a little feature on it in the coming days. The cab is a hacked down JK Jeep and the rest of it is custom built. Portal axles…yes please!
A Datsun?! A freaking Datsun?! You bet. I dig these little cars and the stance/wheels on this baby were perfection. Here’s to hoping for LS power under the hood.
Mark Stielow’s bad ass 1967 Camaro went out and kicked collective rump at the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. This car is brutally awesome from the paint to the major league suspension, blown engine, and immaculate fit and finish.
The 1968-1972 Chevy C10 has become the hot Pro Touring platform du jour and for some obvious reasons. There’s lots of room for engine relocation, they are easily tubbed, you can rework the front end for huge tires, and they look sexy as hell laying frame like this one. DO WANT.
COPO serial number 69, the last one produced from this historic first run of the cars is the only convertible that will be sold to the public and it will be done at auction. It looks all kinds of mean without a roof having the cage exposed and stuff, plus the orange color is great in person. Look for Rick Hendrick to pay a pile of cash for this car at an upcoming auction. Seriously.
Dodge’s Litte Red Express concept is cool and very doable from a factory special edition standpoint. I liked the aggressive nose, updated but still awesome “Lil Red Express” door call outs, small wooden side boards, and modernized factory bed exhaust stacks. Otherwise stock (as best we could tell) this is a retro-truck I’d rock with pride.
I am virtually certain that Posies Hot Rods built this little truck. This creation wreaks of Posies and that makes it virtually perfect in my eyes. This is a hot rod I could spend hours looking at and talking about, but the axle out in the breeze, long nose, tightly tucked rear tires, and color all make me love it.
Immaculate paint, huge by large smoothie wheels, just enough chrome, minto interior, and stance that would make your momma sweat. You’d need to pry the keys from my cold, dead hands if I owned it. Looks like a great car to cruise the beach in.
No one saw this coming, it has already been on the drag strip, and this is clearly something that Ford had at the ready to roll when the COPO Camaros showed up. GM will surely have an answer but Ford grabbed big headlines with this car and its proposed 5.0L twin turbo combo which will make insane power once dialed in. I love the modern factory drag war and this was another blatant ramping up of the conflict!
Nice choices Mr Lohnes! I too am diggin the Caddy…
Well …… nice choices and all but IMO you missed out on the cream of the crop ….. mainly the Martini Mustang with the Ford Cosworth DOHC Indy motor underneath the hood .
That car was both subtle , stunning and a ” What could of been if only ……. ” if there ever was one 😉
They did another one ? Or did they just bring last years back ? Either way … yeah baby …. IF ONLY ….. IF ONLY 🙁
Please BS … do a full feature on that beast !
That 510 sure is sporting a V8…
http://www.ebaymotorsblog.com/peter-brocks-510-at-sema/
I like the 510 as well and the forward control jeep. They should build that.