SEMA Auto Show is organized each year by the Specialty Equipment Market Association. It takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the biggest modified cars show in the United States. The show is divided in 4 main attractions: hot rod and muscle car tuning, modified modern car, rims and finally innovative technology. It is a must see for anyone interested in car modification.
As a project of Neal Bailey’s BXR Motors, the Bailey Blade XTR has been in the oven for quite some time now. But the project car has yet to progress into an actual production car because, well, there wasn’t enough money to do so.
But now, the money has been injected into the project and, thanks to a teaser video released by BXR Motors, the Bailey Blade XTR is mere months away from making its official debut at the 2013 SEMA Auto Show.
It’s definitely a long time coming, especially since it has made various media rounds in the past but never got the opportunity to actually get up and running.
Needless to say, we’re all excited to see what BXR Motors has in store for all of us when the Bailey Blade XTR finally makes its debut at SEMA later this year.
Click past the jump to read more about the 2014 Bailey Blade XTR.
Automakers are known to come up with contests for their fans that are launched to get the latter more involved in the inner workings of the industry. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again.
This time around, it’s Chrysler that has taken that role, opening up a new online contest to encourage its fans to show their customized Chrysler vehicles.
To drive up the interest in the contest, which has been dubbed the Chrysler Custom Challenge, the automaker decided to roll out a number of prizes that are too cool to pass up, including attending the 2013 SEMA Auto Show with their customized Chryslers, as well as a trip to the 2014 NAIAS and a lease of a Chrysler vehicle.
That last part alone would’ve gotten us interested.
As far as entering the competition is concerned, interested participants are invited to visit Chrysler’s Facebook page and submit an image of their customized Chrysler brand vehicle to go with a brief description of the customizations.
All entries will then be subjected to public voting until July 1st at which time three finalists and ten runner-up winners will be selected by a combination of judges’ scores and public votes.
So if any of you have any Chrysler-modded vehicles in your garage, stand proud and show them off. Who knows, you might be rewarded with a trip to SEMA with your baby for your efforts.
Click past the jump to see some of the past Chrysler aftermarket programs that would make for good contenders in this contest
It’s perfectly understandable to drool over the Chevrolet COPO Camaro. After all, Chevy will only build 138 models - 69 for the initial batch and another 69 due to huge public demand - so it’s safe to say that only a handful of lucky owners will get the chance to own one.
But if you’re really adamant to have one, you can get the chance to bid for this one-off Inferno Orange Metallic COPO Camaro Convertible that will be auctioned off at the 2013 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction in January to benefit the American Heart Association. However, before that, the car will be in attendance at the 2012 SEMA Auto Show.
There are a number of things to love about this particular COPO Camaro Convertible. For starters, it’s car number 69 and will be the one of only two convertible models built. More importantly, this one will be the only one to be handed to an actual owner because the other model - car number 68 - isn’t planned for public sale.
It’s also the only 2012 COPO Camaro model to be painted in Inferno Orange Metallic with matching custom graphics and a special interior trim. Likewise, only 20 COPO Camaros will carry the unmistakable 327 engine and 4.0-liter supercharger that produces 550 horsepower. This bad boy is one of them.
Jim Campbell, GM U.S. Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, understands better than anybody else the exclusivity of this one-off model. “The COPO Camaro program has been a special program and there’s not a better way to close out the 2012 racing season than with the final – and most unique – one of the production run,” he said.
“Chevrolet is proud to once again partner with the American Heart Association at Barrett-Jackson for the sale of this COPO Camaro convertible. It will make a great race car or collector vehicle for a lucky bidder, who will be buying a piece of history.
Charitable cause notwithstanding, you don’t need any more convincing that this 2012 COPO Camaro Convertible is worthy of your bids.
Updated 12/20/2012: Chevrolet will be auctioning its last 2012 COPO Camaro early next year to benefit the American Heart Association. Until then, Chevrolet has unveiled a cool video featuring some great shots of the heart of this inferno orange metallic convertible race car’s assembly by Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice president of performance vehicles and motorsports.
The SEMA Auto Show has come and gone, yet some aftermarket companies are still in the process of unveiling their project cars on the Web. One of these companies is Vivid Racing who has finally released details on its SEMA Scion FR-S project car.
We don’t mind getting information about this car so late because it’s pretty sick to begin with and proves that some things really are worth the wait. For this program, Vivid Racing took the task of giving the FR-S a far more aggressive look and it accomplished that by first giving the sports coupe an INGs aero kit. The kit includes a new front bumper, side skirts, rear spats, and a carbon fiber GT wing which makes the FR-S look like a bonafide road warrior.
A new carbon fiber hood and a carbon fiber trunk were also added and come courtesy of Seibon. With these new materials in tow, the FR-S already weighs 40 lbs less than its standard trim. Add the carbon mirror covers and carbon fender inserts from Agency Power, two sets of 19-inch Niche Wheels — the driver side features a tinted brushed and gold multi-spoke with polished lip design, and the passenger side features a matte black thick 5-spoke design with a dark smoke brushed lip — wrapped in Toyo tires and a set of upgraded Brembo GT brakes, and you have the full breadth of Vivid Racing’s exterior package for the FR-S.
Meanwhile, the interior of the car received its share of upgrades, too. Ring GT-X carbon fiber bucket seats in black ultra-suede with red stitching and 5-point, red, FIA-approved harnesses all come by way of Status Racing. Agency Power also supplied a bolt-in harness bar and a billet shift knob to round out the interior package.
Last but certainly not least are the engine upgrades. Though no official numbers were given, Vivid Racing, together with Agency Power, really went to town in giving the FR-S improved power, highlighted by adding updated versions of the sports car’s headers, overpipe, and cutback. They also installed a short ram Agency Power intake kit and a lightweight aluminum crank pulley, as well as dual 4.5" titanium exhaust tips. To help keep the power under control, a large sway bar on the rear, full CNC-machined adjustable control arms, and sway bar links were installed.
The second Escape project to be displayed by Ford at the SEMA Show was a Heide Performance Products (HPP) creation that was described as having "tasteful street-performance treatment."
HPP began the project by adding a very chic body kit, which included a revised front fascia, enlarged wheel arches, new side sills and an HPP rear bumper cover. HPP then draped the entire body in Olive Juice paint from PPG. Inside the cabin, the Escape received leather and suede treatment on the seats.
To help the Escape in the corners and give it a sportier appearance, HPP lowered the chassis subtly via a set of Eibach springs. HPP also threw in a set of Forgiato 2.0 Otto wheels, measuring 20-by-9 inches.
The HPP concept was based on the 2013 Escape SE AWD version and is powered by a 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine combined with a 6-speed SelectShift automatic transmission. HPP took an exhaust system intended for a Ford Focus ST and somehow shoehorned it onto the Escape, which indicated that this one-off model delivered a little bit more than the standard 240 horsepower. This likely makes it faster than the factory model’s 6.8-second sprint to 60 mph. Unfortunately, HPP didn’t reveal its exact performance numbers.
At first glance, you may think that the Chevrolet Cruze doesn’t have much tuning potential. However, at the recently ended 2012 SEMA Show, Chevrolet set out to prove the opposite, as its Cruze Upscale Concept moves the compact sedan up a few rungs on the luxury ladder.
Chevy coated the Cruze Upscale Concept in Burnished Brandy Metallic paint, then added in Black Ice exterior trim, giving it a deep and luxurious finish. Next came a set of rocker and fascia extensions, and a set of 19-inch aluminum wheels in Black Ice. Dark-tinted windows and headlamps give the car an even smoother look.
Inside the Cruze’s cabin, Chevrolet combined brown leather with yellow stitching on the seats and steering wheel. The steering wheel is wrapped in Loft Brown and DK Atmosphere leather, as are the door and instrument panels.
To improve the car’s driving dynamics Chevrolet also added an adjustable coilover suspension kit, four-piston front brake calipers, and two-piece vented and drilled rotors.
When Traxxas first unveiled the X-01 R/C car just after the holidays last year, it billed the car as an out-of-this-world R/C vehicle capable of massive speeds and a matching sticker price.
Well, it looks like all that hype may be justified.
The X-01 was in attendance at the recently concluded SEMA Auto Show, and not only did it justify the $1,000-plus price tag it carried, it did so by unleashing its full fury on an unsuspecting miniature dyno machine.
By “full fury,” we mean maxing out well above 100 mph.
That number certainly doesn’t sound like a big deal for a regular car, but for an R/C car? Yeah, that’s a different story.
Traxxas brought the X-01 to SEMA and placed it on a rolling dyno to show its sick capabilities. And boy, did it impress, as it hit a top speed of 104 mph. Do you know what the wildest part is about this whole thing? It hit 104 mph in just four seconds, something that no other car - real or otherwise - is capable of doing.
Check out the video of the Traxxas X-01 hitting 104 mph at SEMA courtesy of the fellas over at HighTechCorvette.
The thing that we love most about the Ford Mustang is that it’s incredibly accepting of aftermarket performance parts. With that said, the 2012 SEMA Show was like heaven for us with all of the amazing Mustang tuning kits that were displayed. Ringbrothers offered up one that it dubbed the Switchback and it certainly gained our interest.
As you probably expected, the most important modifications were under the hood. In here the car’s standard 5.0-liter engine was fitted with a ProCharger supercharger system with an intercooler, Flowmaster headers, Hose Candy sleeves and filled with only the best — Royal Purple fluids. Ringbrothers also installed a new 409S dual exhaust system from Flowmaster, which helped raise the Mustang GT from its already stout 430 horsepower to an extreme 575 ponies.
Because Ringbrothers needed a more aggressive look to match the extra power, it installed a carbon-fiber body kit and front splitter, plus a 2-piece modular carbon-fiber hood with an interchangeable insert. For the exterior, the folks at Ringbrothers opted for a waterborne paint combined with aluminum side vents. The car was then place on a set of 1-piece wheels sized 19 inches up front and 20 inches in the rear, and wrapped in Nitto tires sized 275/35R19 and 315/35R20, respectively.
Inside the Mustang Switchback, the changes were limited to the removal of the factory rear seats and the addition of a new custom-wrapped leather package.
With all these updates, the Mustang GT has been transformed into the real muscle car it should have been from factory!
Anytime you can add the word "rowdy" to the special edition tag of a car, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it.
That’s exactly what Kyle Busch and Detroit Speed & Engineering did to the Toyota Camry SE. Named after Busch’s "Rowdy" handle on the NASCAR circuit, the Rowdy Edition Camry was made to exude an abundance of style and substance.
There’s no denying that this Camry doesn’t look the part of a regular model, something Busch wanted to do to make the car stand out. Together with DSE, the Nascar driver decided to give the Camry SE a slew of body modifications, including the official "Rowdy" colors — red, white, and black — to go with a hand-formed, custom widebody kit; custom front and rear belly pans; DSE-designed and fabricated front air splitter and rear air diffuser; a custom, true dual exhaust system; and a new set of 18-inch Formula 43 RAD14 wheels wrapped in BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp 2 tires.
Inside, Busch and DSE made use of red and black leather Lexus IS F bucket seats while also adding an Advent Otocam3 DVD with rear-seat Michael Neighbors monitors.
Needless to say, Busch appears to be impressed with his body of work, calling the car something that "we should run at Daytona and Talladega.”
“Our approach to the build was to make a car with the stance, attitude and handling of a road-race car while retaining the functionality of a production Camry,” Busch adds.
The Rowdy Edition Camry will be going to the 2012 SEMA Auto Show as part of the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge. Together with its three other competitors — Clint Bowyer’s Tekked-Out Prius, Alexis DeJoria’s converted Tundra, and Antron Brown’s modified Sequoia — the car will vie for the title and the $50,000 check from Toyota that will go to the driver’s chosen charity, which, in the case of Busch, will be the Kyle Busch Foundation.
UPDATE 11/09/12: Big congratulations to Kyle Busch’s Toyota Camry Rowdy Edition for winning the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge at the 2012 SEMA Auto Show!
Chevrolet’s lineup for the 2012 SEMA Show once again included lots of concepts based on the smallest cars in its lineup: the Spark, Sonic, and Cruze. All these concepts have been developed to demonstrate the possibilities for customers who want a more personalized driving experience.
The first of the concepts is the aggressive-looking Spark Sinister. It combines rally-inspired exterior design elements with a dark appearance, which seems to make it the perfect car for a late-night race.
The Sinister Concept is painted Carbon Flash Metallic, then combined with Bahia Red accents and matte-black graphics. It also received a wild body kit that includes bold rocker fairings, a rear diffuser with dual exhaust outlets, a rear wing spoiler, and a front fascia with large air intakes.
The concept sits on a set of 18-inch wheels in split-spoke design and are painted in Bahia Red. The wheels are covered by prominent fender flares and, when combined with a lowered ride height, assist in making the Spark look awesome.
