Alright, back with part 3…so we last left off at the end of the first official day of SEMA 2010. After we left, we just went back to the room to chill out for a little bit and then did some random shopping. We all met up later that night at Earl of Sandwich inside Planet Hollywood. Most of you west coast guys don’t know Earl of Sandwich that well because the only one out here is the one in Vegas, but it’s the best fucking place EVER. I love sandwiches and this is the spot to get it at. They’re cheap, quick, and open 24 hours so any time I wanted to eat a sandwich, they were there…
Here’s a crappy picture of some of us finishing our food. After that it was time to hit up one of the industry parties inside XS at Encore…
We thought that there would be a huge line up front because XS is usually crackin’ but then I realized that it was a Tuesday. It was also an industry party, which meant that the only girls there were either going with their significant others, or they were go-go dancers. Tony and all the other dudes thought that their might be a slight chance that there would girls to hawk at but that definitely was not the case. The above shot is one we first walked into XS. Not only was there a shortage of girls, there also was a shortage of human beings altogether…
It picked up an hour or so later and the inside of the club was pretty full but we chilled near the pool area just to kick it and talk…
Freddie from Autofashion taking one of many shots with the other guys…haha…
Murdock, Salem, and May…
Couples picture…and Ryan…
By about 3:30am or so, it was time to head back to the room to get some rest. After all that sitting around at the club we did get pretty hungary so we stopped by South Point and grabbed some $3.95 steak and eggs. You can’t go wrong with 4 dollar steaks and we pretty much ate that shit like, every night we were there…haha…
The next morning, it was back to the LA Convention Center for SEMA. I use the word “morning” very loosely because I didn’t wake up until almost noon and didn’t even go back to SEMA until around 1pm. May was off doing girl stuff with Tes, so it was just Tony and I going. Big Mike and them were already back at SEMA pretty early so we didn’t meet up until later on…
This was one of the first cars I spotted when I walked back in. Great flame work…
They were doing some offroad demostrations and had a couple Toyota pick-ups jumping this make-shift hill…It was pretty cool except for the fear of death when the trucks were flying near the barriers…
Walked over to the GAS section and saw their Scythe concept car…Not sure if it ran or not (I highly doubt that it did) but the thing had like 2 supercharges sticking out of the hood…
Not sure what Jaguar concept car this was but it was huge…and yes, “that’s what she said”…
I made it a point to hit up the Honda section so we could see all the CR-Z projects. The moment I got inside the hall though, of course, I was distracted by all kinds of different cars…
Megan Racing drift cars…
Just two of the many great muscle cars there…
Not really familiar with this Corvette but the kit is umm…interesting…
Hyundai was doing it big again this year and had the exact same spot as last year’s SEMA. They didn’t bring out a bunch of different Genesis Coupe builds this time around though and went more towards the luxury car route…
This Hyundai Equus was pretty sick. Looked a lot like a Lexus LS460…The new Work Equips aren’t anything to rave about but it fits the car…
This Sonata was pretty crazy too. The kit is really aggressive and the fact that we can finally say a Hyundai Sonata was “cool” is a win for anybody…haha…
Okay, so after some more walking we finally made it to the Honda area. I hit up Rodrez to see where he was at and he just happened to be like 5 miles away so he walked over to meet us in the Honda area so we could look at all the CR-Zs…
They had this whole roundabout display where all the CR-Zs were placed in a circle. The one pictured poorly in this photo is the CR-Z that was done by RJ DeVera and Wraptivo…
One of the most talked-about CR-Zs was this “Samurai Gold” one done by Fortune Motorsports and the Tjin brothers. Samurai Gold is significant because it’s a throwback to one of the most talked about colors back in the old Honda-Tech days. Warren Shim-Quee had a Civic back then that was the talk of the internet because everyone wanted to know what his paint color on his hatch was called. That pewter-hue was definitely one of the most popular colors during that time and Warren wanted to do the CR-Z in that color as an ode to that time. I think Samurai Gold actually came from a Peugeot or something…
Speaking of throwbacks, when was the last time you saw a set of Zeal seats? Warren probably had these in his possession already and it was definitely cool to see a set in a CR-Z…
The ADV.1 wheels were custom built for this CR-Z and it gave this hybrid a very aggressive look…
Bisi was near his CR-Z most of the time so that he could answer the millions and millions of questions people had about his CR-Z…
You saw it here on The Chronicles first and here is the finished product. When I shot the car a week before, some of the graphical pieces were still not on the car yet. Bisi got down and put all the finishing touches on it and it came out great…
The wheels were kind of iffy for some when they first heard about what wheels he was running but I think it looks good with the centercap on it and all….
The turbo and bay set-up had to be one of the most talked-about items of the entire SEMA show. Just to be able to put out that kind of power on a hybrid absolutely blew everyone’s minds…I’m sure their were skeptics out there questioning the power numbers but Bisi was very open about exactly what was done to the motor to make that type of power…
Here’s the official spec sheet for it…
…and here is a cool little “nutritional facts” sheet that Bisi had made…
This is the CR-Z that was done by Rodrez himself. They gave him this CR-Z and wanted the car done within 2 weeks so it could make the SEMA show. He did a pretty good job of it and was able to secure some pretty cool stuff in the short time he had. The CR-Z had a prototype front lip and grille piece done by JDP Engineering, A wing also done by them, 18-inch SSR Type-F wheels, and a intake system by HKS. Oh and graphics by me..haha…I was pretty happy with the finished product as was Rodrez. It was pretty mild compared to some of the other CR-Zs there but it was popular at SEMA because it represented a CR-Z that the average enthusiast could put together. Nothing too over the top and the car flowed well. It looks different now because the C-West kit came in after the SEMA show and Rodrez and I threw that shit on so the car could run at Buttonwillow…
The only sign of Louie from L*CON that was present at SEMA this year…
This one was..umm…cool…
This one wasn’t bad either…
The two CR-Zs that Honda Performance Development (HPD) brought out were really cool builds. This white one is the 25 Hours of Thunderhill CR-Z Racer…
…and this one is the HPD CR-Z Hybrid R Concept. Both have Borg Warner turbos and a new nickel-cobalt magnesium battery that helps push horsepower numbers near the 200s and the only main difference between the two is the exterior…
The Hybird R Concept has 5Axis wheels and a custom aerokit created by 5Axis. The chrome strip along the side and the aggressive aero made this one the best-looking CR-Z of SEMA, in my opinion anyway, but you can’t really go wrong with 5Axis designs…
The Eibach Springs CR-Z was there as well and it was the only one with the C-West kit on at SEMA…
The Mugen CR-Z wasn’t much to look at, especially next to the HPD Hybrid R, but the front grille piece wasn’t bad. It would probably look better with the mesh blacked-out but what do I know…
While Rodrez was busy talking to his adoring fans, I walked away from the Honda section and snapped a pic of this RX-8 drift car…
The Eneos booth wasn’t as good as last years but they did have this Lexus hybrid on hand for everyone to check out. Last year they had all kinds of giveaways, more cars, and models, but I guess it wasn’t in the budget this year…
This is the Lexus GS460 that was built by 5Axis and Airrunner. I had the pleasure of shooting this car a week ago too and those pics should be going up in the next couple days. I’m pretty happy with how the pics came out so keep an eye out for those…
Best intake EVER…
Only good shots I could get of Chris Rado’s AWD Scion tC race car because there was such a huge crowd around it all day. Kinda hoped it would have been placed in a better spot then by the exit of one of the main halls…
Never get tired of seeing these classic Lincoln Continentals…I hope to one day own one of these and never drive it because I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere and find a parking spot big enough for this car. Elvis Presley owned one of these when he was overseas in the militaryback in his younger days. I think he even shipped it overseas to where he was stationed. I’m not making this up. I just have a good memory for things that are totally irrelevant to normal every day life…
Okay, so we’re gonna close it out today with one of the sickest cars at SEMA. Other than the R35 GTR on red Advan RS-Ds outside, this is probably my other true favorite of the show. This fucking thing was cold-blooded…oh man…and the display that they built around it was equally as cool. They had this whole diner set-up and it was incredibly detailed. I have more pics of it but that won’t come until towards the end of the coverage. There was also a consistent crowd around it and I couldn’t get a good shot of it until the last day of SEMA…I’ve included the larger versions just so you guys can get a better look at it…
Everything about it was so well-done…and the best thing about it…
…it’s right-hand drive!!…craziness…
That’s all for today folks…Check back for more tomorrow…
Cant agree with you more about that Purple Caddy. it’s soo intense in person!
You forgot to mention all the assholes that jumped inside of the CR-Z’s like it was the LA Autoshow and started powershifting
i wish you would include the picture of what GIRLS DAY OUT had…..way better than SEMA FATAL lol
That crazy Purple Caddy came from Australia, hence the RHD. It’s definitely one of my favorite cars at SEMA!
The purple Cadillac looks like it eats babies. Sick!!!
thanks for the love man!!!!
Half the pictures not loading?
That purple caddy was one of the sickest cars at the show. The details on it is impressive!
oh and did you know there was an Earls of Sandwich in Valencia, CA It was the only one in the SoCal area but closed a couple years ago. Wasnt at a very good location and it wasnt as good as the one in PH. LOL.
That Gas thing started as a Mustang, bricks were shat when I read that.
I think I might get a CRZ nowas my first car LOL
It is to my regret that I missed this one as I was completely MIA. The scion tC model was a top draw for tuners. I hope SEMA 2012 and 2013 will have a scion.