SEMA Show 2011 Coverage…Part 6…The Finale…


Ahhh…we are finally at the conclusion to our 6-part miniseries of SEMA 2011 coverage… It was a great trip and always something I look forward to every year. In terms of major events, SEMA is always a landmark on the calender and I’m already excited to go back in 2012. Today, we are going to check out the final day of SEMA that I went to. I went every single day last year but this year I skipped the last day, which was Friday. I felt that I had already seen a majority of what I wanted to see and the stuff I really liked, I went back and looked two or three times more. Skipping Friday also gave me an opportunity to spend some more time with May and hang out with the homies that were there. A lot of the guys from out east and midwest were out in Vegas too but I just didn’t have time to really hang out with them. The entire week was filled with walking around the show and when we were not at the show, we were either eating or at an industry party. The parties would have been a good place to meet up but a couple of the guys didn’t get there until Wednesday and if they did go to a party, they ended up at another one that we weren’t at. The partying wasn’t particularly for everyone either and a lot of the guys just wanted to hang out and gamble, which was cool with me. I don’t do much gambling except for messing around with some slot machines so I’d rather go to the industry parties to mingle…

The Pro-Motion/Falken Tire party was the big industry party to close out the week and everyone decided that they would go so we could have everyone in one place at least once during SEMA week. As you read in Part 5 of our coverage, we had partied a little too hard the night before so we just made the decision to take it easy at the Falken party. I think a lot of people who were there for SEMA were also kind of over the whole partying thing by Thursday night as well because I saw a lot of people just chillin’ that night at the party. It’s all good though…many of us are at the age now where we have already been there and done all that partying shit when we were younger so there wouldn’t be any added incentive of going on a rager three nights in a row, especially considering the amount of walking around we did throughout the week…

I have photos from that party as well but before we get to those, let’s take a look at my final day at SEMA…

When we last left off, we had just exited the wheel/tire hall and made our way back to the outside of the show to take a look at some cars we might have missed. After hanging out outside for awhile, we walked back towards the manufacturer’s hall one more time to show some of our other friends who hadn’t been there yet, what the North Hall had to offer…

On our way to the manufacturer’s hall, I spotted Mannie Fresh and our buddy Hoonie wanted to take a picture with him. He was walking around by himself and seemed busy, so it was mighty nice of him to stop what he was doing to be in the photo. If you guys don’t know Mannie Fresh, he’s a rapper and hip-hop producer for Def Jam South. You’ve probably seen him or recognize him more for being one of the Big Tymers with Birdman and Cash Money…

After that, we walked over to check out this 1960 Ford F100 pick-up which was built by Two Brothers Customs. The owner came up to us and introduced himself before giving us full details on the truck. He said that the truck came together in less than two months time and even showed me what the truck looked like the day he started the project in September. It was just a beat up old frame then so it’s amazing to see the final result. I asked him how it ran and he said that he hadn’t even had a chance to start the truck yet after finishing it. I’d love to give you guys more details on it but you can actually read more about it here…

I couldn’t leave SEMA 2011 without stopping by the Lexus section to see the 5Axis GS F-Sport one more time…

It’s just a beautiful car overall…5Axis really knows what they are doing with their body components and I can’t get over how great this GS F-Sport looks…

We walked over to the Honda section to see if anyone was over there but there wasn’t so I just snapped another pic of the HPD-prepped bare 2012 Civic Si coupe chassis…

…also snapped this photo of the HPD supercharged Honda CR-Z motor…

Custom 1963 Mercury Comet built by Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods….

Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima’s Pikes Peak record-holding Suzuki SX4 “Hill Climb Special” inside the Go-Pro section…

Big Foot making even Hoonie look small…

One more look at the Auto Concept Elite/High End widebody R35 GT-R…

Hoonigan Inc. Rauh Welt Begriff Porsche 965…stool and lady still blocking view of it, haha…

Loved this custom Chrysler Le Baron…

Honda CB836F cafe racer…

Supercharged Factory Five ’33 Ford hot rod coupe…

Check out the seats on this thing…

I still remember back in the day when I used to always pass by this Jeep/AMC dealership while sitting in the backseat of my parent’s car. I was just a kid then but was already very interested in cars so I just looked at any and every car that existed. One thing I always remembered about AMC (American Motors Corporation) was how hideous all their vehicles were. In the late 80s-90s they had the AMC Eagle Premier, AMC Eagle Wagon, and they even sold those crappy Renault convertibles under their name. The cars were just fucking weird looking and super boxy. The best thing to come out of American Motors were the Jeeps and those were eventually sold off to Chrysler, who have been making Jeeps ever since…The 70s were even worse…remember the Gremling and Pacer? Guess what? Those were crappy AMC cars…The 60s were a little better, but all cars during the 60s had roughly the same look and design. Above is an AMC AMX (American Motors eXperimental)….it was marketed back then as a muscle car like the Mustang and Camaro but it was unique in that it had a short wheelbase. That’s why it looks kinda odd because it has a long body still but the with the wheelbase shorter. I don’t know whose idea it was to make all these fucking weird ass cars but they aren’t around anymore so I guess it didn’t work out too well for them. What’s stranger is that I know so much about these things…man, I need to get out more…The AMX above is pretty unique though because you just don’t see these cars around anymore, especially at a SEMA show,…

…you’d also be hard-pressed to find an AMC AMC with a GM LSx swap in it…

Drag Civic coupe sitting at the Exospeed booth…

My first time seeing a BMW 1M in person…If you guys don’t know what a 1M is, just imagine an M3, but compressed into a BMW 1-series chassis. If there is an M version of a 3-series BMW and it’s called an “M3”, and likewise for the 5-series “M5”, then why isn’t the 1-series an “M1” you ask?…well…that’s because there already is an M1 in the BMW family lineage and it’s probably one of the most influential sports cars of the 1970s. It was actually designed and built by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Lamborghini but sold under the BMW name. It had a straight six engine with 6 individual throttle bodies and made around 277 horsepower. It’s also the only mid-engine sports car BMW has ever sold and a couple years ago, there was a concept car built in homage to the M1. If you’re interested in knowing what the BMW M1 looked like, simply google “BMW M1″…it’s pretty well known…I remember when I used to go to elementary school and I had a folder that my parents bought for me that had a BMW M1 on it…pretty cool because my parents were the reason I was so interested in cars as a child…

BMW M3 race car sitting next to the 1M inside the H&R booth…

I believe this is model Janelle Ha…

Do-Luck Aero Wivern-equipped R34 Skyline… I saw this car in passing a couple times during the week but the wheels threw me off and made me not really want to look at it…haha…It’s rare to see R34 Skylines these days that aren’t sitting on some government-owned impound lot, especially with full Do-Luck aero, so I stopped to check it out…

Carbon kevlar front fenders…you can actually see a hint of the kevlar next to the mesh opening in the fender…

Do-Luck Aero Wivern insignia…

Even has the low-profile D0-Luck rear spoiler… I actually went through the SEMA website to find more information on this car and it’s actually from Chicago…

A couple other guys we were walking around with ended up getting stuck behind because they were busy looking at other cars so David and I stopped by this Benz one more time while we waited for them to catch up. It was one of the first cars that caught my eye on the first day of SEMA so it’s only fitting that I close out the week by getting a closer look at it…

I really like that this E350 Benz sticks to two central themes: The full catalog of Carlsson products…

…and the custom BBS LM wheels built by Memoryfab. The car remains very subtle to the casual onlooker but once you stop to study the car, you realize that there is so much more to it…

Full Carlsson aero with L.E.D. daytime running lights and all as well as the carbon fiber chin spoiler that is tucked neatly under the front bumper…

The entire chassis is adorned in Carlsson gear and the BBS wheels receive a similar amount of detail…I really like the red BBS lug nuts that match the LM center cap…

Matching BBS valve stem caps as well….very well executed along with the custom bronze finish…

Great fitment…fitment meaning that the wheels fucking FIT on the car and doesn’t have all that ridiculous poke with a 1/3 of the wheel sticking out past the fenders…The wheels actually look like they belong on the car and don’t look like they are trying to escape…

Appropriate plate and frame combo for this build…

Speaking of fitment…this Scion tC is doing is wrong. What better way to represent your tire sponsor by getting tires that don’t fit your fucking car…*sigh*….

Oh while we’re on the topic of fitment, I spotted Neil Tjin’s Chevy Cruz just a couple steps away from the Carlsson E350…Neil not only has good fitment with his custom Rotiform wheels, but also wins the award for…

….aggressive trunk fitment. Neil really wanted to show off the trunk space in his Cruz by shoving as much shit as he could into it….

Neil did show me this cool award he got from some German publication though…I think it was for best customized wheel or something, I can’t really recall. What’s cool about the award is that it’s a true 2-piece wheel. I mean, you can’t really drive on it or anything because it’s only like 8-inches in diameter but the construction of it is very much like a real rim…neat….

A shot of one of the Factory Five ’33 Fords as we were walking out…

That pretty much wraps the actual SEMA show coverage…On the way back to the parking lot we parked in…

…I spotted this Vette…Kinda random for it to just be parked in a hotel parking lot but cool nonetheless…

DPK David had to meet up with one of his aunt’s that lived out in Vegas for dinner so we went back to the hotel and parted ways for a couple hours. May, Jared, and I went to go grab some buffet over at the Wicked Spoon inside the Cosmopolitan and we regrouped back at the hotel so that we could get dressed for the Pro-Motion/Falken Tire party. We pre-gamed a little bit and drank, then headed out to Paris hotel & casino to hit up Chateau club. The party was crackin’ by the time we got there already so we walked in, got our Falken Tire VIP wristbands and headed up the elevator to a completely separate party upstairs on the balcony. The view was stunning… You overlook the strip and party directly under the Eiffel Tower. I’d never seen anything like it…

We all made sure that we were at the same party on this night, just to close out the week with everyone. S2K Jay from Atlanta was there, along with some of the other PG+K guys and also my good buddy Chris “Blizzard Man” Sullivan aka CRS Foto…It was good to finally hang out with these guys for a change after trying to chase each other down over the phone throughout the week…

There wasn’t too much craziness like the other two parties. We just wanted to chill and chat with the homies since we don’t always get the opportunity to do that because we are so far apart…

Downstar/Bolt Boys Frank and DPK David in a rare photo together…

Rywire Ryan and DPK Jared, leaders of the Seinfeld fan club cheesing it up….

One of the great things about the Chauteau club was that it kept with the whole “French” theme…The girls working that night as servers had full on French Maid outfits and their maid skirts left very little to the imagination. Like if they sneezed you’d get hit with some vag action…. Both Rom and I sat back and enjoyed the view of some French clam, haha….

Not concerned with French maids, Christ (Pronouced “Steve”) from PG+K, was busy giving a seductive lap dance to his girl Christina….He’s from Georgia so he was getting down… At one point he even turned upside down and made his ass clap…

One person who was unimpressed and outright confused by the ass-clapping was Ryan from Eibach Springs… When you work at Eibach, apparently you get all kinds of special treatment. We had exclusive wristbands just to get upstairs already but Ryan had like 6 different VIP wristbands, one for every level of VIP. The blue one was for regular Falken VIP, then came Super VIP, double-stuffed VIP, VIP’s cooler older brother, VIP the crappy TV show starring Pamela Anderson, VIP Chinese Buffet, and even a VIP wristband that travels to the future so you can see what you’re doing later on in the party in the VIP section…shit was out of control…

A photo of me with Frank and Oscar aka “Pancakes”…

Natalie and Nick from SEEN IT! traveled all the way from Chicago for SEMA…. Nick does this crazy dance that looks like he’s stomping out a hoard of fire ants, it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen…

Thanks to Christ (Pronounced “Car-los”) for buying us shots at the club…

Nick Caster taking a moment to enjoy his own company and have a drink with himself…

Ryan and Natalie playing rock, paper, scissors….nobody won…

S2K Jay from PG+K and I…I was probably holding in a fart in this photo…Chateau club was a fancy place so I chose to reserve my farts for a later time…

One unique item that they had at this party was a photo booth type thing. It was basically just a webcam with LED flash but it was cool because you could instantly upload the photo to your email or to Facebook… I realized later on when I got back home to LA that you could actually go back and view all the photos that were taken that night. I’m going to be honest, I was trying to find a photo with some drunk chick flashing but that just didn’t pan out so I’ve included some of the photos that we took at the booth…

Ryan, May, and Nick…you can see in these photos our view of the Vegas strip from where we were…

From left to right, DPK David’s shoulder, May, Christ, Nick Weir, me, and CRS Foto aka “My Ass is Haunted”…

No idea who these breezies were but I enjoyed the photo so I included it…haha…does any still use the term “breezies” by the way?….

JDM Mike, sad-face Jay, and Frank, who was trying to look as sexy as possible… I guess this wasn’t his first time in front of a webcam…

Totally random but I also found this photo of some random white guy in the background with Kevin from Autofashion USA and Julie Mai…

Not much else happened at the party….It was just a chill night overall to be with good company. There was an old man who was dancing like the world was going to end the next day but I guess that just goes with being at an industry party during Vegas….After the club shut down, we all headed over to our favorite Vegas food spot, Earl of Sandwich, for a late night sang-wich…

It was Chris’ first time at Earl of Sandwich after hearing about it all these years from our Vegas trips…

One more sandwich for these guys before they headed back to their respective homes the next day…

Not much else happened after on that particular night. We actually got a good amount of sleep since we didn’t have to worry about heading back to the SEMA show on Friday. We woke up around noon or so and David, Jared, May, and I went to grab some lunch at Cabo Wabo before David and Jared went back to L.A. I spent the rest of the afternoon having some alone time with May and we gambled and walked around for awhile before heading back to the room to relax. Ryan wanted to have dinner so we met up later on in the evening to grab some all-you-can-eat sushi. It wasn’t terribly exciting so I didn’t have any photos of that…

Oh, I almost forgot this…remember how I mentioned that I always manage to miss out on some cars at the SEMA show? Well, I actually spotted a car from SEMA that I didn’t see at the show parked at Planet Hollywood when we were hanging out there…

This is probably the first new Infiniti FX that I have seen modded and it’s not a bad look…I personally think these crossover SUVS look a little odd but they don’t look half bad with some work done to them. I can imagine how aggressive it would look if it was on air and slammed to the parking lot floor…

We headed home early Saturday afternoon and passed by the Autofashion guys along the way…That Sunday was the VIP Festival which you saw coverage of before the SEMA posts began…

That concludes the 6-part SEMA 2011 coverage. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. I know many of you don’t have the opportunity to go because you aren’t a part of the industry and don’t know people that can get you in but this is basically how the entire week is, at least for guys like us anyway. I’m sure there are more people who party harder, spend more time at the actual show, and do more baller shit like eat at fancy restaurants or whatever, but I think I’ve given you guys a good glimpse of SEMA life. I try to put into words what happened through my eyes and hopefully it has translated well to you guys. Obviously some of the more crazier things that happened during the parties were fabricated but it makes for a more entertaining side of the story. It’s more exciting then me just telling you that we stood around and drank with a bunch of dudes standing around us and breathing down our necks. I mean, how fucking fun does that sound? Haha. That’s just how it is at SEMA…it’s a good time but you have to take it for what it is. You don’t go out there to meet your next fuck friend or even your next significant other, it’s not realistic to think that it would even be remotely possible. The SEMA show itself is basically the same every year but just with a different cast of characters and new builds. That will just never change… Anyways, I have thoroughly enjoyed painting the SEMA picture for you guys. I appreciate that you took your time to go through it…

Thanks for looking….

Fin.

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6 comments

  1. good times homie!! cant wait to go back to the west side!!

  2. All six parts were great! Funny ass comments on the pics from the Falken party. I am gonna bring breezies back now for sure.

  3. Awesome!!! Thanks for the great coverage Joey.

  4. lol at my boy Jono stuffing face behind Chris at the late night feed fest. Looks like fun guys. Great coverage as usual.

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