SEMA 2014 Coverage…Part 1…

By stickydiljoeNovember 18, 2014 ( 5 )

I love Las Vegas. The annual SEMA Show is always hectic but Las Vegas provides a nice little getaway after all the work that goes into planning my yearly anniversary event. Walking the show and doing coverage is quite a bit of work but everything that happens outside of the show is well worth the adventure. The parties are always interesting and the food is amazing so it is more fun than work. The best part about it is that I get to connect with friends and associates that I don’t get to see very often. Just imagine getting to see friends for an entire week straight that you wouldn’t have the opportunity to see weeks or months out of the year otherwise…

The show itself seemed to be busier than ever this year. Honestly, I’ve never had a problem finding parking in the year’s prior but this year, it was almost impossible. We literally had to park at a hotel/casino on the strip and take a cab to the show. I don’t know what it is, whether it be the economy recovering or not but the show was jam-packed. There seemed to be a more Japanese-influence this year, especially with all the Rocket Bunny craziness lately. It seemed almost as if every other Japanese car build at the show featured either a Rocket Bunny or Liberty Walk widebody kit. Shit is crazy how popular widebody stuff has gotten these past two years. I don’t know when it’ll end but things have definitely come full circle with the crazy aero. It almost makes you forget that at one point during the past decade, any kind of aero was shunned and thought of as automotive sacrilege. Now you almost have to have some sort of widebody aero kit for people to even notice your car. Man, when things get trendy it literally takes over the car community thanks to social media. People want to talk shit and hate all they want but its undeniable how popular Rocket Bunny stuff is right now. The funniest thing about all this is that Kei Miura has been around for ages now and his stuff is barely picking up steam now. I guess its proof that if you keep building it, people will come. His time is now and he’s raking in the cash off of any and everything Rocket Bunny-related. Even Liberty Walk stuff that has nothing to do with him is associated with him and they are not remotely the same…

For this year’s coverage, I decided to streamline it and only display cars that are relevant to what I cover normally. In the year’s past, I tried to get as much as possible of everything that I saw but it just made the coverage way too long and the domestic stuff that interested me didn’t exactly have the same response from the viewers. I eliminated all that and just captured car builds that are most notable and interesting. Obviously there is a ton of Rocket Bunny stuff but please take the time to look through it as there are plenty of other great builds documented. Enjoy the coverage. Instead of it being 7-8 parts like before, this year it is only three sections total. I got so much other stuff to show you guys that I don’t really want to take up two weeks covering SEMA. Anyways, enjoy and come back for more….

Phaze2 Yogi took his freshly assembled Lexus GS build from my Year.SIX event straight to Las Vegas to set-up for the SEMA event. This was his first SEMA event with a car build and he got a pretty prime spot right up front by the North Hall…

Liberty Walk E92 M3 from LTMW….

Phoung’s Rocket Bunny Version II BRZ had a fresh new vinyl wrap job. Though I liked the blue with green accents a lot, I think this new bright green look isn’t too shabby….

One of a handful of Rocket Bunny RX-7 builds present at the SEMA ’14 event. This one on Volk Racing ZE40s….

One of the builds that I was interesting in seeing in person was the Rocket Bunny S15 Silvia. I had never seen the kit prior because we don’t see very many S15 Silvias out here in Cali and there wasn’t much talk about this build until it popped-up at SEMA. Little did I know that by the end of the week, this build would look drastically different….

The gutted interior of the S15 with a cut dash, new shifter assembly and a STACK cluster. I didn’t look under the hood but I believe it had a Mopar engine….

The rear of the TRA Kyoto S15, wtih signature rear diffuser and over fenders….

Check out the custom center-exit exhaust….

Enkei-produced 6666 wheels specifically tailored for Rocket Bunny cars…..

Overall I think its a good-looking kit. Sometimes the RB kits just don’t flow very well with certain chassis because they are more squarish in design compared to the round flares of the RB kits but this one works. This car also had a really nice white paint job that had tons of metallic flake in it but it would be covered later in the week with a full livery…

This Varis Arising Subaru BRZ is actually the same build from the East Coast that was previously yellow. I dig the new look and how the car sits on the bronze Volk ZE40s….

Chargespeed widebody Mitsubishi EVO X representing Fortune Auto on SSR Professor SP3s….

Luigi Arroyo’s recently repainted J’s Racing GT widebody S2000….

Featured prominently at the Falken Tire booth was IND’s BMW M5 on brand new HRE R101 forged wheels….

Creaminz’s Porsche GT3 showed up to SEMA with a fresh new look. The dark blue was a huge departure from its previous bright teal but you can still see hints of the old color as it is now used as a contrasting accent tone….

Ferrari 458 Italia Spider at the Toyo Tires booth…

It was nice to finally see the finished Rocket Bunny NSX on display at the Nitto Tires booth. I had a helping hand in putting the final touches on this car and it was a proud moment to see it completed for the world to see….

The car got a ton of press throughout the week and was probably one of the most talked-about builds of the SEMA show. The blue chrome finish really drew all eyes onto the car and it was the perfect debut for the first-ever Rocket Bunny NSX build…

I got a ton of video footage of the build-up coming soon in my latest video blog that I’m currently putting together….

Chris Dunbar’s Rocket Bunny R35 GTR with HRE wheels and Airrex suspension….

Can’t stand the shitty STR knock-off wheels but I’ve always been a huge fan of Forrest Wang’s 2JZ-powered Kouki S14 build. Good to see him experiencing some success in the Formula D series as this is one of the most intricate drift car builds in their competition….

Miguel Zargoza’s custom widebody Infiniti M build at the Cuve wheels booth….

Showing off the 6666 wheels at the Enkei booth was Tuner Galleria’s Rocket Bunny RX-7…

With Rocket Bunny and Liberty Walk builds flooding the SEMA show floors, it was almost a little refreshing to see a Rauh Welt Porsche on display….

Parked right next to it was a brand new Liberty Walk BMW M4…

RSV Forged featured another Rocket Bunny R35 GTR….

Custom widebody NSX that looked a little odd with the OEM front bumper still intact….

Crazy-ass Belladonna Ford GT widebody build…

This R35 GTR featured Rocket Bunny fenders but the front bumper and hood are Overtake components. Pretty seamless bodywork to match the two together….