It seems a bit late in the year now to be posting up SEMA coverage, but I really just wanted to get these photos up now because I actually spent a good amount of time shooting this year. I can’t say that I really spent too much time trying to cover as much as possible, because I didn’t, but I dedicated my time getting more detailed shots of the cars that interested me. My sole reason behind going to SEMA every year is just to support my friends who are building cars for the event and spending time with other friends who are also in town for the show. It always seems pretty relaxing because I wouldn’t necessarily call it work and there’s just no pressure to really “cover” the event because half the time social media already shows you everything before you even set foot onto the Las Vegas Convention Center…

For reasons I’ll never understand, I wasn’t even approved for SEMA Media Credentials this year. I think they were upset about something I said in the past about the show but I guess free press and freedom of speech really does get you in trouble sometimes, lol. They even emailed me back and told me that they weren’t able to ‘substantiate a proper editorial affiliation between (myself) and the automotive aftermarket industry’. Oh well, fuck me I guess, lol. I don’t think there is anyone that is more affiliated with the aftermarket industry but hey, what do I know? I’m just out here doing my thing and saying whatever I want. That was kind of the whole point of creating The Chronicles in the first place. Despite all that, I’ll still go to SEMA because I want to support my friends. It’s just nice to be there to see their hard work on display, have good conversations about their experiences, and to be able to see other people appreciate the work they put in…

Here are some photos that I took during SEMA week. It’s a two-parter because I had so many friends involved with new projects this year. Hope you enjoy it…

Before SEMA actually happened, Sam Du, Super Street magazine, and the boys from Evasive Motorsports decided to host a little shindig down in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles where they unveiled their joint SEMA project; Sam’s brand new A90 Supra…

Parked in front of BOWLS LA was Sam’s new Supra equipped with the first-ever EVS Tuning aero package and BBS LM wheels. Right behind it was Dai Yoshihara’s new AE86 Corolla Levin build hosting a Honda K20C Civic Type R engine…

Both cars went off to Las Vegas for the SEMA show just a few days later. After Year11 and 11.5, I myself flew out to Las Vegas that Monday to prepare for the week of SEMA ahead…

One of the first displays that I really wanted to go see was the new Yokohama Tire set-up. Yokohama has been away from SEMA for some years now so they made sure to make an impact at the Las Vegas event. I’m sure many of you have seen it by now but their Advan display with four stacked containers, filled with legendary race vehicles sporting the classic livery and headlined by Garrett Jarboe’s Pandem Supra was the talk of the entire show….

Tucked away in an empty alley way area between two of the Las Vegas Convention Center halls was the TN Service Kyoto PS13 Silvia coupe, imported from Japan to the U.S. for SEMA to showcase the new Pandem V3 widebody kit from TRA Kyoto…

Even the window net of the Silvia sported the “Pandem” name…

Toshiki from TN Service Kyoto is actually a license D1 Grand Prix and Formula Drift Japan competitor…

The wide box flares on the rear of the new Pandem V3 kit…

Front over fenders for the Pandem PS13 paired with Rocket Bunny wheels wrapped in Toyo Tires…

Though it was parked in a spot that was pretty hidden away from the rest of the show, plenty who were walking from the South Hall were pleasantly surprised to see it…

The drawn-on eyelash on the passenger headlight cover is actually a last minute touch by Kei Miura from TRA Kyoto…

The lighting and how the South Hall blocked-out a bulk of the early morning sunlight provided some cool colors where the Silvia sat so I took plenty of photos before most of the show-goers realized where the car even was…

One of the cars debuting at SEMA that I really wanted to see was Rowie Landicho’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V. He had acquired this imported Evo V from another Evo enthusiast who had all but given-up on the project. Rowie didn’t want to see the car go to waste so he acquired the car in a trade and started restoring as much of it as he could over the course of the summer…

The Evolution V now wears a full Varis CP9A ASSO Version widebody kit, Voltex GT wing, and Volk Racing CE28 Club Racer II Black Edition wheels…

Only real Varis aero products on Rowie’s CP9A Evo V…

Front under diffuser (Ver. 2) and Hyper Canard with yellow-tinted headlights…

Right next to the Varis CP9A Evo was this BMW E24 coupe wearing a Coutner Japan CSL widebody aero kit and VIP Modular wheels…

I’m not 100% sure but this might be the first Coutner Japan kit in the U.S…

As I walked closer to the Toyo Tires Treadpass section, I began to see a variety of interesting builds including this custom sheet metal widebody G63 AMG G-Wagon from Sadistic Iron Werks…

The G-Wagon had a custom titanium exhaust which exited out each side of the rear passenger-side doors. The bronze wheels wrapped in Toyo R888R are 20×13 Rotiform HVN wheels…

As I walked-in, I spotted yet another build that I had anticipated seeing, my good friend Jerald aka Jaycray’s brand new Liberty Walk Lexus LC500h build, put together by StrasseSport and vinyl-wrapped by Impressive Wrap out here in Los Angeles…

He had been trolling people online as to what the actual final color was going to be so many were surprised when they saw the matte dark green wrap which was also airbrushed to give it a more distressed look…

The widebody kit for the LC500h is a collaborative effort between Libert Walk and Artisan Spirits, another popular aero parts company from Japan. Suspension components have been upgraded with T-Demand products and sits low to the ground via Airlift air suspension. The wheels are fored Rotiform SIX…

The Toyo Tires Treadpass area was pretty much the main spot to be at for enthusiasts like us because it hosted the most prominent import builds that debuted this year. Yet another highly-anticipated debut was the Autofashion USA S30 240Z build, rocking a complete Speed Forme Japan kit and Work Meister M1 wheels…

If there was ever a more troubling build that lead-up to the SEMA Show, it was probably this one. A few days before the show, this car wasn’t even close to being finished and was missing a majority of its suspension pieces. I don’t think I can say too much about the situation, being that Autofashion is currently going after the company that scammed them, but let’s just say that there were a lot of parts that were paid for and promised that just never showed-up. Days turned into weeks, which turned into months, and months more where parts just didn’t arrive and this project was nearly ruined because of it. The guys from Autofashion USA scrambled to find the adequate components to get the car together for SEMA and with the help of the team from Buddha Concept Designs, the 240Z just narrowly made it to the Toyo Tires Treadpass display area…

The L-series engine remains in the S30Z but the carburetors are gone, upgraded to fuel injection now utilizing a set of Jenvey individual throttle bodies…

The sleek carbon fiber front bumper wrapped around the nose of the 240Z, paired with a Seibon carbon fiber hood…

The paint and body work were all executed beautifully by the guys from Buddha Concept Designs, carefully massaging all the Speed Forme products to fit the Datsun body…

What was likely the most polarizing build of the entire SEMA Show this year was the Button Built Ferrari 355 Berlinetta. If you guys remember, just a few months back, there was a pristine yellow 355 Berlinetta on display at the Wekfest Los Angeles event. What you see above is the exact same car. Shortly after Wekfest, Mitchell Button and friends began tearing the car apart and even created a custom widebody kit for it out of clay before finalizing the pieces that you see on the 355 that was completely laid-out on the floor at the SEMA Show…

Custom twin-turbo set-up, presented in symmetrical precision, on the factory Ferrari 3.5L V8 engine. Love the equal symmetry on the cut-outs of the acrylic rear glass and how it ties into the cut-outs on the rear bumper and hatch…

Custom high-mounted center-exit exhaust with 3D-printed tips next to the chassis-mounted wing stands…

Stuffed underneath the custom rear overfenders are 19×15-inch Rotiform OZR wheels wrapped, of course, in Toyo R888R rubber…

MOMO steering wheel and seat inside…

EVS Tuning GTLM prototype mirrors which have a magnesium arm and base, paired with a dry carbon mirror housing…

The vinyl wrap features a very weathered and distressed race livery look which contrasts the modern widebody design, wing, and turbo upgrades. The wrap, I was told, was temporary as the car will eventually be painted after it gets some more body alterations…

JDM Wong and Karl from Toyo bracing for SEMA week…

Liberty Walk LB Silhouette WORKS Huracan GT from 3:16 Speed…

I don’t think I’ll ever own a Lamborghini in my lifetime but I do enjoy how crazy Liberty Walk manages to get coming up with new aero kits for these cars. The Silhouette kit is actually pretty cool, and a new look that separates it from some of the older LB Works kits for the Lamborghini platforms…

I’m sure the LB Silhouette WORKS kit has a rear bumper, but this particular Huracan was without one…

…so it could show-off the Sheepey Race twin-turbo kit which utilizes their manifold and plumbing along with two Precision turbochargers…

I have a lot more photos of this “100K AE86” in Part 2 but this is the “Rikostyle” Corolla with Japanese Levin front face, TRD-style widebody, Work Wheels,…

…and a BEAMS 3S-GE engine swap with individual throttle bodies…

One of the new builds that I kept seeing pop-up on various social media outlets was this Pandem Honda S800, known as “The Chinpira”, owned by actor Daniel Wu, who you probably know from the AMC series “Into the Badlands”…

Toyo Tires wrapped around a custom set of steelies and refinished caps. The flares are Kei Miura-designed pieces, as are the front air dam, and rear spoiler…

A better look at the front air dam, as mentioned prior, designed by Kei Miura from TRA Kyoto…

Interesting to see a Honda Sports 800 in the Honda booth at the SEMA Show, being that the roadster was only available in Japan. It’s rare to see a imported Japanese-only model Honda ever present at the Honda of America display but when you have a high-profile actor like Daniel Wu involved, I imagine it makes sense to help bring more people to the area…

From here you can see that the interior has been completely redone in bright red upholstery…

For such a small car, it definitely stood-out at SEMA, and here was a rare opportunity to get a full shot of the car with a constant crowd around it throughout the week…

Not too far away was the HKS booth, which showcased their new A90 Supra “Premium” widebody kit on their recently acquired U.S. demo car. Everybody kept assuming it was a Pandem kit but if anyone actually took more than a few seconds to look at it, it’s very obvious that the two kits are VERY different. I mean, the lines aren’t even remotely similar…

H&R usually has something interesting in their booth and this year, they hosted a rare BMW M1 Procar. If you don’t know what this is, CLICK HERE to read all about it, as told to you by BMW…

Probably the best A90 to debut at the SEMA Show was the GReddy Performance Products Supra, wearing Pandem aero and a host of new GReddy components for the B58 engine…

The Button Built 328 GTS, refreshed with a new look and sitting on the back of a pretty wild tow trailer, on display outside of the Central Hall at the SEMA Show. All the talk of the new 355 definitely took some attention away from this Ferrari, which is still pretty great and just one year removed from its SEMA debut in 2018…

That’s all for now. I know there isn’t a whole lot of coverage this year but I really wanted to just focus on the cars that I went to SEMA to see. In the past I was so busy trying to see everything that I missed a lot of the details on many of these great builds, so I spent more time trying to capture said details this year. Hope you guys enjoyed it. There’s still a lot of cool stuff to come, so stick around. Thanks for supporting The Chronicles!!…