EVENTS: 2013 SEMA Show

049_Nissan GTR R35 BRE

The SEMA show is a purist’s worst nightmare. Stock is a dirty word to these people. You won’t find a single unmolested car in the whole Death Star-sized convention hall, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Those brave enough to venture inside will encounter the craziest automotive freak show on Earth.

We cover SEMA every year not because it’s bursting at the seams with nostalgics, but because it’s a barometer of where trendsetters of the automotive industry are headed. So even if nostalgics themselves were largely absent, at least there was this Nissan GT-R decked out in BRE livery at the Optima Batteries booth. It did a great job translating the graphics to a much larger and differently proportioned body. It was more faithful than many actual 510s doing the BRE thing. 

045_OS Giken TC24

OS Giken showed their updated TC24-B1Z twin-cam motor for the L-series, a remake of the original’s concept but and it’s even better as a complete unit with a new valvetrain and gear-driven timing. It was shown at Nos2Days but never get tired of seeing this thing.

001_Toyota Camry Rally

Let’s take a quick spin around the OEM booths to see what they’re up to. At Toyota, NASCAR driver Parker Kligerman constructed this bonkers twin-turbo V6 Camry rally car. It’s part of the Dream Build Challenge, in which athletes get seven weeks and one Toyota to do whatever crazy thing they want. We just like the vintage racing livery.

011_Toyota FJ Cruiser Heritage Edition

In other ToMoCo news, it’s a sad day, but one the very few new cars we would consider buying is shuffling off this mortal coil. The FJ Cruiser‘s lifespan is coming to an end and there’s no successor in line.

014_Toyota FJ Cruiser Heritage Edition

To give it a proper send off, Toyota is building a limited run of Trail Teams Ultimate Edition FJ Cruisers. It comes with a TRD skid plate, Bilstein shocks, a roof rack and black 16-inch bead-lock wheels. Only 2500 will be built and it will come in an exclusive Heritage Blue paint. The coolest feature? An FJ40-like white grille.

028_Honda Odyssey 1000hp

Honda took the opportunity to unveil a redesigned Civic or something, but we’re not even going to show you that because they completely upstaged themselves with a 1029-horsepower Odyssey.

022_Honda Odyssey 1000hp

We do love a minivan, and a twin-turbo, manual trans bus on air suspension is too cool for school.

033_Honda CRZ Supercharged

Honda also addressed complaints about the CR-Z not having enough power by offering a supercharged version via their HPD arm. New power rating: 187hp, a 47-pony bump. Will this bring the CR-Z closer to its intended mission as a revived CRX? We are doubtful.

036_Honda Mean Mower

Oh and because SEMA, here’s a 133 mph lawn mower with a 0-60 time of four seconds, courtesy of a VTR 1000cc motorcycle engine.

038_Lexus IS300

We were rather surprised that the Lexus booth wasn’t just all about the new spindle-grille Predator face IS. They actually devoted a third of their precious booth space to a first-gen IS 300. No, it’s not nostalgic yet, but compared to the other stuff at the show, but it did bring back memories of SEMA during the height of the tuner era.

096_Mazda 6 Diesel Grand-Am

Fresh off a hugely successful first season in the Rolex Grand-Am GX series was the SpeedSource Mazdaspeed 6. It helped reign in the manufacturers’ engine championship for Mazda, another stunning debut for a brand new race motor, the SkyActiv-D diesel.

103_Mazda Diesel LMP2

Over at the Continental Tires booth was another Mazda diesel, a LMP2 car that will race at Le Mans next year as Mazda returns to the race that made the 787B a legend.

126_Enkei Scion FRS

Over at the Enkei Wheels booth was Crawford Performance’s awesome turbo Subaru BRZ on T6S wheels, as well as another reminder of bygone days, an S13 decked out in the language of drift.

124_Liberty Walk Nissan GTR

Toyo Tires had the wicked Liberty Walk GT-R on display, making an already monstrous car look even more intimidating.

110_Toyota Vellfire

Then, randomly, a Toyota Vellfire, king of the JDM VIP vans.

106_SSR Reverse Mesh

Over at SSR, we got some more details about the reborn SSR Reverse Mesh. 16-inch wheels will range from 5.5 to 10.0J widths, with prices starting at $540 and going up to $630. 19-inch wheels will range in width from 7.0 to 12.5J with prices from $790 to $990. We did inquire about whether it will come in nostalgic-friendly sizes and lug patterns. “We trying to,” they said. The US office has to make a solid case for the mothership in Japan.

163_Chrysler 300C Fairlady

Just as we were losing all hope of finding another classic model, we turned the corner and saw this sexy Fairlady convertible!

161_Chrysler 300C Fairlady

That’s right, folks, this is the hot new ish in town. Does your old Datsun have a side opening trunk? Rims taller than a stepladder? Enough green plastic to astroturf every high school football field in Texas? Well then stare in awe at this magnificent creation.

It’s also rocking hella dope features like the new “protruding screw” shift knob. Oh, your center console fits around the shifter gate with no gap? That’s weak sauce, bro. And what’s that, you actually have a touch screen? That’s out; a piece of black felt is what’s chill these days.

121_Lexus IS 340 2JZ

We couldn’t end with that affront to taste with a clear conscience, so here’s something to cleanse your palate. We found this Lexus “IS 340” at the Motul booth, powered by a single-turbo 2JZ stroked to 3.4 liters. We dig how builder Philip Chase ditched the cyborg gizmos of the new IS and went with the tried-and-true, less-techy-but-more-powerful god motor of Toyota speed junkies. Plus, the Advan TCIIIs are pretty sweet too.

116_Lexus IS 340 2JZ

This is the kind of build that SEMA should be about. It takes us back to the glory days, when Toyotas had proper straight sixes, a swapped R154 and was built to 700hp. To us, it’s the sexiest third-gen IS on the planet.

permalink.
This post is filed under: events, honda, Lexus, mazda, nissan, toyota and
tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

4 Responses to EVENTS: 2013 SEMA Show

  1. Dave says:

    I was really sad to hear that next year is the end of the line for the FJ, but it’s been around since ’07. That’s quite a good run. However, I’m kinda glad that there’s no successor. I’d hate to see the FJ turn into another retro line like the new bug, Mustang, or Mini. Let Land Cruiser keep on carrying the torch; FJ was like a toy or present Toyota gave us. And yes, that IS340 is TOTALLY AWESOME.

  2. Kyle 521 says:

    that OS Giken motor is the most beautifl thing ive ever seen!! it needs to live in my s30

  3. cesariojpn says:

    And the sad thing is, many of these cars will be crushed in a few years cause they are VIN#-less and not road worthy.

  4. Dennis says:

    Any pics of Benjamin’s 1982 AE71 at the Rota booth?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *