This totally custom Rabbit in Bravox's booth had me floored. I've seen quite a few modded VW's in my days, but not many as clean and well thought out as this. This little bunny started life as your basic Rabbit diesel, but has a new lease on life thanks to a built and polished 1.8L 16-valve motor from an MKII GTI and an intake manifold from an MK3 Golf 2.0L 8V. However, Bravox's Kevin Siegel informed me the bunny is about to get another boost via a side-draft Webber carb conversion! To really set off the cleaned-up exterior, the vehicle's owner also added real carbon fiber front and rear bumpers, gas cap, and some super-pimp carbon fiber fender flares. Oh yeah, and the Rabbit rolls on an air ride suspension and some sick BBS 2-piece wheels. The interior is completely custom too... Hop over to the SEMA 2007 Group forum to check out more pics of this amazing ride.
This chopped and channeled 1934 Chevy might look like a fire-breathing beast, but it is in fact relatively easy on the atmosphere. Running a powerful but efficient turbocharged 2.0L Ecotec, the mean-looking hot rod pushes out 500 horsepower--and it does it all on E85 ethanol. While the green credentials of ethanol are a little iffy at this point, GM is to be commended for its gesture toward leaving more gas for the real hot rods. Even better, GM stated it a press release that it is thinking about producing an E85 conversion kit for existing engines. Those corn farmers better get busy.
The results of our annual People's Choice Awards are in, and while I'd like to say we has some really close calls, it just isn't true. Each of these winners beat their competition handily! Congrats to all the winners and big thanks to everyone who voted—you're the people who make CarDomain great!
Best Car Audio Manufacturer: JL Audio.
Most Exciting 2008 Car Launch: 2008 Nissan Skyline GT-R.
Best Exhaust Manufacturer: Borla.
Most Mod Friendly Car: Honda Civic.
Best Tire Manufacturer: BFGoodrich. Best Gauge Manufacturer: Auto Meter.
Best Wheel Manufacturer: American Racing.
Best Intake Manufacturer: K&N.
Best Suspension Manufacturer: Eibach.
Best Car Show: NOPI.
Diesel performance isn't just for trucks and compact Euros anymore. In the Bassani Exhaust booth was this super-tough Chevelle, stuffed full of a 6.6L Duramax twin-turbo diesel. It makes over 1000 horsepower!
On the outside, this Lexus LS430 just looks like a well-executed VIP ride. But just like with people, it's what's inside that matters. I tried to get the people at the Falken booth to open the door so I could get a better shot, but they weren't having it. Apparently, the interior is made out of fox fur, and the powers-that-be were afraid of some PETA-inspired shenanigans. The staff kept referring to it as the "Chewbacca interior," and I thought it was hilarious. Might be nice in the winter...
With all the hype about donks, I was beginning to think that lowriders had fallen by the wayside. That was before I saw this crazy Camry, built by Lowrider Magazine, in the Toyota booth. The paint, done by Kolor Kings in Pomona, features red metal flake, pinstriped gold-leafing, and even a pair of Camrys beautifully airbrushed into side of the vehicle. With the roof nowhere in sight, it's pretty clear that this ride is for sunny-day cruising only.
The first time I saw a car sporting 30" wheels, I was a DUB show in New Jersey, and I honestly think I laughed out loud. They just looked so hilariously huge, like a cartoon or something! But I didn't laugh when I saw this 42" wheel at the Lexani booth—I was too stunned. I mean, this thing is almost four feet across! Honestly, when is this race to the sky going to stop? Are we going to see 60" wheels soon?
Back home in Seattle, the Ferrari dealership is only a couple of blocks from my house, and I go there all the time. The funny thing? In all my trips there, I'd never seen a 599, and judging from the mob scene at the Goodyear booth, I'm not the only one. I honestly spent fifteen minutes trying to get a decent shot of this car, but the sheer number of folks drooling over it made getting one impossible. Fortunately, I snapped a few good ones when we were wandering around on Sunday. It doesn't matter what angle you take on this car. From the rear, the side or the front, this 600 monster looks amazing. Jen and Rob didn't think the interior was all that, but I thought it looked killer. Man, do I have to get rich!
A US version of the Holden Ute would be great and everything, but sometimes you just can't top the classics. Get a load of Craig and Michelle Hash's "Hell-Camino": it's got a B&M-supercharged 383 V8, Hurst shifter, 488 gears, and 4-wheel discs for added stopping power. The incredible photographic flames were done by Ed Hubbs of Full Blown Kustoms. Even the blower's drive-belt has flames on it!
For quite some time now, you guys have been screamin' for the Holden Ute to come to the US. Well, guess what: it has. Or at least, it's come to the SEMA show anyway, which we feel is a big step in the right direction. Disc Brakes Australia has one on display, and yes, it's the SS, with the 5.7L LS2 and 6-speed manual. And the left-hand-drive conversion means that some lucky bastard will be able to legally register and drive it in the States!
We knew our Scion xD project was going to look cool—we just didn't know how cool. Well, now we know, and we're beyond impressed.This was a huge project and involved a lot of sweat, late nights and driving through fire-ravaged SoCal, but the guys from the Snake Pit delivered big time! In addition to the awesome graphics and trick TSW wheels, they built a huge custom sub enclosure, gave it a sick two-tone interior, and even set this little puppy up with NOS! After the show is done, Sean is going to be driving it back to California with one of the dudes from the Snake Pit, so be on the lookout for a couple of road-trip posts.
The DUB guys told me that 30 is the magic number this year. Check out these 30s on a Chevy truck in the DUB area out front.
Alpine always builds the craziest cars. Check out the Mini Speedster in the DUB area. I also shot a walkaround video which includes a bit of the Sinister 6.
If you want to know what's hot—and what's going to be hot—as far as aftermarket wheels go, Myles from DUB is the dude to talk to. So that's just what I did! Watch the video to find out what all the ballers and shot callers are going to putting be on their whips!
Michelin always has one of the SEMA's most awesome displays, and this year is no exception. They've got a couple of awesome Corvettes, Le Mans racers from Porsche and Audi, and a couple of R8s. But I have to admit, when I saw you could get a shot with the Michelin Man, I was totally losing it. He looks even better in person! Now I know there are plenty of gorgeous models here to get a photo with, but this was the only one I really cared about. I know, I'm a goofball. We're about to head over to a little cocktail party over there, so look for great shots of their entire collection in the blog tomorrow.
We give the winners of our Face Off competitions free tires, and they're always stoked. After all, who doesn't love free tires? Of course, some people love them more than others. Take the dude in this video for example. He's getting a Dunlop tattoo—a real, permanent tattoo—in exchange for a new set of shoes. How crazy is that?
I stopped by the Lilliput booth today and got the low-down from Lilliput's VP, John Xu, about their new DIN-sized carputer, the TC2000 (left). This bad boy can mount in a DIN opening and sports a C-M1.73GhHz processor, 512MB DDR2 memory and a 60 GB harddrive, and a CD-RW/DVD drive. The system is also upgradeable to a 2GHz processor, up to 1GB memory, and up to 120GB for the hard drive. The built-in Bluetooth allows audio streaming via A2DP from any capable media player (including your cell phone!), four USB ports (2 front, two rear), and a front SD/CF card reader adds even more convenience and expandability to this multimedia powerhouse. If you have a double-DIN opening in your dash, combine this with Lilliput's GL701 wide/touchscreen (right) for a complete car computer multimedia system. The GL701 is the perfect partner, giving touchscreen control of your PC, a TV tuner, reverse camera input, remote control, AM/FM tuner, two video inputs (one VGA, one RCA) and one video output.
