Two Steering Wheels Separated at Birth What do you think of this steering wheel? Dig it? It's a Billet Specialties designed and manufactured wheel they call, "Draft". More info on this steering wheel here. I stopped in Billet Specialties' booth at SEMA to chat with new friend Scott Sandoval and see what new products they had. I've been a fan of their wheels for a while after I used a set of their wheels a Mind-Only build of my 1961 Rambler wagon. That's another story... To my surprise, Scott said they didn't have many new designs, especially wheels, on hand because folks were stealing their designs as soon as they were shown at SEMA. I said, "Really??!" Still riled from one of the copy-cat's dudes strolling right into the booth to grab this year's new catalog, Scott directed me to another vendor at SEMA where I took this photo: With the fella in this booth staring at me, I grabbed this shot and compared, at the time by memory, to the Billet Specialties wheel. While not an EXACT copy, I have to agree with Scott, this design looks way-WAY...

Galpin Auto Sports Ford Greats at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Wondering what this is? I was too! Turns out this is one of two cars built for the United States Air Force as part of the 2009 "Super Car Tour", a new recruiting tool. The other car built was a Dodge called "VAPOR".  Think something like this would help a gearhead sign up for service? Flat but pearly paint covers the Lambo style doors, APR custom wide body kit and Galpin Auto Sports (better known as GAS) carbon deck lid. The overall look was speedy and ready for flight. Especially... Inside where the magic is! That's a real jet ejection seat sitting right in the middle of the car. I suspect the flight stick doubles as the gear shift and the steering wheel is just barely seen here with the X-1 logo on it. Better hang on too, there's a 500HP Ford Racing 4.6L under the hood. This is wild! Call me crazy, but I'd still rather have the original, "Barn Find" 1965 Shelby GT350...

1969  Boss 302 Mustang at SEMA 2012 Click for everything @ SEMA Show from MyRideisMe   I'd guess, most people who walked by this 1969 Boss 302 Mustang didn't know. It's hard to see a mostly stock Mustang among the all-out custom cars at the SEMA Show. I get it. Me too. But you should take another look at the Retrobuilt 1969 Boss 302 Mustang. It's a clone.   I don't have a great love for clone cars. It's difficult to get the proportions right (or even close) so they look just "off". When I first saw Retrobuilt's 'stang, I was pleasantly surprised.     The 2005 and later Ford Mustangs are great performers and they look great. They've got semi-classic lines, but for some folks, they just miss. When the 1969 Mustang lines are what you really want, but you're not ready to give up modern safety features like traction control and airbags, then the Retrobuilt Mustangs might be for you. Turn heads on an out-of-state cruise night with this glowing yellow Boss 302, then don't sweat the trip back... Set the cruise control, tune in XM radio and relax! The...

1965 Dodge D200 Crew Cab at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Rugged and stylish with BRUTAL torque and room for the kids and toys! That's the ICON 1965 Dodge D200 Crew cab truck found at the Optima Batteries booth at the 2012 SEMA Show. This truck rocks! From every angle, this Dodge D200 is striking! I've been a fan of Dodge D200 trucks since I saw this at Goodguys a few years back: Dad's Old 1965 Dodge D200. While not a crew cab, it's a great looking custom truck. Sneaking a peak at the build card, this is the ICON D200 Reformer. I don't know about "reform" it makes me want to be bad! The D200 crew cab body rides on a 2006 Dodge 3500 truck chassis and runs the Cummins diesel, but with a little help from the Banks crew to the tune of 975 ft-lbs of torque! That's riding on a Kore Baja Chase suspension with 37" BFG's and Hutchison bead lock wheels. Inside, it's just as trick. I had to look this up,...

New Ford Bronco Sheetmetal at SEMA 2012 (Click to see full size) I've always been a fan of early Ford Broncos. It's got rough, rugged lines to go with it's four wheel drive ability and performance thanks to Ford V8 performance. My buddies got one sitting next to his 1965 Mustang fastback for off-roading with his sons.  That sounds like fun. So maybe like you, I scan for deals on Broncos online. When I do, it seems like in any Craigslist ad, I hear the same thing... "no rust" or "uncut". Then, the pictures show a tattered rig with it's best days on the range long gone. So when I saw this completely new, ready  to bolt on set up from Dynacorn, I knew some hardcore Bronco folks would be into it. Dynacorn makes new body panels for a bunch of  popular muscle cars like the Mustang, Camaro, Nova and now the Bronco. Hope this saves some of those old 4-wheelers from the scrap heap. Am I right? Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe...

Custom One Off Wheels at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Let the debate begin! To me, this was the hottest wheel I saw and if there's one thing more common then wheels at the SEMA Show, I don't know what it is! So why is this my pick of SEMA? They're one of a kind, one off wheels - nobody else at the SEMA Show has these wheels (or ever will) They're on  on a bad ass car - 1951 Mercury Custom Tons of thought, above and beyond selecting from a catalog, went into the design Disagree? Cool. Do your thing, but dig this first... Start with a fairly blank canvas: 20x 8.5" Centerline Smoothies shown here. Then, let Max Fish, owner at Bio Kustumz hand- mill the wheels -- that's right, on a manual Bridgeport mill -- to the design you see here. Max is a guy I gotta meet some day. His company slogan is, "We suck less" and he wears it proud in this video where a radiator hose coupling comes off his lathe. Now Max...

Ferrari, Lamborghini & Porsche Flat and Sexy (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe There's a few booths at the SEMA Show you should never miss. One of them's Giovanna's. Much like last year, their booth is a vast expanse of white carpet frequented by fans of the brand, I'm sure, but primarily by folks looking to get close to the Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and McLaren  exotics on hand. That's why I was there! Shown above is the Lamborghini Aventador LP900 "Molto Veloce" by DMC. Need to know more? Here're the details on the DMC Molto Veloce Package. I got my first ride in a Lamborghini as part of the Optima Ultimate Street Car Shootout. More on that later, but it was an Underground Lamborghini Superleggera putting out 1500 HP on C116 racing gas. OK, maybe I stopped in to say hello to the friendly booth girls too... Pictured here is the Ferrari F458 Spider. Exotic car, beautiful girl, how can you go wrong? Ferrari, Lambo's and the like aren't my area of expertise, so if they're yours, check out GT...

Traditional to Wild Custom Paint at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe The SEMA Show's all about custom. One thing there's never a shortage of is custom paint. Pictured about is my buddy Keith Charvonia's 1951 Kaiser. I already posted about it here, The New Sick: 1951 Kaiser Kustom and Speedhunters.com took some pretty amazing pictures here: Drag'n Kaiser. In case you didn't read either of those, this "fade" paint job was applied by customizing legend Gene Winfield. The lights of SEMA, outlined by the casino-like red carpet set off the paint, but to really love it, you have to see it in the sun! Stepping up or maybe to the side... with some custom airbrush work: Wow! Everyone's seen skulls painted on just about everything, but here's a new take! In view here is the Terminator skull, a Japanese devil call "Oni", the gas mask dude, barely visible, the viking skull, bird skull and Friday the 13th skull! It's all laid out on a pale blue flame-like background. The other side's just as impressive. Here on the...

1968 Cadillac Coupe de Ville at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Ever heard the saying, "A postman doesn't go for a walk on his day off"? Well, the owner of this 1968 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, Tim Johnson, is a painter by trade.  Tim's Caddy is a three year build. The long road to SEMA started in early 2010 when his soon-to-be wife Jacquelyn (he wisely married her 2 year ago) picked it up for him as a gift. He's been driving it for the last couple years, dodging (unsuccessfully) rain, puddles, sprinklers and every other kind of moisture due to the bare metal finish. With so many thumbs up for the swirly finish, and cause the Caddy was in such good shape to start with... Finally, just two weeks before SEMA, Tim decided to clean it up one last time to leave it metal with clear. I'm glad he did. Don't mistake this for any "Rat Rod"... The interior's finished and tight, stitched up by his buddy Eric Hunsaker over at Advanced Mobile Electronics in Las...

1963 Ford Galaxie at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Outside near Ford's drifting exhibition sat this purple-ish beast of a 1963 Ford Galaxie. If you're a Ford fan, when you see, "Holman Moody" your curiosity peaks (or it probably should). Here's a quick summary of the Holman Moody evolution... John Holman moved from the sun of Cali to North Carolina to run Ford's NASCAR team in 1956 and teamed up with Ralph Moody. Soon after, Ford begins to dominate NASCAR amid rumors of cheating. By 1957, still winning, Ford and other OEM's pulled out of racing after the AMA (Automobile Manufacturers Association  banned auto companies from using race wins in their advertising. Seeing an opportunity, John and Ralph formed the "Holman Moody" partnership in 1957, then Moody, with refinance money from his airplane, spent $12,000 to buy up Ford's surplus racing gear. $12k!! Assembling the, eh... leftovers, Holman Moody Fords won their first two races in 1957. From there, with a shop on the Charlotte Douglas Airport they started making all parts needed for race cars, later selling those parts to other racers. Eventually, they...

1932 Hot Rod Ford Roadster at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe   What better way to kick off the cool rides at the SEMA Show than with a classic hot rod from Pomona's SO-CAL Speed Shop?   This classic hot rod, staged front-and-left-center in Ford's massive balcony display, runs one of Ford Racing's wicked "Coyote" engines. Blown and fuel injected the nasty little 5-liter pumps out 625 HP through a 6 speed. The 1932 Ford Roadster blends iconic hot rod with technology.   The knockoff Halibrands riding on a SO-CAL "New Traditionalist" chassis lends that, "don't mess" attitude backed up by the "one giant scallop" salt flat inspired paint job. Alternative Automotive Technologies in Troy, MI handled the paint and final assembly with build partners, Detroit Street Rods looking on. Champions Moto, a custom motorcycle company and fashion label also from Socal, rounded out the team.   The technology comes from, of course that nasty Coyote under the hood, but also air conditioning for the hot and heated seats for when it's not.   The combination was good enough...

Best and Worst of SEMA 2012 In many ways, the picture above symbolically tells the SEMA show story... Especially the last day. I shot this Ford Mustang giving one lucky passenger the ride of their lives! Maybe, like the passenger, there was a little bit of, "Damn! I'm glad it's over!" I've spun around, everywhere, my head's a smoky haze of friends, new and old connections and feet-tires worn out to the belts! Yet I know... like every year... come next November, I'll be ready to do it again! It's SEMA! What is the SEMA Show? If you're reading this blog, you probably already know... but for those of you stumbling onto this page from a Google image search, let me explain: SEMA's nearly everyone and everything automotive on the planet jammed wall to wall, believe it or not, into the 3.2 million square feet of the Las Vegas convention center. It's massive! All mixed together, you've got nearly every car and truck represented. You'll find OEM's like Ford and Chevy with their custom creations and new models mixed in with the best custom car builders like Chip Foose,...