The biggest event of the year for the automotove performance and custom industry is the SEMA show in Las Vegas. No matter what sort of cars or trucks you are into you'll see them at this show, from 100 point restorations, to traditional hot rods, to resto-mods, to extreme 4x4 trucks, to race cars, to customs, to every other niche you could name. The Eastwood crew is there, with Kevin Tetz and Gene Winfield doing demonstrations, and the rest of us showing off our latest products.
What we love to do when we aren't milling around in our booth is roam the floors and parking lots to look at all the over the top work on display everywhere. You can check out our latest finds on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, or just scroll down for this daily wrap up. And don't forget to vote for the Hands-On award “Customer Favorite”, presented by Eastwood, but picked by you.
Gene Winfield is not just demonstrating his skills with Eastwood tools, he has a brand new custom at SEMA this year, at the Eastwood booth, dubbed the "Desert Sunset". It's a 1952 Chevy with too many custom touches to list, and a Winfield fade that goes from orange on top to gold on the bottom.
Another standout custom is the "Aquarius" built for James Hetfield of Metallica by Rick Dore Kustoms.
This 1940 Mercury coupe looks good from any angle and is one of the cars you can vote for in the Hands-on Awards.
If you've got a race car or hot rod that is just too extreme for long trips, why not build yourself a matching hauler with all the modern convenience features and turbo diesel power, hidden under a vintage cab over truck body?
Or, if not a COE, a regular cab truck in the 2-5 ton variety with a vintage-styled ramp bed body, like this 1950s Chevy.
The similar vintage, patina covered 1955 Bel Air would be perfect on the back of that ramp bed too.
Not certain, but this Chevy truck appears to actually be a K5 Blazer (notice how there is no break between the cab and the bed) with a pickup truck roof and rear wall grafted in. It has been lowered so much half of the depth of the bed is not taken up with wheels and suspension, but extra points for finishing the new bed floor in real wood.
This truck combines the chassis, interior and greenhouse of a 1959-60 Chevy El Camino with the body of a similar vintage Cadillac. While that may seem simple to folks familiar with modern GM badge engineering, in the 50s these cars shared little more than proportions.
Another traditionally-styled custom Cadillac is this 1949 convertible in an amazing metallic orange, also up for the Hands-on Award.
As is this smooth and low 1960 Oldsmobile Custom.
And if you are a sucker for 1960s styled traditional hot rods you are going to want to vote for this blown T-bucket in a mile deep green with matching green and white interior.
But SEMA is not all about custom body work and paint, though this race ready 2nd gen Camaro has had both done to it.
Of course you can't have a road race Camaro without a Mustang wanting to race it, and here is one that looks ready to go. It would be interesting to see if these street cars were quicker around a track than the genuine Trans-Am race cars from the era.
And you can't leave Mopar out of that race either, even if the Dart doesn't look quite as sleek.
If you like your Mopar's sleek, then look no further than the real 1970 Plymouth Superbird once raced in NASCAR by Richard Petty.
Which do you prefer for luxury cruising? This 1959 Cadillac custom...
or the slightly older 1956 Lincoln Mark II custom on a much more modern versions of white wall tires?
This Ford Sunliner was built by Hollywood Hot rods for Street Rodder, and the shop used Eastwood tools throughout the build.
Not much that can be said about this tube frame masterpiece. If the builder was trying to make every other fabricator look lazy, mission accomplished.
And SEMA even has cars and bike for those of us who are maybe a little too young for a drivers license, like this killer show rod styled tricycle/go-kart.
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