Specialty


SEMA 2009: What we didn't get to cover

Every year at SEMA, we fill the week with posts featuring special vehicles and products that we felt were important enough to share. Generally, they are the most newsworthy projects and new model introductions, but sometimes they are just things that caught our eye. When all is said and done, we think we've given all of you a good taste of what's on offer here in the desert. Of course, there are always things we see and shoot that don't make it into the regular posts from the days we are here. We end up with a few hundred photos of random ... Read more →

SEMA 2009: Knee-high tri-axle pickup by Air-Zenith is down and (not so) dirty Frank Filipponio

We're not exactly sure what this used to be in its former life, but it all kinds of cool in its current iteration. Just knee-high to a Hobbit, this six-wheel convertible was parked in the shadow ...

SEMA 2009: Hummer quartet is a pretty sweet swansong Frank Filipponio

We almost skipped the Hummer section of the General Motors booth this year at SEMA, concentrating instead on the plethora of Chevrolet Camaro concepts all around them. When we went back for a ...

SEMA 2009: Inside-out Toyota Alphard is the ultimate brougham Frank Filipponio

Most Americans know very little of the Toyota Alphard and its Vellfire offshoot. It's basically one of Toyota's JDM minivans, although it's also frequently used as a limousine too. It's kind of ...

SEMA 2009: WD-40 Camaro looks cool, needs more stickers Frank Filipponio

With a 600-horsepower, 6.2-liter V8 residing underhood, we'd happily spray ourselves into the seats of this WD-40 showcar. The legendary lubricant company actually contracted a slew of top-shelf ...

Prodrive reportedly working on phantom Mini crossover rally car 2 days ago on Autoblog

Rumors have been circulating for months that Mini is preparing an upcoming assault on the World Rally Championship. But since they surfaced, little else has been said. The apparent reason for that delay, as emerging reports indicate, is due to the postponement of the car on which it is to be ...

SEMA 2009: HTT Plethore LC-750, yet another ambitious supercar startup 2 days ago on Autoblog

"I'm not an engineer. I'm an electrician," Luc Chartrand admits through his thick Quebecois accent. I believe him. Chartrand, a former karting and stock-car driver, is the lone designer, engineer and founder of HTT, a Montreal-based supercar upstart, unveiling the first prototype of his 11-year ...

SEMA 2009: Toyota Tacoma All-Terrain Gamer (ATG) takes gaming to illogical conclusions 2 days ago on Autoblog

It's said that one hundred monkeys typing for eternity will eventually bang out the complete works of William Shakespeare. However, they will also come up with a whole bunch of other, um... stuff. Including the design brief for this thing. Yes friends, you are looking at a pickup truck designed ...

SEMA 2009: Toyota Tundra Hot Rod kinda cool misses the bullseye 2 days ago on Autoblog

Yeah... Toyota is painting this one as a what-would-happen if Tundras existed back during the hot rodding heyday of the 1950s. We'll let you draw your own conclusions about that. However, we would like to take this opportunity to point out that the grill would have been chrome, not matte. And ...

SEMA 2009: 427-powered Fiat 500 is the stuff dreams are made of 3 days ago on Autoblog

Okay, this is so awesome it hurts. The guys at Legacy Innovations took a perfectly lovely but woefully underpowered 1959 Fiat 500 and turned it into a Fiat 7,000. The Fiat 500 is an iconic car, one with tremendous nostalgic charm, but it was never really much good as a car until they redid it a ...

SEMA 2009: Who lives in an Impala, under the sea? 3 days ago on Autoblog

We were cruising through the back part of the central hall at SEMA, on the prowl for Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers something interesting when we were stopped dead in our tracks by this masterful use of pigment, cleverly disguising a late-eighties Chevy Caprice. Looks like SpongeBob has traded ...

SEMA 2009: Living vicariously through Ken Block and his Subaru TRAX STI 3 days ago on Autoblog

Way back in April, we got tipped off to a video of a lifted and tracked Subaru WRX STI conquering the snowy climes of... somewhere. Before we caught a glimpse of the graphics and competition number, we knew who was behind it: Ken Block. Now, over six months later, the driving deity and snowboard ...

SEMA 2009: A quintet of concept Scions leaves us hungry for more 3 days ago on Autoblog

Just like last year, Scion had a group of tuners develop a whole range of models for SEMA 2009. Clustered in one corner of the Central Hall, the group included the Brandon Leung pickup and 0-60 Rally xD we showed you earlier, as well as another handful of tricked out Toyota lites. First up ...

SEMA 2009: Brandon Leung's Scion xB channels Bonneville circa 1955 3 days ago on Autoblog

When we look at a Scion xB we tend to think of a lot of things, few of which are very flattering. One thing we definitely don't think of is a Bonneville Salt Flats bike hauler from the '50s, until now. That's probably why we're bloggers and not designers. Fortunately for us there is Brandon ...

VIDEO: Ken Block's Subaru-based TRAX STI is an alpine badass 4 days ago on Autoblog

Yes, that's probably the first ever Subaru tank. We can't say for certain, but I think in this case we can go ahead and assume. Driven by none other then Ken "Gymkhana" Block. Why does it exist? To be the "ultimate backcountry shred car," of course. We think what that actually means is that ...

Zagato marks the end of an era with custom Ferrari 550 GTZ Barchetta 8 days ago on Autoblog

When Ferrari took the wraps off the 550 Maranello in 1996, it represented an important step in the company's evolution. Replacing the aging F512M (nee Testarossa), the 550 Maranello marked a shift back to front-engine V12 GTs for Ferrari – the niche market for which the company became ...

Three Mercedes-Benz Hitler cars on sale for $9 million [w/VIDEO] 9 days ago on Autoblog

Got $9,000,000 burning a hole in your pocket? If so, have we got an offer for you. Not one, not two, but three Mercedes-Benz G4 W-131 six-wheelers are up for grabs. Interesting, the cars have been appraised at $3.3 million each, so $9 million is basically a million dollars off! There is one ...

SEMA Preview: Lingenfelter to show off Camaro-based Pontiac Trans Am 10 days ago on Autoblog

Apparently, there are more Trans Am-obsessed Pontiac aficionados in the world than we initially suspected. While we have a major soft spot in our hearts for the old Poncho F-Bodies, we'd never actually go to the trouble of converting a perfectly good 2010 Camaro into something featuring T-tops ...

eBay Find of the Day: Chevrolet C5 Corvette-based Saleen S7 replica roadster 10 days ago on Autoblog

Steve Saleen's Saleen S7 is a totally bespoke, hand built superduper hypercar that in twin-turbo, 750 horsepower, 700 pound-feet of torque form could go about 250 mph. And it was capable of generating enough downforce to (theoretically) drive upside down. In competition, the S7R has been one of ...

SEMA Preview: The rest of the best from Ford and Lincoln 11 days ago on Autoblog

In addition to the slew of Mustangs that will be at the 2009 SEMA Show in Las Vegas next week, Ford has well over a dozen more vehicles represented including perennial favorites like the Focus, Fusion, Flex and F-150, as well as newcomers like the Taurus SHO, Transit Connect and MKS. Our ...

Autoblog at the 7th Annual Wings, Wheels and Rotors show 11 days ago on Autoblog

This past Sunday was the 7th Annual Wings, Wheels and Rotors Expo at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California, and after our experience there last year, we just had to go back for more. As you might guess from the title, this is more than just another hot rod gathering. ...

Honda Racing finally puts NSX out to pasture as SuperGT tweaks regs 12 days ago on Autoblog

The Honda/Acura NSX has had a good run. The mid-engine supercar developed with input from the legendary Ayrton Senna first hit the market in 1990 and didn't cease production until 2005, giving it one of the longest production runs in the business. But even after Honda stopped selling the NSX, it ...

Inden Design gets Mercedes-Benz SL 500 to go "deep and wide" 13 days ago on Autoblog

The Inden Design SL will turn your ordinary aging SL 500 into a previous-gen SL65 AMG lookalike and then some. The firm installs fascias front and rear and exhaust pipes that mimic the SL65, then the whole body is given the blackout treatment right down to the door handles. And could we even call ...

VIDEO: Ultima claims Top Gear track record without show's authorization 14 days ago on Autoblog

Automotive records can be funny things. While everyone seems to be interested in knowing what vehicle is the quickest, fastest, most expensive or rarest, there always seems to be plenty of dissent when one automaker claims its product takes the coveted prize away from another. Such is the case ...

Tokyo 2009: Caterham CSR 175 makes unexpected world debut 16 days ago on Autoblog

It would be tempting to call this year's Tokyo Motor Show an entirely domestic affair, but that's not entirely accurate, as a few smaller specialty automakers like Lotus and Alpina took advantage of a surplus of available square footage by nailing down prime floor space for themselves. As a ...

eBay Find of the Day: 1987 Ford RancheroStar 16 days ago on Autoblog

The last time that we spotted today's eBay find of the day, it was cruising along Woodward Ave in Birmingham, MI this past summer. The RancheroStar immediately caught our attention, but evidently the For Sale sign in the window didn't catch enough eyeballs from onlookers. Thus we now find it ...

AM General to build VPG MV-1 people-mover at Hummer H2 factory 17 days ago on Autoblog

Remember the Standard Taxi from the Vehicle Production Group? It's now called the MV-1, and production is slated to begin next year at the AM General plant in Mishawaka, Indiana. That's the same assembly location where the Hummer H2 is built, which makes sense since the MV-1 is based on the same ...

Tokyo 2009: Suzusho Supasse-V strives to be a Le Mans racer for the road 17 days ago on Autoblog

The concept behind the Suzusho Supasse-V is a good one. Take a lightweight chassis, a Le Mans-inspired body, then stuff it with the turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-4 from the Mazdaspeed3 and a 6-speed transmission. How can that go wrong? Well, we wouldn't say the Supasse-V is a failed attempt at ...

VIDEO: German armor company blows the crap out of a Rolls-Royce 17 days ago on Autoblog

Why on earth would you deliberately shoot a Rolls-Royce and try your darnedest to blow it off the road? Well, because it looks like fun, that's why. But at a third of a million dollars, you should have a better reason than an appetite for destruction and a wad of cash burning a hole in your ...

eBay Find of the Day: George Barris' rockin' 289 Cobra-powered 1967 Voxmobile [w/VIDEO] 17 days ago on Autoblog

Feelin' Groovy? Do you like guitars, speed and attention? If so, check out eBay Motors item number 260492703795. It's the one-and-only George Barris-created Voxmobile! Powered by a Cobra 289, it's said to be the fastest promotional vehicle ever created with an estimated top speed of 175 mph. Not ...

REPORT: Nissan Land Glider could come to the States as an Infiniti 18 days ago on Autoblog

Concept cars tend to push the boundaries of what is and isn't possible with a four-wheeled vehicle. Such is the case with the Nissan Land Glider -- a 47-inch cross between a motorcycle and a car, with an enclosed cabin, a glass canopy and passenger compartment that leans into turns for added ...

Citroen's 2011 DS3 rally fighter revealed in spy shots 23 days ago on Autoblog

With all the regulatory changes in Formula One over the past couple, the rally world is arguably in the midst of an even greater state of flux. Manufacturers are dropping out of the World Rally Championship en masse, the rival Intercontinental Rally Challenge is closing in fast, and soon the ...

Ford F-150 SVT Raptor gets suspension explained by IL 24 days ago on Autoblog

In stock form, the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is one of the most impressive bits of machinery available from any automaker extant. We've managed to snag some seat time in one a couple of times now, and each time we've walked away mightily impressed. But just what is it that makes the off-road-ready ...

Ruffing It: Honda confirms canine-friendly Element to nuzzle into showrooms next month 24 days ago on Autoblog

The Honda Element would seem to be a fine choice for anyone with an active lifestyle that wants a vehicle that's able to haul a ton of stuff while getting reasonable fuel economy and not breaking the piggy bank. Now – if you'll forgive us for regurgitating this very tired joke – it's ...

Quick Spin: Superformance GT40 MkI is vehicular sashimi, raw and delicious 25 days ago on Autoblog

As much as we enjoy piloting modern machinery, there's something special about vintage vehicles, and that something is the pure, unvarnished connection between man and machine. But it's not always good. Things get dicey when the driving experience is a little too vintage. Despite our supreme ...

VIDEO: Cadillac-powered Spectre SpeedLiner sets world record for gas-powered, wheel-driven vehicles 25 days ago on Autoblog

var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/Cadillac_Powered_SpeedLiner_Sets_Speed_World_Record_vid'; Different automakers seek out different bragging. The same goes for tuning houses. The bogey in question may be the quickest lap time around a given race track (usually the Nürburgring), a ...

Next Page →






Autoblog Podcast #151: With Car and Driver's Eddie Alterman

Eddie Alterman wades in with Sam, Chris, Dan, and Jonny to talk about SEMA and other recent events.

 
 

Featured Galleries

  • SEMA 2009: HPP Daytona Challenger
  • LA Design Challenge 2009 Competitors
  • SEMA 2009: 1962 Chevrolet Corvette C1-RS
  • SEMA 2009: Bigfoot
  • SEMA 2009: Black Bison Toyota Alphard
  • Ford's Inflatable Seat Belts
  • 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder
  • Shelby Turbocharged Mustang
  • Jetta TDI Cup Street Edition
  • SEMA 2009: Ringbrothers 1964 Ford Fairlane
  • SEMA 2009: Lexus F-Sport
  • SEMA 2009: Hennessey HPE700 Camaro
AOL Autos

Find Your Next Car

Resources

10 Most Searched Cars on AOL Autos

Autoblog Video

Autoblog Green

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum