cusomized Scions at SEMA, the ideas that were incorporated are amazing

Hot rodding's artist, Kenny Youngblood was at SEMA and for a donation was personnalizing Challenger and Camaro prints

Kenny started young in drag racing, at age 12 he went to the San Gabriel drag strip and got hooked. He has built, co-owned, driven, crewed and crew chiefed on dragsters and slingshots.

His most recognizable design adorns the sides of the ZZ Top Eliminator 34 Ford coupe, the pattern for the interlocking logo ZZ .

My earliest find of his art was in the front of a Hot Rod magazine around 1992, when his

........................................"Breaking 300"..................................................

tribute to Kenny Bernstein's breaking the 300 mph was featured.

He may have invented the airbrushed headlights on funny cars, he certainly is attributed with perfecting them, and due to the resurrence I believe I read somewhere that he designed and or painted the Hot Wheels/ Mattel "Snake and Mongoose" funny cars.

Cool Mopars in the South Hall lower floor at SEMA

Progressive Automotive X prize competition contenders in the efficiency and performance in the SEMA south hall upper floor far end

The "Speed Demon" of Poteet and Main, and the Hot Rod trophy for fastest one way speeds in land speed racing

The Brauer & Sons A/FR duece, land speed record holder 2008 Bonneville 257.427 mph, and 2001 El Mirage top speed of the meet

to go right to the Speedfest coverage, follow this link:

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=speedfest

Pagani Zonda, so no one has the wrong impression of SEMA as a low buck cars and parts emporium

The "wow" works of House of Kolor artists at their SEMA booth

The Zoot Zooter, 1937 Packard convertible. Looks a lot better than original packards for the most part, I like the lack of hood ornament, and the addition of the bumperettes on the bottom of the front fenders. The reflections of red worked out well along the curves of this custom... I bet it must be beautiful if photograhed in a studio!

this is the cowboy truck... accessorized in cowhide, beltbuckle door handles, and has a BBQ to go in the pickup bed, the Midnight Rider Tundra

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/tundra-midnight-rider-tailgater-111882.aspx

Blah blah blah... BBQ grill, beer tap, ice chest, 42-inch HDTV and Kicker sound system (dual amps, dual subwoofer etc etc)

One beautiful deuce... lousy lighting, I wish these photos showed how gorgeous the paint was

Scion TC (sorta convertible) new design, it isn't my kinda custom, but it is strikingly good looking

created by drag racer Jeremy Lookofsky and Cartel Customs

http://blog.caranddriver.com/scion-tc-by-cartel-customs-auto-shows/ for a write up

2007 JT Jeep Truck (Wrangler Rubicon) customized to show what a

1951 Henry J of Chuck Beanes at SEMA, the 35th quickest supercharged gasser of 2002

Stat from http://www.draglist.com/lists/GAS-ET.TXT quarter mile 7.817 seconds 174.00 mph

The replica of Norm's Kookie T, I doubt anyone but Norm could tell the difference

For a full post on Norm Grabowski, icon and influence of hot rodding: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/11/norman.html

Tere http://justacargal.blogspot.com/ was invited to sit in the T and have her picture taken with the hat

But I was stunned to see the T at SEMA... completely unremarked in the SEMA info I'd looked at, and at an entrance to the South hall (I think)

this was the start for this replica, looks rough! But they did a perfect job and you've seen the results!

This is what has became of the icon bucket T that was on 77 Sunset Strip, it was a victim of the touring show car craze of the flamboyant 60's, and in this iteration it remains in storage. It's current owner is not showing it, or returning it to it's original look.

What the TransAm would look like today if GM were to make them on the Camaro body lines, The Kevin Morgan Phoenix T/A by OTTO BODY

http://ottobody.com/home.html

The Bubble Ray! the focus of Las Vegas news attention on morning news there during SEMA

The funnest thing I found at SEMA

http://www.payr.com/

This was put together in hours, with stuff that was hanging around the shop! Great display item!

Let me start describing the funny stuff, the front tires are traing mines, it's got a flathead, a blower, a pair of 97's, a stick shift and shifter boot, a glove box, a bucket seat, pinstriping, racing goggles, big and littles, tube frame, safety belt, and head lamps!

Cars in the display area at SEMA

Nice! How rarely I've seen a cool Torino!

Biotchin longroof!

N2A, posted about this company before, but I've never come across one in person... well done!

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/03/cool-company-called-no-two-alike.html their website http://www.n2amotors.com/

Nice simple and smooth! Great choice of rims, and the only complaint anyone had was that the wiper motor was still part of the car. Everything else in the engine bay was smoothed out, but the wiper motor is garingly blowing the symetry off. Wrecked it for one guy I talked to.

Notice the Pabst draft handle on the shifter, very cool

Wow, looks ready for the drags! Ol 'longroofan outta get a kick outta this! http://www.flickr.com/photos/11929667@N00/sets/72057594110671642/ is the full gallery from the owner of this station wagon built to road race- and be a reliable daily driver. The engine is a 383-inch SBC, trans is a T56 6-speed stick, rear axle is a 9-inch Ford.

This has to look awesome in the sunlight... the reflections of the ceiling lights wreck photography

those pipes are about as big as the tailights

I like the nuclear symbol on the diff and the center of the roof

artwork and airbrush by Sean Lynch, Lafayette Colorado http://artwanted.com/mb/topic.cfm?Topic=212640 http://www.google.com/profiles/seanskullmasterlynch

over 700 handpainted skulls, 9 dragons and over 250 hours of artwork

The Gas Monkey Garage rat rod... nice overall, and bitching tailpanel

James Hetfield's boat tail speedster Auburn

The lighting in the Vegas Convention center are terrible for photographing dark colored vehicles, so I'm posting light and dark photos with the idea that one will be better, but I can't decide which one it is.

for other customs that James has had made and put on the show car circuit: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/04/metallica-musicians-are-hot-rodders.html

Also see http://justacargal.blogspot.com/2009/11/sema-09-slow-burn.html for more photos

Jay Leno's 1929 Bentley Speed Six

Jay has a couple new cars in his garage, http://www.moparmagazine.com/2008/sept-oct/another_mopar_for_lenos_collection and http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?p=892

I haven't looked at this for a while, but it's very good, an has a really good coverage of SEMA http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/

Spray on chrome, a new process of painting vehicles

http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html

Jim Wangers Edition of the GTO Judge at SEMA

welder up rat rod race car and it's Diamond T hauler

Notice the exhaust pipes are behind the cab about as high as the step, and when the ramp is raised horizontally, the vertical structures on top of the ramp slip over the exhaust pipe, and raise the end of the exhaust to well over the cab height... very damn clever!

Dodge Brothers Standard Six

Notice the chainsaw cutting chain around the cowl, and the bandsaw blade horizontally along the beltline

I'm guessing the shifter was originally part of a farm machinery like a early plow or hay rake height adjuster

Don Prudhomme's funny car hauler, 1967 Dodge C-700

Don was hooking up the batteries in order to turn on the radio...

So he could show some people how things worked inside, and then asked my girlfriend http://justacargal.blogspot.com/ to hop up inside and was showing her the radio, a/c and stuff... I'll post the link to her coverage from inside the cab when she posts it

To explain why Don bought a 67 truck in 69, I need to tell you that before Don bought it used, it was the hauler for Sox and Martin, and you can see that here: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/01/nikollas-digs-up-coolest-photos-of-drag.html

For a restoration story on the hauler, and a video from inside it where Don drove a couple reporters to lunch: http://www.nhra.com/blog/dragster-insider/page/10/ just a 1/4 of the way down the page, since the direct links don't work

For a photo of Tom McEwens "Mongoose" dragster funny car hauler: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i_AovfzNXgQ/SXtYLuzF1DI/AAAAAAAAnl4/FP-EeXpUEhg/s1600-h/hfmkjg.bmp

Iconic dragsters and slingshots displayed at SEMA, the Swamp Rat, the Hawaiian, the Bud King, the Freight Train, the Snake 'Cuda funny car

The seahorse is the trademark of Tony Nancy, incredible drag racer and upholstery adept

More of Tony Nancy's work

Power to weight ratio of a dragonfly that's stapped on a jet pack, I dig this Fiat funny car

Super Stock Stang at SEMA

Marmon Wasp indy 500 replica

For pictures of the original: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/08/winner-of-first-indianapolis-500-race.html