SEMA – the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association show held in Las Vegas annually – just wrapped up this week, and we were in witness to some truly awesome builds. Some a bit more lowkey and subtle, while others are definitely attention grabbing than your standard C&C car.
The show this year brought in over 160,000 guests and had one of its largest number of vendors and exhibitors – 1.6 million sq. ft of booths within 3 million square feet of campus – according to president Mike Spagnola. “[The show] is all passion driven, it’s all cool stuff. It really represents just about every single facet of the industry.” Spagnola and its representatives also confirmed that SEMA is now the largest show in Las Vegas, overtaking the previous titleholder, CES (Consumer Electronics Show).
And while SEMA has always been the stomping ground for companies to exhibit their latest products and innovations, 2024 was the second year the show was opened to the public, enhancing the experience even further for consumers looking for their latest build inspiration. “We know people sneak in, (laughs) so we decided to just legitimize it,” when questioned about the motivation for allowing public access. “The market is going more towards the consumer. [Companies] have distribution, but now [they’re] looking for brand awareness. And you get brand awareness from the consumers.” Tickets for SEMA were limited to 15,000 but Spagnola seemed to have hinted at an expansion of that number after these first two years of “testing” public attendance.
But if you were able to come in this year, you were treated to a not-entirely-surprising assortment of some of the best tuned and modified cars this side of the world. Some trends we noticed included the vast increase in restomod creations – with the Built by Legends Skyline R34 GT-R quite literally taking the show’s center stage – as well as a bump in motorsport heritage references, led by Toyota’s gorgeous “Celica GT Four”-inspired GR86 Rally concept. Toyo Tires‘ “Treadpass” exhibition remained one of our favorite showcases, with a wide variety of show cars across vintage, German, JDM and even British builds with incredible detail and refinement. A controversial “Lamborghini”-powered Miata was also a viral hit of the show, as well as the Ringbrothers‘ jaw-dropping Buick Grand National build that was surely a showstopper.
Check out just a selection of our favorite cars from the show.
