Contrary to popular assumption, the biggest west coast auto show is not the one held in Los Angeles. This honor actually goes to the annually held, Las Vegas-based, Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show. The most recent SEMA show took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center this past November, and featured over 2,000 auto parts and equipment companies, and more than 125,000 attendees on hand during the four-day show.
The SEMA show has come a long way since its inception in January of 1967, when it was held under the grandstands of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA. The event originally featured 98 booths and approximately 3,000 attendees; that's not even a drop in a bucket compared to the global attendance that the show has created during the past 42 years of its existence! The show has anything and everything that you could ever imagine needing within the automotive world. SEMA serves the industry's top designers well, as they get the chance to bust out their latest creations and merchandise, while receiving direct feedback from auto enthusiasts.
 Street and Performance LS...  Street and Performance LS9 |  Billet hinges for your ho...  Billet hinges for your hood |
We were happy to help represent our Lowrider genre at this show, and we worked hard to ensure that every step of the process was done efficiently, and with the utmost care. We attacked the show in full business mode, as we set up our booth upon arrival. Aztec served as our calling card, as we featured three of the nation's top rides. The first hauled up to Vegas from Chino, California, was Tomas Vasquez' latest addition to his Impala collection. He brought up "El Patron," a '59 Impala, formerly owned by Joe Esparza. The '59 had everyone talking, as the former cover car was immaculate, and featured items that you would typically find at the show as well.
Vegas local Michael Grey, of UCE car club, also represented our community, with his classic ride "Sin Sixty." The fire engine-red convertible left people reminiscing about the classic that they used to own in the past. Hector Leyva's '82 Cadillac Brougham showed the luxurious side of Lowriding, as the candy red cruiser exhibited its fine wine sense of taste, as well as the fine pinstripe lines that accent and define this Pearled-out Caddy.
The show had a few Lowriders that were spread throughout the event space, one of them was a boldly painted Monte on display at the House of Kolors of booth, a first for the Valspar company. Another first for House of Kolors was the invitation of the legendary artist, OG Abel, who hung out with the industry's best and showed off his paint and design skills. Abel created some classy airbrush panels, using all the newest-to-code HOK paints. The Ford Company had a Lowrider Flex built for the show, proving that Lowriders have been accepted by big corporations, as well as mainstream America.
March Performance now available...
March Performance now available in chrome
The attendees highly anticipated the debut of the 2010 Camaro, which was one of the show's biggest models on display throughout the week. With that said, LS technology really stepped their game up. We saw items that included all new wiring harnesses, and computers from manufacturers like Holley. Turbonetics, a company that was previously mostly import based in nature, has now jumped into the LS motors as well. March Performance stepped to the plate with LS brackets, and also currently offers some of their products fully chrome plated, so as to cater to the Lowrider market. Dakota Digital had their best new products out as well, exhibiting cutting edge technology for today's modern consumer.