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Posts Tagged: SEMA

Close-up shots of a classic black muscle car's front, sides, and rear details.

SpeedKore’s Full Carbon Muscle Cars Stun At SEMA

by Kiril

A small Wisconsin shop turned heads at SEMA by building classic Mopars with body panels made almost entirely of carbon fiber — hoods, fenders, even fender flares, shaving roughly 600 pounds off cars already packing supercharged Hemi power. SpeedKore’s builds have since gone from show-floor curiosities to Kevin Hart’s personal fleet, a Fast & Furious movie car, and an actual Dodge parts catalog. Here’s how a carbon-fiber gimmick became one of the most respected names in modern muscle car building.

Rear view of a classic Ford Mustang with dual exhausts.

The 2000hp FURIOUS 7 Maximus Charger!

by Wes

Nelson Racing Engines’ Tom Nelson sat down with 1320video at SEMA to explain the Maximus Charger — a 2,000-horsepower 1968 Dodge Charger built to recreate a scene from the original Fast and the Furious inside Furious 7. Over 2,000 hours of bodywork went into a car commenters initially assumed was fake. Watch the full breakdown of the build above.

Underneath This 1967 Shelby GT500 Tribute Is a 2019 Mustang GT — Built From Bare Metal in Two Weeks for SEMA

by Jack Harmon

A crew called B is for Build stripped a 2019 Mustang GT down to its chassis and wrapped it in reproduction 1967 Fastback panels, racing a two-week deadline to debut it at SEMA as a Shelby GT500 tribute. The real 1967 GT500 was already rare — Ford built only 2,048. This one borrows its look, not its lineage, and viewers can’t stop asking how the crew pulled it off in time.

Ford Mustang 1965 – Ringbrothers Full Carbon Fiber Body Mustang!

by Kiril

At the 2015 SEMA show the Ringbrothers unveiled a 1965 Mustang fastback whose only original panels were the floors. Everything else was carbon fiber built in-house, widened four inches, and finished in a color-shifting Spy Green that earned the car its name: Espionage. Under the hood sat a supercharged 427-cubic-inch LS7 making a reported 959 horsepower, a General Motors engine in a Ford body, which was rather the point. Read on to find out why the bodywork mattered more than the horsepower figure.

Kevin Hart Spent 3 Years Building This 1969 Pontiac GTO — Then Named It After His Rap Alter Ego

by Jack Harmon

Kevin Hart didn’t just buy a 1969 Pontiac GTO — he spent three years working directly with Detroit Speed & Engineering to build one exactly to his standard. It debuted at the 2023 SEMA Show and, according to the builders themselves, still dazzles everyone who sees it. Zach Arlen walks through the subtle details that set this GTO apart. Watch to see what three years and real collaboration actually buys.

Classic black muscle car with sleek design and polished wheels.

Ringbrothers’ 1,000 HP “G-Code” Camaro – One Take

by Wes

Ringbrothers built their 1969 Camaro ‘G-Code’ with a supercharged 416 cubic inch V8 making a claimed 1,000 horsepower, Detroit Speed suspension, one-off IROC-inspired wheels, and an interior one commenter compared to a Pagani. TheSmokingTire took it out to find out if a SEMA showstopper like this could actually be driven — and the reaction in the comments is split down the middle. Watch to see which side you land on.

Classic dark blue Pontiac GTO in a showroom.

Top American Cities for All Classic Car Enthusiasts

by Kiril

Las Vegas is not just one of the best cities for classic car enthusiasts by reputation – it is backed up by real numbers, hosting the SEMA Show’s roughly 160,000 attendees and 2,200 exhibitors every year since 1977. Combined with St. Louis, Sacramento, and Miami’s own car cultures, this list reveals what really makes a city a haven for enthusiasts: infrastructure, climate, and a packed events calendar.

Man standing confidently next to a classic black car on a sunny day.

Check out the 15 Craziest builds from TV’s top custom car expert

by Kiril

A custom shop barely a year and a half old rolled four vehicles onto the SEMA 2016 floor, including a Plymouth ‘Cuda wearing a full carbon-fiber body built from parts customers could actually buy. That wasn’t the only rule getting rewritten that year — Dodge introduced the first all-wheel-drive American muscle car, and one shop found a way to add twin turbochargers on top of an already-supercharged Hellcat engine. Read on to find out how far builders were willing to push the muscle car formula.

Row of shiny classic cars on display at an event.

Wow! 27 Hemi ‘Cuda & Challenger Convertibles In One Place!

by Kiril

Chrysler built so few Hemi powered E-body convertibles that commonly cited production figures put the entire two-year total at roughly two dozen cars worldwide. Bob Ashton spent nearly a full year on the phone with Mopar collectors trying to get 27 of them into one room at the Muscle Car And Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois. Read on for why that gathering may never be repeated, and what makes these particular cars so nearly impossible to assemble.

Classic OutRun arcade game cabinet with a sports car model at an event.

OutRun SEMA SHOW 2016: Beauties and Muscles: Dodge Charger, ‘Shomad’ Nomad & Goolsby Custom Mustang

by Wes

Underneath the vintage 1970 Mustang bodywork on this SEMA 2016 showstopper, called ‘Vicious,’ sits a Nissan GT-R chassis and drivetrain — a body swap precise enough that even close-up video had commenters asking what they were actually looking at. It shared the spotlight with a wide-body Dodge Charger one viewer described as ‘a mile wide, two miles long, and six inches tall,’ plus a custom ‘Shomad’ Nomad wagon. See the build that fooled an entire comment section.

Black Dodge Durango SUV parked outside a modern glass building.

Will Santa bring you a muscle car for Christmas?

by Kiril

In 2016, the muscle car market was shrinking almost everywhere except one corner of it – Hellcat sales climbed nearly 70 percent while overall Challenger and Charger volumes both fell. The family SUV mentioned almost in passing in this piece would eventually get the same supercharged treatment, at a price tag nobody saw coming back then.

Chip Foose unveils the Mach Force Mutator at 2017 SEMA show.

Chip Foose reveals the Mach Foose Mustang at 2017 SEMA

by Wes

Chip Foose unveils the Mach Foose Mustang at SEMA 2017, a build that grafts 1971 Mustang body panels and 1970 rear quarter panels onto a modern 2011 Mustang GT chassis. Viewers call the muted gray paint and subdued stripes seductive precisely because it isn’t loud, a rare restrained choice for a SEMA reveal. Comments pour in from across the world praising Foose’s decades of work, while at least one lifelong Mustang fan says this is the exact car he’d want to own. Watch to see the reveal that stopped the show floor.

Classic white convertible car parked outdoors with greenery in background.

Fiat Chrysler renews Cuda trademark

by Wes

Fiat Chrysler’s decision to renew its trademark on the Cuda name reignited a rumor that has refused to die for the better part of a decade: that Dodge might resurrect one of Mopar’s most storied nameplates. The renewal alone proves nothing, since automakers routinely protect names they have no plans to use. Read on to find out what the paperwork actually reveals, and why the speculation keeps coming back.

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