Top 10 SEMA Wild & Weird

Newfound Tire Performance

A short time ago high performance tires were reserved mostly for racecars. The average drivers seemed to be able to get by with all-season radials and not give much thought to tire choices. No more. With even the average grocery getter kicking out nearly 300 horsepower, tire technology has had to step up. Whereas each manufacturer had one or two high performance even a year ago, there are now many choices. From ultra high performance (UHP) summer radials to all-season performance, there has never been a better time to get a new pair of shoes for your ride.

Ridonkculous!

The Donk and Bubble trend continues to take how we roll into the outer limits of the stratosphere—or at least high enough to require a ladder for stepping up to the driver's seat. This particular car was at one point a Chevrolet Caprice Classic that perhaps belonged to a little old lady in Miami. One supercharged Chevy 400 engine, some 30-inch custom wheels and a mess of purple paint later, and the car is now known as The Godfather. All that horsepower helps spin the Pirelli tires like butter.

A World of Bondo

While at SEMA it's easy to become hypnotized by the sheer number of metalflake paint jobs, spinning wheels, and blinking displays. The important thing to remember is that none of it would have been possible without the miracle of Bondo. Two-part polyester body fillers are the answer when it comes to smoothing things out or creating new custom lines underneath those layers of paint. Before these space age polymers became available, body creases or custom lines were filled with molten lead. This gave rise to the somewhat derogatory phrase "lead sled" for cars that were built for style over speed.

Project Car Bonanza!

Speaking of Bondo and lead sleds, it's time to talk about project cars. Getting the car done for SEMA is the annual goal of kustom kar shops around the world. A shimmering if not almost blinding gold example of this phenomenon is this Auto Core Kustoms Dragillac. What started life as a 1960 Cadillac is now a lead sled made anew. The Caddy was re-envisioned for the new millennium with as many television screens and Orion sub-woofers as possible. Even the convertible top was chopped. The Caddy also sports suicide doors and an airbag suspension for scrape-free entrances into the drive-thru for cheeseburgers.

Dynacorn Mustang

Ever since the Ford Mustang was born again in 2003 for the 2004 model year, the SEMA show has been awash in ponies. This year the retro clock was turned back to 1967 and reset in fresh steel. The Dynacorn company is working with Ford to produce old Mustangs brand new. With one of these shells in the garage and a few catalogs or Internet sites at hand, you can now build your very own classic pony car from the ground up. Why hassle with a rust bucket or slice up an original survivor when you can just start over with fresh metal? The ways to register such a vehicle vary by state, and will prove the ultimate test for these newly minted pony cars.