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Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/31/22 9:49 a.m.
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The automotive world is descending upon the Las Vegas Convention Center this week. Why? For the annual SEMA Show, of course.

We’ll be there the whole week, November 1-4, so be sure to come on by and say hello–just look for booth No. 24030. (You can contact our ad department to make an appointment.)

Can’t make it this year? No …

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David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 9:52 a.m.

A teaser from Konig:

Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/31/22 10:11 a.m.

Nissan will be showing off six builds, including two EVs:

Nissan Sunny LEAF project–a Leaf-powered, all-electric Sunny pickup.

Nissan Ariya Surfwagon concept–Nissan's take on a woody surf wagon that's based on the all-electric Ariya.

NISMO Off-Road Frontier V8 concept–Nissan threw as many offroad parts as it could at the new Frontier plus dropped in the V8 from the larger Titan.

Frontier Street Truck project–This one is really just a lowered Frontier with a wrap, though was inspired by the mini-trucks of the '90s.

NISMO Accessorized Z–For those curious about all the widgets you can get for the new Nissan Z, this one is for you, fitted with "a variety of new NISMO and Genuine Accessory components that will be available for the new Nissan Z."

2023 Formula Drift Z–Chris Forsberg's 1300-horsepower Formula D drift car.

Nissan also notes it'll be showing off the new Nissan Z GT4

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 11:29 a.m.

New from Forgeline: the ET3, a forged aluminum slot mag.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 1:20 p.m.

From VW:

GTI Accessories Concept
An homage to the Volkswagen enthusiast, this GTI concept reflects a blended approach to personalization. Based on a 2022 Volkswagen GTI SE with six-speed manual, the concept features Oettinger body styling components—front valence, rear valence and rear spoiler—as well as 20-inch gloss-black multi-spoke wheels wrapped in 245/30R20 high-performance tires. Braking is upgraded with the help of eight-piston calipers and 14.6-inch ventilated cross-drilled rotors in front. The vehicle also features a lowered stance using H&R Street Performance coilovers. Showing off the practical side of the sporty Golf platform is a color-matched roof box on base carrier bars. Additional curated items from Volkswagen Accessories include GTI dynamic center wheel caps, dynamic turn signals, black Bumperdillo rear bumper protection, enhanced rear view mirror with Homelink Connect®, Monster Mats all-season floor mats, heavy-duty trunk liner with CarGo blocks, and an emergency triangle.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 1:23 p.m.

VW hasn't posted an officialy photos yet, but they say that this will also be in their booth:

Golf A59 Prototype
The 1993 Rallye Golf 3 A59 Prototype was created as a proof of concept to determine the feasibility of entering the 1994 FIA World Rally Championship, for which homologation regulations required that manufacturers create 2,500 street-legal versions. This prototype was developed with Schmidt Motorsport (SMS), and had it been put into production, it would have been the highest performance version of the third-generation Golf family. This specific car is the only complete version ever built. The engine and drivetrain was developed specifically for this concept, and although the Golf A59 did not go on to compete in races, the engine design went on to class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in different vehicles.

Volkswagen’s performance unicorn featured a bespoke 2.0-liter all-aluminum turbocharged four-cylinder engine, putting out 275 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque, paired with a six-speed manual transmission and four-wheel drive with a variable center differential. The front strut-type suspension was modified with Bilstein® shock absorbers for longer travel, and the control arm width was increased by 3 inches. The fully-independent rear suspension was a multi-link design, with Bilstein struts, and retained the original factory chassis attachment points, supplemented with additional points. It rode on 16-inch five-spoke Speedline® SL817 motorsport wheels, with 225/45R16 tires, and braking was handled by a Brembo® system with cross-drilled brake discs.

Carbon fiber and Kevlar graced the exterior, which featured a modified front bumper with chin spoiler, additional air intakes in the custom grille and hood, widened front and rear fender arches, pronounced side skirts, a rear hatch spoiler, and a custom rear bumper with twin pipe muffler. Inside, RECARO® A8 sport seats with integrated head restraints and supportive high bolsters were met with a sport three-spoke steering wheel, and integral roll bar. A digital dashboard with engine monitoring selection sat in front of the driver, while additional engine and rally controls resided on the dashboard and inside the glovebox.

 

Feedyurhed
Feedyurhed UltraDork
10/31/22 1:30 p.m.

Mmmmmmmm. Some tasty stuff. I'll be watching this space for more. One of these years I am going to make it to the show.

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia UltraDork
10/31/22 1:38 p.m.

I hope they make a kit to adapt Nissan Leaf running gear in an old Datsun truck,

the picture above looks cool !

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/31/22 2:06 p.m.
californiamilleghia said:

I hope they make a kit to adapt Nissan Leaf running gear in an old Datsun truck,

the picture above looks cool !

Based on the branding, you'll want to talk to TPC Electric about that. Very few of these show cars are built by the companies that own the booth.

https://www.tommypikecustoms.com

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 2:08 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:

New from Forgeline: the ET3, a forged aluminum slot mag.

Just noticed that this is a six-lug fitment. CTS-V? Viper? Truck? 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/31/22 2:15 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:
David S. Wallens said:

New from Forgeline: the ET3, a forged aluminum slot mag.

Just noticed that this is a six-lug fitment. CTS-V? Viper? Truck? 

It has the bolt pattern you ask Forgeline to drill into it, I suspect. No mention of patterns on their site, they're made-to-order wheels.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 2:30 p.m.

Our booth is up! See everyone starting tomorrow morning.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/31/22 2:34 p.m.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Yeah, I know they're custom but what was the order here? Just trying to picture this particular wheel on a Viper....

gearheadE30
gearheadE30 Dork
10/31/22 2:39 p.m.

I just drove back to Indiana from LA and there was a steady stream of very lifted trucks with giant rims and low profile tires on flatbed trailers headed towards vegas. Only saw two lowered vehicles, both hot rod/rat rods of some description. Definitely made the drive more interesting, but I had no idea how popular that style of truck build has apparently become. They all appeared to have some serious $$ and work put into making the undersides look good.

Driven5
Driven5 UberDork
10/31/22 2:59 p.m.

Not getting my hopes up, but definitely still keeping an eye out for updates on the  long teased complete modular EV drivetrain swap offerings from GM and/or Ford.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/31/22 3:04 p.m.
Driven5 said:

Not getting my hopes up, but definitely still keeping an eye out for updates on the  long teased complete modular EV drivetrain swap offerings from GM and/or Ford.

GM will only sell them to approved shops, and if they haven't already heard of you they're not all that eager to talk to you. The only one that's been released(ish) is the Bolt-based one, and of course the production of Bolt parts was going somewhere else until just recently. Ultium is still coming on line, I don't think they have excess capacity. They basically need to be able to just pull stuff off the production line.

As of last year, Ford is working with AEM. You can buy motors like the Eluminator from Ford, then you buy the control software/hardware from AEM. They were presenting together at the seminars.

And I could totally see some slot mags on a Viper :)

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
10/31/22 7:32 p.m.

Random photo from setup. This does a decent job of showing things in progress.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
10/31/22 7:37 p.m.

And since we finished setting up our booth early, we snuck over to the Atomic Testing Museum. 

wake74
wake74 Reader
10/31/22 9:12 p.m.

Awesome,I have now been declared affluent!  I have always wanted to be affluent! :-)

nocones
nocones GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
11/1/22 10:38 a.m.

It's day 1..

 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/1/22 10:58 a.m.

In reply to nocones :

Time to start looking at stuff. 

Updates to come soon.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/1/22 11:01 a.m.

Coming soon? Optima lithium batteries. 

Photo stolen from James Clay/BimmerWorld. 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/1/22 11:07 a.m.

New from Mark Williams Enterprises: high-strength driveline components for vintage Corvette (not the Star Wars space ship), Jaguar (not the guitar), Pantera (not the band) and Viper (not the TV show).

Among the new hardware: a 30-spline inboard yoke shaft that replaces the 17-spline piece found standard on the C2 and C3 Corvette.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/1/22 11:13 a.m.

Once again, cool cars in Toyo's space.

Photo linked from SEMA's FB.

David S. Wallens said:

New from Forgeline: the ET3, a forged aluminum slot mag.

Anybody but me wondering about a set of these on the new Z-car?

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