SEMA Show 2023 - S3Magazine Coverage

Where the automotive aftermarket goes wild.

What is the SEMA show? It’s the biggest automotive aftermarket show of its kind. 2.5 million square feet of vendor space. Approximately 2,000 companies represented. And as it looked, just as many unique builds. Only the best of the best are shown here at the show. This year, we are compiling 100 of our favorite photos from the show for you all to enjoy. Let’s dive right in!

Central Hall

If you’re looking for the most insane builds, you’ll find them here. Case & point, Tim’s DeLorean. Unreal all around. Twin turbo V8, custom interior, body kit & more. Solid.

There’s something for everyone in here, young or old. The RC booths were popular all show long.

The Gintani booth never disappoints. This year, they had several new Lamborghinis with their exhausts plus more.

Again, something for everyone. A big portion of SEMA is truck builders. They do it BIG.

In the back of Central Hall, Racewars was showing this WILD NSX. This was sitting next to an old school hot rod. Import vs Domestic.

EV’s

Once again, EV vendors are back to showcase their coolest offerings. Legacy EV worked with Richard Rawlings of Gas Monkey Garage to make this WILD Testarossa. And yes, it’s electrified. Before anyone gets too upset, this one was destined for the scrapyard and it was turned into what you see here.

This SL300 Gullwing kit is swapped with a Model 3 underneath. One of the coolest builds in the back of Central Hall.

This… Batmobile looking thing is the Raesr Tachyon Speed – an all-electric hypercar. These guys are super knowledgeable and are all about their tech.

If you’re unaware, Lucid currently has the quickest acceleration car on the market. It’s called the Sapphire and it is capable of turning an 8 second quarter mile. Unreal. This one is the Air Touring – not quite as fast but still PLENTY quick. Also, the first one on adjustable air suspension… in the world!

Toyo Treadpass

Over the past few years, I’ve spent a lot of time at Toyo’s Treadpass. This year, I continued that trend. Nothing but the best builds out here.

Steven’s Mk6 is nothing short of WICKED. Just look at it. Aggressive from every angle.

This Merkur XR4TI was the winner of the sport compact BOTB at SEMA this year. What an amazing build. Especially when you consider there’s little to no aftermarket for these. Everything on this is made from scratch for the most part. Jordan and his team absolutely killed it.

There’s something about a dark green BMW slammed on some F40 looking wheels.

Marv’s E36 Touring is nothing short of perfect. Hartge wheels, widebody, bags, cage, newer M 6cyl… What’s not to like here?

This is a carbon kevlar bodied 356 with a K series swap. Wild build.

Ok, now this one is *different* different. This started life as an actual GT3 car. Converted to a street car with a Mercedes V12. THEN, it was boosted. Capable of something like 1,400HP??? We are here for it.

Not your average G Wagon. EV Swapped. Check the front plate.

Here’s a car you NEVER see. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. On my favorite set of HRE’s – they look good on ANYTHING!

Regretting not getting more footage of this wild thing. Time attack Kei truck.

Last but certainly not least, we’d like to give a shoutout to our friend, Josh Freeman. We featured his Chaser last year – but a lot has changed. You can see what it looked like here. But wow, color us impressed. It just might be the best Chaser out there.

Back in Central Hall…

This place is proper huge. Nothing but cool cars everywhere. The Auto Finesse booth had plenty.

One thing that was so impressive was the 3D printed tech. You can now print just about any shape, out of any material, for any application. This is one tech we will keep a close eye on.

Don’t ask me why, but a gold Ferrari Testarossa is on my Christmas list now.

Hert’s Twerkstallion made an appearance! This is one of the most iconic RX-7’s on the entire planet.

Toyota brought out this bonkers build. They call it the FJ Bruiser – a NASCAR engined off-road beast.

The new Supra still appears to be the car of choice for a lot of builders.

Tein always seems to catch my eye with their booth cars. No exceptions this year. The green on the GR Corolla is sublime.

With R34’s becoming legal this year, there was no shortage of them at SEMA.

Chuckles Garage brought their latest land speed Toyota pickup. They’re hunting down 240+ MPH with this 1,300HP 2JZ powered machine.

This is PasMag’s latest Tuner Battlegrounds winner. A wild long term Odyvia build with – get this – a ROTARY swap. With nods to lowrider culture intertwined with Japanese drift culture – it does not get much better than this. A deserving build if ever there was one.

Max Grundy is a madman. This just goes to prove it. Car-V, as the name suggests, is a mixture of a car… and an RV. You can’t make this up.

Ok, back outside…

Outside, there’s cars and trucks lining the convention center everywhere you look. Mostly trucks, but I’m not complaining.

And the trucks don’t always have to be bro dozers. This dually GMC caught me off guard. Really cool build.

I really appreciated the Gulf livery on this one. Even the suspension components were paint matched.

The new Z is really REALLY starting to grow on us. The more we see the modified ones like this, the more we seem to like them.

If you’ve played the latest Forza Horizon games, you might have driven this car called “Nashole.”

TJ Hunt’s R34 is beautiful – MNP is wonderful in the sun.

Old school meets new school here… and what’s behind the red one?

That would be a 2 door Evo. Look at all of the parts on it.

The Auto Finesse LBWorks S15 is incredible. 900ish HP race car for the road.

THIS. Talk about a mind blowing build. Twin engine 350Z – but it’s not twin Nissan engines, no. That’s too easy. Two turbocharged K series engines from Honda. WILD.

This Honda Acty is what happens when lowrider culture meets japanese culture. Wire spokes & widebody.

This wild Hakotora was one of my personal favorite builds. So cool to see. Scale models exist of this car as well (there’s one on top.)

Someone brought out the Family Truckster!!!

This was no ordinary Honda Goldwing – the entire rear was a front clip from a Civic hiding underneath the shell. Also, a single cam D series motor. Unreal.

Something about the classic truck builds just gets me.

Mike DuSold’s 1967 Camaro Hillclimb car was one of my favorite race cars. 1,200HP LS engine, tons of aero & fab work.

I don’t have a lot of info on this BMW 3 series but it looked great.

Cam’s re-done GT86 is simply gorgeous. All new body kit designed with Cam’s input. Engine is an LS with an 8-1 collector and sounds menacing. One of the best builds and builders at SEMA.

Looking back at this, I wish I had more content and info on it. Twin turbos hanging in the bed. 4 air compressors and flowing hard lines.

Ok, now, back inside again…

How about a 2JZ powered drift car?

TJ’s M4 GT3. Air jacks and all. Unique builds as always from the YouTube community.

Isky brought their best retro flair with this one. I’m a sucker for the old school hot rods.

I met this guy, Ryan Litteral. Cool as they come. Told me everything I wanted to know and let me get all inside the car. Good luck next season, man!

I’m a simple man – if I see turbos hanging off the sides, I take a photo.

Now we have come to my personal favorite build of SEMA 2023. 1 Way Diesel Lamborghini.

The owner, Clay, was super nice and told me everything about the build. That includes the fact it was wrecked and basically built from the ground up in almost no time. Twin turbo, Cummins swapped. Capable of 1,500HP & 2,500TQ, this thing could tow the factory it was built in.

Moving on to something with 2 wheels. The Vance & Hines bikes are fast. Really fast. I watched one win its class at an NHRA event in Charlotte earlier this year.

JZ swapped 3 series, anyone? Super cool FD builds all over the place.

This man, Johnny Bohmer, one of the fastest men alive. This highly modified Ford GT made a top speed run last year of 310MPH. That makes it the world record holder as the fastest street legal car.

Let me tell you about this wild machine. That is an “Exodus” from Dove Racing. For around $30k, you get basically what you see here. A 200hp Hayabusa powered, 950lb road legal go-kart. These guys were so fun to talk to. Apparently for a few grand more, you can get a turbo kit and have a better power to weight ratio than a Bugatti Veyron.

This Radford hillclimb car was so menacing in person. Full blown race car.

HKS’s booth was trimmed in red & black all over.

Am I the only one that remembers playing with the old RC-10’s???

One of our favorite builds at SEMA, this Lowrider Tesla Model Y. Spokes, Vogues, paint, flake – the whole nine yards from the guys at Hoppos.

Greg’s RWB 997 looked amazing in the Spyder booth! Sporting his latest color as well.

CFR Performance – these dudes ROCK! AWD Hellcat Charger that started life as a police cruiser. So cool to see again!

Phil, if you’re reading this, I owe you a feature. For everyone else, this is one of Phil’s FD’s. Unreal looking in person. Immaculate.

Back outside… again!

All the Ford Performance & RTR guys put on an AMAZING show!

These guys know how to PARTY!

Hoonigan

A must visit area of the SEMA show every year is the Hoonigan Burnyard.

And as to my reasoning as to why I got ZERO photos of the action, see exhibit A – PACKED.

But that didn’t stop me from getting some shots of some amazing builds in their lot!

Why yes, that would be another JZ swapped car. This time, a Lamborghini. Still utilizing the Gallardo’s transaxle.

And speaking of Lamborghini, check out the new Sterrato. For when you have a cool $400k and want to go in the desert – fast.

All kinds of cool on 4 wheels out here!

Jamie’s Volkswagen LT suffered some issues on the road trip to SEMA – but it MADE IT!

Back outside west hall:

From left to right, Motul Evo, Sinh’s Liqui Moly S2K & a beautiful lowrider inspired truck.

This International semi truck was laid out on the ground with a Cummins swap.

And this truck had TWO V8’s on the back. So cool to see.

Mike’s Ultra X5. A collab with Liquid Moly, ECS Tuning and more. So cool to see.

Ever see a Hummer on the floor? Well, now you have. Built by the guys over at Defiant Motorsports in Monroe, Georgia, this thing is ART!

Time attack, salt flats and lifted trucks – all in one photo.

Pit & Paddock. These guys know how to do a proper car booth.

Back inside – one last time!

This is Bisimoto’s EV Porsche named “MobyX.” 640 all electric horsepower BEAST. Congrats on the killer spot, Bisi.

North Hall had SEMA Battle of the Builders. We found this K-swapped S2K that competes in Gridlife GLTC series. Love it!

Also at BotB, this twin turbo LS RX-7.

The stage area was so cool with a lift and everything!

The original Wal-Mart (yes, they have a booth) which is pretty neat.

This RWB was SUUUUUUPER wide!

Mike Finnegan’s latest mini truck! Such a throwback build. Also, the Bling Sauce booth was so quirky with a claw machine????

This was one of my favorite builds here. Brad DeBerti’s C10 Slayer. Dual rear live axle setup, supercharged & trumpeted Chevy V8. Can’t forget all that body work! So cool to see.

Now time for my personal favorite booth – Inozetek. 3rd year in a row, matter of fact. This year having more of a motorsports vibe really just takes the cake for me.

How could you not love Alex Choi’s McLaren 720S? BTW, that’s PPF. Amazing looking and shows off all the curves.

Shoutout to Peter at Guntherwerks. We went to last year’s rooftop party and had a blast. But this year, he brought out this carbon fiber bodied, 4.0L BEAST of a car. Congrats on the build.