2006 SEMA Show by TCC Team (10/30/2006) All our coverage from the Las Vegas aftermarket extravaganza.
by Rex Roy
Photos by Rex Roy
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Above all, beyond everything else, SEMA is about selling. Exhibitors set up booths to entice retailers to carry their products. Names you've heard of continue to exhibit (Crain, Edelbrock) alongside newcomers who hope to make it big by starting the aftermarket's next new trend. With similar dreams, vehicle customizers bring their wildest creations with the hopes of being recognized as the next Chip Foose or Boyd Coddington.
As you walk the five miles of SEMA's aisles, you begin to see the automotive aftermarket differently. Things fall into categories. The following attempts to make sense of the four-day event and what it all means.
We'll start by looking at this crystal-encrusted Mercedes shown here. It is actually covered by hundreds of thousands of true Swarovski crystals. It did its job of stopping traffic at the company's display. Their goal is to peddle genuine automotive bling via http://www.dad-co.jp. If they're back next year with a larger booth, we'll know they made it.
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In another hall, we came across these mobile marquees. Think for a moment and you can imagine the potential for Motionzcannar's programmable LED scrolling display. Teenagers will be flashing hormone-infused messages to one another while cruising, and angry adults will use them to diss their fellow motorists in rush hour traffic. Does this represent an important new technology? No, but neither did the "Baby On Board" caution signs…remember how popular those were?
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