This week is SEMA week, and I’m not there. Which is just fine with me. (In case you’re lucky and don’t know what SEMA is, it’s the tuner car show. Click over to Jalopnik to see how silly it all is). Why don’t I care about SEMA? Because I’m not interested in new 42 inch rims that cost as much as Nicaragua. I also don’t care about new bodykits for Ferraris, just because someone with plastic molds decided that they know better than Pininfarina. And I’m really, seriously not interested in washed up rappers’ pimped out family station wagons. I just find the whole event mind-numbingly boring. I’d rather chew cardboard. This isn’t to say I think car mods are all unworthy. If you run your car on veggie oil, like Chuck Goolsbee and other TTAC commenters, that’s a fantastic mod. Or the guys that converted a BMW 750i to a manual transmission: very cool. And nothing wrong with a Porsche 914 with a WRX engine (Porsche purists dissent, but it’s a worthy debate). So mods are good. But as far as I’m concerned, SEMA is just a snore.
I’d love to drive a manual transmission 7-series.
I think of SEMA as a fashion show for cars — full of flashy, expensive, cosmetic crap that only superficial people with too much money would ever care to own.
i like a few mods tastefully done (subjective) but most these cars have enough each to be put on 5 cars
SEMA is a mixed bag…some of what you see is really cool, but some of the stuff is absolute crap. I think a “snore” is unfair.
Some of the concept ICE stuff is interesting, but yes, SEMA as a whole is pretty dull. Even the T&A can get passé.
SEMA blows, way lame. No thanks, bling is for chumps!
Hey it’s the first SEMA I’m attending, quit raining on my parade. After staying in Circus Circus, the SEMA show is a delightful place to be.
Very yes. I was never into heavy vehicle modification.
The most I will ever modify my car is speccing it up with parts off of higher end models at the junkyard.
(note that my car is a 1993 model, so there are tons just like it as the pick-a-part.)
Judging by what I’ve seen in recent years, I’d say only about 5% of the vehicles, 5% of the products and 5% of the, uh, “booth professionals” would be worth seeing in person. So I wouldn’t say SEMA is so much “boring” as it is “frightening.”
Full disclosure: I’ve yet to attend in person.
And Blue Harvest FTW!
When TTAC asked if they should send a reporter to SEMA I said this:
“Making fun of SEMA is too petty and overdone to be entertaining, and the chances of actually finding something innovative at the show are more than remote.
SEMA is a pathetically compromised mix of the SAE World Congress and the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. I suggest you save your money and send Niedermeyer to those two events instead.
Your site will be able to report on much more interesting automotive innovation, and the picture gallery will be better also.”
My question is that, since TTAC did not send someone to SEMA, are they persuing the alternatives that I suggested?
There’s some cool stuff there. And it’s good for teenagers to have something to get excited about. But the reality is that most of it is junk. Automakers spend a half-billion dollars developing a car. That someone thinks they can improve upon it by adding some warped plastic wing, decals and a farty sounding exhaust is pure comedy at stoplights.
A lot of the comments about SEMA reflect how I felt when I went to my first Hot Import Nights. I was expecting to be enlightened and introduced into a world of the new and wonderful, and instead found myself blinded by neon lights, badly placed chrome and blobs of Bondo.
I got a lot of free stuff though.
Sure there might be a few gems buried here and there but weeding through the sheer amount of crap is absolutely mind-numbing. And not in a good way like swap-meets. I’d say it’s more like shopping for clothes.
More on 914s with WRX engines, please.
storminvormin, agreed:
Gems = sparse.
Crap = prevalent.
Attention = elsewhere.
SEMA always manages to be the car show tab on websites and magazines I always skip looking over. Bling and neons do not belong in actual racing/performance.
I like the picture caption. When I worked for a major freight company I always wanted to have a banner made “We break for no one” and put it on the back of a set of triple trailers.
Yes, I’m bored out of my skull.
And thank you for not mentioning AutoBlog.
…even if we were all thinking it. <3
no_slushbox :
When TTAC asked if they should send a reporter to SEMA I said this:
“…SEMA is a pathetically compromised mix of the SAE World Congress and the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. I suggest you save your money and send Niedermeyer to those two events instead.
Your site will be able to report on much more interesting automotive innovation, and the picture gallery will be better also.”
My question is that, since TTAC did not send someone to SEMA, are they persuing the alternatives that I suggested?
Hahaha, thanks for that! Looking forward to the picture gallery!
Short answer: Oh, yes.
Thank you for asking. Somebody needed to.
Anybody who weighs down their car with 500 lbs. worth of amplifiers, subwoofers, and LCD screens in the headrests of the back seats that no one can actually see, and fits 88″ rims, has no interest in actually driving anywhere.
Proper mods – ECU flash, brake kits, coil-overs and sway bars, and maybe going 1″ larger than the stock wheels.
“I’d love to drive a manual transmission 7-series.”
Go back far enough and you can. E23(1977-1987) and the E32(1986-1994) Inline-6 models have them.
E38(95-01) had them In Europe I believe.
Oh and SEMA blows.
Huh?
Oh, right…
SEMA = The classic case of all style and little substance. Just like their clientele…
SEMA consists of the three B’s: Bling, Bondo & Bimbos…
I find “bling” car customization quite tasteless, so, IMHO SEMA is a waste.
The emperor isn’t wearing any clothes!
Trouble is, you could cut and paste this commentary and apply it to almost ALL motor shows these days.
I think a Deux Chevaux with customag and 24 inch rims would be pretty cool. NOT!
Now that SEMA is all about the manufacturers yes, it is incredibly boring. Ten years ago I’d go to SEMA or watch the coverage to see all the great new aftermarket performance products–now it’s nothing but rappers with bigger and bigger wheels, and unveiling especially hideous versions of factory vehicles. LAME.
Japanese Tuner Car Madness is a great example of people having fun with modding cars and not taking it seriously. This stuff is great.
I’d never go to a SEMA or other event just as I’ll never care to go see a muscle-car event, simply because I’ve seen it enough times already. Viewing photos on the internet is just fine. But, if I could afford or had the pull to go to a posh exotic-laden event full of Aston Martins, rare Ferrari’s and so on, I’d be all up ins, yo.