Porsche septuplet  at SEMA 2017

The author is not a Porschephile, but there were a number of interesting Porsche builds at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) trade show, so today we offer a cross-section of different styles and genres of seven Porsches seen at SEMA 2017.

Shown outside on the Silver Lot was this Porsche 993 (the last of the air cooled 911 models) modified by RAUH-Welt Begriff (RWB) a Japan-based builder of custom “wide bodies” for Porsche 911 series.   According to the RWB website the company which started in a small shop in Japan by “Nakai-san” (Akira Nakai) now has locations in both Northern and Southern California. According to the RWB website this body kit costs $22,000 and the wheels add $5500.

Parked outside in front of the Central Hall was a pair of Porsches shown by AccuAir Suspension which designs and manufactures air suspension systems for all vehicle types. Both of these Porsches are owned by Brian Henderson who together with partner Jason Whipple owns Rotiform Wheels which builds “Monoblock” one-piece low pressure cast and three-piece forged custom wheels. Both of these cars were modified by AccuAir Suspension installer Sadistic Iron Werks of Hesperia California just weeks before the SEMA show.

 

 

This Porsche 356B Super 90 Coupe appeared stock aside from the air suspension, the custom wheels and the low profile, rubber band like tires.

 

 

 

This Porsche 911 Carrera known to the factory as the 991.2 is powered by a water-cooled 182-cubic inch turbocharged flat-six cylinder engine. Yes the car sits very low at rest - the turbocharger actually touched the ground.

 

Most of the attention in the AkzoNobel paint booth at SEMA 2017 was focused on the hot rod and custom car builds from Kindigit Design, and lost in the “reality TV frenzy” was this good-looking early seventies rally-styled Porsche 911 Carrera RS.

 

The booth of another paint company, Valspar Prospray, featured a 1960 Porsche 356B super 90 coupe built “outlaw” style which uses the original body but with performance upgrades. This car known as “Blau Grau” (translated to Blue-Grey) for its unique color was built by Matt Howard’s Deluxe Customs in Tempe Arizona which specializes in early Porsche and Volkswagen restorations.

 

The Spyder Auto booth featured this Porsche 997 (the second generation of water-cooled 911s) which had been shown with a different wrap at the Toyo Tires display at the 2016 SEMA show. The car which mimics the “slant nose” style of the Porsche 935 was built by IDL Designs using a body kit produced by Old & New from Hiroshima Japan.  You can purchase the body kit for 1,550,000 yen (approximately $14,000) plus shipping taxes and installation.  The wrap which appears to an homage to the famed Martini & Rossi racing Porsches was applied by Impressive Wraps using 3M brand film.    Spyder Auto offers a complete range of automotive lighting that includes fog lights, crystal and projector headlights, and taillights.  

 

 

Last but not least is the Magnus Walker Urban Outlaw shop built Porsche 911 S RT. Most striking to the author were the louvers on top of the 911's fender completed by metalsmith Rod Emory of Emory Motorsports. The car powered by 2.5 liter twin plug  (two spark plugs per cylinder) engine debuted at the 2017 SEMA show.  

 

All photos by the author

Is this wildest DIVCO ever built?

 

 

At the 2017 SEMA show in Las Vegas, the House of Kolor pain company showed off a custom delivery truck finished by Count's Kustoms the hometown hot rod and chopper customization shop featured on the History Channel’s “reality” television show “Counting Cars.”   

 

 

 

Ryan Evans, Lead Painter from Las Vegas-based Count’s Kustoms, led the customization job on 1954 DIVCO  (Detroit Industrial Vehicles Company) Model 13 truck along with Lonny Speer Mike Taylor and Ron Fleenor.

 

 

The DIVCO was painted exclusively with House of Kolor products including Limetime (S2-PBC38), Meteor Maroon (Kustom Mix S2-06), Planet Green (S2-09) and Kosamene Brass Pearl (S2-FX21), all from the Shimrin2 Basecoat System. The DIVCO also features House of Kolor Shimrin2 striping enamels. KD3000 gray primer and UC21 Universal Acrylic Urethane Klear.

 

 

This is the DIVCO’s second appearance at SEMA- it was first shown in 2014. Prior to its rebuild the truck sat in a scrapyard for close to 30 years before it was rebuilt by Jus Cuz Customs and Studz Customs in Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

Besides the extensive metal work required to repair the rust damage, the DIVCO’s Continental flat-head four-cylinder engine was replaced with an 6.2 Liter LS Series GM crate motor and four-speed automatic transmission in a custom built frame.  The truck uses an air-ride system over the 20-inch front and 22-inch diameter rear wheels.

 

All photos by the author  

A four-door Barracuda? YES!

Scan of 1970 Plymouth sales poster from author's collection

 

The third-generation Plymouth Barracuda built from 1970 to 1974 used the Chrysler Corporation two-door E-body platform shared with the Dodge Challenger.

 

 

For years, the internet contained stories of a red with black vinyl top four-door hardtop 1970 Plymouth Barracuda styling exercise seen in the center of Chrysler’s Highland Park, Michigan in the fall of 1969.  Dave Walden and Steve Been of ECS Automotive Concepts near St. Louis, Missouri decided to replicate the legend.

 

 

 

The starting point of the project was a cut-up and stripped four-door roof and pillars from a 1972 four-door Dodge Coronet. After the roof was chopped an inch, every piece of the car was hand-built as the crew massaged and modified both original and reproduction parts, a process that took six years and an estimated 10,000 hours of labor.

 

 

 

This running and driving “what if” four-door Barracuda shown at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show rides on a 118-inch wheelbase, weighs 3500 pounds, and is powered by a 275 horsepower Chrysler ‘LA’ 340 cubic inch V-8 fitted with a 4 -barrel carburetor 275 mated to a three-speed Torqueflite automatic transmission with a Chrysler 8-3/4 inch rear-end.  

 

Photos by the author

Checking out a Pro-Lite short course 

race truck at SEMA 2017

 

On display at the Airaid booth at 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas was the #12 Toyota Tacoma Pro-Lite race truck driven by 17-year old Brock Heger in the Lucas Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) presented by Geico.

 

 

 

A LOORRS Pro-lite truck is a 2-wheel drive mid-size race truck with a fiberglass composite body over a 1-3/4 inch 4130 chromoly steel 122-inch wheelbase chassis. The nearly mid-mounted V-8 engine pumps out an estimated 300 horsepower, and coupled with the12-inch front wheel and 14-inch rear travel limits allows the truck to accelerate over the jumps during the short course races. Due to the high level of contact during a race, the six-piece truck bodies are considered sacrificial as a new complete body kit costs less than $2000.

 

 

Brock a 17-year old racer from El Centro California drove for Jeremy McGrath’s JM2 racing team during the 12-race 2017 LOORRS season and won six races with two second place and two third place finishes. Unfortunately Brock suffered mechanical failures and failed to finish in the other two races, and wound up finishing second in the 2017 LOORS Pro-Lite championship behind Jarrett Brooks. Competing in a second division, Heger and his Yamaha YXZ won the inaugural LOORRS Production 1000 CC UTV (Utility Vehicle) class championship and was voted the LOORRS 2017 Driver of the Year.

 

Yes, that's an Airaid intake filter

 

Heger’s major sponsor on the #12 Pro-Lite truck is ICON Vehicle Dynamics an off-road performance suspension manufacturer with associate sponsorship from Airaid the manufacturer of performance air intakes and filters.  

 

 

You can view the 2018 LOORRS schedule at http://www.lucasoiloffroad.com/events/2018-series-schedule

 

All photos by the author

A replica Porsche 917 at PRI 2017

The Gulf Racing Fuels booth at the 2017 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) show at Indianapolis featured a very nice replica of a Gulf Racing Porsche 917 produced by RCR (Race Car Replicas) of Fraser Michigan.

 

 

 

RCR produces a series of eleven race car replica kits which besides the 917 include modern versions of the Ford GT40 (in either Mark I or Mark II versions), Ferrari P4, Lola T70 (in either coupe or spyder versions), Jaguar D-type, Jaguar XJ-13, Porsche 962, Aston Martin DB3S, 1958 Ferrari 246 F1 car, and a F5000-series inspired car.  

 

RCR advertises that customers get “accurate vintage bodies with modern technology and engineering backed by racing pedigree, for the vintage look of the original, but modern underpinnings that make them a joy to build and drive.”

According to RCR, they have in-house Haas Automation CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining centers that run three shifts a day to manufacturer the CAD (Computer Aided Design)-designed billet aluminum chassis and suspension bits, and that the company has access to laser cutters, waterjet cutters, CNC tube bending equipment, as well as an in-house CNC lathe.

 

 

The RCR 917 has a gel-coated fiberglass body but unlike the small-tube frame design of the original RCR uses an aluminum gas tungsten arc-welded monocoque center with tube-frame design front and rear, which mimic the look of the original when the nose and tail are removed. The driveline choice is left to the owner, but RCR suggests a Chevrolet LS engine or a Porsche flat six engine. RCR claims that the RCR 917 is even “streetable,” with a DOT-legal windshield, headlights and taillights. The suggested price of the RCR 917 chassis and body kit is $43,995.

Gulf Racing Fuels representatives told the author that the company was at PRI 2017 looking to secure specified fuel sponsorships of race series in the United States, to expand its retail dealer network and close fuel supply deals with club tracks.

http://race-car-replicas.com/

http://gulfracingfuels.com/

 

Photos by the author

 

 

Chip Foose's "Magnatude" at SEMA 2017

 

 

 

The Eaton Corporation is a leading global manufacturer with an extensive portfolio of aftermarket automotive products, including differentials, superchargers, performance hoses and engine valves and lifters specifically engineered to maximize performance. At the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas, Eaton displayed Maureen Magnuson’s “Magnatude” custom 1932 Muroc roadster.  

 

“Magnatude” features a hand-formed body built at Marcel's Custom Metal in Corona, California from a design by Chip Foose finished in champagne metallic over butterscotch pearl. The car rides on a one-of-a-kind 112-inch wheelbase chassis with four-wheel independent suspension from Kugel’s Components.

 

 

Barely visible beneath the engine cover is the intercooled 570-horsepower General Motors LS1 engine fitted with a Magnuson 1900 TVS supercharger that uses Eaton rotor assemblies connected to a Tremec six-speed manual transmission. Foose Designs assembled the car and provided the custom “knuckle” rims- the rear wheels are 20 inches in diameter and 10 inches wide.

 

 

In 2010 "Magnatude" was a finalist for the title of “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” at the Grand National Roadster Show and later won three awards from the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association - “Street Rod of the Year,” “America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod” and the Goodguys Street Rod d’Elegance title.

Photos by the author

The Kia Stinger at SEMA 2017

 

 

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) traditionally bring their newest modified passenger cars to SEMA, (the Specialty Equipment Market Association trade-only show) and the 2017 show was no exception as Kia Motors showed off two modified versions of their new 2018 Kia Stinger GT, a car which wasn’t even available to the public until later in November 2017. 

 

author photos

 

This orange beauty built by Struass Haus Enterprises an OEM ADP (accessory development partner) is equipped with a black finished rear spoiler, hood vents,  rear diffuser and front and rear winglets. The car rides on a lowered Eibach suspension with 20-inch TSW wheels wrapped in Falken rubber. All the body components shown are available at https://stingerhaus.com/components

photos courtesy of WCC and Kia

West Coast Customs, a shop featured on an eponymous reality program shown on the Velocity cable network, produced this “wide body” Kia Stinger with custom metal work that flared the fenders and which was highlighted by carbon fiber custom front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser. The suspension is lowered and it rides on 21-inch Keen custom wheels.

 Photo by the author 

 

The production version of the rear-wheel Kia Stinger GT is powered by a 3.3 liter (201 cubic inch) twin turbocharged V-6 engine which develops 365 horsepower with a base price of $38,350. An all-wheel drive option is available for $2,200.