SEMA 2012 Re-Kindled Enthusiasm Photography by Frank Leon & Michael Alvarado Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA as the rest of the world knows it. Once again we attended SEMA and much to our surprise there was a resurgence of enthusiasm in the air. The past couple years at SEMA had been good, but it did not have that “WOW” factor, maybe it had something to do with a harsh economy or whatever. This year there were so many manufacture builds that they overflowed into the outside parking and show areas, and not just slapped together garage builds, we saw a lot of quality built vehicles. There was also a continued growth...

The Scion FRS Sports Heritage Photography by Nelson Queralta The Scion FRS has a great sports heritage going all the way back to 1965. They took no shortcut to continue that heritage with the release of the rear wheel drive Scion FRS.   We were able to get our hands on one recently equipped with ISS Forged wheels and wasted no time getting it into the studio. I really do like the lines of the car and the weight and balance truly make this a really fun car to drive. With a plethora of aftermarket companies already offering parts for the FRS, we are really excited to see what other tuners will build for this year’s SEMA...

SEMA 2011 | Part 2 The Outdoor Show Photography by Chris Cruz The thing about SEMA is that it is so grand in scale, that it is at times hard to ingest. Not only does it consume all three structures of the Las Vegas convention center, but it also claims the two large exterior parking lots adjacent to the two main halls. It’s this exterior section that has a collection of consumer show cars, mixed in with shop cars, mixed in with the famous motorsports exhibition section. While walking through these areas you sometimes find it unbelievable that these cars are not in the convention center. So here is a look at what could be found...

SEMA 2011 | Part 1 Some whips, but mostley hips. Photography by Michael Alvarado What can be said about SEMA? By definition it is an industry trade show founded in 1963 by a group of guys that loved building cars; Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr. They called it the Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association aka SEMA. In 1970 it was changed to Specialty Equipment Market Association, still retaining the SEMA acronym. Since its conception it now consists of over 6500 companies worldwide. While originally it is designed to be a week of networking...