"Vegas,
baby! Vegas!" - Vince Vaughn in the
movie, Swingers
I began repeating
this line some time in August when we booked our plane tickets
and hotel room for the SEMA Show and International Tire Expo
(ITE). If you're unfamiliar with the SEMA Show, here's the scoop.
SEMA is the Specialty Equipment Market Association, who's purpose
is to bring together manufacturers, dealers, shops and anyone
else in the aftermarket car and truck industry.
Each
year, SEMA holds their big show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show
is open only to members of SEMA and to the press (ROCKCRAWLER.com
is both). This year's show had over 6,000 product displays
from over 1,300 vendors and filled the entire Convention Center,
plus 2 extra tent-buildings and a parking lot. In addition, there
were cars and trucks on display across the street at The Beach
and a hot rod show at the Hard Rock Cafe.
The
big attraction of the SEMA show is that just about every manufacturer
you can think of has a booth there. This is the big show of the
year for vendors to show off their new products for the coming
year. If you miss SEMA, you could be in big trouble!
The
show is not just for off-roaders. Oh no! There were tons of Ford
Focuses (Focusi?), PT Cruisers, monster trucks, low-rider import
cars and even Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Saleen supercars. But
we went for the trucks!
We
visited for three of the four days of the show and walked the
booths from 7 or 8am each day until the 5pm closing. By the end
of day one, our feet hurt...a lot. By day two, everything hurt.
By day three, we could no longer remember who we spoke to on day
one and could barely even stand up and see straight! But, we pushed
on!
Follow
along as we show you what we saw at the show. Enjoy!
4x4's
and Off-Road Vehicles
New Products
Booths
Show Trucks
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