SEMA 2006 - The Best and All The Rest - 1320Drag.net
 

Las Vegas is known for gambling and partying, but what do people talk about most when they get home, the buffets. The SEMA show is as close to an automotive buffet you are going to find. There is everything you could possibly imagine laid out nicely in front of you for you to enjoy. We had a really tough time narrowing down the best of the best to show all our readers, we even had a tough time narrowing down categories. So here are the things we think you would most like to see. For the truly gluttonous, and we would include ourselves in this category, once you get past the best of, we have posted just about every picture we took worth seeing.



Best European Compact - Tokico's Audi A3

This was a tough choice even though there were only a few real competitors. This particular Audi was just a very clean example of German hot hatch goodness. It is the type of car you see at a show and think, "Wow of all the cars I have seen in here, that is actually one I would want to drive everyday" To the best of our knowledge it was prepared by Neuspeed for Tokico's booth.

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Best European GT - BBS Wheels's BMW M3

BBS is known for making some of the finest wheels available, so it is no surprise that they would show up with one of the finest cars of the show. This particular BMW M3 was similar to a European M3 CSL. It had the molded in trunk spoiler and the carbon fiber roof panel of the CSL. It also had a custom hood with molded in vents that were unpainted to show their carbon-kevlar construction. The right side of car wore RS-GTs while the left side was fitted with CHs. The interior featured Sparco seats and a roll bar. Seeing this car made us all itch for a little track time.

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Best Sports Car - TC Kline Carbon Coupe

Based on a BMW Z4 M Coupe TC Kline has taken it to a new level of performance. Replacing most of the body panels with Carbon Fiber replacements and flaring the fenders out to cover massive track rubber this was a serious performance machine. The standard Z4 M is no slouch, but shaving a few hundred pounds of any performance car is never a bad thing. The roof panel was replaced with a carbon fiber piece which seems to be what all the fashionable Bimmers are wearing these days, suspension is by Vogtland who also provided the parking spot. This is an impressive car that deserves more attention than we can give it here. Watch for it in an upcoming issue of European Car Magazine.

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Hottest European Street Rod - DuPont's MINI Cooper Woody

We had to create a class just for this car it was done so well. Any one element of this car would be horrible as a single mod, but some reason you get them all together and you get one hot Cooper. The Woody kit is the real thing, not paint or stick on. The ghost flames on the hood and fenders are beautiful. It would almost make me want to do them coming off the headlights, it's just cool. This car was most appropriate for the show given the hot rod/muscle car focus of the show. We don't have any other info on the car, so if you do let us know and we will give credit were it is due.

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Best Modified High End Exotic - Asanti Wheels Lamborghini Murcielago

I have heard people say that one of the downsides of owning a car like a Murcielago is the constant attention it draws, both positive and law enforcement. When you are driving a car like this, you are going to get noticed, so why fight it. I have always been a fan of bright green cars, I don't know why, I just like them. While I could never see myself going this extreme, it does what it was meant to do, turn heads.

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Most Encouraging Move - Volkswagen Returns With More Cool Cars

Like many of you I have been a VW enthusiast for most of my life. I have owned various models over the past fifteen years, and I have had my share of headaches when combining dealer service and aftermarket parts. The folks at Volks are trying to make a comeback for their brand amongst enthusiasts. VW showed two of their own tuned vehicles, the Thunder Bunny and the RGTI and also showed their interest in the aftermarket by giving ABD, APR and WRD cars to tune for SEMA. The Thunder Bunny was also done by Neuspeed, just like the original. Let's hope this ushers in a new era of dealer service and a line of enthusiast cars that will bring back many of the customers VW lost in the past.

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Greatest Collection of Hardware - Michelin Tire

Without a doubt the most impressive collection of European Exotics had to be in Michelin's booth. Just pondering the shear amount of horsepower, performance, exclusivity and monetary value in this one booth is enough to make a proud man weep. I am certain there are island nations in this world that are not as valuable as the collection Michelin showed up with. Right in the center of the booth was the current king of excessive extraordinary exotica, the Bugatti Veyron. Arranged around the thousand horsepower monster were other hyper-exotics from the likes of McLaren, Pagani, Ruf, Koenigsegg, Salleen and Fisker.

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Best Bling Booth - Giovanni Wheels

It Michelin had the lock on performance cars Giovanni definitely took the top honors for bling. Their booth was set up like an exclusive club. You had to enter past a doorman who was actually turning some people away. The entire thing was surrounded by white curtains so the normal SEMA riff-raff could only barely catch a glimpse of who and what was inside. Their collection of cars ranged from Aston Martins, Bentleys and Rolls Royce to Lamborghinis, Porsches and a Mercedes SLR. All cars fitted with giant flashy wheels and gleaming on top of the hardwood floor they installed for the show.

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European Car Web Magazine

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