The challenges of SEMA

When you wander through hundreds of modded-to-the-hilt cars here, it's easy to lose track that each car represents (at the very least) many, many hours of work and plenty of money. Companies, large and small, put their reputations on the line with each appearance, and next year's business can be impacted by the perceived quality of their work and the booth traffic they attract. Most of the time, show goers simply enjoy a collection of impressive cars and enjoy the event. But sometimes trouble crops up.

Take the case of a modified Hyundai Tiburon brought to Vegas by "Dreamz In Motion" (an outfit out of Virginia that calls itself a "premiere automotive customization and detailing shop"). The company brought the Tiburon to compete in the Car Audio and Electronics magazine audio system judging. Parked in the corner, the front fascia of the car has a nasty gash and a damaged carbon-fiber hood. Under the open hood is a sign "Ouch! Damaged by transport company." Take a step back and think about it: this shop put lots of time and effort into this car, but it's unlikely that you'd drive such a show car like this to Vegas from their shop. They could have towed it, but that takes time and money. So, that introduces a transit company into the equation. Whether the accusation is true or not, this company's moment in the spotlight has been blighted because of Murphy's Law.

Or consider the Ford F-450 I stood next to during the Ford press conference. It towered above me; luckily I could look through the open side window to see the press conference in a monitor overhead. Unfortunately, there was the unmistakable smell of electrical smoldering from somewhere underneath the truck. A handler rushed over to find the source of the odor, but given that almost every part of the truck was modified with lots of new electronics, where do you start? He yanked an A/C plug that ran up into the truck, which seemed to solve the problem.

As for false alarms, we saw smoke coming from the back of a highly modified Pontiac G6 convertible, too, but that was stage smoke coming out of the tail pipes. Of course, if your car puffed blue smoke in real life, you'd probably be burning a lot of oil...

So, like any show, putting all of this together isn't easy. And, a good display often includes smoke and mirrors.

—Tom Mutchler

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