SEMA 2024’s Finest At The Toyo Treadpass

November 16, 2024

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For years, Toyo Tire’s Treadpass has been home to some of SEMA’s most jaw-dropping builds. This year’s display was no different.

Many are calling the 2024 SEMA Show the event’s most impressive in years – thanks in no small part to the variety of cars on display and, generally speaking, the quality. The Treadpass is consistently where SEMA’s highest-calibre builds come to life.

If you’re the type to point and exclaim, “CARBON FIBAHH,” then Garage Active’s BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R will be right up your street. Following their hit BNR32 GT-R from SEMA 2021, this new build takes the same formula and elevates it with thoughtful touches, both inside and out.

A gorgeous candy-red clear coat tints the carbon weave, fading to a natural clear at the rear. The engine bay features matching candy red paint, while the RB26 is coated in matte black to complement the aggressively wide three-piece wheels.

Inside, Porsche influences come through in the form of Recaro Sportster CS seats with houndstooth cushions paired with light tan leather trim on the bolsters and throughout the cabin.

Even wilder than the Skyline is Bisi Ezerioha’s latest creation: a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow restomod, or ‘electromod’ as some call them. From the outside, it might seem like a typical SoCal restomod, complete with a pastel chalk finish and Tiffany blue interior on oversized wheels.

But under the skin, Bisimoto has transformed this old Roller with an AC induction motor and dual battery packs. All told the powertrain is good for out 639hp – quite the leap from the 189hp 6.75-litre V8 it had when it left the Goodwood factory in 1974.

Cam Cocalis’s tubular-chassis E30 has taken social media by storm, following up on his last SEMA build – a Scion FRS with a crazy amount of custom fabrication – that earned him wide recognition at the age of just 21.

The Live To Offend (LTO) widebody kitted cabrio body wraps around a mostly custom tube-frame chassis with C6 Chevrolet Corvette pickup points and suspension, while power comes from a Texas Speed 427ci LS V8. A Wilwood pedal box, more Recaro houndstooth Pole Positions, rear-mounted CSF Race radiator, and Work Meister M1 split rims add to a very impressive build.

Moontech Japan’s LS1-swapped, Air Lift Performance air suspension-equipped E36 has a similar vibe, though with a distinctly different approach. At first glance, with the bonnet on, it looks like a classic take on a modified BMW.

But with the bonnet off, polished intake trumpets divert your eyes away from the interior retrim, red paint and custom turbofan wheel covers.

Prefer American V8 power in American cars? Rival Machine’s C8 Corvette has you covered, even if it looks like it could break lap records at Tsukuba.

Tucci Hot Rods’ Mustang, on the other hand, features an almighty supercharged Ford Cobra Jet V8 between its strut towers. It’s not all old-school, though, with 3D-printed aerodynamic touches co-designed with a Ford OEM designer.

If the Mustang Fastback from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift upset you, you might want to look away from this RB26-swapped Shelby Cobra. The modern-day, turbocharged six-cylinder powertrain and long bonnet are just the tip of the iceberg in what might be the most audacious Cobra ever built.

While I’m a fan of V8s, of all the cars at the Toyo Treadpass this year, this Cobra is the one I’d love to take for a spin. That turbocharged inline-six howling with the open cockpit? Yes, please!

The ‘Pure’ Bronco does its best to distance itself from its infamous association with OJ’s white Ford SUV with a stunning interior and matching rooftop storage boxes.

Meanwhile, Toyota’s legendary Land Cruiser continues its reputation for rugged reliability and go-anywhere capability.

This one looks ready for adventure, sporting a fully upgraded drivetrain and suspension paired with a modernised interior, all wrapped in its classic body shell.

In contrast to his electric EK build, Rywire’s Ryan Basseri’s EG Honda Civic takes a more restomod approach to the tuner EV swap. We’re planning a full feature on this build, so stay tuned.

Gooichi Motors’s twin-turbo V6-swapped CR-X is a more traditional take on a Honda build. Aggressively styled and uprated to the edge of being a restomod, there’s not much original CR-X left here.

This pair of Porsches push aftermarket car design well into the future, while Miles Works and S-Klub LA’s SL Pagoda and SLR McLaren are extreme examples of 1960s and 2000s Mercedes-Benz design.