Wrapping up on a high note
After our second day walking the SEMA show floor in awe, we boldly declared that this year’s show is among the best we’ve attended in years, and our third and final day on the ground confirmed it. Narrowing down a list of the best cars for this rundown proved difficult, with the quality of the stuff on display being so high as to justify a group magnitudes larger. We’ll come right out and say it: We’d have included every single one of our top picks, but then it wouldn’t exactly be a “best of” roundup, now would it? So without further ado, these are our favorites, and, yes, we did realize that they’re all painted varying shades of green, beige, and gray. But don’t let those earth tones fool you, because these rides shine bright.
1946 Willys CJ-2A Dual Dually
Stroll through the narrow corridors snaking through the Las Vegas convention center during the SEMA aftermarket show, eyes closed, and the first thing you crash into—outside of another person—would very likely be a Jeep. In most cases, it would be a modern, lifted Wrangler, but this decidedly different Jeep was in attendance this year.
1946 Willys CJ-2A Dual Dually
Yes, those are dual dually axles—that's eight tires in all!—and a host of period-correct farm equipment.
1946 Willys CJ-2A Dual Dually
Of course, the modifications are all period bits that would have been fitted to a hard-working Jeep serving time on a postwar American farm.
1946 Willys CJ-2A Dual Dually
The Newgren buzzsaw hanging off the Jeep's tail, the gnarly K&K mowing arm fitted next to the driver, power-take-offs front and rear, Ramsey winch, a Newgren three-point hydraulic rear-axle lift, Westinghouse underhood air compressor, Canfield Wrecker arm, passenger-seat-mounted GE welder (not currently fitted), and a period front dually axle conversion (essentially an extended hub adapter that fits two wheels per side) are all period-correct, farm-ready modifications.
Craftsman 1913 Ford Speedster Twin-T
If you've never heard of The Race of Gentlemen, you're missing out. It's a race on the New Jersey shoreline involving early vintage (pre-1934) cars. Toolmaker Craftsman teamed up with series organizers to build what it dubbed "the Craftsman racer." We liked it.
Craftsman 1913 Ford Speedster Twin-T
Built on a burlier-than-T Ford Model TT chassis and designed to resemble a Ford 999 race car, Craftsman's creation boasts not one but two Model T engines, arranged in series.
Craftsman 1913 Ford Speedster Twin-T
There is no firewall between the driver and the engines. On second thought, there's no anything between the driver and, well, anything.
Craftsman 1913 Ford Speedster Twin-T
A small perch allegedly holds the driver. We imagine the steering wheel also is something worth holding onto.
Craftsman 1913 Ford Speedster Twin-T
Two engines must produce a ton of power, right? Not exactly, even rigged together at the crankshaft, the two Model T engines are said to muster only around 80 horsepower.
Craftsman 1913 Ford Speedster Twin-T
The detailing of Craftsman's Speedster is highlighted by this wrench-head hood ornament. Fantastic.
1978 Jeep J-10 Pickup with Levi's Interior Package
From the same collection that brought the farm Willys CJ-2A to SEMA comes another impeccable—and even more original—classic Jeep. This J-10 ticks all of our boxes, namely the boxes labeled "Jeep" and "pickup."
1978 Jeep J-10 Pickup with Levi's Interior Package
Believe it or not, but this truck, a 1978 model, still wears its original paint and its odometer displays fewer than 3000 miles. Like the CJ-2A, it also fully runs and drives.
1978 Jeep J-10 Pickup with Levi's Interior Package
Purchased from its original owner, the J-10 still has its original front brush-guard and light-bar options.
1978 Jeep J-10 Pickup with Levi's Interior Package
But the real treat lies within.
1978 Jeep J-10 Pickup with Levi's Interior Package
Color me blue! The Jeep was ordered with the incredibly ’70s Levi's fabric interior option, which slathered the door panels and seats in actual Levi's denim. With a three-speed automatic, a 360-cubic-inch V-8, and that bench seat, this J-10 is the perfect classic Jeep pickup. The only way it could be better is with our name on the title.
Valyrian Steel
Fans of Game of Thrones will immediately get this car's tongue-in-cheek name: "Valyrian Steel." It's a reference to a mighty form of steel forged in . . . oh, whatever. This wild chromed beast was built for Burning Man.
Valyrian Steel
Makes sense, doesn't it, that such a thing would be destined to roam the dusty desert at the annual Burning Man festival?
Valyrian Steel
According to the placard sitting next to Valyrian Steel—what, no elder scroll?—it took the builders more than 2000 hours of work to complete, and it's not even technically finished yet.
Valyrian Steel
Unlike any vehicle known to the characters of Game of Thrones, the Valyrian Steel is powered by a Ford 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 (the same engine powers the Mustang GT), but given all the steel, it's described as being not particularly quick.
Valyrian Steel
This contraption is a hand-operated assortment of gears that, when spun around, apparently makes plain that it was inspired by "differentials, planetary gears, and mechanical watch tourbillons." Also, it probably looks pretty epic when viewed by anyone in possession of hallucinogens.
Valyrian Steel
All joking aside, the Valyrian Steel is a triumph of fabrication, sheer scale, and hallucinogens.
Valyrian Steel
Inboard rear disc brakes? What is this, Le Mans? The enlightened partiers at Burning Man might find such nods to vehicular excess too square. Better to stop this thing Flintstones style: Feet through the floor, heels dug into the earth!
Valyrian Steel
It is, to put a point on things, so very gnarly.
1965 Ford Mustang "Espionage"
At risk of sounding unappreciative, we must acknowledge that, much like jorts, camouflage baseball caps, and way, way, way too many people, Wisconsin-based Ringbrothers are an annual staple at the SEMA show. Unlike the other items, this is a very good thing, for the shop turns out ever-more-glorious customs, and this year's '65 Mustang "Espionage" creation is no different.
1965 Ford Mustang "Espionage"
This special Mustang's name is derived from its impossibly rich Spy Green paint color. Oh, and it's probably worth mentioning that although the underlying frame and body structure was plucked from a factory 1965 Ford Mustang, everything else is carbon fiber, from the roof down to the rocker panels. (In fact, the very same goodies can be purchased in kit form from Ringbrothers for your own project.) The body is four inches wider than stock, and it's festooned with various billet-aluminum trim pieces that Ringbrothers also sells.
1965 Ford Mustang "Espionage"
Being nearly entirely custom inside and out, the Espionage impresses with its attention to detail, from the reimagined cabin with its retro Recaro seats, machined-aluminum trim, and Momo steering wheel to little exterior flourishes such as the retro-styled carbon-fiber door mirror and the fuel cap located on the C-pillar.
1965 Ford Mustang "Espionage"
Under the hood—and this may surprise some folks—sits a 959-hp 427-cubic-inch, Whipple-supercharged GM LS7 motor feeding power to a Ford 9-inch rear end via a six-speed manual transmission. Wait, a Chevy engine in a Ford? You read that sentence and the world didn't explode!
1965 Ford Mustang "Espionage"
Premium fuel for a premium custom. If you can believe it, this wasn't the only 1965 Mustang Ringbrothers displayed at SEMA this year—the other, very nearly worthy of a "best of" mention itself—stays true Ford blue and packs 427 cubic inches of Blue Oval power.
1946 Ford 1/2-ton Pickup by Hagerty Insurance
Not too long ago, we wrote about what it's like to attend the Hershey classic-car and parts swap meet in Pennsylvania. For that event, classic-car insurer Hagerty dragged a derelict Ford pickup from a field in Michigan and shipped it to Hershey. It then spent the entirety of the weeklong meet sourcing the parts necessary from Hershey vendors and installing them on-site to get it running and driving—and then they drove the Ford back to company headquarters in Traverse City, Michigan.
1946 Ford 1/2-ton Pickup by Hagerty Insurance
Found without an engine and "buried six inches in the soil," according to Hagerty, the Ford somehow escaped the typical fate of any car left to Michigan's harsh elements and wasn't a total basket case. The original license plate gave us Michiganders many feels.
1946 Ford 1/2-ton Pickup by Hagerty Insurance
But the truck has more to its story, as evidenced by its presence at SEMA.
1946 Ford 1/2-ton Pickup by Hagerty Insurance
Once the small team dedicated to the truck (about five people in all) found an engine, fabricated a few missing pieces, and sourced a bevy of parts from Hershey's field of treasures, and drove the truck back to Michigan, they decided the truck had another trip in its future. So the team went ahead and drove the old Ford thousands of miles to SEMA. Merriam-Webster may need to add Hagerty to the official definition of "bad-ass." We figure it's time we quit occasionally whining about how much walking we do at SEMA.
1946 Ford 1/2-ton Pickup by Hagerty Insurance
The patina on the truck is incredible, and unlike that on some of the carefully aged "rat rods" on display elsewhere in the Las Vegas convention center, the scarring is real.
1946 Ford 1/2-ton Pickup by Hagerty Insurance
Suddenly, our low-buck Vegas hotel looks way, way more deluxe.
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