The SEMA Show is a HUGE annual automotive trade show that we were very excited to attend. Anyone who’s anyone in the automotive world goes to SEMA to showcase their products and latest builds. It’s not open to the public, so you have to be in the industry to attend. People come from all over the world for this show. Even before we ever realistically thought about going, Tim has said he’s wanted to go. Coincidentally, we were going to be in Las Vegas for Lumilor training around the time of the show, so we made sure to get tickets.

Tim and I at the Chevy booth at SEMA

There is so much to see at the SEMA Show. It’s massive. There are four huge buildings with exhibitor booths, and a large outdoor area as well, for exhibitors and events such as drift racing. It is true; SEMA is basically Disneyland for car enthusiasts. It’s so exciting and there is no shortage of awesome things to check out.

Every car, truck and motorcycle there is on another level! Since it’s such a big deal for businesses to be showcased at SEMA, every car you see is damn near perfect. We loved seeing all these builds done so well. Everything from the motors to the paint schemes were insanely on point.

Counts Kustoms car at the Valspar booth at SEMA

Tim is a perfectionist when it comes to cars, especially the body work and paint. He can  look down the side of any car and point out every tiny wave or flaw in the body work. So needless to say, he appreciated how flawless many of these cars were.

Chromalusion color changing paint on a flawless body

The entire front of the Las Vegas Convention Center was reserved for exhibitors, cool cars, and a race track for drift racing and other fun events.

SEMA outdoors

You definitely see the best products and most outrageous builds at SEMA. This little car had Swarovski crystals that were hand placed on every inch of the car!

Swarovski crystals!

There were various demonstrations going on all the time, like car unveilings, product testings and motor builds. Vendors are able to showcase their products by showing a crowd how well they work. We watched a cool new dent removal product demonstration that might come in handy, and a couple different engine builds, such as the one in the picture below. There was also another motor build demonstration that involved three teams competing to put together an engine in the fastest time that was pretty cool.

Engine build demonstration at SEMA

And the engines. Oh, the engines. You know everyone at SEMA is competing for more power under those hoods.

Wow. Just wow.

Of course, all the custom paint companies were there, so we got to speak to a few vendors. It’s cool seeing all the different colors lined up at these booths. It’s a nice visual of all the different possibilities we have for paint! We can add a flattening agent to any color to give it the flat matte look, we can add all kinds of metal flake (different colors and sizes) to make a paint job sparkle or full on glitter, and there is almost every shade imaginable!

Tim puts up with my constant picture taking

One of the cars we were most excited for was the 2016 Chevy Camaro Krypton, a new concept car that showcased Lumilor electroluminescent paint in the bowtie logos shown cascading down the sides. Whenever we were at the Camaro, there were people gathered around, looking at the flashing bowties and asking questions about how they did that.

Lumilor is such a new product. Many people didn’t automatically know it was the actual paint that was lighting up. We spoke to a few people and told them that it was a paint called Lumilor that had a real electric charge, and they were all blown away. It’s really impressive stuff. Since TD Customs is now a Certified Lumilor Lab, we can make your electroluminescent painted dreams come to life too!

Another great part of SEMA was the educational seminars they had. Every day, they had different classes available for attendees, all related to the automotive industry. I attended quite a few on marketing, social media, SEO, and even a fun one on not overpaying on our taxes! They were all really beneficial. My favorite was a social media seminar with speaker, Dave Carroll, the man behind the viral video, ‘United Breaks Guitars‘, who spoke on the power and potential social media has in giving people a voice.

Great speaker – Dave Carroll from the viral video, ‘United Breaks Guitars’

On the last day at SEMA, we walked by a booth just as they were collecting business cards for a raffle. They were raffling off famous pinstriper Von Hotrod’s custom built lamp, so Tim put a business card in, and actually won! He met Von Hotrod, was recorded for something televised that we can’t find, and got to take home the lamp! It’s pretty heavy, so it wasn’t the easiest thing to walk out of SEMA with, but now it’s in the front office of the shop and looks great.

We have so many pictures from the SEMA Show! Every time we walked by another booth, there was another amazing thing we had to take a picture of. A celebrity edition blog of our SEMA experience may be forthcoming because we got to meet a lot of cool people! Follow our blog to make sure you don’t miss it. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too!

TD Customs specializes in full custom paint and auto restoration services. Need an overhaul done on your car or truck, and want it looking SEMA-worthy? Bring it to TD Customs, where we can absolutely turn your ride into a flawless show car. Contact us for a quote today!