SEMA 2010!

TK and Steve manning the California Scooter booth at the 2010 SEMA show

GM had a booth that took up half of one of the exhibit halls, and the Corvette collection was unlike anything I’d ever seen.   I’m a Corvette nut, and these cars are just gorgeous.   Old ones, new ones, concept cars built around the standard Corvette, the Z06 Corvette, the ZR1 models, racing Corvettes, and…well, here…take a look!

GM's carbon concept Z06 Corvette

A rear quarter shot of the carbon concept Z06 Corvette

I’ve got a lot Corvette photos from SEMA, and I’ll just mix it up, throwing in some of the Corvette shots as we progress through this blog.  

Oh, and the SEMA models…well, I’ll add a few photos of the SEMA models here and there, too.

The Barret-Jackson girls

The SEMA show folks fell in love with our bikes, and the new catalog Sandy put together was a winner.  Everyone wanted to get some seat time on a California Scooter and take home a California Scooter catalog.

A SEMA show attendee checking out the black Classic California Scooter

Yellow is a very popular color this year, and we saw various yellow concepts on a lot of cars.   Flat black is in, too.   I’ll show you a photo at the end of a flat black car that’s very, very cool.

Here’s a photo of a yellow racing Corvette… 

A very bright yellow racing Corvette

Flat white is in, too.   Harley has a variation of this color that I think they call Denim White.  Chevy painted a Z06 Corvette in this satiny flat white and the effect was stunning.

Flat white, a color that just works on this Z06

Ah, and this one…a Corvette Stingray from the 1960s (they made the Stingray from 1963 to 1967), completely race prepped.   The colors, the car, the details…this is a magnificent automobile.

A Stingray race car...this car was beyond awesome

Yeah, I took more than a few photos of this Corvette…

Another shot of the Stingray

One of the coolest touches on this car is the leather belt hood tiedowns.   They look almost industrial, and the effect really works…this car is all business!

A tiedown belt detail photo

 So, how about the models?

One of the SEMA show models

I still had a good time.

Here’s another happy SEMA show participant.   Nobody could get on a California Scooter without smiling…

Our new friend from South Africa

Here’s another Corvette…a race car on a trailer…something you might have seen in the early ’60s, while the original Mustangs were still coming off the assembly line in Glendale…

A 1960 Corvette race car

 And check out this early Corvette done up in turquoise and white, just like our California Scooter Beach Cruiser…

A mid-50's Corvette...a car built when the original Mustang motorcycle was being manufactured

There were other cool things in the SEMA show…I think this is what the kids call a Transformer.  Like I said, I think that’s what it is.  Whatever it is, it makes for a cool photo.

A transformer?

Custom cars were all over…there was just so much to see.  I was only at the show for a day, and I would guess I saw maybe a third of the entire show.   I was splitting my time between the California Scooter booth and wandering around taking pictures of cool cars and pretty girls.  It was a great day. 

Take a look at this old Chevy pickup truck…

A beautiful 1950's Chevy pickup

One of the booths featured chrome paint.  I’d never heard of it, but these guys make paint that looks like tinted chrome.   They had an awesome monster truck.   I don’t know which aspect of this vehicle was more fascinating…the green-tint chrome paint, the machine work, the tires, or the graphics…

Wild tires and chrome paint

These folks did up a Suzuki Hayabusa with copper-tinted chome paint, and it worked.  The original Suzuki Hayabusa had a copper color, and this bike was vaguely reminiscent of it.

Steve checking out a chrome painted Hayabusa

I went back to the California Scooter booth…and more folks were checking out your favorite motorcycles.  We saw enormous interest in our bikes from everyone, including a SEMA photographer who came to the show to photograph all the cool stuff on display…

An SEMA event photographer trying out a red Classic

 Full Throttle Videos had a cool display, and Lisa let me take her picture…

Lisa from Full Throttle Videos

Steve spotted this ATV with interesting body work.   It had that chrome paint I mentioned earlier, too.   Pretty wild stuff!

A wild ATV with chrome paint and awesome bodywork

Here’s a car I lusted after when I was a teenager…a 1965 GTO.   Wow.

A 1965 Pontiac GTO convertible

Ford had a dynamite exhibit.   Ford is doing amazingly well, and their stock is continuing to climb.  They had a lot of new and interesting models on display, and Mustangs were all over the place (Mustang cars, that is…not Mustang motorcycles).  

Here’s a shot I grabbed of the grill on a custom F-350 truck…

Steve and yours truly

I was surprised to see just how popular yellow is…there were a lot of customs, factory concept cars, and accessories with metalflake yellow, pearlescent yellow, solid yellow, and various shades of yellow.   There was a Saleen Mustang at the SEMA show with a yellow paint job that was probably the prettiest color I’ve ever seen.   And here’s a custom yellow NSX Acura.   The car, guys…look at the car…

That's an awesome yellow paint job on the car in the background

There were lots of interesting details, too.   I took a lot of photos, but there are just too many to put on the blog.  I especially liked this Mustang emblem…

An interesting Mustang grill emblem treatment

A Mustang pool table

This very cool Caddy was just around the corner from our California Scooter booth.  I was lucky, because we got there early and I could get photos before a lot of people entered the show.   By mid-morning, the place was packed.

A Cadillac not too far from our California Scooter booth

One of the prettiest cars at the 2010 SEMA show was this 1963 Impala convertible, complete with a 409 (the biggest engine Chevy offered that year).  There was a black ’63 409 hardtop right next to it, too.

A 1963 409 Chevy Impala convertible

Robert and his wife Dorothea were particulary taken with our bikes.   We greatly enjoyed our time with them and all of the other great people who stopped by our California Scooter booth.

Our new friend Robert on a blue Classic

Dorothea, the sharp-shooting Mustang collector

These are the Ford girls.   They were happy to pose for me.  I reminded them of their dads.

The Ford ladies

As I mentioned above, the Ford exhibit was pretty cool.  Ford really has its act together, and it’s great to see an American car company showing the rest of the world how to do things right.  It’s how things should be.

The Las Vegas Speedway had a booth right around the corner from ours.  They made fresh chocolate chip cookies, and I spent a lot of time over there because of that.   Monique let me grab a shot while I was there.

Monique, one of the models in a neighboring booth

There were a lot of people from other countries at the SEMA show.   We had visitors in our booth from South Africa, Lebanon, Australia, several European nations, and Mexico.  Alfonso from Mexico likes our bikes a lot…

Alfonso, from Sinaloa, Mexico, checking out our bikes

My last shot of the day was a flat black CL455 AMG Mercedes.   DPE Engineering in Irvine does this work (www.DPEWheels.com), and Manu, the owner, told me a bit about it.  It costs about $15K to do car in flat black like this.  The overall effect was visually arresting.   This is one fine-looking automobile.   I’d still rather have the Greaser (and I’ll bet you would, too), but the Mercedes would look nice parked next to it.

Two classics...a California Scooter, and a 100K Mercedes with a matching paint job

I had a little fun pushing our Greaser over from our booth for the shot above.   One of the SEMA guys came running over because he thought I was stealing the bike.  I’ve heard of the old expression “ride it like you stole it,” but I didn’t even have the engine running!  Once the SEMA guy saw my California Scooter shirt, he was okay.   It was pretty funny.

SEMA was great, and I had a great time with TK and Steve seeing beautiful cars, meeting folks interested in California Scooters, taking lots of photos, and just enyoying the excitement of being in Vegas.   

Our booth was great.  We have a new booth design (you can see it behind the guys on the California Scooters in the photos above).  Sandy created the new design and the booth’s photo montage, and she did a wonderful job.   Many of the folks who visited us complimented Sandy’s work.   I’ve been to a lot of shows in a lot of different industries, and I think the California Scooter booth is the slickest I’ve ever seen.  I like it.  A lot.

I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes, they actually pay me to take photos like the ones above.   I could tell you my standard line (you know, the one about this being a tough job and somebody has to do it), but I won’t lie to you.  Sometimes even I can’t believe my luck in landing this gig.

And there’s lots more coming up.  Like I said, tomorrow we’re off to the Griffith Park Sidecar Rally, where we’ll get to see very cool motorcycles, mingle with industry giants like Doug Bingham, and show our bikes to a lot of fine people just like you.   And then in two weeks, Sylvain’s piloting the Land Speed Record California Scooter in our quest to set the new 150cc world speed record.   

We’ll share it all with you.  Right here.