SEMA 2015: The cult of the car

SEMA is four days of sweet automotive indulgence. It is to cars what Wonka is to chocolate.

Walk the halls and witness America's muscle car culture, and see the annual crop of customs, rat rods and street machines. It is, at the very least, a show of horsepower and personal expression.

Now into its fourth decade, SEMA carries tremendous clout and continues to support small shop owners and the multi-billion dollar aftermarket industry with a loud voice heard within state and federal governments.

At the same time, SEMA preaches the first commandment of car crafting – the right wheels and a new crate motor will transform the old sedan's soul. And there was no shortage of transforming bits this year at Las Vegas last weekend.

Mercury Marine took a long look at Chevrolet's pushrod LS V8 and thought it needed dual overhead cams and a second set of valves. Mercury Motorsport as of this week released DOHC heads for the Chev LS. The topside cams are belt driven and flow considerably more air throughout the entire rev range.

Chevy Performance also hit with the launch of its 350ci ZZ6 Gen I small block crate engine punching out 405hp and 405lb-ft (302kW and 549Nm). Power corrupts absolutely. The ZZ6 is the most powerful Gen 1 crate engine ever offered by GM's go faster division.

Chevrolet Performance unveiled no less than five Camaro concepts including a 1970 split-bumper Camaro armed with the supercharged 6.2-litre straight out of a Z06 Corvette and pounding down 485kW and 880Nm. The Camaro was rebuilt, restored and repowered by a four-man team at Chevy Performance, and the concept is owned by Chevrolet and will take part in the 2016 Hotrod Magazine Power Tour during the US summer.

The Chevy Performance stand at SEMA is huge and each car and each concept on stand is supported by a display of available factory-approved accessories. It is corporate recognition and complete embrace of the owner who wants to create, drive and own something beyond a standard car. Chevy Performance is one of GM's more profitable divisions.

According to GM sources, we'll see the same aftermarket support for Cadillac, and the brand has already planned to bring more than 30 cars and concepts to SEMA next year. The blatant show of brand power is clearly intended to overshadow its competitors at Lexus and BMW, who were on the periphery at this year's SEMA event.

As odd as this may read, it was obvious this year that Ford builders are beginning to return to using Ford engines. For the past decade, the common crate engine choice even for Ford rod owners was the Chevrolet LS engine. Ford has finally turned the tables with its crated Coyote 5.0-litre V8 and finding great form in Mach 1 Mustangs. The Coyote is slightly narrower than the old 4.6-litre V8 which makes it perfectly suited to the XA-XC Falcon. Plus the new Coyote engine lays down a thick power band and spins to 7k.

On that engine note, Roush Performance is expected to deliver its supercharged 500kW variant of the Coyote V8 for Mustang in Australia via a distribution deal with Ford's dealer network. The deal is yet to be confirmed, but it is looking very good.

Vintage Datsuns seemed everywhere this year. Adam Carolla brought his beautifully restored Team Datsun BRE 510 historic racer. A 1967.5 Datsun Fairlady with a healthy turbocharged and stroked 2.2-litre SR20 was parked at Garrett, and at Optima Batteries sat a very cool 1966 Datsun 520 ute with a Mazda MX-5 IRS and 1.6-litre engine with 6-speed manual transmission. The little ute weighs less than 1000kg.

Mazda corporate created its own quick looking concept. The MX-5 Speedster, as a concept, reinforces the MX-5's heritage, 25-year production and its incredibly balanced handling, which has made the MX-5 a favoured car as a weekend racer. The concept may never see a race track but its performance features like front four-piston callipers and cleaved windscreen will.

That's the effect of SEMA. The show, as an extension of the SEMA organisation, works to guarantee through political influence and industry influence that you'll be able to legally modify your car or truck or motorcycle to tailor it to your wants. And this year, it was obvious by the number of concepts that the automakers are seeing accessories as necessities.

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Images: Cristian Brunelli