ROCKIN' at SEMA '07 (part two: muscle, plus)

(above) Pontiac Solstice SD-290 the concept . . .a cool track racer

(above) the Camaro "Bumblebee"
(above) Pratt & Miller Corvette C6RS
a 600 hp ethanol-fed roadburner, fabricated for Jay Leno
(above and several below) way kool MOPAR!

(above and two below) sophisticated plumbing was very much in evidence . . .

(above and below) . . . as were beautiful vintage cars

and state-of-the-art sound modifications

(above) an homage to Funkmaster Flex?

(above and below) people were climbing all over this bad boy,

hour after hour. A Freightliner impersonating a Mack Jr.?

(that's historical inside knowledge, heh heh)

(two above) I just loved this GMC sport pick-up.

When I came back to it later in the day, a tailgatin' grill had been added

(above and below) BIG AIR EVERYWHERE!

(The photo above was shot at dusk, that's why it's a bit blurry)

(above) sticking heads in wheel wells was part of the fun de jour

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Love cars . . . love the SEMA show. That's the way it rolls. As Joe Guy Collier noted in the Detroit Free Press, "where else can you see a Cadillac with a snakeskin print interior, a Bentley with a set of $1 million diamond-studded wheels, or a six-wheel-drive Ford F-650 with gull-wing doors?"

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Sales of specialty equipment (SEMA stands for Specialty Equipment Market Association) hit $37.7 billion in 2006, up 37 percent from five years ago, according to SEMA estimates. GM, Ford, and Chrysler have seen accessory sales grow at double-digit rates in recent years, with projections of much more growth ahead.

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So when you wander the three enormous display halls, and eyeball all the fantastic here-and-now as well as the almost un-imagined future, your head can barely take it all in.

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Lots of course stood out for me, but here are two cars in particular. The first is the Pontiac Solstice SD-290 concept vehicle, made over for SEMA by GM's own design team to look like a cool track racer. Niiiiiiice! Parked close by was Jay Leno's Corvette C6RS, created by Pratt & Miller Engineering. According to www.speedtv.com, "the beauty of this 8.2 liter, 600-horsepower road-burner is that it can run on mushed sweetcorn, better known as E85 ethanol. 'I love the idea of having 600 horsepower at my disposal, but using a home--grown alternative to gasoline,' Leno told the press and the crush of onlookers.

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"The C6RS," continued speed.tv, "features a stunning carbon fiber body pretty much identical to P&M's five-time Le Mans-winning Corvette Racing C6.R GT machine. As for wheels--a vital ingredient for any car being shown at SEMA--it rolls on center-locking black chrome forged alloy BBS rims covering massive, pizza-sized Brembo rotors. The black paintwork on the show car was so deep and rich it could double as a shaving mirror."

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As Kurt Vonnegut would say, "and so it goes." Eye-poppers all around, inside and outside the halls. Next blog, I'll show you the 510 hp V10 Lambo-Mustang designed by ROCKIN's dust jacket illustrator, Darrell Mayabb. It is a hottie. Stay tuned.