My Walk This Morning: SEMA 2011

Posted by Mark Williams | November 1, 2011

My walk from my hotel room to the media center this morning took me through the heart of the project truck displays. Thankfully, there was no one around at 7:00 AM the night after a crazy Holloween (not sure any place really does Holloween like Las Vegas). Needless to say I had to stop and gawk a few times. Here's just a quick sample.

Kelderman's big-truck air suspensions have been a staple at SEMA for over a decade, turning full-size pickup trucks into monster trucks with their custom heavy-duty link/bag setups. We love the big-rig stacks on this Duramax.

This Jeep Wrangler was converted into a small pickup with Mopar's JK8 kit. The team at Red Jacket Firearms (the stars of the new Discovery Channel show called Sons of Guns), designed the vehicle to accomodate both a machine gun and a cannon that mounts in the bed.

Some of our favorite truck conversions and projects of all time are founded on the International CXT and MXT medium-duty pickups; they tend to make the perfect platform for anyone wanting to build the nastiest stump-puller around.

Some of you may remember "Big Job" from last year, but it's worth another look. This truck is tagged as a Ford F-750 but underneath its actually a late-model Chevy chassis cab HD dually. As near as we could tell, the carpeting around the truck was a coincendence.

The first press conference of the day went to the SEMA organizers as they awarded their Hottest Truck honors to the Ford F-Series. Ford won the award last year as well, the first time they gave out the award. SEMA presents a trophy to the vehicle that is best (numberically) respresented throughout the show.

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Comments

always said get a ford for the radio not for is performance..

Posted by: miath | Nov 1, 2011 7:17:35 PM

Not much for practical or everyday truck stuff but some of the better eye candy i have seen today.

Posted by: CHAD | Nov 1, 2011 7:26:08 PM

Arousing...

Posted by: UncleBud | Nov 1, 2011 7:44:09 PM

real fine looking chevrolet at the top there

Posted by: oxi | Nov 1, 2011 8:44:55 PM

@Mark:
How about having a drawing next year to take a couple of PickupTrucks.com readers with you to SEMA. Would be good for the Makers and Manufacturers to see the end users. And good for PUTC to visit with the readers.

Posted by: Johnny | Nov 1, 2011 10:01:28 PM

The Chevy makes me think of this......
http://youtu.be/JCfgx_krIo0

Posted by: DGLR | Nov 1, 2011 10:59:27 PM

Ford F-750 with a Chevy chassis cab HD dually, yeah the ford boys know where its at even if they don't want to admit to it

Posted by: chevy guy | Nov 1, 2011 11:21:54 PM

DGLR that was build by Bigfoot.

Posted by: Fred G | Nov 1, 2011 11:32:05 PM

The Ford F-Series the "hottest truck"!?... Can someone please replace these morons with someone who isn't biased.

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Posted by: Bob | Nov 2, 2011 12:49:46 AM

So basically a truck that hasn't changed AT ALL since 2004 won the "Hottest truck" Award?... WHAT A BUNCH OF BULL-CRAP!

Posted by: Nick-Toons | Nov 2, 2011 1:04:50 AM

@Bob
@Nick-Toons

The hottest truck award is given to the truck that is the best numerically represented truck AT THE SHOW!!! Tell GM to have more vendors rep their trucks. Read the article you idiots. Also, @Nick-Toons the F-150 was redesigned in '09 and given a new engine line-up this year. How has it not changed since '04?

Posted by: WhOUbU | Nov 2, 2011 1:49:28 AM

think nick toons means as in body wise all they have done is change the look of the headlights and added a lip to the tailgate other then that same look since 2004 oh and added a super duty lookin dash other then that looks the same as a 2004

Posted by: chevy guy | Nov 2, 2011 6:06:07 AM

@Bob

You are such a moron....How do even dress yourself in the morning?

Posted by: Nate.M | Nov 2, 2011 6:18:35 AM

@Bob this definitely proves you are not a great reader

Posted by: Zach | Nov 2, 2011 8:31:59 AM

@Mark Williams - Keep the pic's coming! You are our eyes out there and we love eye candy!

Posted by: toycrusher84 | Nov 2, 2011 8:53:47 AM

Chevy's don't look as good lifted as other trucks.

Posted by: Scott | Nov 2, 2011 9:13:07 AM

The top 2 pics. of the Duramax is a POSER!

Really, how much lower can you set your air pressure with that POSER tire/wheel combo to off-road with?

The spare tire takes up almost the entire bed and where are the recovery points?

Also max your ground clearance out, not place traction bars lower and love those rear lower shock mounts...

The Jeep looks good and is ready for off-roading!

The International may look impressive but it is no match to the fully independent suspended MTVR the Marines use in battle!

Also until it competes in the Dakar off-road race and can actually compete against the Russian Kamaz trucks, it will not get much respect...

Posted by: oxi | Nov 2, 2011 9:58:51 AM

@oxi - Your missing the point of the Duramax. It's not meant for rock climbing or tight mountain trails. It's meant for looking awesome!

You can be it will handle some mud and sand. It will get you across the ranch. It can cross flooded roads, AND IT HAS RECOVERY POINTS ALL OVER! Not to mention the winch.

Posted by: toycrusher84 | Nov 2, 2011 10:25:48 AM

And the International... How much more respect do you want? Look at that thing! Just imagine how you would feel in Corolla when this thing rolls up next to you at a stop light?

Posted by: toycrusher84 | Nov 2, 2011 10:38:16 AM

Stupid toys. Where are some real trucks?

Posted by: Living Farmville, Not Playing It | Nov 2, 2011 10:54:39 AM

I wonder if the International has a forward facing camera like the raptor? Except, instead of being used off-road I think it would be mandatory for negotiating pavement. A school bus could probably hide in that front blind spot!

Posted by: toycrusher84 | Nov 2, 2011 11:04:44 AM

That must be why Ford is still number 1!

Posted by: SR | Nov 2, 2011 11:37:50 AM

The Duramax would def get the most girls. that number goes up by a factor of 3 it I was driving it.

Posted by: ED EDSON | Nov 2, 2011 12:42:07 PM

I'd love to own an International CXT. I grew up around heavy equipment. It would be able to handle larger rubber than a 1 ton pickup because it is a class 7 truck to begin with. I've seen one MXT and one CXT. Both trucks are really impressive vehicles.
@Oxi -
1.International makes military grade vehicles as well.
2. Crawl under that Jeep and you'll find solid axles.
3.That Chevy you whined about is a rolling billboard for the company who made it. Wow, look at me, is its purpose.
DUH!
You don't advertise with a plain truck.
At Sema you need to stand out from the crowd.

Posted by: Lou | Nov 2, 2011 1:29:49 PM

I hate to break it to you, but Red Jacket Firearms had NOTHING to do with building that Jeep JK8. It was a collaboration between http://www.motorcityrodshop.com and http://www.vvwerks.com . The vehicle is being given to Will because he is a big fan of Jeeps. The only thing the mount in the bed is for is a T-Shirt cannon. No machine guns. No real cannons.

Posted by: thomp237 | Nov 2, 2011 2:27:08 PM

@thomp237 Good catch. You are exactly correct and we ended up learning the same thing. However, we did find another pretty cool Wrangler with a 50-caliber roof-mount with a few 240 Gulf inside as well. Coming soon.

Posted by: Mark Williams | Nov 2, 2011 4:33:55 PM

Goes to show what the aftermarket companies and customizers feel is the best pickup to showcase their products -the unbeatable Ford F-Series!

People who know, buy Fords!

Posted by: Buy American Or Say Bye To America! | Nov 2, 2011 11:45:34 PM

Ford #1 in sales, and #1 at SEMA.
Ram #1 at Wallmart
GMC #1 at discount bulk retailers
Toyota #1 at ????????????????? I'm loozing my menory, I don't recall......... hay thats it, recall.

Posted by: Mr_Ed | Nov 3, 2011 12:04:02 AM

Mr_Ed-

Nice!

Posted by: Buy American Or Say Bye To America! | Nov 3, 2011 12:43:59 AM

Nate.M - I think Bob's chef dresses him every morning.

Posted by: Lou | Nov 3, 2011 4:46:25 PM

man the 4th pic down. the huge international cxt truck blue on top silver on bottom,who painted that is bad

Posted by: mike | Nov 5, 2011 8:27:57 PM

Note how the International has a solid-front axle. The only kind of axle that is durable enough for heavy-duty work. No wussie I.F.S.

Posted by: Buy American Or Say Bye To America! | Nov 5, 2011 9:20:49 PM

To all who liked the cxt: Thank you for the comments of support, I know there are haters out there and thats what keeps me sending paintwork to SEMA and they just look to attend and take pics of my art work..hahahaha...just for those who are intrested, after the SEMA show, we landed 5 photo shoots in major magazines and a movie deal....TO THE HATERS: where is your magazine layout? your movie deal?...sucks dont it?...HAHAHAHAHAHA.... check us out at:

www.americanclassicsautopaint.com

Posted by: steve | Nov 12, 2011 6:39:38 PM