SEMA

Last week, my work sent me to the AAPEX and SEMA shows in Las Vegas.  Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Weeks, Debbie & Quentin were able to come with me.  I had a great trip, Debbie could have had a better trip, but she still says she had an overall good time.  We left last Wednesday (11/4) morning and flew down to Vegas.  Once we got the rental car, Debbie dropped my coworker and I off at the AAPEX show.  While we walked the show she went through the ordeal of trying to check into the Treasure Island Hotel, and getting bumped to the Trump hotel.  I felt bad I couldn’t do more to help out, but I was “working”.  Fortunately the show closed at 5 and that evening we were able to get out and get dinner, walk around and enjoy having just one boy.

Thursday I again had to work by looking at hundreds of cars and aftermarket parts.  I basically spend two days walking through an auto parts store.  After a little shopping at the outlet mall (which she loved), Debbie had the real work of loading our stuff, checking out of the hotel and then navigating traffic to pick me up at the show. 

Here are highlights of what I saw:

Here’s proof that Shane was ahead of the curve with the Wagoneer.

This isn’t the Batmobile, it’s a Pagani Zonda.  I never thought I would see one of these in real life, but I did and it was cool.

This Mercedes SLR was another car I didn’t think I would see in person, but the show didn’t disappoint.  I don’t even know what company bought this car and put custom wheels on it, but I’m glad it did.  The most expensive booth had to be the one that had 3 Rolls Royce cars, 3 Lamborghini’s, 3 Ferrari’s, 4 Mercedes’, and a Camaro. 

Here is a picture I took of the “Racing” hall.  There was also a Truck/Off-Road hall, a Wheel/Tire hall, and an Electronics hall about this size.  For most people it is a bit excessive, but I enjoyed every minute.

Since my brother(s) got to blog about their cars, I thought I would post a picture of mine. Well maybe I wish it were mine.

At 40” tall, this restored GT40 made me feel tall.  Overall, I took 60 pictures and only scratched the surface of what was on display.  Now if I can only come up with a business reason to come to this show every year.

After my coworker left to catch his flight home, I waited in line to do a lap in a Ford Fiesta and in a Corvette. They were letting anyone drive the Fiestas, but you had to ride shotgun in the Corvette with a racing driver. Lucky for me 2 of the Corvettes were having tire troubles when I got there, so I got to do 2 laps in the Fiesta with a racing instructor who was basically keeping up with the Corvette. I then rode in the Corvette, it was quick but a lot of fun.