First time SEMA

It just so happened that during my weekend in Vegas, the annual SEMA show was being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It’s a trade show for makers of automobile aftermarket parts. Wheels, suspension, interior, car care, you name it. What’s most awesome about the SEMA show are the numerous project vehicles that get built especially for the occasion. It’s the North American version of the Tokyo Auto Salon, heaven for car enthusiasts who like to tinker with their pride and joy.

Sadly, being a trade show, SEMA is not open to the public. Even though it’s the car enthusiast public who are spending money on their cars, the show is catered towards B2B sales. That means the lay person cannot go to Las Vegas to see the awesome cars, unless you know a person already attending (badge sharing is a thing, apparently).

To my surprise, this year’s SEMA show has a Friday component that is open to the public. For a hefty sum of $70 dollars for a ticket, regular ole Joe blow like me can walk the same convention halls as the people in the trade. Serendipitous that I was in Vegas the same weekend, this provided the perfect opportunity to tick the SEMA box off my car enthusiasts bucket list. The Las Vegas Convention Center is easily accessible by the tram from the strip, which is what I took to get there.

It seems a lot of enthusiasts had the same idea: the line to pickup badges was nearly two hours long. I arrived at around 9:30 AM. By the time I had my badge in hand, it was time for lunch already. And the line was still the same size. I felt sorry for those folks as they probably won’t get into the halls until after 2:00 PM. And the show that day closes at 4:00 PM.

Overall I would say the SEMA show is definitely worth a go, at least once. The amount of interesting cars there, in varying degree of price (there was a Pagani Huarya at one booth) and modification, is simply amazing to see. On that alone you cannot have a bad time at SEMA. Being there have certainly rekindled my car enthusiasm. The whole time I was missing my BMW M2, and could not wait to get home to drive it again. More so than modifications - and I grew up on Super Street and Fast and Furious - it’s really about driving the cars and putting on miles.

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There’s even a really live F1 car there.

Pops crackles and bangs

Readers of this blog will know that these days I’m driving around in my brother’s car when I need to physically go into work. He’s still in the phase of car enthusiasm where he likes to pour money into modifications and making the vehicle his very own. As someone who drives the car rather infrequently, it’s always a treat and surprise to find out what exactly has he done to the car each time around. It definitely reminds me of the days when I too put most of my discretionary income into modifying my Toyota Corolla.

The latest mod my brother did to his Audi A3 is an exhaust and a retune. While most people tend to purchase an aftermarket exhaust for more flow and sound, he simply got the muffler chopped off. Much like a Fiat 500 Abarth that comes from the factory with no muffler, my brother’s Audi A3 now barks loudly at any RPM. For someone of my age where I prefer to slip out of buildings unnoticed (don’t mind the GT3, please), the newfound loudness of the A3 is a bit bothersome. I can see why switchable exhausts with both a silent and loud mode is so en vogue in sports car these days.

My own 911 is rather noisy at any engine RPM, so it’s not really something to complain about in my brother’s car. What is worthy of complaint is the tune he’s put on the Audi: the notorious “burble tune”. This refers to the pops and bangs that happens when the throttle snaps shut as one lets off the gas pedal, something manufacturers have programmed into cars these days because for whatever reason, people seem to like the fake crackles and reverberations. Never mind the fact that it’s effectively gasoline being burned off in the exhaust track: an utter waste of gas for some noise.

You’d expect pops on the overrun from dedicated sports cars such as a Jaguar F-Type; on a plain Audi A3 four-door it’s downright silly. Worse, my brother have put a tune where the burbles happen even when I let off the gas at low RPMS, which is just about as fake and contrived as it gets. Honestly I it’s slightly embarrassing driving his car around, all the while wishing for a quiet cruising mode to toggle to.

Trying to turn a commuter sedan into a sports car have drained many a wallets from enthusiasts. Take it from me, someone who has done exactly that: save the money, buy the sports car. It doesn’t even have to be a 911, though it should be.

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Noodles are better than rice.

Want to go faster? Buy a faster car

Car enthusiasts modify their cars to stand out, to show off their personality. Unless they’ve got a super rare, practically one-of-a-kind vehicle (no one’s driving around a 250 GTO every day, I’m fairly certain), people will seek methods to make their car easily identifiable inside a parking structure. Even drivers of mundane grocery getters like a Toyota Corolla are wont to spend money to make it cooler than it really is. I know this, because I had one.

More importantly, car modifications are done in search of more speed and better performance. On one hand it makes perfect sense because who doesn’t want faster straight-line speeds and quicker cornering numbers? On the other hand, if you count all of the money spent to improve a particular car’s performance (and looks), wouldn’t it be more prudent to, combined it together with the car’s original price, buy a different model that’s simply faster?

Then again, I would argue most of anything related to the automobile is based emotionally, rather than logically. How many times have someone asked us for car purchasing advice only to go and not buy the one we recommended? Look at the popularity of heavy sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks: how often are those drivers hauling around enough people and gear to justify the extra volume?

Obviously, purchasing decisions aren’t logical, and therefore I don’t expect car modifications to be, on the contrary, completely utilitarian. The ‘Hellaflush’ and ‘StanceNation’ styling trend that’s been with us for a decade now (and don’t seem to be abating anytime soon) - I totally understand it, even if it’s far from my cup of coffee.

I’m known for my pragmatism amongst my friends, so it’s no surprise that I’ve gotten away from vehicle modifying since moving on from the Corolla. Admittedly, the Toyota was much too plain and unsightly for me to not invest some funds to lessen the enormous wheel-gap and give it a proper set of wheels - among other items. Since then, my motto has been if I want to go faster, I buy a faster car. Granted, my subsequent cars are built on decidedly sporting platforms, so there wasn’t any immediate impetus to improve on things.

Presently I own a 911 GT3, one of the best race-car-for-the-road platforms in existence; because honestly, we’re simply chasing after that race car aesthetic anyways. Cars slammed to the ground, body kits, wheels tucked neatly within a wheel-well, and adding horsepower: these are all inspired by motorsport, the look and sound of pure-bred racing machines (that’s why we like loud exhausts).

Instead of modifying the WRX STI and then the MX-5 to chase that aesthetic, I bought an entire car instead. Problem solved.

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No shots were thrown away today.

Car modding isn't my thing

Perhaps it's simply me getting older, but modifying cars holds zero appeal to me. When I watch Youtube videos of car shows and see people drop many tens of thousands of dollars on top of an already expensive vehicle to personalize it (a set of quality wheels are nearly 5 grand these days), I feel glad to have never fell into that money trap as an adult.

My own car-related money trap is swapping perfectly good cars every three years - variety is indeed the spice of life. In hindsight I should have leased instead of paying full tax which is never recovered when I sell the cars. Taxation is theft, by the way. 

I used to love the thought of tuning cars. The early Gran Turismo games have me dreaming of mega horsepower turbo-kits and racing suspension systems. I absolutely tore into the my first car which the parents kindly purchased, and as my modest college part-time worker's budget allowed I incrementally swapped out the wheels, replaced suspension parts, redid the most of the braking system, put in LED tail-lamps, and various other bits. 

With the modifications the car became a distinct representation of my style, which other than chasing performance numbers is the primary reason why people are so wont to dump money into their vehicles It's why the showy, "Stance Nation" sector of the car culture is magnitudes more popular than true track-rats. A stock vehicle is the blank canvas and the tinkered result is personalized art.

So I completely get the appeal of car modding, because I've been there; but I stopped. Starting with the first car purchased with my own money the decision was made to not modify anything, partly because of the hefty car note and I'd be stretch super thin to afford parts, and secondly I rather put all money and energy towards driving. 

This is mirrored in how I play modern Gran Turismo games: I hardly ever venture to the tuning sections and simply drive the cars as they come from the factory. 

I said in a previous blog post awhile back that I was going to start modding again. Well, the Miata have been sold; mind has changed. I've decided that if I want to better a car, I'll just buy a better car.  

Billy Shakespeare wrote a bunch of sonnets. 

Modifying the Miata shall begin

It's been nearly two years since I bought my Mazda Miata, and to date the only modification I've done is switching out the stock shift-knob with a titanium unit from WC Lathe Werks. Other than that, the car is utterly stock. 

What happened? I used to love modifying cars. Ever since reading my first issue of Import Tuner (RIP) back in my early teens, I was hooked on vehicle upgrades and go-fast products. On my first car the Toyota Corolla - not exactly a car worthy of modifying - I put lowering springs, new shocks, wheels, LED tail-lamps, sway bars, strut bar; the list goes on. It turned the otherwise mundane and anonymous grocery-getter into a car of my own special identity. There were some special days indeed wrenching on that car with friends, putting on new wheels for the first time, and countless detailing sessions to make it all look spiff and proper. 

What changed with the current car? Adulthood, I guess. I'm not nearly as cavalier with money as I were and can be back in college. Back then whatever I earned from work I would spend it completely, in contrast with today where I have to allocate funds for various adult stuff like retirement accounts and rainy-day funds. Other areas of interest like photography and traveling also grew more dominant as to where I want to allocate spares dollars. Car modification took a complete back-burner: I've already got the car, and it takes me to places; why should I put more money towards it than necessary? 

I've lost what a joy it is buying and putting on new car parts, though it can't replace the joy of having properly funded investment accounts. Nevertheless, I would like to make a cautious return and will begin slowly modifying the Miata. It shall begin with the wheels, as one does. I shall update with what exactly in a future post.