Sights, Sounds of SEMA & AAPEX 2019

 Las Vegas, famous for sensory overload, goes into overdrive every year for SEMA and AAPEX.

The annual automotive convention celebrates tires squealing, engines roaring, rubber burning, chrome gleaming and paint glistening. 

The automotive world converges on Sin City every fall for the convention that provides a showcase for the latest tech, the newest car care products, the sleekest vehicles and creative modifications. 

Everything from classic cars to luxury sportcars are on display, like this classic Cadillac convertible located in one of the Las Vegas Convention Center's main thoroughfares. 

An example of the contrast exists right beside this grandaddy Caddy, as a sleek Lamborghini with a carbon-fiber weave paint job turns heads and draws stares. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oracle Lighitng, a Louisiana-based manfuacturer of aftermarket automotive lights, created a booth that's vibrantly colored and attention grabbing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Las Vegas Convention Center, a sprawling complex of 3.2 million square feet, gets completely taken oven by automotive experts and enthusiasts during SEMA. Here's what it looks like navigating through one segment of one exhibit hall. 

There's also a closed track, where sportscars and suped-up trucks perform burnouts, powerslides, jumps and 360s. Here's a Roush Mustang muscle car doing what it was designed to do: Dominate the pavement.

Of course, what  would a car showcase be without product demos? Watch as a representative from Ceramic Pro, a company that makes a durable ceramic coating for vehicle exteriors, shows how easily nicks, swirls and scratches are removed from paint that's been treated with a ceramic coating. 

Igl Coatings, a manufacturer of ceramic coatings, provided one of the feel-good stories of the 2019 SEMA Show. The New York-based manufacturer of detailing products reached out to Cpl. Todd Nicely a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who lost both his arms and legs during an attack. Cpl. Nicely's dream was to detail a vehicle. So Joel LaPalme, president and director of IGL Coatings guided Fox as he used an orbital buffer to polish a vehicle. 

"There is simply no excuse for ANYTHING in life," Autogeek posted to its FACEBOOK page alongside video of the triple-amputee maneuvering the device. 

See the inspirational video here. 

IGL Coatings has also set up a PayPal account so Cpl. Nicely can have his Dodge Challenger modified so he can drive it. 

 

 

 

Comic book movies remain a cultural phenomenon, and Mutoh America, Inc., a manufacturer of wide format & flatbed printers, decked out a vehicle with art inspired by the Marvel character "Venom". 

This is merely a taste of all that went down at the four-day festival of all-things automotive. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we'll have profiles on auto detailers, products to showcase and experts to interview.