SEMA 2024: Custom Rides Dominate Las Vegas

Custom Rides Taking Over Las Vegas

The Special Equipment Market Association (SEMA) started back in 1963 with intentions of bringing automotive manufactures together to show off all the latest and greatest trends and parts. They decided to put together a small automotive industry-only event four years later in 1967 at the LA Dodgers stadium to do just that. We are sure they had no idea how quickly the annual event would grow and how much of a huge impact it would have on the automotive world. Dubbed the largest automotive event in the world, the SEMA Show takes over the entire Las Vegas Convention Center the first week of November every year. Well, all but in 2020 when we had that little thing we call the pandemic. That was the only year they have skipped since the beginning.

Having it in Las Vegas in November ensures a few things. One, the weather is always great, for the most part. 2024 was a bit on the chilly side but was still nice. And two, not only does the convention center provide enough indoor and outdoor space for 2,400 exhibitors to showcase their products to the over 160,000 attendees and over 3,000 media outlets, but there are tons of hotels and things to do once the show is over every day. The landscape of the convention center looked a little different this year due to some renovations to the front of the North and Central halls, but the crowd was still able to easily access everything like normal.

Every hall of the convention center was packed wall-to-wall with company ‘ booths showing off the newest products for the automotive aftermarket while the parking lots around the halls were also packed with booths and feature vehicles. As far as you could see, there were custom cars, trucks, Jeeps and side-by-sides. There were also plenty of the classic GM trucks and SUVs our readers like to see in our pages We spent the week walking 10+ miles a day to ensure we could find as many of them as we could so you could see what these automotive companies and builders had been up to for the past year.

This year we also debuted one of our magazine projects, “Rocky”, our 1979 C10 we have been working on, in our Motortopia booth that was in its usual spot in Hot Rod Alley in the Central hall. You may have seen the build of this truck over the last couple years as we got it dialed in and ready for its big debut. It kept the crowd around it all week as we expected and was a great way to promote some of our build partners and advertisers.

If you ever have the opportunity to attend the SEMA Show, it’s definitely a crazy, overwhelming experience and we highly recommend it. Until that happens, check out the coolest classic GM trucks and SUVs that were there in 2024

Photo Credit: Brandon Burrell