From mild to wild, America’s annual SEMA show displays the automotive industry at its most inventive and passionate. Among the chrome and candy paint, there are whole halls of 4WD goodness to take in. It’s not a show anyone can ‘do’ in a day.
This year, among the old school products, there are some interesting ideas about the future of auto-mobility, accurately reflecting trends in the more mundane outside world. Take a quick ramble through some stand-outs from 2022 and 2023.
CJ Surge
Jeep customers have always loved to modify their vehicles. As the brand adds EVs to its retail lineup, this isn’t expected to change. The Electromod CJ Surge concept is an Electric Drive Module that provides energy through battery modules and power through a 200-kW motor.
Customisers can opt for the CJ Surge’s four-wheel-drive system and two-speed transfer case. The idea is to make EV tech a viable drop-in for owners of older classic Jeeps.
Visually, the CJ Surge combines Copper Canyon body paint with gloss black and Surf Blue accents, with a sprinkling of EV touches here and there.
Custom camper
Westcott Designs in Phoenix, Arizona, created a one-off Toyota Sequoia with an in-house-designed lift kit, providing 76mm of front and 40mm of rear lift. The team added Camburg Racing Kinetik upper control arms, Camburg Racing rear billet lower and upper trailing arms, and a set of 17 x 8.5-inch Innov8 Racing G400 wheels with LT 37×12.5R17 Nitto Recon Grappler A/T tyres. There are exterior lights and even a rack for a vintage Kawasaki 550 stand-up Jet Ski.
Ultimate Overlanding Sequoia
This overlanding rig began life as a 2023 Toyota Sequoia Limited TRD. CBI Offroad Fabrication in Idaho Falls, Idaho, jacked it up using Toytec coilovers for a 76mm lift. From there CBI added Camburg KINETIK upper control arms and 6061-T6 billet aluminum rear trailing arms, bronze 706 Bead Grip Method Race Wheels wrapped with LT285/75R-17 (34.1-inch) Toyo Open Country M/T tyres, CBI Offroad skid plates, rock sliders, and front bumper and rear bumper with dual swingouts to provide trail-traversing protection.
Strapped to the outside is a set of MaxTrax MKII traction boards, a Warn VR EVO 12-S winch, Warn winch recovery kit, Hi-Lift 48-inch jack, Power Tank tire repair kit, Power Tank PT10 onboard air tank, and a Power Tank Overlander 0-60 psi digital inflator.
FJ49 – a restomod from Australia
This 1977 FJ45 Land Cruiser was built by twin brothers Christian and Ashton Montesalvo, sons of Patriot Campers company principal Justin. The brothers swapped the engine, transmission, air conditioning, differentials and springs, leveraging this platform’s proven performance and reliability. They then added a custom coil spring suspension up front, a JMACX heavy duty differential upgrade for the 79 series Land Cruiser leaf spring suspension, and a stainless-steel exhaust system.
Ram TRX Gold Shot
Mopar started with a Ram 1500 TRX, which it has modestly called “the apex predator of the production-truck world” – the “quickest, fastest, and most powerful pickup truck in the world.”
Then it added side-spanning TRX graphics in Satin Bitter Yellow and Satin Black, custom Vintage Bronze 18-by-9.5-inch Black Rhino Chamber wheels, and 37-inch BFGoodrich tires.
The Gold Shot concept serves as a truck-sized showcase for official Mopar accessories. It has a retractable bed step and dual five-inch black Mopar exhaust tips. The RamBar accessory bar behind the cab holds two bright, 14-inch LED concept lights from TYRI that can blast the scene with up to 4300 lumens. Up front and at the back, custom metal skid plates with laser-etched Mopar lettering protect the underside, while Mopar rock rails protect the side sills.
