It’s that time of year again when Porsches are deployed to sell everything from oil, toolboxes, and shock absorbers to wheels, tires, and leather seat covers. The SEMA trade show in Las Vegas was an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the coolest cars to ever come out of Porsche’s factory, and some that didn’t. As has been the case for a few years now, the RWB cars remain popular to display in booths. There were a few cars featured both last year and this year, like Rod Emory’s monster 356 above, now in a more complete but not quite all the way complete state. He says it will be ready to debut in finished form at Luftgekuhlt next year.
A cherry 356 at the Kenda Tires booth.
A slammed Macan at the Maxxis tires booth.
This GT3 RS is promoting a tire pressure monitoring system company.
Spyder showed this facelifted 996 last year, but it was joined by a few more 996s this year. It might be the breakout year for 996s.
Turn 14 had this 911 with a turbocharged Honda K-series engine powering it.
The shared NASCAR and IMSA booth featured the Petit Le Mans winning 911 RSR in all its dirty.
This aerodynamic mirror stalk remains my favorite detail of the 911 RSR.
Bisimoto debuted its center-seat Boxster at SEMA last year, and this year showed off a second example in the Momo booth. It featured Momo’s new Hot Wheels anniversary edition steering wheel and shift knob.
One of the coolest Porsches at SEMA was this GT3 with genuine 911 GT3 R race car bodywork and suspension. The car still features its original 485-horsepower naturally aspirated flat-six, but the builder, BBI Autosport, says that they’re working on a turbocharged engine with at least 700 horsepower for this build.
BBI also brought a pair of mildly modified GT cars, a new GT3 RS and a new GT2 RS.
Hmmmm, what could this be?
Moton’s GT3 Cup display.
The paint on this RWB at the VDO Gauges booth was almost as bright as the backlight on their Tachs at night.
Speaking of bright visuals, this Panamera was every color under the sun.
The Makellos Safari car was on the Momo rally with us just last month, and it was super cool. I absolutely love that they went out and got it filthy before bringing it to SEMA.
I had to give it a second look as I walked away.
This V8-powered 944 was EXTRA WIDE.
Emory had a total of three cars at SEMA this week. His Specials are rapidly becoming a staple of mainstream car culture.
In this case it was being used to promote the revival of Pirelli’s iconic CN36 tire for vintage cars.
Remember what I said about 996s? Here’s another one.
And one more.
This GT3 RS was promoting a flash tuning device.
These OldNewJapan slant nose kits are growing on me. I wish they weren’t so expensive.
I’m still baffled by this one. Falken Tire is a large international name, and they chose to do this with their booth. It’s E-Motion Engineering’s Project Nasty in an otherwise empty booth with no banners or anything. Bizarre.
This lawyer brought out his Carrera GT to grab eyeballs.
My favorite, and the Porsche that got the most attention at SEMA, was this RWB-backdated 911 with a Tesla powertrain by EV West. It’s fully electric and fully badass.
Presumably the batteries are held in the front trunk, while the motor and inverter are hanging out back here in the engine compartment.
Nakai San was nice enough to sign the gas door, which is probably where the charging port now resides.
This interior is the best part. Such great attention to detail. A great combination of vintage and modern.
This wild 964 was another favorite.
And rounding out the Porsche experience in the Toyo booth is this custom 993 “Speedster”.
The cleanest Porsche, and the one I’d probably most want to take home, is this 1983 911 SC.
Just look how clean that engine compartment is. You could eat off of it.
And it’s certainly Rennsport focused.
Chris Runge’s customs aren’t officially Porsches, but they’re certainly inspired by old Porsche racers and use period-correct manufacturing methods.
Chris asked if I wanted to sit in this one. It was tight, but I could see it being a lot of fun. It was a very aviation-style experience.
More RWB in the Motul booth.
One more RWB, this time with awesome wheel fans from DLng Design.
A track-focussed GT3 in the Shark booth.
And one last 996 with a slant nose kit in the Air Lift booth.
I hope you enjoyed this retrospective of all of the Porsches at SEMA.