MotorTrend Group will be at the 2024 SEMA Show, Nov. 5-8 in Las Vegas, NV, with a booth inside the Las Vegas Convention Center featuring two custom builds.
Mike Galimi, director of HOT ROD Network, part of MotorTrend Group, said the group has participated in the SEMA Show every year since Robert Petersen, who founded what would become the MotorTrend Group, as well as the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, also helped put on the first show in 1967, held beneath the grandstands of Dodger Stadium.
The past five or six years, MotorTrend has chosen to exhibit outside the convention center in one of the large parking lots surrounding it, but it’s moving back inside for 2024, to Booth #22553 in Central Hall.
“We moved [back inside] to put our editorial efforts front and center,” Galimi said, which include digital, print and television offerings.
The second car on display will be this 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback.
Central Hall is one of the most popular areas of the show, home to Hot Rod Alley and the Racing & Performance and Restoration Marketplace sections, where show attendees can check out custom builds. MotorTrend will have two on display at its booth.
The first is a 1973 Pontiac Firebird, nicknamed "Hammerhead" and built by Russell and Cavan Cameron, a father-son team out of Indianapolis, IN. It was featured on the cover of the Summer 2024 issue of HOT ROD Magazine.
Russell Cameron is a former IndyCar crew chief and team owner, while Cavan Cameron is a college student at Purdue University, studying motorsport engineering. The duo tapped into IndyCar technology and aerodynamic engineering, and then wrapped it in a hot rod package.
Their Firebird features a full tube chassis, IndyCar drivetrain and an LS-based 400-cubic-inch small-block V-8.
“It’s visually stunning,” Galimi said.
The second car is a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback, a project car that was built in 2018, in conjunction with Amazon and Fully Torqued Industries, for a social media video project.
“We dusted it off earlier this year and teamed up with Amazon to revive it,” Galimi said.
The Mustang is featured in a series HOT ROD is producing on how to get abandoned restoration projects going again.
In addition to checking out the builds, attendees who stop by the booth can also pick up complimentary copies of MotorTrend and HOT ROD magazines and stickers.
Galimi said participating in the SEMA Show is a great way for MotorTrend Group’s editorial team to learn about new products, see a lot of custom build reveals in one location and develop story ideas and strategies for the coming year.
Petersen knew an annual gathering like the SEMA Show was crucial for the automotive aftermarket industry when he was helping organize the first shows in the 1960s.
“He realized the importance of getting everyone working together instead of against each other,” Galimi said.
Abby Andrews