Viva Las Vegas! The economy didn't seem to stop most of the automotive mob from attending this year's SEMA Show in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. The weather was beautiful, the cars were everywhere, and of course there were 1,000's of people everywhere at any given time... almost reminded me of being in NY.

That being said, I can't help but comment on how much the economy has taken its toll on the SEMA Show and other conventions around the country. Maybe it's because of the airlines jacking up their fares for SEMA week from $299 roundtrip from the east coast to over $750 two weeks before the show. The hotels kept their rates more than reasonable with average stays from $39-$159 a night at most popular casinos/hotels.

The show, itself, was put together very good and we got to see many of the new products showcase (which will be up within the next few days). The ultimate return of the Camaro drew crazy amounts of attention in the convention center, as you could not throw a mannequin in any direction without hitting one (HAHAHA) just as the Nissan Skyline did in 2008, and also this year.

I use the word "mannequin" because I was shocked to see these plastic beauties take the places of gorgeous import models in previous years. I had to stop to take a picture with my blackberry (not in the gallery) and couldn't help but laugh when my phone confirmed I was looking at a plastic doll. I spoke to a gentleman, briefly in a neighboring booth, that thought it was the best thing since chicken, who said "Hey, it's much cheaper than hiring a real model." Uhhhhh... Let's see... That may be true... BUT do you want to be remembered as the company that had outsourced their temporary workforce to overseas mannequins instead of hiring an interactive "human" US model? At the Motevo booth, I spoke to Nikita Esco (one of the most experienced and beautiful glamour models that I've known since I've been coming to the SEMA Show in 2002) about the downgrade from flesh to plastic. After witnessing the mayhem for herself, her words were "Save The Import Models!" I believe she plans to market that phrase from now on (Save The Import Models ©2009 Nikita Esco HAHAHAHA... Just kidding.) 

As far as after parties, we had the pleasure of attending the SpoCom/Formula Drift "Double Down" after party on Tuesday November 3rd, the Kicker Big Air Bash on Wednesday November 4th, and the ProMotion Distributing/Falken Tire "Afterhours" party on Thursday November 5th. Allof them were insane, but unfortunately we could not bring you coverage of this year's Big Air Bash because of a miscommunication regarding "press/media" passes for the event (just take my word for it... it was hot). The after parties' coverage will be available in our "Party Coverage" section very shortly. The SpoCom/Formula Drift coverage will be up first. The PM Distributing/Falken Tire party coverage will be up later this week. Reason for the delay is because we were told we were not allowed to bring professional photo/video equipment into the club because they (Prive @ Planet Hollywood) restricted it due to regulations placed on it because of "legal issues". Well... no one said anything about personal point-and-shoot cameras and our cameraman had one of the most state-of-the-art PAS cameras in his pocket! So after returning his $14,000 cameras to his car, we proceeded to shoot anyway so those ghetto-fied photos/videos will be up soon.

Well, I will conclude my thoughts with this line and let you check out the galleries... LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS IN 2010!

 

 Written by: Peter "P.J." Del Valle