Here Are The Best Car Builds We Saw At SEMA 2023

I have a special place in my heart for any kind of tuned minivan. This Toyota Sienna built by Rodney Esteban stole my heart the instant I saw it. Who wouldn’t want something like this pulling up at the school or soccer match to pickup the kids? The slammed Sienna has a Lexus like front facia and Toyo Tires Proxes High-Performance all season tires wrapped around great looking Rays Wheels Homura 2X9 Plus wheels. We need more vans that look like this!

This car was not only unique in it’s beautiful bodywork, but also for its chance sighting. See, a few days before the show, I was on the freeway going through Riverside, California and I saw this exact car ahead of me in the carpool lane. Pretty crazy that just a few days later I would see it again at a show hundreds of miles away among thousands of tuned cars outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Overlanding was a big deal for Lexus at SEMA this year, so much so that the brand actually invited three owners out to showcase their GX builds. One of them was my personal favorite. This 2009 GX470 build was done by its owner Chase Gardner. I spoke with him about it and how much he loved this thing. The GX is a known reliable beast, and even though Gardner has over 250,000 miles on it, it’s still going strong. Gardner has actually lived in this thing for a few months. It’s well equipped for him to do it, too. It essentially has a full kitchen out of the back hatch, with electric stove, pots and pans, even a 10 gallon water tank.

While I was kind of annoyed I didn’t actually get a chance to talk to Hert because he was constantly surrounded by fans, I did manage to get close to the Hoonigan almuni’s FC RX7 known as Twerkstallion. The thing is a rolling embodiment of JDM. Surprisingly it’s not LS swapped either as most RX7s tend to be. Under hood is a beast of a rotary 13B-REW engine. It’s also not really a show car either as Hert still regularly thrashes this thing. As he should.

Some might think that something as big and heavy as a SUV for drag racing is dumb. I have no problem with something that crazy though. Especially not this gutted and lowered Dodge Durango Hellcat that was on display at Overdrive Gear Vendors.

This wagon on display was a literal mishmash of Chrysler parts put together to create one bad ass monster wagon. It had the front fascia of a Chrysler 300 SRT8, the body of an old Dodge Magnum and the heart of a Dodge Hellcat — modded to hell of course. It was glorious.

I love a good clean lowrider. This Impala caught my attention after the sunlight reflected off its many gold surfaces, almost as if it was calling to me. If you don’t like this thing, something is wrong with you.

Forgive my hastitly snapped picture. While Flat Out Auto’s KR2/New Age Blazer was getting all the attention at the show, quietly sitting next to it was another blast from the past. If you don’t care for the KR2, Flat Out will kindly build you a 21st century GMC Jimmy based on the Sierra.

Of course SEMA was filled to the brim with a multitude of Toyobaru sport coupes. Not all of them were great, but this greyed out GR86 wouldn’t look out of place at any late night SoCal meetup.

SEMA wouldn’t be SEMA without a few great first-gen NSXs thrown in. This race spec NSX showcased by Racewars looked like it was ready to tackle Fuji speedway at any moment.

Weirdly, there weren’t many FL5 Honda Civic Type R’s at the show. At least I didn’t see many. Even out on the street, I don’t see many of them around; even less tuned. Of the couple that I did see, this grey on yellow Type R looked great. It wasn’t overdone or too much. It came across as just the right amount of mods.

The BMW XM has been a controversial design since it made its debut in 2022. It’s probably one of the reason why you hardly ever see any around. I did see one at the show that surprisingly looked, dare I say, good. A combo of matte black and gold, it came across as menacing, and I think that’s the only reason this particular XM worked.