SEMA 2021 Battle Of The Builders - Top 12

[HoTWire]

Every year SEMA hosts a Battle Of The Builders, these cars are in four different categories. It starts out with hundreds, gets reduced to 40, then down to 12, before the final winners are announced, with an overall best in show being picked too. There are a great range of cars entered from people building in their garage through to the likes of the Ring Brothers.

This year's Top 12 looked a bit like this:

Hot Rod
Mike Fillion - 1956 Oldsmobile 98


Mark Giambalvo - 1930 Ford Model A 2-Door Sedan


Robert Matranga - 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air


Sports Compact/Import
Samantha Frazier - 1973 Nissan Datsun 240Z


Eddie Pettus - 1961 Austin Healey Sprite


Simo Veharanta - 1982 Porsche 911 RSR


Truck/Off-Road
Jeremy Miranda - 1959 Chevrolet Apache


Kamaka Pocock - 1967 Chevrolet C10


Bryan Thompson - 1934 Ford Pickup


Young Guns (builders older than 18 but younger than 28)
Dayton Jacobson - 2000 Chevrolet S10


Chelsie Lesnoski - 1993 Mazda RX-7 FD


Cole Marten - 1991 Nissan Skyline R32 GTR


Not the greatest photographs (these are SEMA's official ones as far as I can tell), so I'll try and share some more on each car. In the next post will be our video run throughs for the categories.

[HoTWire]

Hot Rod and Sports Compact run through with rmad and Jason


Truck/Off-Road and Young Guns

[stealthstylz]

Just did a quick Insta hunt on the sedan, it's a Cadillac engine. Definitely looks to be some sports car influence there

[HoTWire]

Now with added Pickup truck and Young guns video

[grizz]

Of course I am known to like a commercial vehicle and trucks especially.

Just a comment on the deceptive size of my 2001 S10 after the commentary from HoTWire and rmad and guest.

My 2001 Focus estate is wider than the S10

Also….. those extra cabs have a 3 seat bench up front and a skinny sideways seat in the rear.

On the drivers side the small extra part opens to allow access tp the seat. Also handy for shopping.


A bit of extra detail on the SEMA truck.


Dayton Jacobsen of Burnsville, Minnesota. The amount of fabrication Jacobson has done on his ’00 Chevrolet S10 is nothing short of amazing. He welded in a panoramic sunroof from a Pontiac G6, a hood vent from a Cadillac CTS-V and hand-formed the front bumper, grille and tailgate. The rear frame was back-halved to accommodate the Watts Link, 9-in. rear-end and the 335/30/19 tires.

[HoTWire]

Thanks for the extra info grizz it was tricky to get enough info on all the builds in the time between announcement and when we recorded. Actually partly why I made this thread as I'm hoping to spend a bit of time filling in the gaps.

S10 is definitely much smaller than I thought then!

[16grit]

Something of the Frazer Nash Owlet going on with the 1930 Ford Model A..

[grizz]

Just checked

S10 Extended cab 6’ bed
Width 67.9 in.
Length. 205.3 in

Focus wagon
Width 72.8 in
Length. 183.8 in

[ironmighty07]

That Sprite/Frogeye would drop straight into the "Cafe Racer" thread

[grizz]

Nov 9, 2021 19:02:58 GMT HoTWire said:

Thanks for the extra info grizz it was tricky to get enough info on all the builds in the time between announcement and when we recorded. Actually partly why I made this thread as I'm hoping to spend a bit of time filling in the gaps.

S10 is definitely much smaller than I thought then!

My S10 is about 100mm or 3-4” narrower than my 2020 Ford Focus estate.

Thought I would post a few pics of the 3rd door in here for those interested, or not and for rmad and HoTWire to broaden their S10 knowlege 😉

The door is almost invisible, unless you know that the shut line on the rear of the cab actually for the door.



So once the small door is opened, a skinny lad life Hotwire and others could get in there and sit on the sideways mounted seat for a 5-10 mile trip to a pub, show etc.

Full size …. Chunky (fat buggers) like me would fit in there mainly if hijacked or prodded with an AK47 in the back, or a Glock in the neck for an indefinite distance ride.



The 3rd door also locks in place to form the B-pillar for the drivers door.

So it cannot latch unless you close it.




These are on a long wheelbase chassis, and actually have a different length to the LWB trucks.

The bed is a really useful 6 foot bed as well.

Turning circle on these are extremely poop, and having mounted slightly wider than standard tyres, I have a bit of chassis rub on full lock.

Other than that, these trucks have extremely comfortable seating and ergonomics are on par with luxury cars of the era.

Aircon, speed-o-cruise control, automatic gearbox with an overdrive gear in my ZQ8 factory special which included a bunch of nice touches like upgrades on steering and factory lowering has made this truck a real keeper, unless someone needs to have it more than me.