SEMA News—April 2016

EVENTS

By SEMA News Staff

Battle of the Builders:

The Top 10

The 2015 SEMA Battle of the Builders Top 10 admire Ryan Basseri’s entry. From left: Eric Kozeluh, Marc Kozeluh, Mike Ring, Phil Gerber, Jeremy Gerber, Alan Johnson, Jim Ring, Kyle Tucker, Ryan Basseri, Andy Leach, Bobby Alloway and Chip Foose.

In addition to hot products and leading manufacturers, the annual SEMA Show attracts top vehicle builders who debut their one-of-a-kind creations in front of more than 140,000 industry professionals at the world’s premier automotive trade gathering. For many of these builders, the SEMA Battle of the Builders is their chance to prove that they are among the elite. Hundreds enter; only one can win.

Working during the 2015 SEMA Show, an esteemed panel of judges narrowed the field, and then the builders of the top 10 contenders—those shown on these pages—voted among themselves to decide who should be the winner. The competition culminated Friday night at the SEMA Ignited event, where consumers joined in the action and watched as the winner was named during the filming of a nationwide broadcast special, “SEMA: Battle of the Builders,” on the Velocity Network.

The TV special premiered February 1, with re-airings scheduled in 2016. Visit www.SEMAignited.com or check your local cable/satellite provider for dates and times.

Vehicle: ’33 Ford Roadster

Show Display Location: PPG Booth 24601

Build Notes: The ’33 full-fendered steel Ford roadster owned by Larry and Carol Olson was the 2015 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winner. Features include an Alloway custom chassis, one-off Billet Spec wheels, custom Classic Instruments gauges and PPG black paint with candy flames, buried in clear and sanded smooth. The engine is a 241ci Red Ram Hemi with six Stromberg carbs acting as butterflies for a hidden electronic fuel-injection system. It is backed by a Legends five-speed transmission.

Builder: Bobby Alloway is the owner of Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop in Louisville, Tennessee, established in 1991 as a full-build facility. Alloway has won Street Rod of the Year three times, Street Machine of the Year, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster two times, The Ridler Award, and many other honors. He personally contributes in every build, whether it be wiring, fabricating or painting and final assembly.

Website: www.allowaysrodshop.com

Bobby Alloway '33 Ford Roadster

Vehicle: Honda Integra Type R

Show Display Location: CSF Cooling Booth 21555

Build Notes: The imported Honda Integra Type-R was fully customized in every way. Every system on the car was rebuilt and redesigned to meet the high standards of race readiness and signature show-car style. It was touted as “the most anticipated import build of the year.”

Builder: Ryan Basseri is owner of Rywire Motorsport Electronics in Garden Grove, California. “We specialize in motorsport looms and race-car wiring,” he said. “We have built looms for the fastest cars in the world and have built cars that appear in some of the world’s most prestigious places.” In addition to the Battle of the Builders Top 10, this Integra was named a Mothers Polish Shine Award winner at the 2015 SEMA Show. Rywire’s other accolades include numerous magazine features and other high-visibility builds for movies and overseas clients.

Website: www.rywire.com

Ryan Basseri, Honda Integra Type R

Vehicle: ’65 Impala

Show Display Location: Pirelli Booth 41013

Build Notes: The ’65 Impala body was mated to a ’08 C6 Corvette chassis, designed to pursue the idea of what kind of musclecar Chevrolet’s Corvette studio might have made. It initially appears to be a visually accurate ’65 Impala, but shrunk in the wash. To make it all fit, the C6 Corvette platform was stretched more than 7 in., the body was shortened 14 in., and the top was dropped 1½ in., requiring thousands of modifications. The rear wheelwells were lifted 2 in. and pulled forward 7 in. All of the trim pieces, grille and bumpers were hand made, and the custom steel quarter-panel extensions were welded in place to eliminate the original pot-metal pieces. Sponsors and contributors included BASF, Pirelli, MagnaFlow, MHT Wheels, Mac Tools, Lincoln Electric and Katzkin Leather.

Builder: Chip Foose owns Foose Design in Huntington Beach, California. Achievements include winning the Detroit Autorama Ridler Award in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2015. Foose is the star of the “Overhaulin’” TV show on Velocity. He has been inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame, won the Amber Award and is an eight-time winner of the Goodguys Street Rod of the Year award.

Website: www.chipfoose.com

Chip Foose ’65 Chevrolet Impala “Imposter”

Vehicle: ’15 Chevy Colorado

Show Display Location: Go Pro Booth 20327

Build Notes: The ’15 Chevy Colorado custom pre-runner features a complete Roadster Shop chassis with 27 in. of travel. It is powered by an 800hp LS engine, and the body includes one-off carbon-fiber fenders and bed sides.

Builder: Phil and Jeremy Gerber of Mundelein, Illinois, are the owners of The Roadster Shop, a chassis/suspension manufacturer and custom hot-rod/musclecar builder for more than 25 years. The shop won GM Design awards in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014 and is a multiple-time finalist for the Mothers Shine Award. The Roadster Shop is located within a 30,000-sq.-ft. dedicated facility that houses full chassis production, metal fabrication, vehicle construction and a paint-and-body department with a downdraft spray booth.

Website: www.roadstershop.com

The Roadster Shop ’15 Chevrolet Colorado

Vehicle: ’73 Chevy Camaro

Show Display Location: Penske Racing Booth 25043

Build Notes: The one-off wide-body Camaro pro-touring race car featured custom carbon front fenders, hood, nose, front and rear flares and rockers, front and rear splitter and diffuser. It was powered by a 750hp LS engine with a Jericho five-speed transmission.

Builder: Jeremy Gerber of Mundelein, Illinois, is the co-owner of The Roadster Shop, a chassis/suspension manufacturer and custom hot-rod/musclecar builder. Roadster Shop creations have appeared on more than 25 magazine covers and in more than 50 articles. The shop won GM Design awards in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2014 and is a multiple-time finalist for the Mother’s Shine Award. The Roadster Shop is the only shop to have two vehicles named in the Battle of the Builders Top 10 at the 2015 SEMA Show.

Website: www.roadstershop.com

The Roadster Shop ’73 Camaro

Vehicle: ’53 Studebaker

Show Display Location: ARP Inc. Booth 23613

Build Notes: Each piece of the Studebaker’s sheetmetal was fabricated or massaged to fit. All of the trim pieces were fabricated or machined to flow properly, including the handmade front and rear bumpers, the lower valances, the custom-machined taillights, the headlight bezels, the door handles, the grille and the trim moldings. The roof has a subtle wedge chop, and the windshield is laid back a considerable amount. The rear wheelwell openings were raised and recontoured, and the front wheelwells were lowered and recontoured. The custom chassis uses a C6 Corvette front suspension and a trailing-arm rear suspension with triple-adjustable Ride Tech coil-overs and Wilwood 14-in. disc brakes, and the wheels are one-off Halibrand Champ look-alikes. Keith Dorton supplied the 700 horsepower big-block engine with Hilborn stack injection converted to FAST electronic fuel injection. It is fed by an Aeromotive fuel pump with Earl’s ultra-flex plumbing, and the engine is backed by a Bowler 4L80E trans and a Currie 9-in. rear.

Builder: Alan Johnson of Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop, Gadsden, Alabama. In addition to numerous magazine covers and features, Johnson’s accolades include a Goodguys Rod & Custom Trend Setter Award presented at the SEMA Show, and he is an SCTA Record Holder on the salt. He has also been honored with an Industry Leader award, a Mothers Shine Award, a Don Ridler Award, a Ford Design Award, a Chrysler Design Award, a Stroker McGurk Award, a Judy Murray Memorial Award, a Triple Gun Award for Excellence, Goodguys Street Rod and Street Machine of the Year awards and multiple People’s Choice awards.

Website: www.johnsonshotrodshop.com

Alan Johnson ’53 Studebaker

Vehicle: ’95 Toyota Supra

Show Display Location: Outside Grand Lobby

Build Notes: Battle of the Builders judges recognized this ultra-high-performance ’95 Toyota Supra because it is detailed to the level normally found on domestic show cars. The engine bay is smoothed, and no wires are visible. The intercooler and the radiator are laid out in a V-mount configuration. The intercooler features hand-hammered end tanks, and there is full ducting to all of the coolers. The Supra’s underside is as detailed as the top side, with every nut and bolt hand finished and cad plated. Even the suspension arms are hand detailed. The car was voted best MK4 Supra, best exterior and best engine bay at the peer-reviewed Supra in Vegas event in 2014, and it was featured on the August 2015 cover of Super Street magazine.

Builder: Eric Kozeluh, Signal Hill, California. Twins Turbo Motorsports has participated in numerous SEMA Show build projects, including the Mustang RTR-X that was debuted in the Ford booth at SEMA 2010.

Website: www.twinsturbo.com

Eric and Marc Kozeluh ’95 Toyota Supra

Vehicle: ’62 Chevy Bubble Top

Show Display Location: SEMA Hot Rod Industry Alliance/Automotive Restoration Market Organization Booth 23395

Build Notes: The Chevy features an LS-9 supercharged engine, a Bowler six-speed transmission, an Art Morrison chassis, machined side trim, door handles, taillights interior handles and gauge bezels, a Recovery Room Hot Rod interior and Charlie Hutton body and paint.

Builder: Andy Leach of Bennington, Nebraska. Cal Automotive Creations was launched in 2008 and has already garnered considerable industry recognition, including the 2013 Ridler Award, the 2013 Street Rod D’Elegance, the 2013 Street Rod of the Year, the 2013 Ford Best of Show, the 2014 SEMA Show Trendsetter of the Year, a 2014 Legend Cup and a 2015 Barrett Jackson Cup. The shop’s primary focus is hot rods. If the shop’s technicians buy a store-bought part, they usually cut it up and create something of their own, and there isn’t a single bolt-on part on this latest creation. All of the shop’s cars feature unique, modern twists to vintage classics.

Website: www.calautocreations.com

Andy Leach ’62 Chevrolet “Bubble Top”

Vehicle: Mustang Fastback

Show Display Location: BASF Booth 21437

Build Notes: Ringbrothers initially brought its all-carbon Mustang Fastback body to the 2013 SEMA Show and this year unveiled the completed vehicle. For the finished carbon-fiber Mustang “Espionage,” Mike and Jim Ring widened the iconic shape of a ’65 Mustang 2 in. and then laid the entire body up in lightweight, super-strong carbon fiber. Wegner Motorsports built the 416ci, 959hp V8. Inside, the car is outfitted with Recaro seats, a Race Pak IQ3 and no stereo system, because who needs one when you can listen to a Whipple Supercharged engine roar through a custom Flowmaster exhaust? The car is coated in custom BASF Glasurit Spy Green.

Builders: Jim and Mike Ring of Spring Green, Wisconsin, are the co-founders of Ringbrothers and were born with fuel running through their veins and a passion for building innovative cars. At the age of 10 and 11, Jim and Mike were doing body work and painting cars anywhere they could, including their parents’ basement and a friend’s chicken coop. The Ringbrothers shop pulls double duty, serving as a collision-and-repair shop to the community in addition to delivering one to two custom-built cars a year. In addition to collision repair and custom builds, Ringbrothers also produces a line of high-quality billet accessories as well as custom fiberglass and carbon-fiber pieces. The Ringbrothers line of fiberglass and carbon-fiber body pieces gives fans the opportunity to incorporate the Ringbrothers signature style into their own builds. Ringbrothers has won numerous design awards, including the General Motors award for Best Chevrolet of Show at the 2014 SEMA Show, back-to-back Goodguys Street Machine of the Year awards, multiple Mothers Shine Awards, numerous magazine covers and several builds commissioned by OEMs.

Website: www.ringbrothers.com

Ring Brothers ’65 Ford Mustang

Vehicle: ’70 Chevy Chevelle

Show Display Location: Grand Lobby

Build Notes: The Chevelle is designed to illustrate where technology meets classic American musclecar styling. Under the hood is a MAST LSX 427 supercharged 4.0L Whipple engine that is detailed in old-school livery using Chevrolet orange and black colors with a custom accessory drive and custom-machined pulleys. The transmission is a GM Bowler 4L80E with a classic horseshoe Chevrolet shifter and redundant paddle shifters. The DSE frame utilizes DSE front and rear suspension geometry and coil-over shocks and springs. A Bosch M4 Motorsport ABS package works in conjunction with Davis Technologies traction control. The Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 Brembo six-piston calipers and 15-in. carbon ceramic rotors are connected to GM C6 hubs front and rear. The exterior includes a motorized cowl-induction hood flap that is synced to actual throttle position. The front and rear bumpers have been narrowed, sectioned and modified to accept custom-machined aluminum turn-signals bezels. The front grille surround is a one-piece, custom-machined aluminum trim part, plated to match the brushed nickel used throughout the car. Other exterior features include a vented rear bumper, electrically operated recessed door handles, underhood closeouts and catch cans and handmade inner front fenders. The engine is set back 6 in. into a recessed, smooth firewall. Classic Chevelle black with white-stripe paint goes over smoothed, flattened and fitted GM sheetmetal. A full rollcage bolts to the frame but allows the body to be removed with the rollcage. The interior has six-way adjustable power seats, an HVAC climate-control system, power windows, door locks, a navigation system with front and rear cameras and a Dakota Digital gauge cluster in a stock-appearing Chevelle dash pad.

Builder: Kyle Tucker, Mooresville, North Carolina. Kyle and Stacy Tucker of Detroit Speed Inc. have been building cars for more than 20 years. The car-build side of DSE has created numerous award-winning cars, including the winner of the inaugural Battle of the Builders at the 2014 SEMA Ignited. They have also built award-winning cars for stars such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and others. Detroit Speed also designs and manufactures chassis and suspension products for the automotive aftermarket and is a leading manufacturer in the industry.

Website: www.detroitspeed.com

Kyle Tucker ’70 Chevrolet Chevelle SS