Mega Gallery: 250+ custom-built jaw-droppers from SEMA 2021

Another SEMA show is in the books, and it was an important one. After hosting a virtual show in 2020, the 2021 show marked a return to in-person attendance and also a first time for the SEMA show to include the new West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The added square footage allowed the show to spread out a bit, leaving more room for foot traffic and much-needed tables and seating for snack breaks. As usual, hundreds of feature vehicles were in attendance. We barely had time to take in the fabrication nuances and interesting choices of texture and color of one build before the next stunner pulled our eyes—and feet—away.

We’ve already highlighted some of the interesting pro-touring muscle cars and sports cars from the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, as well as our favorite trucks and 4x4s, but this gallery is our biggest yet, with more than 250 cars, engines, and other interesting builds from SEMA 2021’s many locations.

At the Hagerty booth, we announced our partnership with Radford Racing School, and Ant Anstead unveiled the electric roadster he helped design and build for TV host Drew Scott.

This 1969 Firebird built by BBT Fabrications is powered by a 468-cubic-inch Pontiac V-8 from Butler Performance. The twin-turbo mill makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 horsepower and sends it through a T-65 six-speed built by Bowler Transmission. The car rides on a Roadster Shop chassis with IRS, and just about every body panel on the car has been customized, including flared fenders, flush rear glass, shaved drip rails, and a unique rear fascia and grille.

Brandon Miller’s 1986 Nissan 300ZX is powered by a beautiful Nissan inline-six that’s based on an RB25 block. With a ported RB26 head, bigger bores, and a stroker crank, the engine now displaces 2.8 liters and churns out 250 horsepower to the wheels.

Tim Strange from Strange Motion built a timeless 1965 Chevelle with his father. He had hoped to track down a Chevelle he had previously owned, but when a high-school friend learned Tim was in the market for a project, he sold Tim what was left of this car. It had been parked in a corn crib when a tornado hit, taking the corn crib and the car’s front clip along with it.

The damage done by the tornado is long gone, as you can see. Strange boxed the factory chassis, Z’ed the front, and added tubular cross-members. He cut out the factory floor and channeled the car to create its low stance. Inside, the former bench seat car has front buckets and the rear bench from an Impala. The 505-cubic-inch big-block is set way back in the engine bay—so far that Tim had to notch the cowl for the distributor. Almost all of the engine rests behind the front spindles.

We spoke with dozens of car owners about their builds, and we plan on bringing you more detailed features on some of these fantastic rides in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, enjoy this gallery of 300+ images of some of our favorite images from SEMA 2021.