Top 3 legendary cars from SEMA 2017

Iain Kelly

Contributing Journalist

2 min read

While many people love the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas for new builds we saw some epic legends from years past at this year's show. 

Here they are, in no particular order.

- Bigfoot, the first monster truck. While lifted trucks were around since the early 70s Bob Chandler's F100 known as Bigfoot is regarded as the first proper monster truck. The first to crush cars it has wowed crowds since the mid '70s and spawned a dynasty of improved Bigfoots.

Bigfoot has been in action since  the mid '70s. (image credit: Iain Kelly)
Bigfoot has been in action since the mid '70s. (image credit: Iain Kelly)

- Challenger 2 streamliner was originally built by hot rod legend Mickey Thompson in 1968 as the Autolite special, as a follow up to his 400mph Challenger 1. His son Danny took over the project a few years back after the car sat since 1969 and finally broke the 400mph barrier at Bonneville salt flats last year.

Challenger 2 streamliner was originally built by hot rod legend Mickey Thompson in 1968. (image credit: Iain Kelly)
Challenger 2 streamliner was originally built by hot rod legend Mickey Thompson in 1968. (image credit: Iain Kelly)

- The McGee roadster was originally built in 1947 and inspired nearly every 1932 Ford hot rod since. It has been one of the most influential hot rods of all time, evolving through the decades to debut many new trends. Such was its impact it was one of 3 custom cars (the only hot rod) to be included in the US Governmet's register of historic vehicles for cars that hold significant cultural importance.

The McGee roadster was originally built in 1947 and inspired nearly every 1932 Ford hot rod since. (image credit: Iain Kelly)
The McGee roadster was originally built in 1947 and inspired nearly every 1932 Ford hot rod since. (image credit: Iain Kelly)

Iain Kelly is the hot rod historian behind The Creators Online.

What's your favourite car from SEMA? Let us know in the comments.

Iain Kelly

Contributing Journalist

A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro.  For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights.  Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions. Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.
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