by Matt Konkle
Managing Editor
LAS VEGAS — Ice cream, bagels, burnouts, stories and, of course, plenty more Jeeps and products. Our 2023 Specialty Equipment Market Association event came to an end inside a haze of smoke and with a tinge of burnt rubber just next to the Hoonigan Burnyard outside Las Vegas Convention Center's South Hall.
Of course, not before spending a bit more time inside West, Central and South Halls inspecting Jeeps and products from our friends at Bestop, Crown, Rock Slide Engineering and Steer Smarts.
From there, we closed out our 2023 SEMA adventure in the massive outdoor lot just in front of South and Central Halls, visiting with Teraflex, looking over Jeeps parked throughout the lot and listening to the Hoonigan gang entertain thousands with vehicle burnouts along with belching black smoke.
So, we’ve talked quite a bit this week about the LVCC West Hall, a $1B complex that now houses the Off-Road, SUV and Truck section of the SEMA event. It is a sprawling complex, over 1.4-million square feet — nearly one million of which is exhibition space — and filled with educational rooms, an enormous cafeteria and plenty of bathroom and hallway space.
And for day three, we first stopped just a few steps outside the West Hall for food from Siegel’s Bagelmania. This has been a mainstay for breakfast, lunch, and (sometimes) dinner for SEMA attendees since it moved to its current location in 2018.
Besides a counter for takeout food — bagels, breakfast, lunch and other home-made Jewish deli staples, the place has a 10,000 square foot sit down restaurant with all kinds of food, including signature matzah ball soup and a 100-year-old chicken noodle recipe, it says, will cure the common cold.
From there, we headed to the Rock Slide Engineering’s exhibition space, as we wanted to look at many of their new products that boasted a plan from the company to champion the idea it is more than just a premier side step company.
In the pipeline, Rock Slide has a slick rear seat cargo rack coming for the Jeep Gladiator, as well as a new front stubby bumper, side grinder box to hold things like oil, water, tools and other trail essentials. Additionally, the company engineered a bolt-on Gladiator Overland Rack that is low-profile and has numerous mounting and tie-down positions, as well as the ability to support a roof-top tent. Finally, a new mechanical step rounds out Rock Sliders upcoming offerings and will provide a nine-inch platform designed for more comfortable and safer access into the Gladiator bed.
Following our time with Rock Slide, we took a few steps to the Crown Automotive booth and looked over a few Jeeps it brought along that definitely deserved recognition.
Crown itself wasn’t offering any new products for SEMA 2023, but the company does produce plenty of Jeep maintenance items that are extremely popular these days as Jeep owners are keeping their vehicles longer and longer — choosing to work on them instead of trading in for a newer edition.
And one Jeep inside Crown’s space had a great story behind it, so we had to check the thing out.
This totally renovated metallic brown 1979 Cherokee Chief Golden Eagle used to live in Carlsbad, New Mexico. In the brush. On one of SEMA’s final days of the 2021 show, a guy waltzed into Crown’s booth, saw its powder blue Cherokee Chief on display and said “hey, I’ve got one of those as well.”
After some back and forth, it turned out he wanted to get his restored just like the other Crown display. So, the guys from Crown left SEMA, drove out to the ranch, found the Jeep and pulled it from the brush, then took it back to headquarters and fixed it all up.
The version features a 6.4-liter Hemi engine, 4L80E transmission, KMC wheels, Teraflex lift kit with its signature Falcon shocks, Dana 44 front and rear axles, BFGoodrich 33-inch all-terrain tires and a custom leather interior with powder-coated accents.
Just a stunning recreation from the Crown team.
From one amazing build to another, we traveled further into West Hall to see Steer Smarts’ Freeze Ice Cream Jeep that featured plenty of the company’s steering components, as well as Mickey Thompson tires, KC Hilite lighting, Kicker sound and camera system, Magnaflow exhaust, Warn winch, Factor 55 recovery gear, Armorlite interior flooring, Katzkin seat covers and plenty of Jeep and Mopar-branded items.
And while Steer Smarts wasn’t giving out any soft serve ice cream at the show, they are planning on taking this unique build to next year’s Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah, so perhaps we’ll have a chance at some trail ice cream in the future.
Our final West Hall stop was to see Bestop’s new Trektop Ultra for 2-door Wrangler JL models, as well as its forestry green-colored Gladiator.
First the practical, this new Trektop soft top takes everything great about the NX version and turns it into a fully convertible top for a total open-air experience. Thanks to an innovative SkyGlide system, owners can go from top-up to that open air in just a few seconds. Or, they can keep the windows in place, unlatch the Sunrider feature and fold the front section back to reveal an opening for the driver and passenger, or for all four seats. Additionally, the zipperless windows can come out while the top roof stays in place for a bikini-type appearance.
Two-door Wrangler JL owners will definitely want to keep an eye for this top to reach the marketplace.
Then came the concept as we looked over Bestop’s light-green painted Gladiator. While it didn’t show off any new product, there were still plenty of company accessories decorating the build like its Sunrider for Hardtop, cloth upper and lower doors, rack system and the Supertop for Truck 2.
Our last stop for the 2023 SEMA show took us outside and into the parking lot area just a few steps from South Hall. Nearby, the Hoonigan crew was setting up for another crazy loud burnout show so we had a few minutes to look over Teraflex’s military-green build that displayed its new Falcon JL Coilovers.
These can be adjusted with snap rings so it doesn’t have a threaded body. They also utilize bearings at the top and bottom for smooth, ultra-quiet performance. Plus, everything is pre-tuned exclusively for the JL so you are not buying something designed for an Ultra-4 vehicle that now needs to be modified.
SEMA said this year’s show drew over 2,200 exhibitors and 160,000 attendees from all over the globe. Next year’s 57th annual show will roll out November 5-8 at the LVCC.
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