SEMA

Have you ever wondered how the aftermarket is always ready with custom-fit parts and accessories as soon as a new model is introduced? You probably assumed tuners get advance copies of the latest and greatest to slice and dice, but that's not quite the case, and our friends from Clunkbucket have lifted the veil off the process.

Every year at SEMA, we fill the week with posts featuring special vehicles and products that we felt were important enough to share. Generally, they are the most newsworthy projects and new model introductions, but sometimes they are just things that caught our eye. When all is said and done, we think we've given all of you a good taste of what's on offer here in the desert.

We're not exactly sure what this used to be in its former life, but it all kinds of cool in its current iteration. Just knee-high to a Hobbit, this six-wheel convertible was parked in the shadow of Bigfoot and we almost tripped over it.

We were able to locate an Air-Zenith banner on the windshield, however, we couldn't find any other info. But really, what else do you need to know? Air-Zenith is the same group that dropped the drag pickup we saw at SEMA 2008. That one might have been quicker, but this one has a cool bike in the bed!

Here's another black beauty that caught our attention in the halls of SEMA 2009. It's a 1951 Kaiser Henry J owned and raced by Chris Beanes of California.

Running in A/Gas, this gloss-free gasser can storm the quarter in the mid-7s at better than 174 MPH. We read somewhere that it's powered by a Chevy 400 that's backed by a four-speed transmission, but other than that we don't have a lot more details. What we do have are a few pics in the gallery below that hopefully capture the magic of this nostalgic dragster.

Every 2010 Chevrolet Camaro we could find at SEMA - Click above for high-res image gallery

In past years at SEMA, there has always been a single vehicle that seems to be the most popular at the show. Last year, it was the Dodge Challenger and Nissan GTR, but there weren't enough to be overwhelming.

2010 Ford SVT Raptor with 6.2-liter V8 - Click above for high-res image gallery

If Ford had only offered the 5.4-liter V8 in the SVT Raptor and called it a day, we doubt anyone would have complained. Just the fact that the Blue Oval even had the guts to build such a vehicle deserves applause. But they didn't. The 2009 SEMA Show saw the introduction of Ford's 6.2-liter V8 in the most capable off-roading production truck ever built.

Tire pressure monitoring systems. Not the sexiest thing here at SEMA, but bear with us for a few minutes to geek out on one of the coolest things we've seen at the show that doesn't involve a whole vehicle.

Autometer - which recently bought Stack and its line of competition gauges - has developed a new tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) that ditches the batteries employed on traditional setups and uses... wait for it... crystals.

First, the problem: Not only are batteries prone to dying, particularly when they're being cycled for information hundreds of times in a minute in motorsport applications, they're also heavy. Although a few ounces on the wheel isn't going to make a massive difference on your Honda Accord Crosstour, it's an issue in Formula One and other top-tier racing series.

Honda's 2010 Accord Crosstour doesn't yet appear on the Japanese automaker's accessories site, but a few images of aftermarket bits have been shared with an Element owner's forum (viewable below), and we now have some live shots straight from the show floor at SEMA.