2007 SEMA - If you build it, they will come. Maybe.

The SEMA show is a great place to go if you like retro, repro, retro mods, muscle cars, or even retro repro muscle cars. The place is full of variations on the theme, along with parts suppliers and restoration shops catering to what continues to be a robust business. That is, it must be growing judging by the amount of square footage allocated to them.

Need a '55 Chevy body shell? No problem. If you'd like to build a brand-new one, most of the parts are available. Certain old pickup truck bodies and other models are also available, and more reborn oldies are coming on the market all the time. As CR auto engineer Tom Mutchler recently blogged, there's a company making new 1967 Ford Mustang fastback body shells. The choice is yours whether you want to go with a period powertrain, suspension, brakes and interior, or upgrade to modern components. Examples of both are on display here in Vegas.

Other companies get even more creative. Plymouth never made a 1968 GTX station wagon back in the muscle car glory days. But there's one on the show floor, complete with bucket seats, center console, and giant hood scoop covering a 440 six-pack (meaning 440 cubic-inches of Detroit V8 and three two-barrel carburetors for you young'uns), just like was offered in the '68 GTX 2-door hardtop. Even though Plymouth never made one, this mix of new and old parts makes for a memorable rolling advertisement for the suspension component company displaying it. Part of me thinks this GTX is kind of cool, but then I've always liked station wagons. Still, somehow, I doubt the market will require them to build too many more. "Sounds like my kind of wagon," says my colleague Mike Quincy, who has 2 kids, a house in the suburbs... the whole nightmare. Sometimes it puts a grin on one's face to drive something that can haul more than just the family...

--Jim Travers

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