Fords at SEMA – A Preview

Ford has the biggest display space of any manufacturer at SEMA – 27,000 square feet – and plans to pack it with every kind of truck, tuner and Transit Connect.

Yes, this year at SEMA Ford will have ten customized Transit Connect small business haulers in a celebration it's calling “Vandemonium.” So far we have a picture of just of one of them, the “TC – Pentech,” a Transit Connect with two driving simulators in the back. Info on the other nine hasn't been released yet but suffice to say Vandemonium could make the Transit Connect the PC Cruiser of the new millennium.

It wouldn't be SEMA without Mustangs and at this early stage we know about three of the ones that will be on the Ford show stand:

The 2014 Mustang GT by Nitto tires sports a 3dCarbon body kit, BASF red finish, a new intake manifold, and a 65-millimeter twin bore throttle body and matching air intake to feed the beast's V8. No power estimate was released.

The Hollywood Hot Rods Mustang convertible sports a handmade removable hardtop, redesigned tail section and custom front splitter and grille. With a Banks Straight-Shot Water-Methanol injection system Hollywood estimates the V8 makes 750 hp.

Vortech added one of its V-3 Si supercharging systems to crank output in its Yellow Jacket Mustang to 605 hp and 473 lb ft of torque. A 3dCarbon “Boy Racer” body kit wraps the outside while TruFiber cowl induction hood and extra trim pieces add to the carbon fiber spleandor. The screaming yellow paint, meanwhile, is by DuPont.

Five tuners went to town on the four Fiesta STs and one regular Fiesta that will be onstand. COBB Tuning and Tanner Foust Racing laid down digital camouflage paint on their ST to support the Pat Tillman Foundation for U.S. military personnel. A lower body kit on the 3dCarbon/Air Design Focus is aimed at a European look. MRT replicated the Fiesta ST from Forza Motorsport 5 for its entry. Bojix Design promises “slot car handling” from the suspension mods on its Fiesta ST. And Ice Nine Group worked with rally driver Tim O'Neill to make a rally racer out of its Fiesta ST.

In the next two weeks Ford should reveal 28 of the 57 Fords that will be shown on the Ford stand at SEMA. We'll try to keep up. In addition to the rest of the Transit Connects there will be three F-150s and three Super Dutys revealed online before the show.

And that's just the Fords. Look for literally thousands of cars once the industry only show opens Nov 5.

By Mark Vaughn