the wonderful Cotati Speed Shop and Miller Welding shop truck... this is just great in so many ways, it's legit patina and real work aged, it's a 1969 Chev truck, and they have a welding rod rack in the back window

 that fron bumper push board is damn cool, reminds me of slingshot dragster team vehicle

 to have a old time phone number with a word and uppercase letters... that is a cool touch

 great rims and hub caps, terrific lettering and subtle but superb pinstriping

 and check out the terrific tailgate and side mount vise! But the coolest thing is that the tailgate has the flip reinforced steel table with legs for extra bracing, size and workbenck area

 Notice that the Miller welder logo is on the protective covers, and that they are flip out of the way hinged, both for the tailgate welder, and the side mounted one in the front of the bed

instead of a rear window gun rack.... which as a Michigan birthright I am very familiar with, he has tubes that carry welding rods! That is great!

their website for the Cotati Speed Shop is http://cotatispeedshop.com/
and to read more about the shop truck, go to the bottom of this article from Miller Electric http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/articles/miller--cotati-speed-shop-partner-up-for-2011-hot-rod-power-tour-and-more because it will be in the 2011 Hot Rod Power Tour

Big Oly, a new Baja race vehicle tribute to Parnelli Jones' Baja 1000 two time winning Bronco in '71 and '72

Marshall's website about his incredible truck is here http://www.bigoly.com/ and you can read more about what it took to build it, and what he built it with there.

the above photo of Parnelli Jones winning Bronco is from http://www.off-roadweb.com/events/0802or_40_years_to_glory_happy_birthday_baja_1000/index.html and they had very little to say about such a famous off roader " Big Oly came out of Bill Stroppe's shop but was really the brainchild of Parnelli Jones and one of Stroppe's fabricators, Dick Russell. Stroppe at first resisted the idea of building a tube-chassis vehicle with Bronco skins because it wouldn't be a true Bronco. Jones and Russell would eventually move Big Oly from Russell's garage to Bill Stroppe's shop, and Stroppe eventually accepted the idea. It won the Baja 1000 in 1971 and 1972. "

Bill Stroppe was a race car fabricator for Nascar if I recall correctly, and at a christmas party goaded Parnelli into a challenge to drive in the Baja 1000. Parnelli was known for Indy car driving, but proved exceptional at Baja racing... so great that he not only won the race, he beat all the motorcycles too!

Marshall Madruga was inspired by the Olympia Beer sponsored Bronco, and had several vintage Broncos from huigh school until his Class 8 off roader, but went all the way to insane with this Trophy Truck.

Olympia Beer isn't familiar to many of you I think, but it was one of the more popular beers in the 70's that has disappeared from our cultural awareness, like Strohs, Schlitz, and others. Olympia Beer was on screen with Clint Eastwood a lot though, and if you watch Clint's 1970's and 80's movies like "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot". If you are ever in Olympia Washington, capital city of Washington state but a very small city now, stop by the brewery. It's a cool experience and good tour. Olympia is not only a state capital, and a beer, but also the city that the USS Olympia fast attack nuclear submarine was named for... and that makes it the only US Navy vessel that shares the name of a alcoholic beverage. I was crew from 1991 to 1995 on that sub... cool experience, but not one I would repeat.

This is the 2nd incredible vehicle I've found and featured here that was built to replicate/honor/pay homage to a Parnelli Jones race vehicle, the other was the Boss 302 Mustang that Les built exactly to the specs of the original http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/06/68-ford-transporter-aint-that-cool-i.html 

3 beautiful Mopars from the Mopar Alley at SEMA this year, a 1969 Coronet, a 1970 Challenger convertible, and a 1971 Barracuda Convertible, and all have a hemi

 The 71 Barracuda, possibly the finest choices of options available on a Mopar are on this "Make what you really want" example... the wing, the billboard engine callout, the gills, and the shaker hood scoop.

 awesome

 when building the car they wanted, they chose air conditioning (which I thin was never offered with a Hemi with the huge air filter housing, and the 1970 shifter...

 I guess they didn't want to call their Coronet a Super Bee, or preferred the new truck Rumble Bee stripe instead. Possible more the first idea, because they didn't add a Super Bee to the trunk lid, or the grill

Mopar is selling cool musclecar era parts once again!

 these were the cool diplay cases they had at SEMA this year

But this would be the ultimate  xmas gift for a 1970 Challenger owner that has everything else. Bitching display of the owners manual, service manual, and data book. Serious hint here Justacagal! a display case like this would be awesome, painted in your cars colors, to fit your owners manual, warranty booklet, service repair book, and maybe build sheet or something else. I'm not sayiong buy the one I photographed here, but use this as a start to make your own customized to your own Mopar. I love it!

And finally, I wanted to point out that they are very smart in using a variation of the bumble bee stripe from the Scat Pack cars on their publicity material. a thin black line to either side of the thick center stripe would be exactly what the bumble bee stripe on the Scat Pack cars around the trunk looks like, but htis is a good thing they are doing. No complaints

Cool things I learned n the Mopar area at SEMA this year... best rear axle for E bodies are B body axles, and bulldog paper clips are grreat for temp mud flap retainers

 I asked the owner how he fit such huge rear wheels... and he told me that a B Body axle is 2 or 4 (I can't recall which) inches less in length... and so with a leaf spring relocation kit of 2 inches, you can then fit these mongo Mickey Thompsons under the rear.. they are 30 X 12 inchers and on 15 inch rims

 At first I just noticed the clear plexiglass mud flaps and thought that they were a damn good idea

Then I noticed when taking a closer photo, that they are only temporary and held on with bulldog paper clips. Great idea!

Metal Of Honor... duece made of donated new parts to assemble an homage to the US military that have been awarded the Congressional Medal Of Honor, and signed by 46 living recipients

If you look under the duece, you'll see that it's parked on grass. Indoors. I've never heard of any booth having turf brought in... it's awesome. Great idea, terrific execution, and appreciated by the people stopping by to admire the car. No dirt was getting carried onto the surrounding carpet either.

the military footlockers and field desk were very cool too

great display

 Awesome military interior pieces, the ammo can for an armrest, the canvas courier bags for door pockets, duffel bag in the passenger footwell, and the gauges are superior to any I've seen that try for the military look, but go too far and use aircraft gauges. These are perfect... they have the look, and function, that people have tried for, but failed to achieve

  Above, I was photographing the steering gear. I haven't seen an adapter like this before

if this car sounds familiar, it's because I posted a bit about this last year http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-cause-for-donating-parts-and-time.html

Thanks to Chuck Caswell, Emperor until he retires... he says after retirement he'll be a sultan (I could be mistaken, he may have said maharajah)