RJ De Vera from SEMA talks about this year’s SEMA Show and his role in the first Fast and Furious movie.

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We're going to do a little bit different episode this week.

I'm going to welcome a guest, RJ Devera.

He's the Vice President of Marketing at SEMA, and he's got quite a bit of background in the Fast and Furious movies.

It's a pretty interesting story that I think you guys will enjoy.

This was an interview that I actually already recorded from a little while ago,

but I wanted to bring that to you this week.

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Alright, here we are.

Alright, we're back with Arjay Devera. How are you?

Good. Doing great.

As we're recording this, we're both getting ready for Monterey Car Week, so it's a good time.

Yeah, getting ready for Monterey Car Week.

Although, I think by the time people listen to this, Car Week might be over.

We're going to figure out exactly when this is going to air.

We've been banking a couple of interviews and shows for Car Week.

But you and I have known each other a long time.

I would say maybe 10 years ago, maybe could be 12 or so.

So we've been doing the podcast 16 years.

We've been going like MPMC for probably 17, 18 years.

And probably early on there, you were at McGuire's.

Yeah, from 2010 on.

So probably from that time.

So now we've known each other somewhere in that range, right?

And now you're VP of marketing at SEMA, the SEMA organization.

Correct. Not just the show.

Most people just know just the show, right?

The trader organization.

There's a lot going on there.

So let's touch on that.

Let's touch on SEMA a little bit and then we'll get into more of how you got there.

Sure, sounds good.

We've been talking, we've had Mike Spagnola on a few times.

He was talking quite a bit about the legislation stuff that's been,

they've been pushing through.

That was high up on his list.

We've had Tom Katusa on for the past couple of years talking about SEMA fest

and the SEMA show, how it's involved, certainly grown to West Hall.

And they've been working on that bridge for a while that you can kind of,

you can walk across, but the entrance was missing.

First of all, the SEMA show this year.

Is the building done?

Is the central hall open or is it still going to be?

For this year, most of it will be done.

There'll still be some construction.

The next years when it's completely the front side of it will look like West

Hall.

Last year, if you remember a center hall, the entrance is missing, right?

We actually built a separate entrance.

So most of that will be completed, but they moved down.

So that area between, let's call it center hall down to the escalators

that go up to the media center.

That's really the last final piece that the convention center is redoing.

So still some construction.

So we'll lose a little bit of the front display area for feature cars,

but it'll be much more together than it was last year.

So you will be able to walk across the bridge from West Hall into north and

center, and that'll be all completed from what I understand.

So it's interesting to see as a person that,

I started going to SEMA show, I think in 97,

and there was just center and north hall.

And then you, where all the activations are out front,

you could park there and there was a tent where you would get your badge,

so to see it evolve, this will be my 28th SEMA show in a row.

Over the last 28, almost three decades,

with the addition of West Hall to your point, it's just insane.

The amount of space that we take up,

the amount of vendors that come, the amount of activations and people,

I mean, from 97 to now, I mean,

it just kind of blows my mind how the industry's continued to grow

and to support the event and just to make it a bigger,

you know, better, you know, coming homecoming, let's call it,

every year for the whole aftermarket industry.

It's really cool to see.

To think that it started in, like, deep in Dodger Stadium.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Like the initial, I don't know how many years they did it there.

This will be, I think it's year 57 or 58 somewhere around there.

I don't know exactly.

I think it's 58.

And, you know, started in Dodger Stadium to your point and moved to Anaheim,

I believe, and then it finally went to Vegas.

And it really got started by a bunch of mostly hot rod drag racers, right?

Yeah, you know, when we started the other podcast that we did,

Shift and Steer, we still do the podcast,

but we initially started that, Brad Fanshawe and I and Aaron Hagar.

We started that with Pete Shaporas.

Okay.

He was at Pete and Jake's and then was at SoCal Speed Shop.

And he was like one of the founding members of SEMA.

SEMA, yeah.

Big Edelbrock.

Yeah.

Mr. Peterson.

Yeah, Peterson.

Polly Parks, right?

And I'm pretty sure he was there at the initial, at the very first.

Wow.

Yeah.

I don't know what the rules are anymore, but I just,

because I remember when Pete passed away,

but it was like, Pete, you're going to the SEMA show.

And he's like, yeah, SEMA, you know,

SEMA invites me out and they get me a hotel room.

A hotel room was like, oh, that's nice.

How do you get to, how do you get that perk?

He's like, you kind of have to be like the first SEMA member ever.

And I was like, oh.

Yeah.

Founding father, right?

He's sort of grandfathered in.

Yeah.

He gets an invitation every year.

Well, I mean, he did for the longest time.

So he had a lot of fun telling those stories back in the day.

So SEMA, we talk a bit.

I'm a big fan of the aftermarket.

So we've been talking about SEMA for a long time.

We've been talking about SEMA every year for quite some time.

Well, not quite 28 years, but probably 17, 18.

Wow.

Yeah, still a good one.

Almost 20.

And knowing it as a trade show.

I love the parts.

I go out and I try to interview a bunch of people that are to

talk about what's new in the part side of it.

I always go by the new part showcase.

Like a big photo gallery of every sports, you know,

as much as I can that's in there.

Now it's kind of grown that you can't really get it off.

But to check that out.

And the cars that debut there are the cars that are shown there.

One of the things that we brought up recently was.

Yes.

SEMA still is a great place to debut a build.

But myself included.

We've had five.

I've had five cars that seem up.

A lot of the cars are are.

That are being shown are cars that are being used.

I get it.

You're, you know, you're one of the top builders.

You're debuting something there, but that's evolving as well.

Now we're seeing like cool cars that are are.

I don't want to say not perfect because that's not the case.

It's just they're sort of used.

They're supposed to be used and then show up at SEMA.

Yeah.

Before it was just like racing cars, but now it's just like,

like, for example, I did something with real truck last year.

And we brought a truck.

We brought a 22 Ford Lightning.

And I drive that truck.

And that was just.

Not quite as big a project as, as what we've built.

But the idea was to go, let's take a truck that we actually use.

Let's bolt on a bunch of gear to it and, and, and a few personal

things we did, you know, Brembo brakes and lowered it and did

some custom things on it.

But I, you know, aside from that, I was like, I don't need

the detail, the undercarriage of this car.

You know, like this is.

You know, like it's being driven.

Like we're going to, you know, drive it there or drive it

home and get a bit of that.

So that's one of the things that I think has evolved is

some of the cars that have been there.

For sure.

And as the show's gotten bigger, just been more space to put

different things.

I would, I don't have the data in front of me, but I'm sure the

number of cars that are there now, now that we have West Hall is

way more than it's ever been.

Right.

Because you have space in West Hall around West Hall and then

everything else.

I would say that, you know, see my show is, is a beat is

predominantly a B2B trade show, you know, we opened it to

the public a few years ago on Friday.

So it's a new element, but for the most part, it's unlike most

other, let's call it our shows where people compete.

Right.

So there is a competition like battle, the builders and a few

wars that got get given by the OEs, but really the cars there

are really meant to showcase the product.

That the manufacturers are exhibiting in their space or in

new product showcase to your point.

New product showcase has grown.

It's actually moved to South Hall this year.

And it's one of the first destinations for most attendees to

figure out what's new and what, what booth did it, do they want

to go see?

Beyond that, a lot of the vehicles that do come are the, are

the vehicles that either a part was prototyped on or, you know,

some car that went racing with certain parts on or a car that

was built for some purpose, right?

To your point, not just to be a show car.

Yeah.

You know, like one that gets like one that gets rock

crawled at King of the Hammers, right?

Yeah.

And it'll come like dusty and, you know, it's not, it's not meant

to be a, a Riddler contender, you know, and the Riddler being,

you know, the highest award you can get for hot rod along with

the, with the Amber award, right?

And those cars come to like Mike, our CEO just pinged me the

other day like, Hey, I got it on the Riddler this year.

He wants to come.

Like, you know, let's, let's figure out how we, we can

connect them with an exhibit to get him a space.

So that's the, that's the fun of SEMA as you get cars

and trucks from all different, let's call it walks of life

in every genre.

And some are, you know, Riddler winners and some are

competition vehicles and others are just project cars that

were driven on the street, you know, which is kind of the

fun part of going to this event where you get to see lots

of everything.

Yeah.

And it's really a true reflection of, of everything that's

in the aftermarket.

You know, and you, you talked about opening it up to the

public.

So one of the things we, we've talked about, but I just want

to remind people, SEMA does offer now individual

memberships that pretty much anyone can get.

And separately from that, you can buy a ticket to the SEMA

show.

So access on Friday.

I don't know if it's, it's just Friday.

I don't know if it's the full day.

Maybe you're limiting how many tickets get sold.

It's full day.

We did in the beginning.

So two things that you mentioned, SEMA plus is our

individual membership program that gets you involved

into our community offers a lot of benefits.

There's some discounts on, on some certain brands and

merchandise, even a discount on SEMA fest and are open

to the public.

They open to the public as all day Friday.

You get access to all the halls that, that the B2B

people have for the whole week and then all of the

outside.

And then if you choose to stay for SEMA fest and the

concert and the festival, you can, and you can buy a

bundle ticket.

But every year it's grown.

The open to the public day because I would say the SEMA

show did such a great job of letting people know that

she couldn't get in until you were, unless you were

part of the industry that even when we were selling

open to the public tickets, people are like, I don't

understand why you keep promoting this.

I can't get in.

And we, you know, we got, we call it Friday

experience.

We call it Friday enthusiast experience.

We, we finally just settled.

We're just going to call it open to the public day.

Just so it's just like in your face and people

understand like if the SEMA shows up part of your

bucket list, you can come, you know, on that day

and, and get, you know, everything that everyone

gets for the whole week.

And then of course you can come for the cars and

stay for the music and make it a really long

fun day.

But that is something that continues to grow for us.

And a lot of our exhibitors, it's becoming

more important because a lot of exhibitors are

starting to do D to C, right?

So as the marketplace evolves, we, as a

organization, as a show also evolve.

Tom, our, our, our show VP says it all the time

that we're just a reflection of the industry.

So, you know, five years from now, 10 years from

now, couldn't the publicly, can the publicly,

the public, they be more than one day,

essentially, you know, if that's where the

market's going.

Yeah.

And maybe, maybe offer some way of offering

e-commerce capabilities, you know, like if

you're opening to the public, you know, maybe

you're not selling a lot of parts there because

there's no inventory on the show floor.

That's a different type of event.

But, but to be able to go, yes, these are

parts that are available or some that are

coming out soon.

If you would like it, you know, we'll scan

it, we'll charge you, we'll set it in the mail

and by the time you get home, you'll have

it there for you.

You know, maybe make it a little bit

transactional in that sense to, on the

consumer side.

It'd be very different for us, but it could

be an evolution to your point.

I think many people are starting to shop

that way and many manufacturers have

their own e-commerce website.

Some could drive to that, some could

drive to their, you know, their biggest

distributor who has an e-commerce site

as well.

So there's a shift that will need to

happen with the exhibitors themselves

on who's the customer that's walking

under a booth or are they more of a

B2B job or wholesaler or are they,

you know, direct to consumer enthusiasts

that just wants, you know, to buy something

and a lot of that kind of is there,

right?

Because a lot of business and shops have

their own personal projects, you know,

they're like, oh, you know what, yeah,

I'd like your parts, but I have a

project that's specific to the shop,

right?

And having a trade show that

is open to the public, that's

part of, there's a little

bit of an obstacle, there's a little

bit of the growing pains for the

exhibitors because the exhibitors,

many of them would say, listen,

the booth we would build for a trade

show is different than a booth we

would build for consumers.

Like their booth at, let's say

Barrett Jackson is different

than the booth at

SEMA or PRI, right?

And then so now they're going, well,

how do we do a little bit of both?

How do we change Friday into

less of our meetings

and trade days and more

into a public day without really

changing much of the booth,

you know, or any of it? Like, do they

even just, you know, change some

signage or something, you know,

you know,

so there's a little bit of that,

but I think everyone's

getting more comfortable with it.

Yeah, and it's more mindset really, right?

Because you're really there showing

new product at the end of the day,

most times, you know, and I,

if I put my McGuire's cap on,

and the SEMA show was one of the things

that my group ran, it was really

for us, we look, we use the

SEMA show as a launchpad to launch

new items, you know,

accompanying like McGuire's and a lot

of brands that sell through a big box

retailer or an auto

specialty retailer, like an auto zone

or advanced auto or Riley.

They didn't really need to sell at the SEMA show,

right? Because most of their, they knew what was going to be

on shelf before, you know,

they even got to the show. So we really

used the show as a different

platform.

And much in the same way that an exhibitor

on a public day, the booth can still

be the same, but it's what is your

message, right? Are you doing

demos? Are you doing samples? Are you talking

about product and then connecting them

with the best way for that customer

to buy that product, right? Whether it's

through an auto specialty chain,

whether it's through a summit or a

Jags or whether it's through a shop

that, you know, that retails

like, let's say it's a performance

part, you know, like an exhaust

or something or a shock

or coil over.

So to your point, I think

some adjustments need to be made,

especially from the team

that's in the booth. That's, you know, because

it's not, we're selling a pallet.

It's more about like, what's your project

and what you're interested in and what's

your challenge and okay, here's some of the

parts that we offer that make

sense for that. And here's how you can

find out more information and or buy it,

right? Yeah.

Let's talk about SEMA Fest. What can we look

forward to with SEMA Fest this year?

SEMA Fest is on year three.

We moved it to

the SEMA Show Campus last year, which

worked out really well. So we

announced our bands for this year.

So Queens of the Stone Age, Black

Crows and Neon Trees. Yeah.

We've got Optima again doing

a lot of the motorsports

activities. We are adding

more car corrals to give it

an even

larger taste of automotive culture.

So we've got some cars

coming from the show.

I think some of the battle of the builders cars will be there.

I believe

we're going to have kind of a hypercar exotic

car row.

So quite a bit of it is still forming, but

we're definitely infusing even more automotive

into it. So for the people that

didn't come earlier

and do the open to the public there

just coming to SEMA Fest,

you're getting just as much

music as there has been

last year.

And then even more motorsports

and car culture than there was last year.

So pretty exciting.

We've gone

both times.

It's been fun.

I've said this before on the show.

When you're doing something

to this scale

and something that's

a little bit new

from what SEMA's

been doing in the past

you want to be fair

and give it a few years to kind of figure out

how it needs to happen.

The first year, great bands

off-site

a little more complicated to get to

second year last year

on-site

much easier to get to

easier overall just to

get in and get out

the bands were great

but

definitely scaled back on some of the

automotive stuff

to kind of figure out

a lay of the land and what fits

and is this the right location

can we build from here

and so this year I like

the idea of

it's going to be Friday night

Friday night, same night

or going to SEMA for the public event

you go to the SEMA Fest directly after

you don't come back the next day

you don't pay for parking twice

if that's what you're doing

or Ubering over or whatever like

you do it all in one day which

is convenient, way more fun

definitely makes sense

what time

is SEMA Fest start

are you doing like the car stuff first

and the bands that night

the first year try to do like in between

but then it got dark and you couldn't really figure out

it'll still be similar

where the band will go on and the great thing is

when you shift the stage

for the next band you have this interval anyway

and so it's natural

for the motorsports activity to happen

at that time so the crowd can go back and forth

I believe

SEMA Fest is starting

don't quote me on this, 3 or 4 p.m

which is as the SEMA

show is ending

and then SEMA

actually happens at the same time

so you've got multiple things that you can do from this

let's call it 4 p.m.

to 6 30 p.m.

window

last year the first band was like

5 36 if I remember

correctly so as the cruise is ending

you could get to Fest

and watch the first band

the automotive activity started a little bit earlier

for the people that are just coming to Fest

which is the optimal stuff of course

so we're trying to find this

middle ground for people

as they transition from the show

to the cruise to Fest

should they want to do

any one of those things

there's just areas a little bit of overlap

and then I would say around

6 30 it's really all Fest

because the cruise is really

at its tail end

and then the bands

the bigger bands are coming on stage

and then the motorsports activities

will be happening in between

the bands changing

on the big stage

right

yeah okay and then so

cmofest.com is the website

where you can buy the tickets

for both for Fest

and for open to the public because

you can buy a bundle ticket

yeah right so that was the thing

you can buy the different packages

you can do it all in one location

just go to cmofest.com

and there's

and also by the way for the bands

and stuff that you have even if you don't make it

to the open to the public day

the bands are great and the prices are fantastic

like general admission for 70 bucks

go watch the bands

and see the car events are happening in between

I mean

I don't know

we've been told it's one of the most

cost efficient tickets in Vegas

to see bands so

we're looking to make it accessible

at the end of the day

we love

that it's a

it's kind of a closing party

for everyone that worked all week

should they choose to stay that night

and it's really just to shut down

just a week long of fun

around cars right so we haven't made it

ultra expensive

to your point concert tickets these days

aren't the cheapest in the world

and with us just having three bands

versus the 22 that we had

we've been able to keep the ticket prices

much more reasonable

I was all in it at year one

I was there

and I was just like

I want to check it out

I want to see the thing and I go from one stage

to the other stage

and we might end up there again

you know to be quite frank

but it's tough with the footprint that we have right now

yeah I mean it was

it was a lot but I was just like

I'm seeing bands I didn't see

and

and then

toward the end of the night I just remember

just standing there in the crowd

and I realized

it's me

my girlfriend some friends

and then it's Bagnola and his family

they're all standing right next to us

watching the

the bands and they did a great job

yeah it was

we had some great bands here one

for sure so

seeing that tradition on

okay so that's the theme of stuff

let's take a quick break

and we'll be right back

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Term Supply

going back a bit like you know we talked about you were at

McGuire's for a long time like 12 years

or something we're at McGuire's

but tracing this back to

you know I don't even want to say

influencer you were doing stuff on the content

side and photography before

then your editors of

magazines

you're building cars

working in the aftermarket

quite a bit of a background there

and then the Fast and Furious stuff

which I'm not sure everybody knows

yeah

because you started before

that Fast and Furious is like

2001

2000, 2000

2001

right so it's been a great

journey for me

I would say the aftermarket is

and it really made me who I am as a professional

going on three decades

being in this industry

I started in

my very first job was selling

car covers out of a

small automotive

accessory shop in West LA

that was called Anything Limited

that was 1993

or four

had a JDM Japanese

import that I was modding

decided to start selling

you know parts

out of my mom's condo

or Japanese import cars

right after that

maybe like 94, 95

you know attended the very first import car

show in LA and was a big proponent

had a big car crew competed

did quite a bit of drag racing as well

battle the imports

and all those things which led to this

editor job at this magazine called

Super Street which was Peterson

publication, Peterson publication

I remember going out to a NoPy Nationals

event yeah do you remember NoPy

like 10,000 cars

yeah NoPy by the way

it was drag racing

for imports

so there was the drag racing series

but they really became known

they did a big car show

on the indoor speedway on the infield

and it would draw

I thought it was about 10,000 cars

if I remember correctly

and Super Street would do this tour

from three different sides

from Miami from Jersey

and then from the west

I think it started in Texas

and became a really big deal

I remember being on the tour and it would be like

a thousand cars deep

you know if one person pulled over

like 500 cars would pull over

and it would be like

you know kind of showing

the U.S.

different parts of car culture

not just in America

but also in Japan

and also it was going in Europe

and it was all based on

sport compact cars and Japanese

imports and whatnot so

did that for about five years

six years maybe

paid my way through college

and then started kind of

it was such a

it was so heavily involved

in that youth car movement at the time

of this like you know

mid to late 90s

which led to the Fast & Furious franchise

and being one of two consultants

for the film

helping choose the cars and the parts

you know the cars were the characters

and the aftermarket parts that they were modded with

and then got a speaking line

and I still get residuals now

just pretty crazy to think

and then had one of my cars

that was rented for the first movie

that then got sold to them

and was a car in the second movie

this S2000 that is now pink

it just made a Lego out of it actually

you connected

with some of the producers

how did you get involved with the film

because you were obviously

you were involved in the import scene

and then

I don't know if it was the producers

the initial writers that said

I mean we need to learn about that

who can we talk to

and you became one of the consultants

on that side

so the story goes and this is a little bit

before I jumped on was that

somehow they saw an article

that talked about import

drag racing and they bought their rights to it

and then decided to create

this movie which is like Point Break

meets cars so to speak

and then my boss at the time

at Peterson one of my bosses was

Doug Lieberman who ran

Naira which was

the National Import Racing Association

that Peterson bought from somebody

and Craig was running it so they found

Craig he became a consultant

and I asked Craig do you know anybody

that grew up in this scene

in this room and he's like oh yeah

I have a little yappy

20 year old that's the president

of my car club that I'm a part of

you should talk to him

so that's why I met the producer

Doug Claiborne and the director

Rob Cohen they actually came to an

import show and started to ask me

a bunch of questions about what it was like growing up

in import car culture

and you know the import drag racing

things and whatnot so I was just giving them

a bunch of information they're like oh you should join

your buddy Craig

and be one of our consultants and I was like sure

you know why not. Yeah listen you got money

I'll take it. Yeah exactly

and I actually remember asking them

like is this movie for real is like going straight

to DVD and they're like no no no we're gonna

we're gonna launch it in the movie theater

and I was like sure buddy

and then it became what it was

so it's it's crazy that they're gonna make

number 11 right

where they're making number 11 or whatever it is

yeah and your your car

in the film was the s2000

Johnny Tran's car

correct it was black in the first movie

and then turned kink into the second

and then you you you already had that

car. Correct yeah it was a company car

you were working with these guys

they asked what do you have

what do you drive like what's your car

and you said let me show it to you

they're like this is cool

let us rent it for you we'll make it a hero

car for our art yeah

for Johnny Tran's character

and then you were

in the film talking about your role

because your role is actually

it's comedic

it's comedic relief right it is but it's a

memorable character right you're the

kid playing the video games

so yes correct

so the s2000

was the lead villain's car it wasn't even

supposed to be that car but we couldn't

afford the original car that we wanted for

Johnny Tran which was going to be this full

home and BMW

m car and we didn't have enough money to

buy and replicate it so they're like

Arjun what about your s2000 that looks pretty sinister

I'm like yeah let's do it you know

I had a new veilside kid it looked pretty mean

we ended up being in the film for that

I had another car in NSX that we were going to use

for Vin Diesel's character but same thing

we couldn't afford the extra

so we ended up with the rx7 for Vin

but my character Paul Walker

was actually the one that was like hey RJ

I just saw you in a gas commercial

us living in LA you end up

being in something eventually

and so I was in this arco gas commercial

and Paul saw it and he was like

hey how come you didn't tell anyone you're an actor

and I'm like oh I'm not an actor

isn't this you in this gas commercial

I'm like oh that's like total fluke right

very LA and he's like

well you know we're making a movie and I'm like

well why he's like well

have Rob give you one of the parts let me call him

so Paul called the director

was like hey RJ's you know actually

an actor and I'm like I'm not an actor and he was like

RJ like why didn't you tell anyone I thought we were family

so that's that's how my character

was given to me Danny Yamano

character name this is why I still get

residuals but he's one of the first

in the beginning

drag race sequence when Paul's trying to

kind of get Vince trust

and build credibility I'm one of the

four racers

in that ensemble right so jaw

rule Paul Walker Vin Diesel and this

this character that I play Danny Yamano

who plays you know

a video game in his car before it had raced that's his ritual

and he crashes

right so you kind of laugh like

you know and if you knew Gran Turismo you're like

there's like you suck you're the worst

Gran Turismo player of all time

so it was cool and you know I had three lines

in the script maybe you know an ablib

part that never made the film

with jaw rule so it was really

fun you know and that led to actually

had an MTV show for a couple seasons

I'll trick it out where I was the host

and judge and that was my five seconds

and my and my 15 seconds of fame

so yeah so

they rented your car for the

first film and then the second film

they bought your car

and they turned it into the pink

yeah the pink car that's

as it sits at the Peterson right now so

the first movie because the budget

was let's call it frugal

all the principal cars were rented

were rented yeah

and then when the movie got so big

Universal kind of had

a challenge with some of the owners

because the owners were like okay well I'm

gonna rent it here and here and sell it

and so for the second movie

of course the budget was a lot bigger they're like

they're just gonna own everything so

we had they had

we had bought a couple S2000s

for the first movie that we

stunt cars that we didn't use

so for the second movie like we have these cars

let's just use them

yeah hey we're gonna we're not

gonna rent any car so they called and said hey

would you would you like to sell the S2000

because we're gonna make that a one of the

you know principal character cars because

we've got these stunt cars that we're gonna destroy

which is you know it jumps the bridge

but really destroyed literally

so so I was like yeah sure I'm

willing to sell it you know I painted it twice

by that time and then

you know they're like I just painted it when I sold it

to them this this really great Lambo

orange pearl color they're like oh come

back into easy you know we have an idea

for for what it's gonna be and it came

back and was pink and had the airbrush

and whatnot and they're like oh it's

the big graphics on everything yeah

so it's it's cool to see that it's

still alive it's not in the greatest shape

but it's not gonna ask you

what they paid but are you happy

you sold it or do you got selling it

no I'm sure I would get way more for it now

I think I we sold it for what

we paid for it because it was just like we're

done with a car it was it was a company car

that I was a partner in

you know just selling body kits

and the performance parts

and we're like yeah we'll make our money back

you know I think we made a grander too

so so yeah you know

you win some you lose some could have what it should have

but you know it's cool again it's cool to see it

it's still around it is cool

to see that it's still around and I glad I'm glad

to see it it's at the Peterson Museum so it's at a

place you can go and be viewed it's not hidden

away but like we

we've done this on the show a bunch

of times you know buying and selling

cars and talking about what you could have like

yeah anything that we

we could have held on for

20 years longer would have been worth a lot

more money especially today with inflation

and everything else so it doesn't make a difference

if it was the right move at the right time

then then that it's fine you move on

and yeah careers change

other projects you know things like that

and you enjoy the next cars

right so I did buy an S2000

again

two years well three years ago now

right before I started at SEMA

I wanted an analog project

car again yeah and I thought

about all the cars that I really enjoyed

just modding

you know growing up and the S2 was

not the car for maybe

a year and a half

so I was like you know what the pricing on this

on this on the S2 isn't

ridiculous it was still fairly accessible

even though it's been going up so I

ended up doing a new

S2000 and the thought in my head is

how do I build it if fast

was just coming out now like if number

one was coming out now so I built it with modern

day parts and whatnot so it's quite fun

yeah awesome

well I it's been

a while the adventure I'm sure for

you and now to end up at SEMA like

think about starting in

the aftermarket selling parts out of

your mom's condo to now

VP of marketing at the

entire trade organization that

manages and oversees

and helps the aftermarket community so

it's

not a bad place

yeah I would have never thought of it

too but when I thought about joining

the organization it felt like I was coming home

you know because I've been to the show

in every facet that you mentioned I was a

photographer I was an editor

I was a car builder for quite some time

was helping a bunch of brands

either develop product or market

product a lot

in the sport compact or European

tuner space

and then I you know

work with big brands you know

small brands was a partner

in a couple of businesses making parts

so you name it I was I've

seen as a platform

to be part of the organization and to be able to

continue to help the industry

you know it feels

it feels like it ties to

you know my purpose right

of helping people

and companies build better versions of

themselves so it's a real honor to be here

I've enjoyed the three years I've

been here we're going through a lot of change

which has been quite fun and

yeah the industry continues to change you know

there's a lot of things going on as you know both from

the legislative side and

and just the cars that are coming out you know

a big question about propulsion right and

you know having choice in the future

of whether you want a synthetic

fuel car you know regular

ice engine hybrid

you know be easy

yeah it's really interesting

I'm super curious to see where we'll be

in 10 years and

what the vehicle choices like

and what we're able to drive because I think

the driving dynamics are so different

from like

you know a battery

a BEV car battery electric vehicle

versus an ice powered

or hybrid powered vehicle

they're all slightly different

kind of fun

what I think what we spoke about

here on the podcast quite a bit is

I think a lot of the obstacle

was it you know

the choice being forced

you know politically

or whatever but once you take that component

out of it and go this is just another

option now you can pick

do you want gas engine cars

do you want electric vehicles

and I've got both

yeah

but

I've got both because I was

given a choice and I was able to make a choice

and go what do I want

what works for me what's convenient

for me

but you know once

it kind of levels out

like here's the lineup of options

you know

then you can kind of pick and choose

and if you're lucky enough to have more than one vehicle

then

you get to enjoy those options

so I haven't made the EV jump yet

on the daily I know a lot of people have

yeah I have a new truck

yeah

I still have a little bit of range

anxiety but I think the next daily

will probably be hybrid or BEV

so to your point is this opportunity

if you're lucky enough to have

more than one car then

you get to drive different things

it's like having a truck in a car

completely different things right

and now even the propulsion

and the driving characteristics

are so different

the thing that really woke me up I remember

I was a friend of mine's let me

their take on turbo s

and I couldn't believe how quickly

accelerated you know and how flat it turned

because the battery weight was on the bottom

it was just so different from

any of the I stuff that I

and people go turbo supercharged

NA you know very different

as well but like

electric motor propulsion is definitely

its own thing

but I really appreciate it after I drove that car

which is why I'm like okay at some point

I'm gonna go BEV as well

when you start looking at

electrification

for performance

it gets very interesting because now you're looking at

oh I think we just lost it

hold on one sec

yeah when we're talking about electrification

for performance it gets interesting

when you're looking at some of like

all in the news now is Corvette

ZR1X we have

ZR1 rear wheel drive

crazy horsepower

and then go well what if we

add electric motors

in the front

we've got a little bit more torque

we've got all wheel drive

a little bit better torque vectoring

like

is it more fuel efficient? Nah

it's not that

that's not what you're buying that for

and it's not a plug-in

at all either

it's also contained

yeah we're using that electric power

to fill in

what would have been gaps before right

which I think we

kind of first saw with that first

effect of LaFerrari

918 and P1

yeah we saw with NSX

NSX as well

which I

a little too early huh

I think that car should have done better

I think if it came out now

I haven't driven

but I've heard really great things

and I think if it came out now

and it's funny that it's discontinued now

but you know the McLaren's

the 296 Ferraris out right now

yeah and it feels like

oh it was just a little ahead of its time

yeah

alright

we're going to wrap things up

but I'll see you up

at car week and we'll see you

over at SEMA as well

and I appreciate you guys

again go to SEMAFest.com

you can get the tickets there

you can get the tickets

to the SEMA show you can get tickets to the SEMAFest

all the public stuff

you can get there and check it out

and if you really are interested

you can look into the

individual memberships

SEMA plus

at

so SEMA.org

we'll find the memberships there

thanks for the plugs Matt

check us in the mail my friend

jeez

you're doing my job for me

no problem this is

our first podcast

alright guys thanks so much for listening

until next time

keep the air and the spare

in the bag and the wheel

RJ De Vera from SEMA talks about this year’s SEMA Show and his role in the first Fast and Furious movie.

Ford F-150 Lightning

Honda S2000

Acura NSX

Mazda Rx7

Chevrolet Corvette

Ferrari LaFerrari

Porsche 918 Spyder

About this episode

Original notes