New Gear From the SEMA Show

The Trucks, SUVs & Off-Road section of the 2014 SEMA Show was dedicated to products engineered to tackle life’s harshest, and most exciting, terrain. For buyers who understand their customer’s passionate desire to shift into four-wheel drive, exhibitors unveiled hundreds of new SKUs with items ranging from tonneau covers and bedliners to toolboxes, trailer hitches and suspensions.

I was talking to an old friend who runs a specialty performance distribution business, and he said, “You know, it just seems like nobody talks to each other on the phone any more.” Yep, e-mail has changed the way we communicate. The same sentiment can be heard in brick-and-mortar stores across the country in the form of, “You know, people don’t come into the store like they used to.”

There’s no question that the Internet has changed the way we do business as well. So what’s the common thread that is replacing the long-standing virtues of face-to-face business, customer relationships and loyalty? If you ask me, it’s technology.

While the SEMA Show is a trade event that is not open to the general public, thousands of journalists from around the world participate in it and serve as the eyes and ears for enthusiasts. These reporters work around the clock to scour the SEMA Show floor in search of standout products to share with their readers and viewers. Even if you were able to attend the 2014 SEMA Show, these publications are helpful in highlighting products that you may have missed. After all, there were more than 2,300 exhibitors and more than 1 million sq. ft. to cover. Take a look at some of the magazines that offered comprehensive coverage that you will not want to miss.

The Truck’n America Family Goes the Extra Mile to Service Clients

Truck’n America—headquartered in a 10,000-sq.-ft. facility in Waldorf, Maryland, with 25 employees and six locations in the Maryland and Virginia area—has been a family-run business for more than 40 years. The team is currently led by Chuck Morrison IV and his brother Dan.

Morrison’s father and grandfather were from Indiana, which was considered “truck-cap central” at the time. They brought truck caps down to Maryland and sold them out of a crab shack they rented in Waldorf.

Good News for Worldwide Enthusiasts and U.S. Specialty-Equipment Manufacturers

SEMA manufacturers know that the Ford Mustang is one of the most customized vehicles in the marketplace. This year marks the pony car’s 50th anniversary, and now it comes with a larger-than-ever attraction to those who wish to develop and market products for the highly accessorized musclecar,“ noted SEMA Vice President of OEM and Product Development Programs Mike Spagnola.

Three High-Tech Tools to Advance Small Product Innovators

For medium to large specialty-equipment manufacturers, the concepts of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are not likely to come as anything new. Over the past few decades, most companies with the capital have been investing in these evolving technologies to create and speed new products to market. What’s new on today’s scene is the trickle-down of increasingly cost-effective CAD/CAM solutions into the hands of smaller companies and even individual product designers and manufacturers—a phenomenon that may well make them ever more competitive with the big guys.

For Bad Actors, Pretty Much

While search-engine optimization (SEO)—the art of optimizing a web property for the highest possible search-engine returns—is not dead, the antics of those looking to game the system pretty much are. The reason: During the past few years, Google has gone out of its way to aggressively thwart practitioners of “black hat” SEO techniques, to the point where their tricks and ruses have been mostly neutralized.

Specifically, Google’s updates to its search-engine algorithm, with code names such as...

The equipment may have changed, but many of the tips laid out in this October 1964 Car Craft magazine story on “Photographing Cars” are still worthwhile for anyone interested in taking better pictures of their cars (or trucks, hot rods, customs, sports cars, motorcycles, you name it).

The date on the photo job for this story was July 1964, making the subject Mustang a new car. The California hard license plate and Galpin Ford plate frame suggest that it was not a press vehicle but instead belonged...

New Product announcements from McLeod Racing, Burns Stainless, DiabloSport, BDS Suspension and more.