by David MacDonald I f you have never been to the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, the best way to describe it would be to say that it is the Disneyland for people with gas in their veins. SEMA is not open to the public and is the number one destination for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), specialty equipment distributors, members of the media, and buyers of the automotive industry which are as diverse as the 6,383 companies from around the world that make-up SEMA itself. The SEMA acronym originally stood for Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association, however in 1970, after government regulations became an issue the name was changed to Specialty Equipment Market Association to improve the overall image of the association. The first SEMA Show in 1967 was held in the basement of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the home then and the home now of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers. That first SEMA show in 1967 had 98 manufacturers manning booths and an attendance of around 3,000 people. The event had 5 cars on display, including a 1967 Ford GT40 in the Shelby America booth and a drag-race-prepped Dodge Dart. The early SEMA shows, held in Los Angeles and Anaheim, California, were exclusively card-table-and- masking-tape affairs, but as the popularity of the show grew in the seventies more sophisticated display and marketing techniques became part of the event and were visible throughout the show.
SEMA SHOW OCTOBER 2019
The SEMA Show — The Automotive World’s Dream Garage
SEMA SHOW (1967)
SEMA SHOW (1967)
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2019
19 OCTOBER 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SEMA SHOW (1967)
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