Best of SEMA 2012, Part II: Blasts from the Past, a Classy Lambo, the FR-S, and More

The 2012 SEMA show goes on! And after a bit more walking, we've got some more cool stuff live from the floor in Las Vegas. Our first Best of SEMA installment was filled mostly with major manufacturers' wares, so we decided to spend day two seeking out some of the wildest and most exotic machinery we could find. Don't forget to check out the gallery for these cars—or our SEMA mega gallery, which is filled with all of the awesome, wacky, and downright head-scratching vehicles we came across. 1969 Ford Mustang Mach Forty by Eckert's Rod and Custom If you've ever laid awake late at night pondering what the child of a Ford GT supercar and a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 might look like, rest easy—that's what you see above. This Mustang Mach Forty by Eckert's Rod and Custom wears the chopped-up body of a '69 Mach 1 over a totally custom-fabricated chassis built to accept the Ford GT's powertrain, which is mounted amidships. Lingering eyes will notice the stretched wheelbase, the eight inches of additional width over a regular Mach 1, and, of course, the GT's supercharged V-8 engine peeking out under the rear window. The car's one-off wheels are aluminum takes on the original Mach 1's steel units, and look they look amazing. Mercedes-Benz R-class by Infinite Auto Design Call Mercedes-Benz's now-defunct R-class what you will—pseudo minivan, the world's most-expensive Chrysler Pacifica, ugly—but one thing's for sure: it's one of the last vehicles we'd think to modify. But of course, SEMA show cars rarely bend to convention, as evidenced by Infinite Auto Design's slammed R-class. Parked outside of the convention hall, this bulbous Benz's rocker panels sit just millimeters off of the ground, while its flat gray paint job sucks up surrounding light like a black hole. Not everything's darkness and sorrow, however; red Forgestar wheels tucked up into each wheel well plus carbon-fiber grille slats and front- and rear bumper trim add a bit of visual pop. This custom is interesting only for its sheer absurdity, and for its ability to actually inject the first dose of cool into the R-class since the confusing R63 AMG from a few years back. 1965 Chevrolet II Surf Wagon by Detroit Speed What can we say, we're suckers for cool surfing-themed rides (we went gaga for European Car magazine's equally groovy VW Beetle Beach Battle Cruiser), and this 1965 Chevy II Surf Wagon built by Detroit Speed is no exception. The salmon-colored paint and cream-colored custom steel smoothie wheels work in perfect harmony, and the matching cloth interior keeps its original charm but features an integrated roll cage. If you're wondering why a laid-back surf wagon needs a roll cage, it's because under the hood there's a GM Performance EROD LS3 crate engine. Yeah, this thing's got it all. Heide Performance Products Daytona Dodge's retro-modern Challenger muscle car is fairly cool on its own, mostly due to its sound and its blimp-dwarfing size, but where's the factory-built be-winged Daytona remix? Heide Performance Products has answered the call Chrysler's been ignoring (or perhaps hasn't been receiving), and has a kit that will turn your average Challenger into a full-blown Daytona. The original Daytona was a NASCAR homologation special based on the Charger, and came with a giant rear wing and a nose extension that fit over the Charger's front end to improve aerodynamics. Of course, the modern Charger is now a four-door sedan, which is why HPP's Daytona package is designed to, uh, aerodynamically enhance the Challenger. The kit costs $16,395 and comes with the nose cone with flip-up headlights, rear wing, taillight overlays, a pistol grip shifter, and Daytona rear quarter-panel graphics. A second kit that mimics the Plymouth Superbird (the same as the Daytona back in the day) is available, too, and costs an additional $1500. Lamborghini Aventador by Giovanna Wheels There's not a whole lot to say here that the photo above doesn't adequately convey on its own: This is a Lamborghini Aventador with some glitzy Giovanna wheels. Okay, so there's a little more going on here, but that's the basic gist. The Lambo gets an eggshell-colored matte-finished wrap that looks astonishingly good, especially against the contrasting DMC carbon-fiber body kit and black wheels. The rear wing and a portion of the rear deck are rendered in carbon fiber, as well. Overall, Giovanna's Aventador stood out both for its good looks and its relative stylistic restraint—significant given how rarely the words "restraint" and "modified" are found in the same sentence describing any supercar on the SEMA show floor. First-Gen Chrysler 300 / Chevrolet Camaro Custom Giovanna's Lamborghini may have been tastefully worked over, but this unnamed first-generation Chrysler 300—or what's left of it, at least—swings completely in the opposite direction. The mostly red sedan gets the usual Lambo-style front doors, side-opening trunk, and clamshell hood, but throws in a few curve balls, too. A Chevrolet Camaro front end replaces the, er, Chrysler one (complete with an "SS" badge in the grille!), the interior is slathered in red leather, and the suspension is slammed to the ground. Gigantic red-painted wheels match the body, which is covered in airbrushed artwork. A woman wearing very little clothing and cradling fireballs in both of her hands is painted onto the hood, because why not, and there are three horned skulls embedded into the underside of the trunklid. Presumably, the figures in the trunk are the vanquished enemies of the hood-bound flame-on; we might also be overthinking this. 2013 Scion FR-S Whenever a major new enthusiast model is introduced, the following SEMA show is inundated with modified versions of that car. This year, that car is the 2013 Scion FR-S. If your eyes are open anywhere within a ten-mile radius of the conventional hall, chances are that one of the rear-drive coupes is staring back at you. Scion had five of the suckers in its SEMA booth—including three admittedly pretty cool ones—and one can't go 20 feet without encountering one on the show floor. Oddly, we came across only a handful of modified Subaru BRZs, the FR-S's twin. The FR-S presence is so strong this year, in fact, that we decided to remind ourselves what an unmodified example looks like. Yup, that's a bone-stock 2013 Scion FR-S above; we're not completely positive, but our best guess is that there isn't one at SEMA. 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