After three full days of walking the show, here are 37 of the best overland builds, vehicles, and projects from SEMA 2024 (plus one trailer)!
Above is one of my favorite 4Runner builds, love that blue color, and the overall build was very solid. Here’s the complete gallery as a video with commentary, or scroll down for all the pics with links.
Ford Broncos
Ford’s booth didn’t have any amazing concept vehicles (unlike Toyota’s wildly large collection), but they were showing off the new tubular open-air doors.
Check out more of what’s new from Ford, including factory tuning options, in this roundup.
Far more exciting were these carbon fiber-and-fiber glass doors from Anderson Composites.
Available in two-door and four-door, they look way sleeker, possibly more aerodynamic, and just cooler than the tubular doors. Looks like they only make composite panels and parts for domestic brands, though.
Post Malone’s custom build was on display at Magnaflow’s booth and had a new long-travel suspension kit from sister brand Camburg, using Fox shocks. BF Goodrich KO3 tires, KC HiLites, and lots more rounded out the build. Full partner list in this IG post, and interior shots here.
This dark gray classic two-door Bronco looked rad with blacked out rims, dark windows, and black soft top.
This one’s not a Bronco, but looks similar enough that I’m putting it here. It’s a resto-mod International Scout II from Velocity Restorations. While Scout Motors is poised for a comeback, the classics never go out of style.
Land Cruisers & GXs
This was one of only a couple GX470s on display, but it had a prime spot right outside South Hall.
The Lexus GX550 was more popular, but the Land Cruisers were the real winners, both new and old.
A lot of brands used them to showcase new racks, bumpers, and other accessories for the latest Toyota trio (LC, 4R, Taco).
Hankook used one to showcase their Dynapro A/T 2 tires, but it was the older models that really stood out…
This was one of my favorite Land Cruisers, and really like the dual ditch light positions…completely out of the driver’s view and in front of anything that could reflect back.
Carbon fiber hood and over-built rear bumper mounts were sweet, too. Note the rear quarter panel hatches that replaced the windows.
But the best one of all was the Taco Tuesday from Proffit’s Resurrection Land Cruisers.
It’s a 1959 FJ 28 land cruiser resto-mod that’s been stretched to be a four door, then built over the new mechanical parts and interior of a current tacoma, plus a modern, supercharged Toyota V6.
The chassis was custom built to support the extra weight, and then the suspension was built with a parallel 4 link suspension in the front with a hacked axle and drivetrain that’s mixed between 80-series land cruisers and a tacoma, so that all of the safety, traction control, and even lane keeping and collision avoidance from the new Tacoma still works.
Even the rear bumper has modern blind spot and parking sensors, paired with retro lights from various model years. They have one-off custom wheels from Nomad to complete the retro look.
The inside has Tacoma seats front and rear, all covered in Katzkin leather. The dash had to be made 8” narrower to fit. And yes, that’s a 6-speed manual transmission!
All told there’s about 4000 hours in this build, and it’d be around $400,000 if you want them to build one for you.
Believe it or not, this is an LC200 that’s been chopped by Tactical Adventure Vehicles then given an Enduro Camper on the rear frame. If you have a Heritage Series 200 that you just can’t imagine keeping stock (and you’ve got about $350k to burn), this is a pretty cool mod. But I think I’d just start with a pickup, like the…
Tacomas
Tacomas were everywhere, with a lot of new 4th gen models showing off the latest and greatest. Check out the rest of our SEMA coverage for plenty of examples with new suspension, bumpers, racks, and more. But there’s one that stood out…
The Hell Taco is a completely custom build from MESO Customs that’s barely even a Tacoma anymore. Most of the frame is from a Tundra, with a Ford Bronco front sub chassis to fit the Hellcat engine.
Yes, this has a 6.2L supercharged HEMI V8 plus the Hellcat transmission and electronics, including the special key to put it into maximum power mode.
The entire hood and front fenders were molded into a single piece, then hinged from the front to open forward. A chromoly subframe keeps it rigid, but with fiberglass attachment points for a smooth, clean exterior.
Suspension is a twin traction beam with solid axles front and rear with custom shocks. Check out TacomaBeast has a great video walk-through of this, and Stellar Built has a three-part build series.
Full Size Trucks
Starting on the mild side, Dodge’s RAM trucks were showing off various MOPAR and related accessories you can get to trick your trucks from the dealership.
The most interesting was this 2″ lift kit with Fox 2.0 shocks. It also includes new spacers and upper control arms, plus updated alignment specs and full compatibility with the vehicle’s ESC. It’s made for the RAM 1500 model, but not compatible with the TRX version (because this would be a bit of a downgrade for that model).
Liquid Spring had three monstrous camper truck builds showing off the brand’s adjustable suspension options for big, heavy vehicles. The Rossmonster Baja Series build above seemed like the best one for really getting off grid.
This green one from Bowen Customs and Elevation Off Grid looked awesome, too, but that loooooong wheelbase would make it tough to navigate some trails.
This one’s from luxury builder Renegade RV, also built on an Elevation Off Grid truck chassis.
This Tundra had a carbon (look?) hood and fender covers, plus a nice pop-top camper shell.
Other SUVs, Vans & Trucks
Surprisingly, there weren’t a ton of Sprinters, and almost no Transits. This one was a pretty solid example of what can be done, but we’ll have to head to the Adventure Van Expos to see more in 2025.
Same for full size vans, probably because almost no auto manufacturer offers them anymore, but this one was pretty rad.
I’m a sucker for an off-road porsche and love the Cayenne builds. This one was an exceptionally good example, with a great Martini Racing paint scheme that carried over to the roof box. Check out that double row of lights on the roof, too.
That looks like a precarious spot for a radiator, but the rest of the underbody was well protected.
A full swing out bumper holds a full size spare, water, propane, and tools. Note the color-matched high-light jack, too!
Super clean interior storage with slide-out dometic fridge.
This one’s a father-son project from Dillon Houck, and a daily driver, which makes it even cooler. Here’s a closeup of the build list if you wanna pause the video to see everything (click to enlarge image).
Not quite as extreme as the RAV-X concept in Toyota’s booth, but it’s nice to see that an upgraded Ironman 4×4 suspension and a few of their bolt-on mods can turn the RAV-4 into a budget overland rig.
There were a ton of Jeeps, but other than the sweet concept builds inside Jeep’s booth, I somehow didn’t get many pics of them. I liked this one’s flatbed conversion of a Gladiator, though, which seems to make better use of the rear area for pure overlanding and adventure travel.
Hankook also had this very sweet Toyota Sequoia build.
Liqui Moly stickers were everywhere throughout the show, but their own build was this slick G-series with a ridiculous amount of front lights.
Nissan wasn’t hugely represented, but this Armada build was nice.
In their own booth, Nissan showed off this Trailgater concept for the Frontier. Other than the low-hanging step bars, it looks like a decent, NISMO-infused off-road build, but with a pop-up, swivel-out flat screen in the back for tailgating.
Honda also didn’t have much representation in the Overland aisles, but I could see this HRC Pilot concept doing well on showroom floors.
To be honest, I haven’t seen a single Infiniti SUV built as an overland vehicle, and this new QX80 Autograph Edition certainly wasn’t either. But…
It does have a really cool feature called the Invisible Hood view that uses cameras around the vehicle to display what’s under and in front of it on the overized dash screen, making it seem like you’re looking through the hood. Great for off-roading, just needs proper tires and more lift.
And if you thought your glamping setup was nice, well, check check out that rear storage situation. Yes, this will actually be a factory option on the Autograph trim package. (click any image to enlarge)
This Defender was a customer’s personal vehicle that had a lot of EcoFlow products in an ultra-clean build, so they invited him to park it in their booth.
Up top, and EcoFlow air conditioner pumps cold air into the tent, and he simply sets it on top of the storage boxes when it’s in use.
The interior was packed with an EcoFlow fridge, battery, and power systems, plus all the accouterments you’d want for camping. He had lots of gear incredibly well hidden and organized throughout the vehicle.
The Weird Stuff (and a Trailer)
If you’ve been wanting to import a Japanese Kei Truck, Oiwa Imports is offering these Grasshopper custom builds so you can hit the ground running in these right-hand drive mini trucks.
Builds range from mild to wild, off-road to street. They’ll also help you import a stock truck, too, if you don’t want to figure out the paperwork and regulations for yourself.
3M chose the Rezvani Vengeance as a platform to show off their vinyl wraps…
…eventually turning the entire vehicle red. The Vengeance is a luxury SUV that starts at $285,000 before adding the full military package.
Add that and you get bullet proof glass and body armor, underbody explosive protection, smoke screen, run flat tires, thermal night vision, EMP protection, ram bumpers, explosive device detection, bulletproof vests and helmets for passengers, electrified door handles, blinding lights and a lot more. It even includes pepper spray nozzles on the mirrors.
Clemson University’s Department of Automotive Engineering’s Deep Orange student project is a full custom search-and-rescue vehicle that’s not only built on campus, but students also do the programming for its semi-autonomous driving capability and adaptive suspension.
The interior has a slide-out, swiveling stretcher that makes it easy to load and manage patients, and the front passenger seat swivels to facilitate triage.
It’s a hybrid engine, has lots of storage, and is basically one of the coolest student projects I’ve ever seen. Kinda ups the game for the next science fair!
Last up, Trail Trailer had this very compact, high-clearance adventure trailer with plenty of drawers and MOLLE panels for storing gear inside, outside, and under the rooftop tent. They’re made in America and come in various sizes, including smaller ones to pull behind UTVs.
Want more? Check the rest of our SEMA coverage for the best new suspension, racks & storage, winches, lighting, and lots more. Prefer video? Check our SEMA playlist on YouTube.
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