Jon Sibal’s Scion iQ won this year’s edition of the Scion Tuner Challenge, beating out a mid-engined iQ as well as a race prepped example to take home the prize.

Sibal claimed the $10,000 reward for his iQ, which featured a 32″ flat-screen TV in the trunk, complete with a Wi-Fi hotspot and a motorized system to allow for flush mounting inside the tiny iQ. In second place was Michael Chang’s iQ-RS, which was fashioned after what an iQ race car would look like, while the iQ-MR, which featured a mid-engine conversion, came in third.

Check out AutoGuide’s SEMA coverage here

Gallery: Scion iQ Tuner Challenge

Most people’s conception of tuner cars are brightly colored Honda Civics or other econoboxes with underbody neon lights, not to mention the requisite loud muffler.

But this heavily modified Toyota Camry has enough horsepower on hand to beat down nearly anything on four wheels, without giving away anything visually.

This mid-1990s Toyota Camry has a specially designed turbocharger setup mated to its 3.0L V6, with a giant T51 turbocharger helping to crank out the astronomical power figures. Check out the video below to see the Camry doing its thing on a dyno.

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The United Auto Workers continued its campaign of irrelevancy as its President, Bob King, launched a series of veiled threats at foreign automakers with American plants (such as the Honda plant seen above), while simultaneously stating that the very survival of the UAW is at stake – and the organization of a foreign automaker’s plant is the key to the UAW’s continued existence.

“If we don’t organize these transnationals, I don’t think there’s a long term future for the UAW — I really don’t,” said King in a speech to members of a political conference held in Washington, D.C.

Despite the fact that foreign automakers offer equivalent or better wages than UAW plants, King is aggressively targeting them, with King planning to pick a target within 90 days. Other actions include targeting dealers of the chosen automaker for protests, and asking automakers to comply with “fair bargaining” principles, despite that fact that it runs counter to the complete absence of collective bargaining in foreign auto plants. “They don’t fear us and they think they can’t get away with it,” King said, in an almost naked display of insecurity regarding his own relevance.

King was at least cognizant enough to acknowledge that the UAW was a spent force, stating “Here’s the terrible position we’re in autos. Because we’ve fallen so far in the percent of workers represented by the UAW in autos” the union can’t demand big increases because of non union competitors. “So if we go in, we dramatically raise fixed costs for Ford, General Motors or Chrysler, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. … We don’t want to disadvantage the (Detroit 3) companies.” King ended his speech by telling UAW members that Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012 would be beneficial for the UAW, due to his pro-union stance.

[Source: The Detroit News]

If you’ve ever taken an auto shop class, you’ll remember the shop cars as being anything but desirable. K-Cars, T-Body GM’s and Ford Panthers involved drug related homicides often littered the garage area, while a crusty old teacher instructed you on the finer points of rebuilding a 3-speed automatic transmission.

For some lucky kids in Orange County, California, their new shop car isn’t an old junker, but a Nissan Altima heavily renowned by Nissan legend Steve Millen. Millen sold the car to the school for $1, leading us to believe that it was in no way street legal and unable to be titled. While there might not be any joyriding in the new shop car, learning to work on a modified car must be a treat for the teenagers in the auto shop class.

[Source: Orange County Register]

The 1999 and 2000 Honda Civic Si (known as the SiR in Canada) have been named as Canada’s most stolen cars, with the 2000 model taking the top spot, and the 1999 following it.

Previous years have seen the Subaru Impreza WRX, Acura Integra GSR and Integra Type R claim the title, but the Civic Si, with its twincam VTEC motor, was built in substantial numbers and has proved to be an attractive target for thieves. The Cadillac Escalade, Acura RSX Type-S, Acura Integra, the “Audi Quattro sedan” (we assume they mean the Audi A4) and the Hummer H2 round out the top 10.

Canadian auto theft is split roughly between chop shops looking to sell desirable parts and organized crime rings, who take vehicles and ship them to overseas locations where they are re-sold.

[Source: CBC]

Tim Aldrich, a Florida resident and Nissan 240SX owner, passed away in early August, 2010. Although I never knew Tim personally, he was a larger than life presence on Ziptied, an online forum that I’ve frequented for a number of years, where Tim’s ribald humor and offline friendships with a number of other Ziptied members provided fodder for countless memes, vulgar jokes and spirited arguments. Nearly all of Tim’s comments are too explicit to print, but his username, “EAT S**T, DIE SLOW” should provide you with ample indication of Tim’s sense of humor.

Offline, Tim was known as a true stand-up guy, who loved animals and shied away from drinking alcohol and other indulgences. Tim’s death at age 30 hit hard precisely because so many members had a personal relationship with him that extended beyond a keyboard. Shortly after he passed away, one member announced that Tim’s father had given permission to some of Tim’s friends to crush his Nissan 240SX.

The genesis of the idea came from Tim’s repeated distaste for the idea that his car, or any part of it, should fall into the hands of a teenaged wannabe drifter who would defile his car by crashing it during a lame attempt at emulating their D1 heroes, or modifying it in a way that Tim would find offensive. Rather than sell the car and have it end up in the wrong hands, Tim’s friends decided to crush the car and videotape the proceedings.

A variety of ideas were bounced around Ziptied, with some suggesting the car be chopped into pieces, others commenting that Tim’s long standing wish of being “f***ing buried in this car” be honored. In the end, one member’s idea of having a backhoe trample the car won out.

Yes, the car was crushed with the RP-F1′s on it, but again, it was done in accordance with Tim’s wishes, and with the blessing of his family. In the end, the motor and transmission were sold, with the proceeds going to Tim’s family, but everything else was mangled in a final tribute to a dear friend of many in the Tampa Bay area, and online. Video of the ceremony can be seen after the jump.

Donations to the Tim Aldrich memorial fund can be made here, with proceeds going to the SPCA

[Source: Ziptied]

Video after the jump

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Our second installment of the Best In Show series profiles the cars that made SEMA what it is – sport compacts. Yes, some of these cars push the boundaries of taste, but others are fairly creative and actually enhance the looks of the stock car.

The dominant cars this year seemed to be the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and the Nissan GT-R. Honda products seem to have fallen from their once hegemonic dominance of the tuner crowd, while Scion and Hyundai have taken some crucial market share.

We assembled a gallery of some of the choicest sport compact. Check it out below.

GALLERY: The Sport Compacts of the 2010 SEMA Show

Honda CR-Z

It’s safe to say that the Honda CR-Z has been given a solid reception by everyone outside the “enthusiast” community. Sales have been brisk and reviews are generally positive, but car lovers seem unable to accept the “hybrid” part of the equation.

Honda gave a few tuners the chance to trick out a CR-Z, and some came back with turbocharged monsters, while others returned with vinyl wraps and big wheels. We think the six cars cover the spread pretty well, but we’ll let you decide. You can check out the pictures below, and hit the jump for the official specs.

Gallery: Bismoto Honda CR-Z

Gallery: Fortune Honda CR-Z

Gallery: Eibach Honda CR-Z

Gallery: Honda Tuning Honda CR-Z

Gallery: Wraptivo Honda CR-Z

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One wouldn’t normally think of the Lexus hybrid compacts as “tuner cars”, but if there’s one thing that SEMA proves, it’s that you can make anything a “modified vehicle” by throwing wheels and other bolt-on modifications onto a car.

We highlighted the Lexus SEMA lineup earlier, but since we all know how much you love hybrids, we sought out some pictures of our own. The CT200h is actually previewing an F-Sport suite of aftermarket parts, including wheels, tires, a big brake kit and suspension pieces.

The HS250h was tuned by VIP Auto Salon, and comes with a baller-ific WALD aerokit, 20″ Work wheels, a custom exhaust system and Lexus Japan OEM-spec window visors. We can hardly contain our excitement at that bit of JDM trivia.

Gallery: Lexus HS250h and CT200h

Hyundai‘s new Equus luxury sedan is the company’s undoubted star of the SEMA show, and long-time Hyundai partner Rhys Millen Racing for a special show car.

The big news here are the RMR bolt-on intake and exhaust pieces that add an estimated 30 horsepower. A 14″ brake kit helps bring the portly sedan to a stop, and 21″ HRE wheels will no doubt help act as anchors to the already heavy car. Carbon fiber spoilers and mirrors will help accent the Red Bull inspired blue paintjob, while the interior features ballerific ostrich leather upholstery. Stay tuned for this car to appear in a rap video sometime soon.

Hit the jump to see the official press release

Gallery: Hyundai Rhys Millen Racing Signature Edition Equus

[Source: Hyundai]

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Hyundai‘s RIDES Magazine Sonata Turbo is apparently inspired by the Mercedes-Benz CLS, but we almost think it looks better than the current generation car (CLS63 AMG notwithstanding).

Maybe it’s the fact that the matte white paintjob looks absolutely wild in person, or that we didn’t expect RIDES Magazine to come up with such a tasteful build for this car, but we’re sold.

Along with a custom bodykit comes 20″ Rennen Modular M9 wheels with a very low offset, Falken FK452 tires, a painted and debadged grille and smoked tail lights. Apparently, MB wasn’t the only German company that was used as inspiration, as RIDES managed to integrate Audi foglamps into the front bumper as well. Inside, the black leather (looking much better than the standard Sonata upholstery) is offset with red stitching and carbon fiber trim, while a pair of JBL subwoofers and amps help the tunes bump. Finally, a custom exhaust and a front mounted intercooler help keep up the “go” quotient.

Gallery: Hyundai RIDES Magazine Sonata Turbo

Hit the jump to see the official press release

[Source: Hyundai]

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