SEMA offered up everything, including a badly burned Mercedes-Maybach with new chrome wheels.
How do you get attention at an event like the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where there are so many high-end exotics that something like a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class gets lost in the crowd? You feature expensive chrome wheels on a Maybach that has been burned from top-to-bottom, front-to-back.
That is what wheel company Forgiato did at the recent SEMA 2018 show, drawing big crowds with a German luxury sedan that cost somewhere in the area of $170,000 to $200,000 which had been destroyed by fire.
Getting Noticed at SEMA
The SEMA Show is one of the biggest automotive events in the United States, if not the world. Thousands of cars fill the buildings of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the surrounding parking lots while tens of thousands of people flood in to check out the displays. While there is a little bit of everything, high end luxury cars are popular choices for wheel companies looking to showcase new products, and Forgiato is one of the best when it comes to grabbing the attention of SEMA attendees.
In the past, Forgiato has relied on large collections of supercars and luxury machines accompanied by scantily-clad ladies, but this year, they went out of the box. Way, way out of the box.
Forgiato showcased their new 22-inch Orologio wheels on a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, one of the world’s most luxurious and expensive sedans, but rather than a shiny new car, they displayed one that had been badly burned. Not surprisingly, this burned Maybach captured plenty of attention, as rarely does anyone get the chance to see a car like this in such horrific condition.
Luxury Destroyed
We don’t know what happened to this Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, but based on the fact that the hood appears to have been pried open by firefighters, it is possible that the fire began in the engine bay. However, it obviously spread to the cabin, leaving nothing but ash and metal scraps as the blaze worked its way to the back of the car.
Once there, it melted the taillights, causing them to flow down the body like wax on a candle. The top of the doors also melted, presumably after the windows blew out and around the same time that the beautiful leather seats disintegrated.
In the end, the automotive world lost a remarkable luxury sedan, but this scorched Maybach did a fine job of getting people to check out the Forgiato Orologio wheels.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
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"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
