The 2014 SEMA Show Recap
SEMA 2014, another year for LED light bars, trucks on 24x14s and seemingly bottomless build budgets. While SEMA is known for the flash, the extreme and often over-the-top vehicle builds, the show is also chalked full of new technology, innovative ideas, and emerging trends in the automotive industry. For those of you out there that haven’t heard of SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association,  is a trade association made up of thousands of automotive product manufacturers, retailers, builders, clubs and more all working towards the common goal of supporting, protecting, and endorsing automotive customization. Each Fall SEMA hosts an event out in Las Vegas, a gathering of companies from around the world to showcase the latest in automotive customization. While the show is closed off to the general public, the world watches on as media outlets, vendors and industry members attend this “industry only” event drawing more than 100,000 each year for the…
BDS’s 2000-Mile Roadtrip to SEMA in the 2015 Colorado
If you haven’t checked out our last post on the BDS Colorado, head to BDS’s Last Minute SEMA Build: 2015 Chevy Colorado for more on the  project, our plans, and the execution to turn our 2015 Chevy Colorado into a 2014 SEMA Show standout in under a month. When we left off with the story the truck had less than a week to go before departing on the 2000-mile adventure from Michigan to Las Vegas. The engineering team prototyped a set of Fox coilovers to work with the existing 6” suspension system and parts were  arriving from Nitto, Eagle Alloys, Rigid, Extang, and Magnaflow. We got word from N-Fab that the steps were built and getting powdercoated to install once the truck arrived in Vegas. Following a quick check up at the dealership the truck stopped off to install graphics and hit the road for SEMA with 3 days planned…
BDS’s last minute SEMA build: 2015 Chevy Colorado
Each year the BDS engineering team puts together a custom build. Something cool, new or different. Sometimes its a trail rig for the Ultimate Adventure, other times its a show hauler, but it always serves a purpose and in true BDS fashion gets used and abused to ensure our products will hold up to the demand our customers expect. A few months back as SEMA planning began the BDS crew messed around with a few ideas for a new truck to build for the coming year(s). We’ve built a several Jeep vehicles over the years and while we do love Jeeps, we all see the potential in the truck market. Both Project Slate and Project KJ proved to be huge successes last year for us so we looked into popular trucks for the coming year(s) that we could use for both R&D purposes as well as promotion. Ideas of a 2015 RAM 2500,  2015…
Project Trucks: Cody’s Twin Turbo Duramax
Cody Yoder out of Toledo, Ohio has built one hell of a twin turbo Duramax. The truck has been several years in the making and for us at BDS, its a bit of a homecoming. You see this ’08 Chevy Silverado 2500HD started its transformation from your run of the mill stock LMM to the show stopper it is now in BDS’s R&D shop. The truck was used to design, engineer and test the new (at that time) 7” high clearance suspension system for ’01-10 HDs. Following our stint with the truck it did as most new trucks do and headed to the dealer lot where it was bought and sold a few times until 2012 when Cody was tipped off that the truck was available and picked it up for his daily driver. With the keys in hand Cody began modding the truck to fit his personal taste, not leaving well enough…
MobilityWorks Foundation Raptor Brings $250,000 at Auction
Over the weekend a one-of-a-kind 2014 Ford F150 Raptor made its way across the auction block in Dallas, TX at the Mecum Auction bringing in a staggering final bid to raise money for an amazing cause. The truck was built to raise funds for MobilityWorks Foundation’s Cars for Troops Vehicle Donation Program offering assistance to disabled US Military veterans and their families. Dubbed “The Patriot”, this Raptor was built on a short timeline with the support of a number of companies. For the build, MobilityWorks turned to West Coast Customs for paint, interior and assembly. A custom american flag paint scheme was used along with custom stitching to represent each branch of the military. We supplied a preproduction version of our 4” suspension system to be installed and for wheels and tires they turned to LM Tire&Wheel for 37” BFG tires on 20” XD wheels. A Bully Dog tuner and Magnaflow exhaust were added to help…
Patriot Raptor to be Auctioned Off This Weekend!
Hooah to the men and women serving and protecting this great country. To those who have fought, sacrificed, and bled for the red, white and blue. To those who have returned home safely, those injured and to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, this project Raptor  dubbed “The Patriot” is for you. What started as an idea to auction off a Raptor to raise money for a worthy cause quickly transformed into something much bigger. The MobilityWorks Foundation, a non-profit organization that offers transportation support to special needs and disable Americans teamed up with West Coast Customs to design and build a one of a kind 2014 Ford F150 Raptor; one that pays respect to those we have lost while being proud of all those who serve. With a short build timeline before auction, they got after it with custom patriotic paintwork done by Ryan Ryno Templeton and custom stitching on the interior.…