A lifted Jeep rear-ended a customized Ferrari 458 Italia Friday night as both vehicles exited the Las Vegas Convention Center at the close of the week-long SEMA show.
It has become somewhat of a Sin City tradition to watch the parade of extravagant show cars leave the LVCC. Since SEMA is not open to the public, car enthusiasts line the streets of Paradise Road every year on the last day of the show, hoping to catch a glimpse of the animals as the circus leaves town.
This year, spectators got more than they bargained for as a customized Jeep Wrangler collided with the butt of a heavily modified baby-blue Ferrari 458. The Italia, wearing a $30,585 aero kit, belongs to Liberty Walk LB Performance, currently one of the hottest tuners in the aftermarket scene. The Japan-based tuning house specializes in extreme wide-bodied and lowered exotics ranging from BMW M3s to Nissan GT-Rs to Lamborghini Aventadors. The style is inspired by the bosozoku speed tribes of 1970s and 80s Japan.
A video of the incident begins while the camera is pointed at the Liberty Walk Aventador slowly moving through the post-SEMA traffic. Then, a gut-wrenching crunch followed by the absolute freak-out by spectators can be heard as the camera swivels to find the bumper of the Jeep nestled up cozily against the Ferrari’s rear deck and spoiler. As the Jeep backs up, half the spoiler comes with it.
To his credit, the always smiling Liberty Walk head honcho Wataru Kato made the best of the situation, rousing the crowd to cheers of “LB Performance!” and “Banzai!” He later posted on Facebook, “… nobody got injured and the guy hit our 458 did not do that on purpose. We are happy we had a great time with all people helped us at SEMA. See you guys next year again.”
To sate fans, SEMA introduced for the first time this year a SEMA Ignited after-show show that is open to the public. Watch two angles of the crash below (Warning: NSFW language expressed very loudly).
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