It’s November, so it must be time for the annual M2 Machines SEMA Show models! Each year, M2 produces a set of models (usually three) that are available to order from its booth at the SEMA automotive aftermarket trade show in Las Vegas (and made available through Fun Lines hobby dealers after the show). And each year, I try to bring you some details here on the Lamley Blog. You can check out the write-ups from previous years here: 2024 / 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020). Let’s get going!
1973 Chevrolet Cheyenne Super 10 4×4
Available as a Christmas ornament and with no chase model – just 1,000 pieces of the regular release – is this neat Cheyenne. Each one gets the ‘chase’ treatment, with red chrome adorning the rims, bumpers, roll cage and more. It comes with a Christmas tree in the bed, while the red, grey and black stripes on the side of the truck are replicated on the box.
Graphic designer Vincent Orona, who is in his first year with M2, also notes the topographical map on the model and packaging. He says a map of the North Pole would have been ideal, but given that it’s just ice, that doesn’t work! We’ll imagine instead that this is some terrain Santa flies over on his way to deliver models to collectors…
“I didn’t want the base colour to be pure white because that’s not the colour of snow,” adds Vincent. “Instead, we went for an off-white, like Ford’s Wimbledon White.”
The clear-boxed ornament opens to reveal the truck sitting on a clear Lucite (acrylic) platform, from which it can be unscrewed and displayed elsewhere, or driven through a holiday snowdrift…
1995 Ford Ranger ‘Sound Blast’
It’s usual for M2 to choose one of its newest castings as a SEMA release, and this year that role falls to the 1995 Ford Ranger, which had debuted in the (now sold-out) #21 Auto-Club Box just a couple of weeks before the show.
“A really fun truck,” is how senior VP of design, Sean Taylor describes this Ranger, which has been lowered, given big rims and tires, and had its bed filled with speakers.
“The speaker piece is exclusive to this truck,” he says. “We have some more mini trucks coming out with different, similar-design speakers. But we wanted to mix it up a little bit, not just put the same one in. We have a bunch of different things we can do to this casting, including a drag truck, and it’s stuff that you see happening with the real trucks. It seems like in recent years, all these mini trucks, which were such a huge trend in the 1980s and 90s, are coming back out of the woodwork.”
M2 is producing 1,200 regular versions of this release and 600 chases (cinnamon chrome wheels and details), both in regular-style M2 boxes.
1990 Chevrolet C1500 Silverado
The final SEMA release is another collector favourite, the OBS, available only in a regular version of 1,000 pieces in a blister pack. The lowered, custom C1500 has hidden headlights, bed cover, oversized rims and tires, and a cowl induction hood with an LS beneath. It also comes with two figures for a SEMA-themed diorama.
“We’ve been doing figures for about a year now,” says Sean. “It’s been an adventure, trying to do something you’re not used to, an interesting learning curve. I’d seen a lot of them out there from other companies where everybody was the same height. That’s not like real life, everybody’s different heights and shapes, so I wanted to make sure we did some different body types. We’ve also had some fun with them, too. We have an alien. We have the wacky, inflatable Tube Man like you see at the car wash. And I want to do a Bigfoot!”
In the SEMA release, a woman in a SEMA shirt is taking a selfie with the truck while a guy holds a red beverage cup. As the designer puts it, “it’s just like somebody you would see on the SEMA floor”.
He reports that OBS trucks remain very popular, so more will be coming, along with, “a lot of new castings”, although the tariff situation is currently causing M2 some headaches. Adds Sean, “Everybody’s in the same boat and it constantly changes, so we’ll see [what happens]. It is what it is.”
Deliveries of the M2 SEMA trucks are due to begin in December 2025. If your regular dealer doesn’t have them, you should be able to find them on eBay. Thanks to Vincent and Sean for sparing some time to share them with us!
(Looking for a Christmas gift? Check out my children’s book, 20 Great Race Cars)
(follow me on Instagram @diecast215)