Ford's SEMA exhibit includes several trucks, like Superlift's Hot Wheels F-150 and the K-Daddyz Kustomz pickup. Be sure to look at the airbrushing on the F-150 Freedom Truck, by Malibu Customz. The artist, Mickey Harris of Knoxville, Tennessee, is at the SEMA exhibit, working on a project -- airbrushing the hood of a Ford Mustang.

Another truck on display is the candy-red 2010 Project FX2 Sport, by the Ford Vehicle Personalization Team. The FX2 Sport package is available now from Ford dealers, but the show truck is equipped with features not included on the production vehicle.

_{Photo © Dale Wickell}

Hummer brought four trucks and SUVs to this week's SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The display opens tomorrow and will include two concepts, the H3 Moab, which is packed with off-road accessories, and the H3T Sportsman, billed as "the ultimate outdoorsman's truck." Rod Hall Racing's H3 Alpha and Robby Gordon's Off-Road's Dakar Hummer will also be shown.

SEMA Pre-Show Previews

ICON Vehicle Dynamics built its own off-road pickup truck from a Suzuki Equator, using ICON inventory plus parts and accessories from other suppliers. The truck will be on display at next week's SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

It's impossible to view everything at SEMA, but the Las Vegas event is one of my favorite auto shows. Last year, exhibits were spread out over 2-million square feet of space, and two-thousand new automotive products (in every category imaginable) were introduced. This year's show (four days beginning November 3rd) will probably be similar.

Is there a specific product you'd like me to watch out for? Leave a comment or send me an email.

_{Photo © Suzuki}

Adam Berry is the Lead Creative Designer at GM's Accessory Studio. He appears in a new YouTube Video, talking about six Camaros scheduled to be on display at this year's SEMA Show and asking viewers to vote for their favorite Camaro graphics package on the car's Facebook enthusiasts page. But that's sure not a Camaro behind him. The video clearly shows a raised Silverado truck, and if you enlarge the page you can read the text that accompanies the graphic -- Silverado Baja Off Road Vision. He doesn't mention the truck at all, but the illustration is sure an interesting teaser.

Watch the Video

_{Photo © Chevrolet}

Ford released sketches today of five custom F-Series trucks that will be on display at this year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The Freedom Truck shown here is a 2009 Ford F-150 by Malibu Customz. The company teamed up with artist Mickey Harris to design the truck -- a tribute to everyone who's served in the U.S. armed forces. Superlist Suspension Systems created a Hot Wheels version of the F-150, and Ford Vehicle Personalization added to its FX2 series with a candy-red truck.

New heavy duty Dodge Ram trucks will begin arriving in dealer showrooms sometime in November. Engine choices remain the same (a standard 5.7L HEMI V-8 or the optional 6.7L Cummins Turbo Diesel), but most other systems have been enhanced. Like towing -- it increased to 17,600 pounds. An integrated trailer brake control and a Class IV receiver hitch are two new tools put in place to help your towing jobs.

Five trim levels are available, with prices starting at $28,165 for the 2500 regular cab ST 4x2 with an 8-foot bed (or about $2,000 less than last year's model). Take a look at interior and exterior shots of the new Ram, and check back for more details about the truck.

_{Photo ©Chrysler}

Chrysler released a preview of its Mopar Dodge Ram Bianco, a customized Ram 1500 that will be on display at the upcoming SEMA Show in Las Vegas. SEMA is packed with custom cars and trucks of all kinds. Automakers have displays and so do aftermarket parts and accessory companies. The show isn't open to the public, but draws enough members of the press to report on  about everything there. I'll be at SEMA to take a close look at concept and custom trucks -- and the thousands of accessories on display.

_{Photo © Chrysler}

The real awards for new pickup trucks ultimately come from all of us, the people who buy them and spread the word about our likes and dislikes. But numerous truck awards are given each year by magazines, auto shows and plenty of other organizations. I'd never recommend that anyone buy a truck based on an award, but seeing the same truck listed multiple times, or even once from a reputable source, is a pretty good reason to put it on your list of pickups to research and compare.

Pickup Truck Awards

• 2009 Ford F-150, Motor Trend Truck of the Year™, North American Truck of the Year at the 2009 North American International Auto Show, named Truck of Texas by the Texas Auto Writers Association
• 2009 Ford Super Duty, named 2009 Work Truck of the Year at the Work Truck Show in Chicago
• 2010 Ram 3500, named Heavy Duty Pickup Truck of Texas by the Texas Auto Writers Association
• 2010 Dodge Dakota, named Mid-Size Truck of Texas by the Texas Auto Writers Association
• 2009 Toyota Tacoma, named the truck with the Best Resale Value by Kelly Blue Book

Ford added about 4.5 million vehicles to its cruise control recall list, reaching back to include Windstar vans and other models built between 1992 and 2003. Some of the vans have experienced fires. Other newly added vehicles come from both the Ford and Mercury brands, and use the same Texas Instruments switches that have been targeted since the recall began in 2005.

Cruise control deactivation switches on affected vehicles can overheat and create an underhood fire. Blazes can occur whether or not a vehicle is running, and some house fires have begun when a parked car or truck caught fire while it sat in a garage or close to the home. At last report, millions of owners had still not responded to Ford's repair notices.

Facts About the Cruise Control Recall

We don't get a lot of snow where I live, nowhere near the amounts I saw growing up in Illinois, but they scatter salt and other chemicals down on the roads even if we get an eighth of an inch, because otherwise we'd be slipping and sliding off of our curvy, mountain roads. We're lucky though, because our salt events are fairly few and far-between. If you look at unrestored vintage cars that are for sale you can usually tell which ones came from either cold climates or the beach, because they're full of rust, courtesy of the salt it takes to keep drivers on the road in cold climates. We don't see as much severe rust damage these days, because auto finishes are more protective than they used to be, but it's still important to get the salt out as soon as you can, and doing it right requires more than a light wash.

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