Bye Bye, Black Series

04 Nov Bye Bye, Black Series

Since we don’t have a laptop to get the SEMA showroom pics back to FMU just yet, let’s have one last adventure with the Black Series.

Once upon a time, in a parking lot far, far away, the Black Series sat dormant. Earlier in the week, a cascading series of events had FMU looking for a last-minute transport to get the Black Series to its final destination, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer’s Association conference in Las Vegas. You may know this little collection of enthusiasts as SEMA, one of the largest (if not THE largest) automotive trade show each year. People from around the globe come to SEMA to see exactly what will be in store in the world of aftermarket performance. Either way, the Black Series was not at SEMA, it was still at FMU. So something needed to change that. In the meantime, though, she sat out front of the shop, as if looking out to the street for the shipping truck that may never come.

But it did come! Thankfully, we got a hold of JP Logistics, a company that specializes in the transport of high-end luxury vehicles. Seeing that the BS fit that description, and knowing of their work from the Luxury4Play forum, we gave them a call to see if they could help. By some stroke of serendipity, they had a truck coming through on the way to SEMA, and could accomodate us with ease. We all breathed a sigh of relief, as the Black Series could once again relish in the Vegas limelight. Right on time on the day specified, the truck pulled up to our headquarters.

The driver spent a good amount of time going over the BS with a fine-toothed comb. And trust us, you want to make sure every single thing is documented when it comes to transporting expensive goods.

After a litany of paperwork and signatures, the driver opened up the back of the car carrier, giving us a peek at what else would be arriving at SEMA with the Black Series.

Aside from a bone stock, brand new Porsche Cayenne heading west, there were two SEMA cars from Hyundai on the top level of the carrier. Both Velosters were outfitted to the nines, but neither of them had VIN numbers. You know what happens to a non-VIN car after it’s shown off at SEMA? You guessed it, they destroy ’em; after all, you can’t put a car on the road without a VIN. While it’s a shame to see two brand new cars bite the dust after being painstakingly modified, it shows you the lengths to which manufacturers go to get their name and their product out there.

With a fresh blanket thrown over the top of the Black Series (to prevent anything from dripping down from the top level of the carrier), we set about the task of loading the BS onto the truck. The first step, loading it onto the ramp, was easy enough.

Once we got the BS loaded onto the ramp, it was just a smidge too low to clear the bottom floor’s incline. So the driver set about rearranging the cars in the truck. At that time, we managed to get a full view of both Velosters bound for SEMA. If you’ve seen a neon green and a flat black Veloster this week, neener neener, we saw ’em first. Regardless, about 20 minutes of shuffling later, and there was a spot up top for the Black Series to rest. So Marzano hopped in the driver’s seat and took the harrowing ride from bottom to top. Looking at the lift, you’d think that raising a ramp to the top of the truck would have tipped the whole thing backwards, but it didn’t; the driver and truck were both excellent and able to cater perfectly to the Black Series’ needs. So once it rolled in, we laid it to rest with one last counterclockwise turn of the key and bid it farewell on its long trip to SEMA, into the hearts and minds of automotive enthusiasts everywhere.

What a long, strange trip it’s certainly been. We’ve made some fantastic new friends and built one seriously capable machine in the process. We can’t thank Joe and Mitchell enough for their willingness to bring the car out to Fluid in “flyover territory” and trust us with building what we knew would be a fantastic exhaust system. Both Raging Bull Marketing (and all its various sponsors) and Fluid MotorUnion are incredibly proud of the work put forth on the Black Series, and we want to extend a thank you to every single person that had a hand in this build. We can’t wait to see what RBM decides to send our way next; let’s just hope it’s getting some velocity stacks!!