Wynn Concours and SEMA 2026 Recap
Two Stages. One Standard.
Classic Recreations at the 2026 Concours at Wynn Las Vegas and the SEMA Show.
This fall, Classic Recreations brought its latest builds to two of the most respected stages in American automotive culture. At the Concours at Wynn Las Vegas, we revealed them. At SEMA, we placed them beside the finest marques in the world.
The Reveal at Wynn
Spectators gathered on the show field at the Concours at Wynn Las Vegas on October 31 for the unveiling of the Classic Recreations Shelby GT500CR Carbon. When the cover came off, the fastback roofline was familiar. Up close, it told a different story: carbon-fiber weave visible across every exterior panel, and red brake calipers glowing through the black wheels. The crowd began to applaud before the introduction was finished
This is the Classic Recreations Shelby GT500CR Carbon, the world’s only ‘67-’68 Shelby-licensed carbon-fiber GT500. Its body was developed from a scanned steel GT500 and rebuilt surface by surface, so the lines are the original’s. What’s beneath them is not: a supercharged Gen 4X Coyote rated at 1,000 horsepower.
A few steps away, on its own platform, sat a gloss-black 1969 Mustang Boss built for six-time Classic Physique Olympia champion Chris Bumstead. Polished wheels, a scooped hood and with a single badge on the front fender that said everything: BOSS 429.
Classic Recreations spent more than 2,500 hours on the Boss 429, restoring the original steel body and retaining its factory lines. Beneath the scooped hood sits a 7.3-liter Megazilla V8 with a Whipple supercharger. Chris described it as a car Classic Recreations made “completely mine,” and said the discipline he brings to competition went into every part of it.
At a concours, every detail is judged. These two builds welcomed the scrutiny. Missed it in person? See both cars break cover.
Among the Best at SEMA
The SEMA show floor brings together people the average enthusiast might never meet anywhere else: young builders hungry to learn and show their first projects, veteran craftsmen at the top of their trade, and every kind of car person in between. They come to see what’s new, what’s rare and what’s never been done before.
Surrounded by names like Bugatti, Acura and Lamborghini, our builds held their own. At the GT500CR Carbon, one question came up again and again: how did we get the carbon-fiber weave to run in the same direction across the entire car? The short answer is that it takes a level of precision we prefer to keep in the shop.
Builders who know carbon fiber looked closely, and many told us the work stood with what Bugatti, Lamborghini or Ferrari would produce.
At the Boss, the conversation turned to what Ford started in 1969. Visitors traced the Boss 429 badge, then leaned into the engine bay, where a 7.3-liter Megazilla V8 sits beneath a Whipple 3.0-liter inverted supercharger in the space that once held the original 429. Across both builds, collectors and enthusiasts studied the details in person: the exposed weave of the GT500CR’s carbon body, Forgeline carbon wheels framing Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, the deep gloss of the Boss’s BASF Glasurit finish and the Wilwood six-piston calipers behind its Forgeline FL500s.
The energy around both cars was contagious. Again and again, visitors told us the GT500CR and the Boss were their favorite builds of the show, and that Classic Recreations had reached a new level.
Up close, you can see the craftsmanship. Behind the wheel, you feel it. In a week defined by major reveals, our latest lineup stood where it belongs, among the finest performance cars in the world.
Seen Through New Lenses
The builds drew cameras as well as crowds, and the people behind those cameras came away with strong impressions.
Filming a walkaround of the GT500CR Carbon with Cody from our team, AutoGuide noted that the question echoing across the show floor wasn’t just about horsepower or quarter-mile times. It was also about the finish. Yanko Design wrote that you can stare at the weave “like it’s a lava lamp.” HiConsumption called the car a “gloss-weave stunner” and singled out its red-tinted carbon racing stripes.
The Boss made its own case. CarScoops wrote that the build proves a restomod with a modern powertrain “doesn’t have to mess with an iconic muscle car’s classic design.”
Follow @classicrecreations on Instagram to see the builds through their eyes.
What Comes Next
The first look drew people in, and the details gave them a reason to stay. Across Wynn and SEMA, the conversations moved past familiar silhouettes to carbon fiber, craftsmanship, and the precise engineering beneath the bodywork. Together, these debuts marked the beginning of a new chapter for Classic Recreations and for American performance.
Each Classic Recreations vehicle is built in very limited numbers, to a standard that cannot be scaled. The builds shown in Las Vegas are no exception.
Rare by design. Respected by collectors.