While we’ve never done anything like a real survey on the subject, it seems to us that a certain portion of the products shown at the annual SEMA Show are not ready for prime time. Of those, some other portion end up being vaporware. For any great product, you want to get your hands on it as soon as possible.

At last November’s SEMA Show, General Motors Performance Parts announced a solid number of new products that had us drooling. New LS crate engines, pistons, Bowtie blocks, cams and more had us running around the booth like Super Mario. One of the more forward-looking announcements concerned the introduction of their SuperMatic 4L70-E electronically controlled transmission and SuperMatic Transmission Controller kit.

As the Pro Touring hobby grows, for example, demand for modern components grows in proportion. But meshing the technologies of new and old can sometimes be a painful and expensive exercise. With its own controller, this tranny allows for fast installation and a minimum of setup time to get running. It is designed to operate with GMPP’s E67-based engine controller, which runs all their LS-based, fuel injected crate engines.

Whether you need a bulletproof powertrain for your street rod, resto-mod muscle car, off-roader or other project, this is the approach that pays off. The use of the word bulletproof here may not be hyperbole, either. In the video below, GM Performance Engineer describes and shows exactly how this transmission was checked out.

In engineering terms, it is called Validation Testing. To us, it looks like beating up on someone else’s ride. Still, it got to be a nice assignment for one of the GM test drivers and probably a lot more interesting than doing fuel economy runs. After seeing this video, you’ll understand why its a good thing not to get your new SEMA products too soon, either.

(If you only have a minute, skip ahead to the 5:00 mark for some tire-smoking launch footage)