MagnaFlow Road Trip: Utah & Back for Outside Adventure Expo 2021

Last month we gathered a caravan of vehicles together, loaded up the MagnaFlow semi-truck and made a trek out to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the inaugural 2021 Outside Adventure Expo at the Utah State Fairpark. At the show we met tons of overlanders, campers, adventurers and outdoor enthusiasts who were as eager as we were to see the latest that the industry has to offer. It was also awesome to see plenty of friendly faces, both at the show and on our journey there and back.

MagnaFlow’s Overland Motorcade

Speaking of friendly faces, we were able to bring one along with us on the journey: cinematographer Andy Sedano (Ig: @53dano) and his Lexus GX. We also brought Senior Mint: the explanation-defying Toyota pickup built by our buddies at Rigd Supply that we covered a few weeks back. MagnaFlow Spokesman Richard Waitas drove his supercharged Chevrolet Colorado to the event. Like the Colorado, the GX was equipped with our Overland Series exhaust, which allowed Andy to travel all the way from Southern California to Salt Lake City without being worn down by the droning that can occur at cruising speeds with other performance exhaust systems.

The Colorado, which we displayed at the show alongside the rest of our caravan, was used as our long-term durability testbed for developing the MagnaFlow Overland series exhaust system for that model. It took Richard about six months of experimentation on and off-road using numerous resonator and muffler configurations before settling on the 50-state compliant, production-ready design that is currently available on MagnaFlow.com.

A Fun Weekend with Friends

While one of the reasons we attended the Outside Adventure Expo to begin with was to show our Overland Series performance exhaust systems off to the public, we also wanted to further develop our relationships with the off-roading, camping, overlanding and outdoor adventuring communities. Lastly, but certainly not least, we were eager to reconnect with the friends and contacts we’ve already made in those circles.

The first friendly faces we saw on our journey were Brittany and Kevin Williams over at the Lite Brite YouTube channel. We stopped by their place to drop off some parts we had promised them before continuing on to the show. In fact, you can now head over to their channel to check out this cool video showing how they’ve put those components to use. Once we arrived at the expo and set up our exhibition area, we were joined by Rigd Supply and their custom Ford Raptor (AKA: the “Slaptor”), which features a custom MagnaFlow exhaust which directly inspired the one we developed for their beloved Senior Mint.

When it comes to Overlanding, it’s all about the gear we haul and how we haul it. Our buddies at ROAM were showing off their wares not far from our display. They specialize in making extremely durable storage containers, perfect for rugged outdoor use. We also met up with our friends over at Goose Gear, who specialize in seat deletes, platforms and rear storage options ideal for overlanding. Between these two vendors one could get pretty far in turning their vehicle into an overland rig (in addition to a MagnaFlow Overland Series exhaust system, of course). Clay from Expedition Overland (XO) stopped by our booth as well to talk about how much he enjoys the Overland Series exhaust system that he installed on his Toyota 4Runner.

On Saturday we were contacted by our friend Zac over at Hoonigan Racing and invited to come check out their headquarters in Park City. We took him up on the offer and made the 40-minute drive to go see what they’ve been up to lately. After proving our worth with an obligatory burnout, we earned ourselves a tour of the facility, which included getting an up-close look at some of Hoonigan’s famous creations, including the “Hoonicorn” Mustang and a couple of their race-ready rally cars. They also had a #AINTCARE wall, were they’ve hung up some of the parts and panels they’ve damaged over the years as their vehicles were put to the test. We’re proud of the fact that no MagnaFlow products have ever been featured on the wall. On Sunday it was back to the show for a final day of perusing, mingling and prize giveaways.

Pit Stop = Trail Time

We had a great time meeting new friends and hanging out with old ones in an environment filled with outdoor and overland enthusiasts such as ourselves. There was a lot of interest in our Overland Series of performance exhaust systems, and we even ended up selling several on the spot to some very keen buyers. However, the time had come to pack everything up and head home. Like I said though, we are Overlanders and off-road enthusiasts ourselves at heart. Therefore, we were feeling the itch for some trail time on the ride back.

We ended up taking a slight detour to Moab to take a crack at the Fins & Things trail. The 9.4-mile one-way route provided us with the perfect opportunity to get the most out of our rigs’ Overland Series exhaust systems. Both the Chevy Colorado and Lexus GX tackled the challenge with dexterity and care, facilitated by the quiet performance of the Overland Series system when the engine is operating below 3,000 rpms. The extra ground clearance the systems provide was also extremely useful. By being able to place our rigs carefully, we were also able to further minimize our footprint on the trail. The people at “TreadLightly!” (the charitable partners of the Outside Adventure Expo) would have been proud, as their focus is on respecting and maintaining our trails for the continued enjoyment of fellow off-roaders and future generations.

It was great seeing so many new faces and old friends at the 2021 Outside Adventure Expo and we can’t wait to reconnect with everyone at the next outdoor-focused show! If you’re interested in finding out more about the Overland Series of performance exhaust systems, or any MagnaFlow-branded apparel and accessories (including space-saving coolers) we have available, look no further than MagnaFlow.com.

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