Final 8 chosen for ‘Coolest Thing Made in South Carolina’

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Eight finalists are still in the running to be voted the Coolest Thing Made in South Carolina.

They range from machine guns to automatic transitions to mushroom leather.

The contest is conducted each year by the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance and presented by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina through the Manufacturing Madness process.

The coolest thing last year was the F-16 Block 70 fighter jet made in Greenville by Lockheed Martin. The inaugural coolest thing was steel made in Berkeley County by Nucor Steel Berkeley.

More than 103,000 votes were cast in the Top 16 round March 4-7, according to a news release from the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance.

The eight finalists are:

Honda Talon 1000R-4 Fox Live Valve, American Honda Motor Co. Inc. South Carolina Manufacturing, Florence County

9-Speed Automatic Transmission, ZF Transmissions, Laurens County

High Noon Sun Sips, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Chester County

M240 Series Machine Guns, FN Manufacturing LLC, Richland County

Fire Sprinklers, Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Co. Inc., Pickens County

670LXS, Scout Boats, Dorchester County

Reishi, MycoWorks, Union County

Signa Hero MRI Scanner, GE HealthCare, Florence

Voters can visit scmanufacturingmadness.com to select a winner from each pairing in the bracket, cutting the field in half each week until the ultimate winner is selected from the Top 4. The winner will be announced in a ceremony at the Statehouse on March 28.

Top eight bracket voting goes through March 14. The final round will take place March 18-21.