I have a few pictures I took at the Auto Show and some comments. I was thinking of doing an email, but this way I can point everyone to the same place and save myself some time.
Ready?
OK, right by the Chrysler exhibit is this very little jewel. This is the Fiat 500. VERY popular in Europe. In the US? Um, I think not....
Interior. Mini Cooper? Sure, it's a little quirky. But mostly it's, um, small.
OK, NOW we're talkin'! Maserati. Aggressive snout, ain't it?
OK, here's the thing. The Challenger is a beautiful piece of engineering. Chrysler engineers can design a great looking car. But they should just go ahead and refuse to give it other than a colorful paint job. No black. No silver. No white. This is a great example of what a Challenger should look like! Furious Fuchsia! Pink, you say! I say nay! This is a man's pink!
Or how about Plum Crazy. Yeah, baby!
Here's a custom paint job by a company that "convertiblizes". Nice!
OK, I'm done with Challengers. No, I'm never going to buy one. I'd never buy a Chrysler product. But they sure look good! In color, that is...
Maybach. Mercedes' Rolls-Royce. Half a million. More than your house, probably.
Story. Way back in the 60's my brother Terry and sister Sandy went out one Saturday afternoon with Dad because he needed a new station wagon. We went to the local used car lot in Decatur, IL where he started looking at their stock. On the lot was a mid-50's Mercedes SL gullwing. That looked almost exactly like this. It was everything he could do not to buy it. He talked about his almost car until his death. Terry, Dad, and I (and sometimes my son Brent) often went to the Auto Show when Dad lived in Chicago. Sometimes it was one of the only times I saw him in the year. I always think of him when I go to the Auto Show and this year with this car and with his death last year, I thought of him even more. Sometimes - just sometimes - I miss him...
They had 4 or 5 custom Camaro's (and a Cheap Trick "Dream Police" truck) here. Some were "pimped". Some were muscled up (one had 1000 hp). This was the Blackhawks Camaro.
Behind brother Terry is a Mazda RX-8. Terry is passionate about the RX-8 and the rotary engine. Every year we go to the show and every year Terry engages some complete stranger about the coolness of the RX-8. This year he heard someone dissing it. Here he is trying to change said disser's mind.
The Mazda Miata is a very happy car. Looks like one of those American Express commercials.
Here's happy Terry in a happy car with a very wary Brent looking on.
Audi R8 Spyder. Yum! Even like the brown. Brown seemed to be the color of the year. Lots of high end cars were brown. Even Kia had a very nice brown metallic on one of it's low end cars. In the Audi exhibit all of their cars were white - with 3 exceptions. This one, the hard top R8, and an S-5 or something (I don't remember which one).
The R8 hard top. Also cool is the glass over the engine...
The Porsche Panamera. It's the Honda "Crosstour" by Porsche.
The back of it. Terry admiring.
Lotus. I want one. Two, actually. One of these...
And one of these. This guy has a more aggressive smile than the Miata. I'm thinking that realistically I would not fit in this car. It makes the Miata look big.
This is a Fisker (not to be confused with scissors - that's Fiskar) Karma. It's a plug in hybrid luxury sedan with a solar panel on the roof. Supposed to have a 50 mile range when all electric. They wouldn't let us touch it.
And here's their sports car - the Sunset. Nice looking cars. Not sure how many they'll sell. Will they go the way of DeLorean?
The obligatory Lamborghini's
Here's something interesting. This is a Hyundai. Something called an Equus. A couple years ago they came out with the Genesis that competed with the high end Lexus' and Infiniti's and BMW at about $20,000 less. This one is essentially the Hyundai Maybach or Bentley. Huge. Hood ornament. Back seat like a limo. They're supposed to come out in the fall. The woman at the exhibit said that she heard they might be in the $60,000 range. As Darth would say, "Impressive". Hyundai continues to surprise with the quality of their product, the engineering and design, and the low low prices. The new Sonata looked like a Lexus and started at under $20,000.
New Subaru Outback. I will own this car. Oh yes, it will be mine. Love this green! I like the guy in the cool safari vest walking around it. It's not just a car. It's a lifestyle.
This is for Michelle. For some reason she's always wanted a Buick. OK. I guess.
Probably the only GM car I'd ever buy, and oh, how I want one. This is the "RS" version which seemed to be merely a paint job. But 435hp, 0-60 in 3.95, $60,000? A bargain. Seeing as I'm now over 50 with plenty of gray hair, I am dead center demographic for buyers of these. So, I should have it. Now, the ZR-1 has a crazy 650hp. But it is twice as much. I don't have to have 650. I can make do with this one.
Let me give you a few minutes. Just take time and admire. This is American engineering at it's best/worst. This was an insane car! Bigger than my house. Enough chrome to blind a blind man. Red/white top. And fins! Man, the fins! It just doesn't get any better/worse than this. Personally, I love it! Way over the top! And it probably got 2-3 mpg. This would not fit in my garage. It is literally too long.
My favorite model Corvette ever. 1963. Split rear window. These are very rare. Nice orange, too. I used to put models of this car together. Loved the L-shaped bumpers. I'd love to drive this thing!
And no trip to McCormick Place would be complete without at least one artsy-fartsy shot. Here you go:
Other highlights that I didn't take pictures of:
The Ford Taurus had a trunk that could fit 4 dead bodies even before you put the rear seats down. However, it didn't comfortably fit 2 Burge bodies in the back seat. Not enough leg room. Perhaps a little tweak in their engineering could help live people be more comfortable than dead ones.
Why is there a Mercury? They had NOTHING original! Only Fords with leather.
There was a new Lincoln crossover called the MK-T or something. The back hatch went all the way to the bumper, which was low. The button to open the back hatch was UNDER the hatch. You had to lean your head OVER THE HATCH to press the button. Which made the hatch come flying toward your face. Strange design.
Brent at the Army exhibit doing pushups and pullups with drill instructors. He won a t-shirt and some golf balls. Only had to sell his soul to get them. No, not really. When he was filling out some paperwork (gulp!) to get in to win the t-shirt, the woman helping asked him his plan for 5 years. He said "join the Navy". Pretty funny!
But of course he also lost his phone - again.
Terry hitting on some booth babes probably less than 1/2 his age.
Cricket sound at Toyota.
Nissan stuffed in the back corner.
How does Chrysler still afford to have those silly "ride in a jeep" exhibits? Speaking of Chrysler, they have NOTHING to indicate that Fiat engineers are on the job. Actually they have nothing new to indicate they have ANY engineers on the job.
Where the heck is that oil filter on the Outback???
Kia had a nice exhibit with very nice cars - especially for the price. Nicely following in Hyundai's footsteps.
The BMW 7-series had the most comfortable seats this year. Pillow soft.
The new Buick Regal (for next year) is based on a Opel.
There were a couple of the luxury brands that had Bang and Olufsen sound systems. Sweeeeeet...
Toyota had a brand new design for it's Avalon that looked exactly like.....wait for it.....last year's design for the Avalon.
A couple of brands had new-for-2011 models in a sort of "coming soon" mode. Here's a tip. You want me to get excited about a future model? LET ME IN IT! We weren't talking about Porsche here. Just regular everyday cars. LET ME IN, or don't bother bringing them. Hyundai was the exception. They even let people in (behind the ropes) to sit in the Equus...
See you next year!
