Before the auto show, I foolishly remarked to my wife that I hoped I still had enough charge in my digital camera to get a good batch of photos. Entered the main floor and snapped these, looped around the outside before discovering Chrysler’s display near the center of the room. There sat ‘54 DeSoto, ‘34 Plymouth and gorgeous 2800 mile ‘59 Fury with fins that would be at home breaking the surface of some lagoon beside a kayaker in National Geographic. I framed up the DeSoto, hit the “on” button, battery signal flashed empty and that was that. Dang.
But the battery held out long enough to snap a few fun vehicles, including several with classic ties, like Beetle and Camaro.
The rear-engined Mitsubishi is one of the company’s earliest and the Dakar rally 4×4 is as spartan and stripped down–and girded up–as when it raced.
As the Fast and Furious car chronicler, couldn’t resist snapping the new Skyline, seen here in RHD Japanese spec.
Scion’s display was also unmistakably F&F influenced.
Most of the cars are open for browsing and it’s fun to watch youngsters climb in for a gander over the dash–or up at it, depending on age.
This massive Jeep Rescue concept was interesting to look at, though a rescue driver with a car show background might leave a few lost hikers stranded: “I’m not driving through there–we’ll scratch the paint!”
Who can afford to buy a new car AND fill it up?
That’s why the show is so great. I didn’t have to gas up one vehicle there and I paid parking on none of them. I didn’t even pay to park for the show–I went across the highway on 3rd and parked free.
Paid parking is the norm in a downtown environment, but somehow forking over money to let my car sit in a particular spot, when that’s all it does the majority of its existence, rubs me the wrong way. If I was parked at a drive-in and being entertained then OK… I’ll pay to sit in a movie theater but I don’t want to put a quarter in a park bench 4 or 6 times and hour. Wait. Maybe I’m just cheap.
MotorMouth Kris Palmer, freelance auto writer and editor, blogs about vintage cars, the collectible auto scene and just about anything else that goes vroom.
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