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I’m starting to worry about myself. In our country where we parsimoniously guard our measly two weeks of vacation, I blow mine to go to an auto show. Well, that’s not entirely true, but I did use my vacation to see the Frankfurt auto show this year. This would be my personal interpretation of the Declaration of Independence’s “pursuit of happiness.” This is acceptable behavior, right?
Immediately after landing in Frankfurt, I got my rental car and headed for the show. The Frankfurt Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) is held every other year (probably due to its size) at the Frankfurt Messe (convention center). The show was held in nine of the ten buildings at the center. (Rumor has it that the tenth building was used to house all of the people that passed out from walking. I was doing my best to get in.)
What’s the show like? It’s just like the Detroit autoshow that’s held in January. It’s also just like the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) show typically held in February. However, the Germans, being the way they are, decided that it would be better if the two shows were combined into one. This is the efficient way. This is the logical way. This is the Frankfurt auto show.
Armed with just a camera and a little map I picked up on the bus ride from the parking lot, I felt like Don Quixote had better odds against the windmills than I do against this show.
I was there on a Monday and was surprised at how busy the show was (don’t Germans work? Oh, yeah-they can get up to six weeks of vacation in their first year of work, while we get-oh, never mind). Although I had a map, I mostly wandered around, drifting from one building to another. The German manufacturers seemed to be pretty popular. Bugatti (now Volkswagen-owned) had a couple of new concept cars on display. I think the number of concept cars they’ve built since being owned by VW has now exceeded the total production volume they’ve ever had.
In one building, I stumbled on a display of 100 Years of Cars and the cars that debut in Frankfurt. One of these happened to be the McLaren F1, the original $1,000,000 production car. I was contemplating the number of felonies I had to commit to bring this car back with me. I still am.
Eventually, I made it to the Porsche display. I tried to get to the rotating 911 Turbo, which made its debut at the show. It took some time to get to the front of the pack to see this car. It was pretty popular. There were a few things that I could see that differentiated it from the regular 911. There’s the obvious new spoiler/whale tail in the back. There are also slits in the back bumper that is reminiscent of the 959. There are ducts in front of the rear wheels, similar to the Boxster. Up front, the headlights have been revised slightly, and the front airdam is deeper with three openings. For those of you out there that must have the latest of everything, the wheels are new. They don’t have the spin weld line that the previous turbo wheels had. I wonder how much these costs.
The new Boxster S also held its debut at the show, but you could never tell. There were very few people looking at it, probably because it looks just like the “normal” Boxster. There was, however, a considerable line waiting to sit in the new Turbo (Porsche actually lets people sit inside their cars at this show).
One of the most interesting things I saw at the show was the popularity of the Chevrolet products. While both the sporty Chevy Corvette and Camaro were at the show, the most popular American vehicles appeared to be the Chevy pickup truck and Blazer. Perhaps Porsche’s decision to market an SUV may have marketing sense after all.
What were my biggest disappointments with the show? I was expecting to see the debut of the new BMW Z8, but it wasn’t there. And surprisingly, they didn’t have a lot of female models with the cars, further evidence that Germany must be car-crazy.
After a few hours of walking and seeing less than half of the buildings, I decided to call it quits. After all, I was on vacation, I had an Audi TT for a rental, and the Nürburgring was only an hour and a half away. That’s a normal craving, right?
| << August 1999<< | >> October 1999>> |
(The BahnStormer is the official newsletter of the Rally Sport Region (Detroit area) of the Porsche Club of America. You can contact the editor at .)
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