1999 North American International Auto Show

5.5/8.0 DETROIT, MI (January 9, 1999) -- This has been one of the better auto shows (Jan 9-18) I’ve attended in Detroit. There were quite a number of concept cars from the car companies, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see all of them, let alone take pictures. Here are some quick comments of the show:

Pictures of the new Ford Thunderbird weren’t very appealing to me. It’s better in real life, but I still don’t like it. The same is true for the new Mustang -- it looks better than its pictures. The Honda S2000 looks the same in its pictures as well as live. They’re both, uh, convervative.

The show is starting to outgrow Cobo Hall. Ford, as well as some other manufacturers, had two levels of displays. Ford had the Thunderbird concept car, the Lincoln Blackwood (4-door Lincoln pickup), as well as their European cars (Ka, Puma, Focus) up there.

Retro Is Still In

Chrysler had a new color for its Prowler (red), and showed PT Coupe and the Dodge Charger. Pontiac had the GTO concept car, and Chevy had the new Impala, and the New Beetle was everywhere. I’m sure if I looked hard enough, I would have found a new “Edsel.”

I didn’t see a team of aerobic instructors or talking robots this year, but they could have been lurking around unseen. There was simply too much for me to see in the little time that I had.

Saab was supposed to have this “wall of frost.” Did I miss it, or did Saab do without it?

Finally, here are my “bests of” from the show:

~ Best Concept Car: Mercedes Vision SLR / Dodge Charger

~ Best Bag Giveaway: Audi

~ Most Likely To Make Old Men Swoon: Ford Thunderbird

~ Most Likely To Be Driven Topless By A Cape Crusader From Gotham: Cadillac Evoq

~ Biggest Screen within a Display (commonly referred to as the “Mine is Bigger Than Yours!”): BMW

~ Most Entertaining Display: The VW display in the lower level had a blue-screen commercial using visitors from the show.

~ Biggest Let Down: No Wall of Throttle Bodies at BMW display.

~ Biggest Revelation: Ferrari has a bigger product line (F355, 456, 550, F50) than Porsche (911, Boxster).

~ Best Model: I have to go with the Dodge Charger.

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Auto Show Schedule

Don’t trust me on the accuracy of these dates, but here they are:

Greater Los Angeles Auto Show	Jan 8-16, 2000	310/444-1850 www.laautoshow.com
North American International Auto Show (Detroit)	Jan 15-23, 2000	313/567-5014
Chicago Auto Show	Feb 11-20, 2000	630/495-2282
Salon International de l’Automobile (Geneva)	Mar 2-12, 2000
New York International Auto Show	April 22-30, 2000	718/746-5300 www.autoshowny.com
Mondial de l’Automobile (Paris)	Sep 30 - Oct 15, 2000

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Paris 1998	Detroit 1999	Frankfurt 1999
	Detroit 2000

Paris 1998	Detroit 1999	Frankfurt 1999
	Detroit 2000