LA Auto Show

{i]I know it seems like a lot to read - but trust me, a few minutes will save you hours.[/i]

What a crowd, what a crowd...
Even if we all wore loud-ass F-shirts, we still wouldn't have run into each other.
Picked up a an F-hat towards the end of my 3:30-8:30 visit - got the scoop...

Scaglietti 612 will be brought in late Tuesday Night - available for viewing from Wednesday on...

Aside from 360 stripes & upcoming 612, worth seeing, crowd favorites, head-scratchers:
Aston Martin: DB-9: Aston's rear seats are even more useless, er, less useful. Maybe those were special seatbelt retractors.
Audi 24 hour car - see if they adjusted the rear wing yet. I pointed out a mistake. You'll know if it's wrong. Both Audi Spyders drew crowds. Hardtops didn't.
Bentley: 24 hour winner - (wow). Mulliner had me checking out the car, a fat guy drinking a soda, and a guy lying to the girl. Maybe they'll hook up. Everybody else was checking out the Continental. I did too - nice. Think of it as a 198 mph Aston with actual rear seat legroom.
BMW: 545I, 645C - lots of veryinterested people. Surprised 330 didn't have more of an update. R110S Motorcycle (check out the tailpipes under the seat) drew quite a few in, as well.
Brabus: Philosophy appears to be opposite Saleen's. Focus is under the hood, not under the hood, interior and in particular, exterior.
Cadillac: Surprised by XLR's blatant theft of Benz SL design.
Sixteen drew a crowd - split hood offers stunning view of stunning engine.
Caddie's CTS has BMW/Benz lines. Cadillac section was busiest of all American bigshots.
Chrysler: Airflite - Cool!
Crossfire drew 'em in as stock, and modded downstairs in the bling-bling department.
Chevrolet: SSR Pickup - even better in person - I was pleasantly surprised. SS Concept vehicle - Chevy, please do it like this. Corvette: Special Edition only in Blue? Won't sell many Special Editions. Other color 'vettes look better - quite a few on hand. Several different configurations - newest being best, although neither of my nuts moved.
Dodge: Were they there?
Ford: GT-40 - deepest crowd during any "speech." BUT Swirl marks painfully obvious on white paint. Informed Mr. Smiley to let paint department in on that little secret.
Jaguar: Chromed head-shaker. Polishing would never stop. Otherwise there was a Compact - and I do mean compact - which drew Jag-you-are's largest crowd.
Lotus: Elise - What a crowd. I like it on paper, couldn't live with it. Regardless, I got in one to see if it would change my mind. Elise's ingress/egress is difficult, at best. Not for those who need to get in and out a total of more than 4 times, daily.
Esprit - only to be seen, not sat in. Damn. I'd like to know if the ingress/egress is improved over the mid-90's models. Still - crowd was focused on Elise.
Hummer: H3T Pickup looks like a toy.
Lamborghini: Dustiest cars in the house. Dust is not good in purple. Or black. Or yellow. Grey one downstairs in the Meridian Automotive Design booth looks OK. At least they dusted it. Fact is, I'm just not a fan of Lamborghini. It's like trying to get a boner for an ugly girl. Just ain't gonna happen. Sorry.
Lincoln: Navi-Cross - Coolmobile!
Maserati: One couple at a time, folks. Question: Are eyebrows at the top of foreheads a sign of wealth?
Mercedes: Vision CLS - Elevated, as it should have been.
Mercury: Marquis. My God, what an ugly Purple and white pimpmobile nightmare. Spectacular failure.
Pontiac - GTO? Where? I see the sign, but all I see is a Pontiac sitting in the midst of furballs from the weakest carpet in the building. Where did the furballs come from? There's no crowds whatsoever in the Pontiac section.
Porsche: Best overall make of show. Brilliant moves on their marketing/display department's part. Only section I got a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling - and kept it throughout. History to the future. Brilliant. They didn't even need the Carrera GT - but daaaaaammmmmmmnnnn. Prediction - buy Porsche stock, folks. They're going to do what they do best - sell a lot of cars that have juice.
Range Rover: Rover had interest, not other models.
Saleen: SR-7 - how the hell do you get in and out of that thing? Doesn't matter. Cool.
Saleened T-Bird - Fudgin' A, baby. Makes me want one. That's a first for me with new Birds.
Saturn: No crowds.
Volvo: S60R Evolve - stunning Swedish Ricer.
S60R drew 'em in as well. S60 didn't.
VW: Phaeton drew most interest in 'dubland.


Special Japanese Import Bad News Pandas Section:
Japan is going to hurt in 2004. Expect heavy discounts to start early. Good. May help dollar recover.
Honda/Acura NSX - Yellow, on highest pedestal - not a soul looking at it. Looks very dated. No crowds in Honda/Acura sections - though the lawnmower "Harmony" piqued a couple of guys interest.
Infiniti: Nothin' to write home about.
Nissan 360 Roadster - Red, black top up & on a pedestal - nobody looking at it. Embarrassing. BUT silver Roadster, with top down, drew Nissan's only crowd. Infiniti's "crowds" even smaller.
Lexus: SC430 - only time I saw "crowd" walk away once girl started talking. Usually it's the other way around. She wasn't ugly, either.
Toyota - across the board - No crowds, whatsoever... And the first day of the LA Auto show was crowded. Guess Toyota's slogan of "Get the feeling" was only disappointment.

Hat fits great, man.