My Trip to the Detroit Auto Show

[ChuckG]

I just had to do it. Rather than post the usual pictures, I'll just give you three and try to capture what was going on there.

I'm about 150 miles from Detroit. Of course it was snowing pretty good when I left about 7:30 am. So what should I do? Make the trip or go tomorrow. Screw it....I decided to go. I rationalized the decision by saying to myself that the snow will keep the crowd down (it was snowing in Detroit as well).

So I take off. You guys should have seen all the cars in the ditch. And there was a jacked-knife truck in the middle of the road, going the other way, with the guy sitting in his cab waiting. I'm sure he was mad at himself.

I finally hit Detroit at about 11:15, about an hour and half late. For those of you familiar with the town, I took I-75 up to the Lodge, and then over to Cobo. And the traffic was backed-up on the Lodge exit for Cobo. Nice.

So I inch along in this line of cars for about 15 minutes and eventually get to Cobo. And roof top parking was already full. I hung a right and got out of that line of cars and went searching for a place to park. Found a place in five minutes and it cost me 10 bucks.

Hoofed it over to Cobo, opened the door, and all I saw was a sea of people; on a Wednesday before noon with terrible weather. My oh my.

Bought a ticket and went looking for the Challenger. And there it was. See the crowd? I was at the show for about 1 1/2 hours and I never saw the crowd around the car get smaller. I didn't see any other car getting this much attention. Not even close to this. Amazing.



This is a picture of the girl giving the talk on the car. One thing she asked the people to do is to visit the Dodge website and give their opinions of the car. Yeah, like they don't already know. Anyway, don't be bashful.



And here is a pic of Ralph Gilles who also talked about the Challenger. He is the designer of the 300.



If you're going to the show, I'd suggest you just get downtown and weave your way over to Cobo and look for a place to park. Stay off the Lodge and forget about parking at Cobo.

[Mr.DJ]

Hey Chuck,

That second photo (the one with the blonde) gives me a much better idea of the actual size if this car. For some reason, all of the other photos I've seen have made this car appear much smaller than what I had hoped for, but now I can finally get the 'true picture'. Great photos...thanks!

BTW, for those of you who may not be aware, Ralph Gilles is also a member of 300Cforums.com

[EVERRET]

• Great Pic's and story, Thanks for the Info ! How does the Challenger compare to you Live compared to pic's ? I am starting to worry this car may be "too popular", If it is sold out for the first year or two it will sell at a markup and might be hard to get.

Bought a ticket and went looking for the Challenger. And there it was. See the crowd? I was at the show for about 1 1/2 hours and I never saw the crowd around the car get smaller. I didn't see any other car getting this much attention. Not even close to this. Amazing.

[Mike Penner]

That first picture is interesting. You can see the underside of the hood and get an idea of how the ram air system works. It looks like the air flows into the hood scoops and is pushed *forward* toward the nose of the car before going into the air intake. Kinda counter intuitive but maybe a moot point. I'm starting to wonder about the feasibility of a shaker option given the location of that air intake.

[Sublime 340]

I saved the first pic as: "If you build it they will come".

[ChuckG]

Originally Posted by EVERRET

• Great Pic's and story, Thanks for the Info ! How does the Challenger compare to you Live compared to pic's ? I am starting to worry this car may be "too popular", If it is sold out for the first year or two it will sell at a markup and might be hard to get.

The Challenger looks a little different in person than in pics....at least to me anyway. For instance, the high beam light is set back further than the low beam. The grill is set back further yet. I really liked that effect.

The car is very, very sleek and clean. This thing is totally uncluttered. The Challenger is not a small car but it isn't a large car either. It's somewhere in between and closer to large than small. I thought the size was perfect for the overall design of the car. It was in balance. Somebody really worked hard on this.

I wanted to get a picture of the rear brake lights. I asked one of the Chrysler employees if he would step on the brake so I could snap a pic. Because of the special lighting in the car, he said the brake lights wouldn't work. I tried though.

[Sr4tuner]

now i deffinetly cant wait for the ny auto show dont worry i'll get pics i could deffinently look for like 40 pics atleast

[TheChallenger]

All I can say is that the Challenger better as hell be at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto!!! If it's not im gonna be pissed!!! And are those tires just for concept vehicles or what? Cause the tread pattern is crazy cool!!

[allhemi]

Thats awsome!