At the LA Auto Show
In mid-December my son, Rick and I attended the new, more important (according to the powers that be) LA Auto Show. Rick arranged for us to stay at the Omni on 5th in downtown LA. Quite a nice hotel and it included a raging holiday party for a company whose name I do not recall but whose employees really knew how to rock. And they were presented quite a feast by their employer. This took place Friday night, the night Rick drove his 300CE down from San Francisco and I took the train up from San Diego.
Quite early Saturday morning we left the hotel and ate breakfast at an historically significant breakfast joint, The Original Pantry. There was quite a line of patrons waiting patiently for room at the inn but Rick and I managed somehow (without cheating or being pushy) to be seated and served expeditiously. The breakfast was good and a brief chat we had with a couple from Simi Valley who were also on their way to the auto show was very pleasant. We left the eatery and arrived at the LA Convention Center about 30 minutes after the doors opened.
We started our gawking immediately as the exotic European cars were near the entrance we selected. I was smitten by the Stryker sedan. Rick was not that amused by it. The show itself was a wall to wall to wall to wall cars. We were there from approximately 10:30AM until closing time (9:00PM?). Those ten-and-a-half hours flew by.
The ugliest car at the show (there were no Pontiac Azteks on display) was the Acura “Sedan of the Future.” Either the Acura designers have a grotesque sense of humor or they have no sense of propriety because the design of that car is an abomination .
The biggest disappointment for me was the Mustang by Giugiaro. Don’t get me wrong, it is a really well done car with terrific style. But I had been blown away by the car in pictures I had seen of it. It did not have that effect on me in person. It is very well done and I hope future Mustangs use quite a bit of that style but I felt a little let down once I saw it in person. As a side note. between and among the current production Mustang, the upcoming Dodge Challenger and the anxiously awaited Chevrolet Camaro, I find the Camaro the least evocative new rendition of an old pony car icon. To me the Challenger is the best of the three. It so perfectly and completely captures the essence of the original while smoothing away what few faults it had. For the record, I always found the last generation Barracudas to be more appealing than their Challenger counterparts and I would have brought back a Chrysler ‘Cuda rather than a Dodge Challenger. It is the Hemi ‘Cudas that are selling for multi millions at the auto auctions. Anyway, the Challenger ranks first in my book, the Mustang ranks second because it is more true to the ’65 & ’66 fastbacks (I think they were called 2+2s back then) and the Camaro is just a bit too far out there. Yes, it includes some ’67 design elements but it’s too extreme for me. But, from what I hear on the street, once it is available there is going to be a stampede to get these suckers. So, we came, we saw, we left exhausted but satisfied.
We walked out into the night and into was passes for rain showers in LA. We lucked into a cab and returned to the Omni where we enjoyed some fancy burgers and a quaffed a few cool ones before we crashed for the night to dream about cars.
The next morning we had a heck of a time finding a place to eat breakfast. We were sort of forced to head towards the Pueblo de Los Angeles area. It’s the historic district of LA and does have an interesting story to tell but early on a Sunday morning not much was happening except mass at the old church. Since neither of us is a church goer, our only option was to wander around and ask where we might find breakfast, which we did in the bazaar (not bizarre) area at Olvera Street We ate, we glanced at the stalls and their merchandise, I bought an old style top with the wind up string and we walked around the plaza and read the plaques.
Eventually it was time for us to get to the nearby (impressive) train station, Union Station. I bought my return ticket to San Diego, 120 or so miles to the south and Rick prepared to drive back to San Francisco, 350 miles to the north. Rick’s car was looking good with its new 300E 17″ 5-spoke alloy wheels and low profile tires. Rick and Moulah ( a three-pound Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix) had a nice trip home. They took the 101 on the way south (a much more pleasant, less tedious route) and the 15 on the way north, with its 90mph streams of determined travelers.
My train ride back to SD was painless and offered some interesting opportunities for people watching. When I finally got home I watched the 2nd half of a Chargers game which they managed to win in spite of themselves. I think it was the game against Denver where they were way ahead at the half but just barely managed to hang on at the end.