Saturday Feb. 19th
Okay I lied. I didn't wrap up the last four months in that last blog. I missed some things. Things that had lots of pictures. Like the Chicago Auto Show. Definitely needs pictures posted. It was an exciting weekend back in February. Chris was able to come in for the show for the first time in years because he wasn't working crazy hours at some crazy corporate accounting job. So I was pretty stoked. Cause we like cars. And it was nice to not be texting him pictures of cars the whole day :)
First, we were REALLY lucky because the new badass car, the Tesla S sedan, had a prototype that was gonna be in Chicago for the weekend. And we were dying to see it. It looks cool, it and it gets like 80 miles to the gallon (equivalent, because its completely electric!). It also has a 17" touchscreen in place of most of the normal dashboard. Badass. And the prototype was touring the country. So we went to check it out. Gorgeous.
Here it is. Even the logo is cool. I want one. They're $50,000 after government subsidies. If I had $5,000 to put down on an advanced order, I would. Cause I think people are gonna wanna get their hands on these once they come out.
Here's the giant touchscreen in between the front seats. Just imagine, having a giant Google Map on there over 3G cell service. Amazing. Yeah everyone's first objection is "well people are gonna get in accidents trying to check their mail". Doesn't stop you from using your cell phone now, does it?
There it is. We couldn't touch it. I will have my own someday. Its faster than most sportscars, by the way.
We drooling over this car for awhile, while all the older rich gentlemen at the dealership talked about their Tesla Roadsters- the $100,000+ pocket sportscar thats one of the fastest street legal cars in the world. So all the employees at the dealership spent their time with them. We didn't even get a "hi". Well fine, flag off, someday I'm gonna buy one of these and I don't need your dumbasses telling me what I already know about the car anyway.
Then we were off to the Auto Show, after grabbing a few free muffins on the way out the door :) We met up with our friend Rachael, who was looking for a car for herself since her and her bigshot doctor husband (my college roommate Jeff :) were moving to Lafayette (where Purdue is) and needed a second car. So she wanted to do what many people do there, which is actually shop for cars. She was a trooper, cause I told her we'd be there forEVER, and she wanted to come, and she made it until the end. Kudos.
The Chicago Auto Show is second biggest to Detroit each year, and lots of new cars debut there. They have a press-only opening weekend. They take up most of McCormick Place, which is the world's largest convention center- it takes 15 minutes straight for me to walk from one end to the other- which means its about a mile across. Inside. One connected series of buildings.
The automakers are in the same places every year too for some reason. So we started with Toyota as usual (usual for me- I think this was maybe my fifth auto show?).
They had a stretch minivan. Kinda pimpin.
They had some new Prius prototype car- prototypes are always the coolest looking stuff out there- that's what brings me to the show. These things never get built looking this cool though. (There were a lot of videoscreens back there).
I don't even remember which car this was from, but these machined aluminum exhaust tips looked amazing. I wanted to touch them.
They have lots of things to entertain people, because some people come with their five children and let them run wild. Which is why they remove things like the shift knobs from the cars, because otherwise people break them or take them. That rhymed. People also come for like 4 hours (or for Chris and I, 5.5 hours) so they need entertainment.
I derived entertainment from things like this: seeing the brand new Fiat 500 (Cinquecento) which is now on sale in the US. A red dashboard!!
Dunno the last time Fiat sold cars in the US. And these things are tiny. And awesome. They have panels inside the color of the body outside, and you can even get em in cream leather. And they have tiny little shifters.
I saw them everywhere in Italy, and wanted one, and was pretty jacked when my professor there said they were coming to the US soon. They're making electric ones too! Check out two big guys in one small car, and me taking a picture through the hatchback...
And here was a Scion, painted like a...I forget what...oh yeah- its an octopus. See the watery swirls, the red tentacles? And one headlight is the eyeball.
Cool, I guess. Weird though. But thats what the Auto Show is for... I think it had speakers in the back windows.
They also had Smart Cars. Also on sale in the US. Also a car I want. This one was a ridiculous Houndstooth. Rachael got in but she wouldn't show me how her houndstooth scarf matched the car, for the picture. Which is why she's laughing.
The Nissan Leaf. You've seen commercials for it by now. I think the plug is in the front under the emblem. Also all-electric.
This is the world's fastest couch. A steering wheel in the middle, and under the table were pedals, if I remember correctly. Somewhere under there is an engine or something. I think.
Look inside! Crazy! They always have weird cars like this with backwards opening doors, backwards seats, that look like fun places to hang out, and don't ever get built. I wish I could just sit in it...what do they ever do with these things after they've lived out their auto show lives?
And pretty cool inside, again. But will never get built. This stuff looks like its from the future. That's why its so fun to check out.
YEAH. Chris and I would both take this car. Even though we already have seen (and in some cases driven) everything BMW has to offer, its always fun to see their cars. This was their M1 coupe. Tiny, fast as hell, pretty sweet looking. And pretty expensive for being that small.
Mercedes. Seen it. But still- how often do you see a car with gull-wing doors. Always awesome. Wouldn't mind one. Costs as much as a house.
Woo hoo! The Mini Cooper Countryman...the first four-door Mini. This was one of the highlights of the show, something we came to see. Pretty interesting, like a mini Mini SUV. This May I started seeing them around Chicago. I want one.
Land Rover's Range Rover concept car. Looked pretty nasty too, again in a good way. Like it was gonna snarl. Or eat something.
Last but not least (but not that great) was Chevy's Volt pavilion, where you could get rides in the Volt- Chevy's new electric car (but not ALL electric, because it has a gas engine inside to recharge the electric motor). They shlepped in all these trees for it too. Kinda cool, kinda weird, kinda cool. Kinda lame. Keep trying Chevy.
Oh ps. The night before, when Chris came in and picked me up from work in his sweet-sweet BMW, we drove out to the burbs and heard a friend of a friend (who I suppose now qualifies as a friend) play at a coffee shop out there- she's a professional folk musician with a great voice, soulful songs- not usually my kind of music, but good stuff. So that was fun. I'm glad she was playing cause I think it was the icing on the cake that got Chris to come to Chicago even though he was tired and busy at work :) Its always a highlight of...whatever time period you wanna name, when Chris comes to Chicago. He's like my soul mate except a guy who's my brother.
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