Went to the Chicago Auto Show today.  Took a look at alot of foreign &
domestic cars this year.

First off I didn't look at any GM mini vans, SUV's or Trucks.

Pontiac had a bland display. The GTO was kind of hidden around a wall.
They had two of each model. I don't think the Sunfire was there?.  Not
many people mingling around the Pontiac's.  

Gran Prix's - Some joker locked the back doors so nobody could get in
the back seat. The electric was off and the door unlock button is all
the way on the top back edge of the rear door.

Solstice - 2 Solstice's were there, one had the top up one had the top
down. When I sat in the passenger seat of the top up model a kid in his
twenty's got in. Knee's jammed into the dash, He was trying to move the
seat back - but it was back all the way. A tight fit for most people I
watched get in. The poor fitting rear portion of the top drew alot of
attention.

Heard a few people say " There's NO Bonneville?!" or " Where's the SSE?
"

Buick - Heard a few positive comments concerning the Lucerne. Mostly
older folks liked its looks. But most agreed the back seat didn't have
enough head or legroom for the Buick's flagship. Seats were comfortable.
Most people were surprised Buick only has two cars - period. One old guy
commented " I'm glad I bought my Park Avenue".  " Me Too"! I relpied.

Chevy - Camaro concept car had a decent crowd around the turntable when
I walked up to it. The little gurl up there was telling all about it. In
person it seemed a little better looking that on paper.I like the grille
design & the recessed headlights and that's about it.

Impala  LT / SS - Here is where I heard the most negatives comments
about any one single model on display. Comments ranged from horrible
looks, cramped rear leg room, bad interior design and unattractive
wheels.

Sat in a few HHR's. Knid of a nice novelty vehicle. Hope it does well.
The people seemed to like it.

This one dainty little gal that was barely 5 foot tall fell in love with
the dual rear wheel, 4X4,  Diesel Silverado Crew Cab.

Corvette had a que line to have a free photo taken with you & the Vette.

Monte Carlo had the best feel buckets seats.

Cadillac was set up in the second room with Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Volvo,
VW, Infinity, Audi. etc.....

The new DTS which replaces last years DeVille has a new look front &
back. Lot of folks like the new look.  Best seats in the house in the
DTS. Max headroom & leg room in back too.

The $75,000 price tag on the XLR convertible was shocking to some. The
mega bass stereo'sin the Escalades drew the rappers in close. Women in
buisness suits liked the STS & the CRX.  

While I was in this building amongst all the foreign car I thought I'd
try some of them out. I have to say the Infinity model were most
impressive. They have a huge center consoles in them and the wood  &
aluminum trim looks great. Very nice seats and lots of room in front &
back.

VW has a new car called EOS - I heard of that years ago - wait that's
the Cannon  EOS camera I'm thinking of. Anyway the VW EOS has a
retractable Steel & Glass top.

When the top is up a glass panel can be slid half way back like a
sunroof only its damn near the full width of the roof. Only like six
inches of roof remains in place along the each side. When the top is
lowered the trunk opens and the roof lifts  and seperates into 2 or 3 ?
sections and goes into the trunk. The side rails I mentioned earlier
come just beyond the rear seat when the top is lowered. Once the button
is activated  mini boot covers hinges outward along the top of the
quarter panel up to the door jamb so the top  side rails have a place to
go. The front edge of the roof which is glass is right behind the rear
seat when lowered. What a piece of engineering this car's roof is. The
car is to be priced under $30,000

Speaking of cool folding tops the new Volvo C 70 convertible has a 3
section hardtop  that also collapses under the trunk lid. The older C70
had a canvas top that went into a well behind the rear seat.

All the foreign cars had tons & tons of people around them. A lot of
younger people too were drawn to them.

For some reason Audi decided to leave the TT's hard top & convertibles
and A 4 convertibles at home this year.

Porsche, Bentley, Maybach & Ferrari's were all locked up. I guess you
had to show your last bank statement  to sit in one.

Jeep had a test track set up. They actually had a roller coaster like
structure to drive on. Long line to wait in for a 1 minute ride.

Probably the biggest drawing vehicle's at the show was the " Take me
back to 1970 Orange Dodge Challenger " concept car. It looked  every bit
of fantastic as it did in the magazine ! The little gurl on the
turntable said Dodge hasn't officially announced whether or not they
were going to build it.

The meer mention of its 425 Horsepower and 490 Torque raised eyebrows
and drew a murmur over the crowd.

Dodge had a voting area to vote on your favorite color. I think it was
for a new color for the Charger. For casting a vote you got a rubber
band bracelet that reads Charger Is Back! You also got a Charger Decal.

I voted for Go Bananas - yellow, and later after a shift change, I went
back and voted for Plum Crazy - purple.  4 Hemi Chargers  on the floor
drew all kinds of people of all ages.

I asked where white and black was.
Black or White wasn't one of the choices on the ballot. I said to the
little gurl there that the Charger in the movie Bullet was Black! She
just looked at me.

On another turntable was a yellow & black Super Bee package on a Charger
body.
Black grille, hood decal, hood scoops,
Chorme Bee badging on the front fenders.
Same old helmet wearing Bumble Bee decal on the 1/4 panels that the
68-70 Super Bee's had. It looked cool.

     Harryface    
05 Park Avenue, 34,145
91 Bonneville LE  305,890