Free Wheelin' at the Auto Show

Saturday I took a trip up to DC for the Washington Auto Show with a couple of friends. I'm really not that much of a car guy, but let's face it, I had little else going on. Plus, the closest thing I'd ever seen to a car show were those times they would park a bunch of new cars in the mall. I always enjoyed filling out the little raffle ticket and dropping it in the window for a chance to take home my own Geo Metro, but it never really payed off.

The show was pretty impressive- I took up the entire basement of the convention center, not to mention the larger space on the second story. There were cars as far as the eye could see, and there were even a few that I could afford. The vast majority were ridiculously nice, ridiculously expensive rides that we would gather around and have exchanges like this:

Mike: "Aw man- they only upped it 2 cubic inches from last year, but they pulled out 4.5 more horsepower!"
Jason: "Yeah, that buys them 5.2 foot-pounds, but it still throws off the weight ratio."
Me: "You can't see crap out of these tiny windows."

Then they would sort of shakes their heads in disappointment. My observations were limited to things like "Why is there even a back seat? There's no room for your legs." and "My suitcase wouldn't fit in this trunk." I was also openly mocked for showing much more interest in the hybrids than any of the other cars.

We were looking at some Mercedes or something, when they said things like "I've had my eye on this series for a while. We'll probably get one to tool around in when we retire." I replied "That car costs $85,000. Plus, it gets 9 miles per gallon. What's the point?" Apparently I "don't get it."

I was excited to see some of the concepts, like the Ford Airstream and Interceptor. I realize most of them will never see production, but it's neat to see what ideas designers are coming up with. Jason remarked that the Airstream should be called "The Ikea," and Mike liked the retro clamshell shaker hood on the Interceptor. I pointed out that neither one had a rear defroster.

Throw in the fact that we stopped at Coldstone on the way home, and it was a pretty fun day. Would I go again? Probably. Will Mike and Jason invite me again? Doubtful.