2010.01.31 2010 Portland International Auto Show
It sucked, but there were a couple bright points. The main reason for the suckage was because of how much more poignantly this was obviously just a collection of dealerships. And, worse, the Mercedes and BMW dealers decided to not expose their stock to the thoughtless scratching and scuffing of the gawking public. Can't say I blame them, but it did mean I was deprived of sitting in some of the more worthwhile cars.
In fact, there wasn't a single car that I really liked that I was able to sit in.
Still, there were some bright points. Let's focus on those.
Ferrari Daytona
You know, I've actually always sort of hated the 1970's Ferrari Daytona. And so it was kind of odd to have it be the first car I saw at the auto show, and to discover that, for some strange confluence of age and perspective, I really liked the look of this car. Instead of lacking curves, it seemed to have chiseled machismo.
I must be getting soft.
Ferrari Enzo
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Ah, there we go: some nice exotica to make this venture worth my time. Yeah, I do so adore such pinnacles of form and function.
I'd still rather have an old F40, though.
Ferrari California
It's a pleasure to get to see this particularly-American prancing horse marque. It's both better looking in person than in photographs, and less good-looking than I had hoped. Such are the vagaries of such things.
While it is certainly a lovely car, and capable of being all sports car things to almost all people (who have enough money), it's just not single-minded enough for my taste. Despite having performance far beyond my own limits, I find myself resenting the concessions to the other less-performance aspects. So it goes.
Porsche Carrera Turbo
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We often joke at work, as we design parts for Daimler Trucks North America, that the styling design team assigned to the 911's are almost as lazy as ours. But, really, what is the point of change for change's sake when you've got something that so good?
Porsche Panamera
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Oh. Well. Hmmm...
I suppose that it makes good business sense to try to expand into another lucrative market - performance sedans. BMW and Mercedes have been growing fat on this segment, after all. And look at the money-making success story of the Cayenne (hiss!). Can't blame them for trying. And you never know; this thing might be popular.
You know, like tattoos are popular now - they're mostly ugly, kinda painful, but have a certain cachet.
Lotus Evora
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Wow. Just wow.
I'm not sure how Lotus took most of the same ideas as the Elise and turned it into something that is so much more gorgeous. Like the Ferrari California, pictures don't really do it justice. But, honestly, this is an incredibly beautiful car. I am utterly beguiled by it.
Because I wasn't expecting a whole lot of automotive love for this trip, I didn't bother bringing my good camera and instead relied on just my iBabble's camera. And I'll be damned if the fixed lens completely fails to capture the seductive sweep of the C-pillar into the low, wide rear haunch of the Evora. Fortunately, because I am so completely transfixed by this car, I'm feverishly plotting ways to finagle myself a test drive... With my good camera along, of course.
A Cool Old Car
I feel like a complete idiot, because I forgot to note the make and model of this car in any permanent way. It was off in the corner of the show, at the end of a token row of classic cars. But the crazy thing is that I immediately recognized it.
This was the physical manifestation of a car that I knew only by proxy of my father's help in building a "Cub Car". We had the intention of building a classic sports car, and my dad said he had just the car in mind. So he laid out the plans for the parts we would fabricate, and we worked together to try to make them into a submission for the "show car" category. The sweeping fender nacelles of the plain-purposed road torpedo are still stuck in my mind, red with black.
Of course, we failed to realize that if we wanted to be in the show car category that we had to submit the car early. So, on the day of the Cub Car rally, we were by default put into the racing category. Losing the first heat actually hurt less than having the carefully-applied paint scuffed by the race slots.