i like cars. a lot. not as much as girls, but pretty close. anyone else who likes cars would know that the Detroit North American Auto Show is about to hit Detroit, which the Detroit News Paper has been raising a big noise about. part of that noise is to create of panel of concept car analysts, built of readers that entered some very basic information (age, type of vehicle owned, etc) and picked by some method that we will never know. by now you may have guessed, i was chosen to take part in this panel.
Im not sure if this is a good thing.
here's the rub: concept cars differ from other prototypes and production vehicles in that concepts will most likely never be built and most certainly not in the form they are first shown to the public. so by default, they're all just a way to trick the yocal-locals into being excited about a brand. (okay, okay, some concepts are built, especially retro-styled roadsters that get rave reviews, but inevitably they fail to be hot sellers.) Secondly, this whole thing stinks of media "dog and pony show" antics. in my dream scenario i'm surround by engineers that promptly answer my questions about forced induction and composite costs, while i berate them on their choice of transmission options. but the reality will probably involve many PR people, some interns from the news paper and a lot of guys in suits whose only line is "don't touch that." i figure this is their perfect opportunity to round up some "locals" and show off these cars (2 days before the general public sees 'em) and capture the stupid grins that will inevitably erupt. "hooray, we all have hope for the future if we're gonna be driving these bad-asses in 5 years."
alas, I haven't written the whole thing off yet- i already cancelled my dentist appointment for that day...
I'm now taking votes for/against.
Other news: this article is a tremendous piece about the "hippsters" of our generation, specifically Owen Wilson and the movie Life Aquatic. Check it out, if you love trucker hats and looking like you're poor.
5 comments:
I am absolutly "for" If nothing else you get to look at all the shinny stuff before all the complete clownd get their finger prints all over all the consept cars. I always hated that about the autoshow. Fucking fingerprints. Also if you do talk to the engineers about transmission options... tell ford/jag that sticks are still cool. I was appalled the last time I went and they said that ther are no jags with standards!
the comment above was me... Notorious
you know what they say: there's the opinions that you have and the opinions that you've been paid to have.
the only opinion i'm being paid to have is that i am of very little value to a company. blizow!
You should definitely go. And you should also take your awesome girlfriend who just happens to be in PR so she can decipher what those publicists are *really* saying.
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dude, you must go. if it wasn't for people like us, they would have no one to say "Don't touch that" to.
wildman
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