The Car Show That Wasn't, Then Was After All

"I can still go," came the plaintive text from Greg after he read my previous blentry about missing the car show. I had just resigned myself to my fate when that text came through and I began to feel hope all over again.

"Sweet," I said, "I'll come over earlier than planned on Sunday and we can make it for the last day!"

The show was still slammed, deep into the afternoon of the last day of the show. I think that bodes well for the industry and for Detroit in general. I have included here some photos of the new Corvette, which I found particularly fetching. 

The front end run through some filters to accentuate the light reflections.The hood vent, which I found detracting in photos vaguely recalls the shape of the new "Crossed Flags Insignia", which has been the hallmark of Corvette throughout its life, though in many iterations.

The headlights are perfectly sized and highly contoured, like the fenders in which they sit. Those fenders by the way have very complex creases that look expensive to mold in the composite SMC material that makes them up.

Triangular nodes that stick out at the bottom of the front airdam are mandated for pedestrian safety. "Sweep the leg," anyone?

The rear (and most controversial angle) rendered black and white with a some additional clarity added to the "squeem" of light that I captured entirely accidentally while fighting the throng of people, iPhones outstretched all trying to get pictures to add to their blogs.

I want to hate the rear end treatment because it goes against Corvette canon, (Corvettes have had four round or roundel shaped headlights since 1961). 

At first glance, I called it "Cormaro", because it is highly evocative of the current Camaro, which is supposed to be down market from the halo car, Corvette. The Camaro is supposed to aspire to be the Corvette, not the other way around.

I imagine it is to bring the Corvette styling into the fold with other Chevy cars, which are finally, after eons of being designed by committee starting to carry a unified styling theme.Like it or not, it is a Chevrolet rear-end treatment, without a doubt.

In spite of all my ranting, I don't hate it and it is well integrated into the overall design. It makes sense to change form to improve function, rather than doggedly sticking to a played-out esthetic for the sake of tradition. I begrudgingly accept.

An up close detail shot of some of the intricacies of the body shaping. In person, these nuances are much more pronounced. This is by far the most complex Corvette ever in terms of panel shaping and surface detail. Extractor vent seen on rear fender is functional, not fake.

Note the very top of the picture, you can see the white waistband of a teen boy wearing white athletic shorts and a red t-shirt. He was across from us, hands in pocket the whole time, so he ended up in every shot Greg and I took. Later, while cropping and processing the photos, we were inconsolable because he just sticks out in high contrast compared to the rest of the crowd, which tended to collectively be a sort of amorphous grey background. Had we been paying attention, we would have repositioned so this "photobomber" was not a factor. As such, we did not and he is now an integral part of our memories, both real and photographed.


My "Best Looking Concept" car award goes to the Acura NSX. Photos courtesy of Greg Gruley.

Hard to see the stylized flying butress C/D pillar, which stands proud of the greenhouse and doubles as a spoiler, managing the air flow around the back end without resorting to additional appendages. Very classy, efficient and race-car like.

 This car is sculpted tightly. There is not one ounce of fat nor any accoutrement that could be considered superfluous. This car is very evocative of Acura's established design language, except in this case, the execution is brilliant and universally praiseworthy. Not something that can be said for Acura, historically.

Close up view of the front surface treatments. The front and rear of the car are completely cohesive. While many of the elements seen here could never make it to production because of pedestrian safety requirements and some other federal laws, the finished product could still come to market looking not terribly different. That would be a wonderful thing.

 After the show, we dined at a local Detroit legend Traffic Jam and Snug, which I heard of watching "Diners Drive-Ins and Dives" on Food Network. It sports the most unassuming facade, you would never know it is capacious inside, decked out like an old log cabin filled to the rim with chotchkies and memorabiliae from.

Service was good. Dinner was excellent. Greg was very happy with his house-brewed wheat beer and Chicken Marsala, and I with my Delmonico Steak and asparagus.

We got home before the ice started falling from the sky like a plague and split a bottle of Asti left over from the new year. 

Greg and I have known each other for going on 20 years and this is the first time we have gone to the car show, just the two of us. Good people, good show, good food.

Good day!