These are your favorite car show moments – Jalopnik

I love car shows. The glitz, the glamour, the cars all sitting on soft carpets where you wouldn’t normally find cars, it just feels good. You all seem to agree with me because I had plenty of answers to choose from in my Question of the Day from earlier this week; “What’s your favorite Auto Show moment?”

It was a wonderful trip down memory lane. I had completely forgotten GM’s hydrogen cell concepts 20 years ago, or that Dodge dropped a Ram through the ceiling of the Detroit Auto Show (those Stellantis brands really knew how to impress at car shows back in the day). Wander through this post, won’t you? And think of all the fun times we had as the corpse of the American auto show stumbled further and further towards irrelevance.

The unveiling of the 2015 Ford GT felt pretty special, and I still love the car.

By Ryan Brenn

Sometime in the 90’s, LA Auto Show Press Day. The day before the official opening it is sparsely populated and many displays are still being built. I turn a corner and behold, I see before me: the Toyota Dancers. They are put to the test by a very serious choreographer. He shouted and clapped his hands (not for applause, but for pacing instruction/reinforcement) and paced maniacally back and forth around the edge of the stage. They rehearsed an extended dance routine to an extended version of the hyper-annoying, ubiquitous advertising jingle “I Love What You Do for Me, Toyota.” The highly “expressive” and combustible choreographer pretended they were opening on Broadway that night, as the dancers’ expressions conveyed the reality that none of them would be dancing on Broadway… ever. So it was funny, pathetic and therefore a little sad at the same time.

From Clowncone4

2005 Detroit Auto Show, where GM routinely spent more money than God on displays.

Particularly when GM had an amphitheater where they debuted several models, but one of them was the Sequel (a literal sequel to the GM Hy-Wire “skateboard”). Although the vehicle itself wasn’t particularly attractive (it eventually inspired the Gen-1 Traverse), and although the cool technology has been shared before, the memories of being with my dad and listening to Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway” as we exit will always be an important memory.

That moment has stuck with me far longer than anything GM put on the turntable (but it still made me a GM fan for life).

From Nick Thomas

I was once sitting in the back seat of a 2015 Grand Cherokee at the Denver Auto Show and this woman, dressed in a ridiculous, lavish fur coat, sat in the front seat with her husband. She started running her hands over the dashboard and said in a very southern accent, “OOOOOOOH BABY, NOW THIS IS LUXURY!!”

It was hilarious because of the way she was dressed and because of how loudly she said it, and also because it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s one of those core memories I’ll never forget.

From JonRob 951

That time a Jeep got stuck on the fake mountain they made. I don’t know how long it took for them to sort things out because it was near the end of my visit and it’s not that fun watching nothing happen.

From Klok

I can’t find any video of it, but I remember seeing archival footage of Dodge dropping the new semi-truck-inspired Ram onto the podium at the 1993 NAIAS. Under Bob Lutz, Chrysler was truly the king of auto show reveals.

From DiRF

I grew up in Wisconsin, where rust never sleeps. I remember when I was maybe 13 or 14, and I was drawn to the BMW display, especially the exhaust pipes. They came straight out the back, rather than curving around the back of the rear wheel, where water and road salt sprayed on it and slowly turned it to dust, as most other manufacturers did. So smart, so clear. To be honest, that’s the only thing I remember that’s car related. Most of my memories involved leering at the models working in each booth.

From dug_deep

My favorite car show moment has to be around 1990, I was at GNRS in Pomona. I was able to come early because my father knew Boyd Coddington. Boyd brought me in about an hour early. I walked around and looked at Scion XB which was unique and custom made. when ZZ-Top’s Billy Gibbons stepped into the car behind the ropes. I just said hi Billy. He asked how I got in so early and I explained that Boyd let me in. He asked if I wanted to walk the show with him, I couldn’t answer yes fast enough. We spent about 30 minutes together. He is truly a car guy and I will never forget how pleasant he actually is. Thanks to him, I realized that famous people are just people who make a living doing what they love, just like most of us.

From 77Camaro

It must have been 2008 or 2009 at the New York International Auto Show. Scion was still there, and they had their own booth setup, separate from Toyota. They played music and showed how young and vibrant their brand was. I remember they were giving out all kinds of goodies like Scion brand hats and hats, iPod socks (so 2008!), and at one point the ceiling opened and it started raining Scion stuffed animals. As a child I thought it was incredible!

From JacksonGoToMC