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| Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

novated E1 atrium,

common areas open to students

 

Photos by Kari Bowns

 

Auto Show sparkle dulls

Austin Gonzalez
OPINION EDITOR

Last year, I went to the Chicago
Auto Show for the first time and with a press
pass, no less. Aside from the glaring that I at—
tracted for being so young and on the floor
outside of public days, it was really enjoyable.
The displays were interesting and there were
many experiences to be had that I hadn’t seen
before. A great showcase of classic cars in the
back caught my attention and I think I put my
butt in just about every car that had the doors
unlocked (even the 2.6 million dollar Bugatti

Veyron). Through an unfortunate combination
of rose colored glasses and first time wonder,
the Auto show may never be the same for me.
The experience going a second time was not as
great a second time and almost felt routine.
Once again, I could gather the feel-
ing that I didn’t belong. I had the pass and the
credentials, but I could almost hear the other
reporters thinking, “We’ll let you stick around,
but you are not one of us.” Getting the pass was
difficult enough and even required a call to the
editor in order to smooth out some wrinkles.
The excitement from last year wasn’t renewed
walking onto the floor again a second time.

The show, apparently is 95% unchanged year to
year (and some parts changed for the worse).
Instead of a dragster, Toyota had an LP1 from
Le Mans, in place of trucks, the test track had
sedans; nothing excitingly different. The blind-
ing sparkle of an endless sea of body work and
diversity in automotive invention, instead be—
came a pile of uninspiring metal and rubber to
wade through.

There is something to be said about
going to the show on public and media days.
Last year, I experienced both sides of the event
and the dazzle and awe of so many people
packed into the space makes the show more of

a spectacle. The lull of media days, while great
for avoiding lines at simulators and test tracks,
takes away from the grandeur of what the larg-
est automotive expo in North America is all
about. For the briefest of moments, sitting in
the Audi R8, I could feel the excitement. Look—
ing at the Alfa Romeo display (aside from the
presenter not knowing the name of the com-
pany she was representing), I was once again in
the world of flawless execution and power that
comes with automotive design. In reality, these
brief moments gave way to a largely uneventful
day. At least, the photos turned out great and I
now have some new desktop wallpapers.