2006 Detroit Auto Show

my good friend alex, his father, and i were meeting here for lunch prior to the auto show. great restaurant choice, alex!











it's been a while since i've been to downtown motown. they've really spruced the place up! felt alot like chi-town.



riding the "people mover" - detroit's modest version of the "el".



Ford Field in the background...site of the 2006 superbowl.



finally made it to cobo...and started off with a fabulous ferrari/pininfarina special. not sure if it was a concept car, but it looked production ready if it was!



















are those 22s or bigger? a toareg special.



keys to the kingdom! today was "spy day" - every engineer and their brother was here with tape-measures and cameras crawling over/under/through/around the cars, digging for information about the competition.



big-ass ford "super chief" concept truck. designed for the phallic-challenged.







requisite pics of ford's latest girly-man pony car. sorry, alex...;-)











pics of a sharp-looking lincoln. not sure if it was a concept, but it looked production-ready.











boring pics of a rover.











aston martin's awesome 4-door. not sure if it was a concept, but it looked production-ready. the wheelbase is LOOONG...i really had to back up!



















you'll have to forgive this, but for some reason volvo's s60r really spoke to me.







Father and Son.



a couple pics of the muscular 2-door nephew of my catera.







saturn's version of the solstice: the sky. i like it alot more than the pontiac! in a different color, of course.











saturn's upcoming sedan, an update to the L. still based on an omega platform. a really nice car in person.











a sticker-replica of robby gordon's 2006 lisbon-dakar entry.



the much talked-about camaro concept. if it looks like this when it hits the market, they'll sell TONS! love the old-school looks, with the muscular modern proportions & stance.



















the next edition of cadillac's "slade" bling-mobile.



what time is it? nice watch!



lexus' next LS looked really tight!











a big-ass rolls. pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?







the 2006 camry. toyota has a WINNER here. it kills everything in it's category. a fantastic car - much more sporting that the toasters of old.







lambo's muira-inspired concept. this one looked production ready. talk about inspiring lines in an exotic car...i say: BUILD IT!











toyota's very cool concept. check out the gull-wing doors and look @ the 4-wheel steering!







toyota's old-school FJ. very cool.



ferrari's fxx...tifosi rejoice!











dodge's challenger. another inspring, and very production-ready concept. also very true to the original's lines.























this jetta looked pretty tight. bold rim design!



another lisbon-dakar sticker replica. vw's toareg.







this passat wagon was quite nice.



this tuner passat was even nicer! if only vw's were competitively priced...







the stretch mini cooper concept.











father and son checking out some more minis.











now here's a bimmer (or are the 2-wheelers "beemers"? i always forget) that i can really get into!







the porsche 911 looking like the neglected red-haired step-child...







...because the sexy new cayman was sitting next door!







of course there's always a few motorsports bits i can sink my teeth into...first, alonso's F1 world championship winning renault



















second, rossi's MotoGP world champtionship winning yamaha.







back to the real world. audi's very crisp and clean a8.







and merc's pricey slr.







and merc's awesome s65 amg...i'll take one!











to take advantage of some unseasonably warm january weather, we decided to hoof it back to the ren-cen.



the ren-cen looking like the re-born jewel of motor city. are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!