The L.A. Auto Show has become such a huge spectacular, even those without the slightest interest in cars would be greatly entertained by the various no-holds-barred elements of the event. The show wrapped up Sunday at the L.A. Convention Center.
Even if you weren't interested in looking at every new car model from every major car company in existence, you might have been interested in checking out a vehicle that can go 300 miles on only $2 worth of fuel.
The American Roadster by EcoFueler is designed to run on the same natural gas that you use in your home. For just under $20,000, this unique three-wheeled, three-passenger vehicle features a removable hardtop and has a home fueling appliance included at no extra charge.
The distinctive design allows the vehicle to be qualified as a motorcycle, allowing the driver the added benefit of being able to drive in the car-pool lane alone with no special certification.
Ferrari had its own room, its own inner sanctum. There, I heard one gentleman comment to another, "It would be fun to drive one of those for a weekend," to which his friend replied, "Yeah, but what would you tell her on Monday?"
Why have your horn just "honk" when it could play the USC Fight Song, "beep-beep" exactly like the Road Runner, or exude the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger threatening, "I'll be back," or Clint Eastwood growling, "Go ahead, make my day"?
A company named Horntones allows your vehicle's horn to broadcast limitless customized sounds when hooked to an MP3 player. The spokesman for the company did stress, however, that they tell people that the sounds are "not to be used while the vehicle is in motion."
I chuckled as I entered the hall of Porsche and saw a wife pulling her bewildered husband back out of the entryway as she said firmly, "Oh, no! I don't want you to get any ideas, mister."
One of the most interesting displays at the show was the Mazda Design Challenge.
Mazda asked what the Mazda3 of 2018 would look like and thousands answered the call. One of the five finalists then stood in a spotlighted, roped-off area and sculpted the full-sized design out of clay, along with the Mazda design team, in front of hundreds of fascinated spectators.
As I walked by the Rolls Royce area, I stopped to stare at a breathtaking white Phantom convertible with a price tag just shy of a half a million bucks. There I overheard one young lady lament, "Whoa at that price, I'd be afraid to ever drive it."
When I entered Toyota's area, I came upon the set of a game show in progress called "Name Your Price"; complete with a smarmy toupeed game show host.
Filmed with real television cameras, the live show was then broadcast on a huge wall-sized screen. Fervent "contestants" from the audience would attempt to name the price of past and current Toyota vehicles just to win inexpensive highlighter markers - which the host admitted were not really prizes, just "shameless advertising."
My favorite comment at the show came from a gentleman who was pushing another man in a wheelchair. When the man in the wheelchair pined openly over a slick, $125,000 white Audi 2008 R, the man pushing him muttered as he wheeled him away, "Yeah, and it can be yours today for the low down payment of your soul."
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
