http://www.melvinchu.com/DallasShow/index.htm
Sorry for the crap resolution - it was taken on a crappy Kodak DC240 - just a 1.3MP. My memory card only had enough room for 141 pictures at best quality. The camera has some issues with red apparently, as you can tell from the first few Ford GT pics.
***SHORT VERSION***
The best cars of the show to me had to be either: A) The Ford GT, B) 2005 Mustang GT or C) Acura TL A-Spec Concept. The A-Spec concept was quite sweet - it has a complete glass roof that you can see out of, 22" rims, sweet interior package - two tone leather interior, body kit, etc.
The Mustang GT looks BAD ASS in person. I know a lot of you don't like the pics of it but many of the same people liked it when I posted those up close shots from the dealer many of you changed your mind. I can guarantee you - it will be a huge hit when it hits the streets in the fall. There were crowds around the Mustang the entire time I was there.
Ford GT - well what the fvck can I say? Ford GT rocks. End of story.
The F150 had a lot of people around it too. I sat in both the F150 and Titan and I can safely say the F150's interior blows away the Titans. The Titan had a lot of cheap plastic in it - even the knobs felt like 99 cent store toy plastic. Interior quality isn't job 1 at Nissan, apparently. I really liked the Ford's interior and everything about it - first time I got to sit in it. It still isn't quite up to par with the interior of my Accord but it's pretty close behind. It's a really damn nice truck though.
No C6 Vette though - I was extremely disappointed. No Viper powered motorcycle either. Everything else was cool though.
********* LONG VERSION ***********
2004 Dallas Auto Show rolled into town this week - started Wednesday, ends tomorrow. Took a friend who doesn't ditch me to go. I'm not very familiar with downtown at all so luckily traffic wasn't bad downtown so I was able to cut across 3 lanes of traffic several times.
Parking was fvcking $8 though, what a ripoff. Parked in a narrow spot, walked 10 min and finally got there. Bought a program for $1 and went inside. BMW and Ford were the first ones at the entrance. BMW actually. Then Ford slightly past that.
BMW had the new 6 series up on a rotating platform. Pretty sweet, got a lot of attention. The M3 was the only other BMW that got a lot of oohs and awes. The M5 did a little bit too.
Then it was onto the Fords! The Ford GT had it's own platform and was the center of attention. The rear was open to expose the 5.4L engine + supercharger on top. It's a mid engine car. This was a crowd pleaser, no doubt. The oohs and ahhs were flowing. Wish I had a chance to at least touch it. That would have been cool They had a 2005 Mustang GT roped off in front of it - it actually looks very nice - much better than the magazine shots you see in Motor Trend. Then the Ford 500 which is actually a nice looking car. It's the replacement for the Taurus. They also had the Ford Freestyle too - not sure why that car exists or if there's a niche for it.
We moved on from the Fords to the Ferrari/Lambo area. Both were roped off and they only let a few ppl through at a time. Saw the new 4 door Quattroporte and the 575M. Sweet cars. The Lambos were kinda generic as well as the Aston Martins and Panoz. Then came the Maybache - the $300K luxury sedan. It was nice!!!!!! Leather out the ass, all sorts of gadgets and such. Sweet.
Next up was the GM area. Saw the Hummer H2 SUT and the original military spec Hummer. The H2 is just a modified Chevy Tahoe but it's still sweet. I like the military spec Hummer though - just screams bad ass. Saw the Caddy XLR I think - your run of the mill Corvette knockoff. Saw the SS prototype - it's a kind of futurstic 4 door sports car. Then your usual Tahoes/Escalades. The whole Saturn/Buick area was a yawn so we just skipped that. We also skipped the Pontiac area and I'm pissed b/c I really wanted a pic of the new GTO. Saw the new Colorado there - looks like a mini Silverado. Oh GM - your interior sucks.
The Dodge area was really nice - I was surprised. They had a bunch of Rams sitting around. The new Viper was being shown - even if it was the old Viper it's still a crowd pleaser. The Viper is sex on wheels. I'd hump it anyday of the week. SRT-10 was there too - the Viper powered Dodge Ram. God damn that is a nice truck. They really shoehorned it in there. It had great rims though. I'm not a fan of the interior of the Dodge though. Also saw the new Hemi wagon - the Magnum. God damn that is sexy. The wagon part not so much but god that is a bad ass car - 345hp in a family car. Damn, brings back memories of the Impala SS. The Chrysler 300C is a sedan version of the Magnum and that was also shown - just doesn't look as good as the Magnum though.
Audi's area was up next - blah whatever. Showed the Cabriolet and the 2 door S4 - nothing else special to mention. The S4 is a nice ride though. Honda and Subaru had this part of the floor too. Honda had the new pickup concept shown - that looks like a nice ride. Tires are kind of weird looking though. Looks like a fvcked up Avalanche to be honest. Also showed a 2 door Accord with the high performance package. Subaru showed the usual bland lineup of AWD cars. The STi is a sweet ride but felt kind of cheap, and the engine is a mess. They did show the new Legacy though - that's a really nice family sedan. It seems too luxury to compete with the Camry and Accord - more of a Maxima competitor. The interior was actually quite nice - I was surprised when compared to the WRx's interior.
Up the stairs and boom - we hit the Porsche stage. 911 Carerra and 911 GT3 were on display. GT3 is the sex. Dear god what a nice car. I wouldn't kick the normal 911 out of the sack though. Had a few Cayanne's there - one with body colored rims - a nice dark blue color. Next up was the Shelby area. They had the GT500E (replica), Shelby Cobra, 350R, and one other Shelby there. Surprisingly no Series 1, which I was disappointed at. The GT500E got most of the attention - obviously, since everyone has seen Gone in 60 Seconds. Mark my words - one day, I will own that car or one very similar to it.
VW was next - your usual craptastic selection of electrical mishaps and recalls to come! Golfs, Jettas, Beetle, blah blah. The Golf R32 was there - I loved the looks of it - hatchback, body kit, dual exhaust. VW can make a fine looking car, but that's about all they can do. They also showed the $70K Phaeton. It had a V8 in it. The $95K version has the 6.0L V12 in it. It's a luxury car. To be quite honest, no VW is worth that kind of money. You might as well buy an Audi or a Porsche for that amount. It was very nice - leather, a full console that stretched to the back. Even the rear seats were heated, reclined, went up and down, but it's impossible to justify paying $95K for a VW.
Next up was the Suzuki and Kia display - skipped right over that lame sh!t. Mazda's area was next - showed the 6 wagon/hatch. Not a bad looking car. Also had the 3 and the RX-8 on display. The RX8 had a lot of attention. I got to sit in the 3 and was disappointed at the build quality of the dash and materials. The cloth seats felt like foam and I didn't like the dash, although it was streamlined and very good looking. Nissan's display was next - on full display was the new Titan with several trucks all over. I sat in one - the interior quality was not impressive. The plastic in it felt like 99 cent store toy quality plastic. Very cheap, ruined an otherwise decent truck. Had a boat there to show off it's towing capability, and had the frame of the Titan there to show off how rugged it was. Also had a jacked up Titan there to show off the aftermarket stuff for it. The new Armada and Frontier were also there as well. The 350z roadster had it's own section - looks quite good in roadster form. Better so than the hardtop.
Next up was Mitsubuishi's craptastic display of crappy cars. I dislike Mitsu so I didn't care for it. They did show off their concept truck/SUT, which looked worse than Honda's. The new Galant was there - not half bad looking but I'd pay more anyday for the Honda than for a Mitsu. Acura's display was next - the TL A-Spec concept got all the attention. Complete glass roof - 22" rims - body kit - 2 tone leather interior - cross drilled and slotted rotors - weird clear out but tasteful taillights - dear fvcking god, I would sell my soul and maybe my left nut for that car. They had a normal TL next to it. I was surprised at how close and similar the TL's interior was to my own car. Of course some differences but very similar. The TSX was almost a clone of the Accord, since, well, it's a European Accord.
Toyota had their display up of cars. Showed the new Prius which they girl stated that yes, it's a hard to get vehicle. Saw the SC430, the normal SUVs, the new 4 door Tundra (which looks quite big in person) and a race school IS300. Also saw the new Scion xA and xB. The xB is the SUV and the xA is the wagon version. They're made to be entry level very cheap cars to modify and customize. Start out around $12 or $15. I dislike them b/c they have the instrument console cluster in the middle of the dashboard like the Saturn Ion. That and I think although trendy looking, they look like ass.
Anyway that was it for that side of the building. Went around to the beginning and saw the rest of the Fords. Finally got to sit in the new F150 - wow I was impressed. Very nice build quality. Impressive feel to the truck. It rides high but it feels very nice. Interior quality is 100x better than the Titan's, but not as good as my Accord. They had a few normal ones and a few tricked out ones - I really enjoyed the lifted yellow F150. I was disappointed though - no F150 Lightning concept :| I was really looking foward to that. Grabbed a free F150 truck of the year poster. Got a few snaps in of the Mercury Marauder and the Lincoln Mark (something) - basically a luxury F150. Then went over to the Mercedes and saw the chained up 450hp E class. Great looking display - very well done.
After that we hit up the aftermarket section. The SVT Club of North America had a nice showing - saw a 8 second Mustang. Had a few tricked out Cobras as well, including one with a Kenne Bell swap making over 570hp to the wheels. Yea....it's pretty fast. Also saw the Rousch 380R. The Lone Star Corvette Club of Texas also showed up - saw a Grand Sport Corvette along with a few Z06's.
Saw some few choppers, Vipers, then made my way to the custom tricked out cars. JR's Custom Audio of Dallas had a nice showing - they had a tricked out H2 Hummer - with 24" spinners up front, 28" wheels in the back. TV screens displaying out to the public in the rear windows, 6 subs in custom fiber glass enclosures, and 8 amps running along the ceiling, with your usual LCD screens, component sets, and DVD player. That was a nice ride. Over $80K in mods not including the price of the H2 itself.
That was it for the auto show.
Sorry for the crap resolution - it was taken on a crappy Kodak DC240 - just a 1.3MP. My memory card only had enough room for 141 pictures at best quality. The camera has some issues with red apparently, as you can tell from the first few Ford GT pics.
***SHORT VERSION***
The best cars of the show to me had to be either: A) The Ford GT, B) 2005 Mustang GT or C) Acura TL A-Spec Concept. The A-Spec concept was quite sweet - it has a complete glass roof that you can see out of, 22" rims, sweet interior package - two tone leather interior, body kit, etc.
The Mustang GT looks BAD ASS in person. I know a lot of you don't like the pics of it but many of the same people liked it when I posted those up close shots from the dealer many of you changed your mind. I can guarantee you - it will be a huge hit when it hits the streets in the fall. There were crowds around the Mustang the entire time I was there.
Ford GT - well what the fvck can I say? Ford GT rocks. End of story.
The F150 had a lot of people around it too. I sat in both the F150 and Titan and I can safely say the F150's interior blows away the Titans. The Titan had a lot of cheap plastic in it - even the knobs felt like 99 cent store toy plastic. Interior quality isn't job 1 at Nissan, apparently. I really liked the Ford's interior and everything about it - first time I got to sit in it. It still isn't quite up to par with the interior of my Accord but it's pretty close behind. It's a really damn nice truck though.
No C6 Vette though - I was extremely disappointed. No Viper powered motorcycle either. Everything else was cool though.
********* LONG VERSION ***********
2004 Dallas Auto Show rolled into town this week - started Wednesday, ends tomorrow. Took a friend who doesn't ditch me to go. I'm not very familiar with downtown at all so luckily traffic wasn't bad downtown so I was able to cut across 3 lanes of traffic several times.
Parking was fvcking $8 though, what a ripoff. Parked in a narrow spot, walked 10 min and finally got there. Bought a program for $1 and went inside. BMW and Ford were the first ones at the entrance. BMW actually. Then Ford slightly past that. BMW had the new 6 series up on a rotating platform. Pretty sweet, got a lot of attention. The M3 was the only other BMW that got a lot of oohs and awes. The M5 did a little bit too.
Then it was onto the Fords! The Ford GT had it's own platform and was the center of attention. The rear was open to expose the 5.4L engine + supercharger on top. It's a mid engine car. This was a crowd pleaser, no doubt. The oohs and ahhs were flowing. Wish I had a chance to at least touch it. That would have been cool
They had a 2005 Mustang GT roped off in front of it - it actually looks very nice - much better than the magazine shots you see in Motor Trend. Then the Ford 500 which is actually a nice looking car. It's the replacement for the Taurus. They also had the Ford Freestyle too - not sure why that car exists or if there's a niche for it.We moved on from the Fords to the Ferrari/Lambo area. Both were roped off and they only let a few ppl through at a time. Saw the new 4 door Quattroporte and the 575M. Sweet cars. The Lambos were kinda generic as well as the Aston Martins and Panoz. Then came the Maybache - the $300K luxury sedan. It was nice!!!!!! Leather out the ass, all sorts of gadgets and such. Sweet.
Next up was the GM area. Saw the Hummer H2 SUT and the original military spec Hummer. The H2 is just a modified Chevy Tahoe but it's still sweet. I like the military spec Hummer though - just screams bad ass. Saw the Caddy XLR I think - your run of the mill Corvette knockoff. Saw the SS prototype - it's a kind of futurstic 4 door sports car. Then your usual Tahoes/Escalades. The whole Saturn/Buick area was a yawn so we just skipped that. We also skipped the Pontiac area and I'm pissed b/c I really wanted a pic of the new GTO. Saw the new Colorado there - looks like a mini Silverado. Oh GM - your interior sucks.
The Dodge area was really nice - I was surprised. They had a bunch of Rams sitting around. The new Viper was being shown - even if it was the old Viper it's still a crowd pleaser. The Viper is sex on wheels. I'd hump it anyday of the week. SRT-10 was there too - the Viper powered Dodge Ram. God damn that is a nice truck. They really shoehorned it in there. It had great rims though. I'm not a fan of the interior of the Dodge though. Also saw the new Hemi wagon - the Magnum. God damn that is sexy. The wagon part not so much but god that is a bad ass car - 345hp in a family car. Damn, brings back memories of the Impala SS. The Chrysler 300C is a sedan version of the Magnum and that was also shown - just doesn't look as good as the Magnum though.
Audi's area was up next - blah whatever. Showed the Cabriolet and the 2 door S4 - nothing else special to mention. The S4 is a nice ride though. Honda and Subaru had this part of the floor too. Honda had the new pickup concept shown - that looks like a nice ride. Tires are kind of weird looking though. Looks like a fvcked up Avalanche to be honest. Also showed a 2 door Accord with the high performance package. Subaru showed the usual bland lineup of AWD cars. The STi is a sweet ride but felt kind of cheap, and the engine is a mess. They did show the new Legacy though - that's a really nice family sedan. It seems too luxury to compete with the Camry and Accord - more of a Maxima competitor. The interior was actually quite nice - I was surprised when compared to the WRx's interior.
Up the stairs and boom - we hit the Porsche stage. 911 Carerra and 911 GT3 were on display. GT3 is the sex. Dear god what a nice car. I wouldn't kick the normal 911 out of the sack though. Had a few Cayanne's there - one with body colored rims - a nice dark blue color. Next up was the Shelby area. They had the GT500E (replica), Shelby Cobra, 350R, and one other Shelby there. Surprisingly no Series 1, which I was disappointed at. The GT500E got most of the attention - obviously, since everyone has seen Gone in 60 Seconds. Mark my words - one day, I will own that car or one very similar to it.
VW was next - your usual craptastic selection of electrical mishaps and recalls to come! Golfs, Jettas, Beetle, blah blah. The Golf R32 was there - I loved the looks of it - hatchback, body kit, dual exhaust. VW can make a fine looking car, but that's about all they can do. They also showed the $70K Phaeton. It had a V8 in it. The $95K version has the 6.0L V12 in it. It's a luxury car. To be quite honest, no VW is worth that kind of money. You might as well buy an Audi or a Porsche for that amount. It was very nice - leather, a full console that stretched to the back. Even the rear seats were heated, reclined, went up and down, but it's impossible to justify paying $95K for a VW.
Next up was the Suzuki and Kia display - skipped right over that lame sh!t. Mazda's area was next - showed the 6 wagon/hatch. Not a bad looking car. Also had the 3 and the RX-8 on display. The RX8 had a lot of attention. I got to sit in the 3 and was disappointed at the build quality of the dash and materials. The cloth seats felt like foam and I didn't like the dash, although it was streamlined and very good looking. Nissan's display was next - on full display was the new Titan with several trucks all over. I sat in one - the interior quality was not impressive. The plastic in it felt like 99 cent store toy quality plastic. Very cheap, ruined an otherwise decent truck. Had a boat there to show off it's towing capability, and had the frame of the Titan there to show off how rugged it was. Also had a jacked up Titan there to show off the aftermarket stuff for it. The new Armada and Frontier were also there as well. The 350z roadster had it's own section - looks quite good in roadster form. Better so than the hardtop.
Next up was Mitsubuishi's craptastic display of crappy cars. I dislike Mitsu so I didn't care for it. They did show off their concept truck/SUT, which looked worse than Honda's. The new Galant was there - not half bad looking but I'd pay more anyday for the Honda than for a Mitsu. Acura's display was next - the TL A-Spec concept got all the attention. Complete glass roof - 22" rims - body kit - 2 tone leather interior - cross drilled and slotted rotors - weird clear out but tasteful taillights - dear fvcking god, I would sell my soul and maybe my left nut for that car. They had a normal TL next to it. I was surprised at how close and similar the TL's interior was to my own car. Of course some differences but very similar. The TSX was almost a clone of the Accord, since, well, it's a European Accord.
Toyota had their display up of cars. Showed the new Prius which they girl stated that yes, it's a hard to get vehicle. Saw the SC430, the normal SUVs, the new 4 door Tundra (which looks quite big in person) and a race school IS300. Also saw the new Scion xA and xB. The xB is the SUV and the xA is the wagon version. They're made to be entry level very cheap cars to modify and customize. Start out around $12 or $15. I dislike them b/c they have the instrument console cluster in the middle of the dashboard like the Saturn Ion. That and I think although trendy looking, they look like ass.
Anyway that was it for that side of the building. Went around to the beginning and saw the rest of the Fords. Finally got to sit in the new F150 - wow I was impressed. Very nice build quality. Impressive feel to the truck. It rides high but it feels very nice. Interior quality is 100x better than the Titan's, but not as good as my Accord. They had a few normal ones and a few tricked out ones - I really enjoyed the lifted yellow F150. I was disappointed though - no F150 Lightning concept :| I was really looking foward to that. Grabbed a free F150 truck of the year poster. Got a few snaps in of the Mercury Marauder and the Lincoln Mark (something) - basically a luxury F150. Then went over to the Mercedes and saw the chained up 450hp E class. Great looking display - very well done.
After that we hit up the aftermarket section. The SVT Club of North America had a nice showing - saw a 8 second Mustang. Had a few tricked out Cobras as well, including one with a Kenne Bell swap making over 570hp to the wheels. Yea....it's pretty fast.
Also saw the Rousch 380R. The Lone Star Corvette Club of Texas also showed up - saw a Grand Sport Corvette along with a few Z06's.Saw some few choppers, Vipers, then made my way to the custom tricked out cars. JR's Custom Audio of Dallas had a nice showing - they had a tricked out H2 Hummer - with 24" spinners up front, 28" wheels in the back. TV screens displaying out to the public in the rear windows, 6 subs in custom fiber glass enclosures, and 8 amps running along the ceiling, with your usual LCD screens, component sets, and DVD player. That was a nice ride. Over $80K in mods not including the price of the H2 itself.
That was it for the auto show.
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