cali92RS

Its coming up...
Is anyone planning on going?

--Trojan Ken

JulieGTA

How many times a year do they have an Auto show in LA, anyway? (Maybe I'm thinking of the one in Anaheim.)

cali92RS

Do you mean the LA Auto Show of Anaheim?
(How does that taste angels fan?)

Trans Manny Am

this weekend will be the only chance i get to go. i do go every year. so i will be going either this Saturday or Sunday.

BretD 88GTA

There are usually two – L.A. Auto Show every January and the Anaheim Auto Show around October.

BretD 88GTA

Great new handle there Ken! Go SC!!!!!!! :yes:

Guest

LMFAO!!!!

LA Auto show is once a year, around the 2nd week of January. I'm probably going on Sunday, but have not decided on that for sure yet.

JulieGTA

Oh, I see... Does the LA show charge alot for parking? Do they have a website?

Agent13

iTrader: (6)

http://www.laautoshow.com/2005/index.aspx

theaddkid2004

i might go to the october one due to the fact that i'm most likely to go to cal state northridge for college.

cali92RS

Y not CSULB??

Go BEACH !!

BretD 88GTA

CSUN all the way! :rockon:

MikeDirntRulez

I'm going Sunday..

I wanna see the 2006 Monte and Impala up close and personal. Also I want to see that HHR's interior.

Supposedly they have a nomad concept there to.

Fascinating.

BretD 88GTA

Has anyone else seen that the SSR now has a 390hp LS2 engine in it for 2005.

astoria18

Anaheim's closer to San Diego. Saves like 30 minutes of driving.

Guest

Anaheim's show sucks by comparison.

RTFC

I'm heading out right now to USC medical center to visit someone, then over to see the Autoshow tonight

Dean

RTFC

Talk about over priced vehicles- I must be in the dark ages still. Give me and older car any day of the week and I'll build it better an "custom" looking for half the price of a new car. 60K to drive a stamped out vehilce that you pull up next to an identical one at every other stoplight-no thanks.

The one car that did impress me and was priced very fairly was the Chysler 300. You get alot of car for a 23,000 base price, its somewhat sporty looking and with the addition of decent aftermarket rims and tires and a custom grille they are a great bang for the buck for 5 larger adults to cruise to Vegas in.

Mr. TurboTA

The show was pretty good!
Well, at least for the press!
Pontiac showed the GTO, the new Torrent, as well as both the coupe and convertible G6. The new Solstice was all right. Should have been called the Fiero!
The G6 looks like a Toyota Celica! Stupid lines running down the rear quarters!
Should have been the Grand Am!
The GTO looked like last years model, except for the non-functional Ram Air scoops! The recessed grilles are only on the Appearance Package! Ha! An Appearance Package on a goat? How about a performance package instead?
Pontiac wouldn't even let anyone open the hood!
Should have guessed! Bob Lutz talked for Pontiac! I didn't even see anone from Pontiac!
Great news! Sales are up for the GTO! Wow! Cut the price over 7 grand! I would have predicted that!
The G6 sales are through the roof! Wow! More great news!
It's only been out for just 2 months! The last month was more than the first month! Ha! No kidding! Maybe cause they made lots more than the first month release!
Ferrari was great! Drinking imported wine from Italy, eating cheese while looking and talking Ferraris! They are tops in my vote!
Chevy was cool!
They rolled out the new Impala and Monte Carlo with four kids in them! two were driving them.
The kids turned out to be Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Burton, and another NASCAR driver! I got Lisa to pose right between them while everyone was taking pictures and filming! I asked the guys if it was all right, and Jeff Gordon said "sure"! I don't think GM execs liked it! Too bad!
I ran (after videoing it) and grabbed a 2005 Chevy Brochure, grabbed a pen, and pushed it into Lisa's hand, and then pushed her back towards the guys! Too cool! She got all their autographs on the section of the Monte Carlos!
Then, I thought what about me? Grabbed another 2005 Chevy brochure, and went looking for the guys! All I found was Dale Jr! So, I had him sign the Corvette section!
It was a great day!
Dodge had a super display!
Only thing I couldn't understand, was why the new Dodge Magnum SVT didn't come with a hood scoop! The head guy in charge of the SVT program said that it was kinda childish to have one on the Magnum! What? The Viper has one! The Dodge SVT10 pickup truck has one! The SVT4 Neon has one! The Viper is childish? I just didn't get it!
Got some really cool stuff like press Kits and stuff! Ate real good too! Sushi tasted great! Thanks Jaguar!
Did see the aftermarket section, since they were still setting it up!
Too bad I wasn't there in Los Angeles longer! I would have stopped by and chatted with some of you guys!
I did video alot of it, like the talks given by alot of the heads of the auto manufacturers while they unvieled the new cars!

We both had a blast!

See ya all next time,

George

90firebird

definitly! Gooooo Beach!

Oh George... you and your press days. I can almost hear you describing all that!
boy, I need to hit the car show..

Mr. TurboTA

Ya,
Well!
Just think, you could have got some of this cool stuff if you came by the house (well, my parents house!)! Ha!

George

MikeDirntRulez

SVT? Since when did Dodge pair up with Ford?

You mean SRT right?

Mr. TurboTA

Doh!
That's what I get for not proof-reading!

Thanks,

George

MikeDirntRulez

New plans. I'm heading out there this Sunday, the very last day (Jan 16). I'll be driving my car so if anyone goes, look for the White RS in the parking lot (the one with the cracked dash pad ) , and leave me a tender love note of some sort

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

I spent a lot of time in the Chevrolet booth. I'm impressed with the Chvrolet Malibu Max. It is a versital vehicle offering many of the attributes of a SUV, yet in a smaller package. I looked at a few trucks as well. The Nissan Titan is very roomy inside, but something about the interior design just is off-putting to me. Honda has a truck now. I was impressed with the under-bed storage area, kind of like what you'd find in the old wagons. I'd be sold on it if it had the versital drop-down bulkhead design (aka midgate) of the Avalanche/Caddy Escalade EXT.

The Avalanche is still my favorite choice for a future replacement for my faithfull Dodge Ram. I spent no time playing with it at all at the show this year. I'm still pissed that it is "Heche en Mexico". My only hope is that it becomes so succesfull that they have to open up a US plant to build them.

I like the Silverado Hybrid. Too bad it is only available in a 1500 series. My hope was that they'd eventually offer the hybrid option in the Avalanche and in a 2500 series. Unfortunately the battery pack is under the rear seat of the Chevy Silverado which is where the fold-down seat has to stow for the midgate on the Avalanche. I'll take the versitility of converting passenger space to cargo hauling capability over a couple of mpg in fuel savings. It just would have been cool to have a built in generator for trailering. Maybe the Engineers can find a better place to package the battery pack on the Avalanche. I also see they don't offer the 2500 Avalanche in 2X4. It is tough to have them "build it for me" if they don't even offer it that way, (yet). A pity, since you just can't do any serious towing with a 1500 series, (hence my desire for another 2500), yet I don't want to haul around a few hundred extra pounds for a 4X4 that I don't need. I guess I need to let GM know of my dilemma.

I'm very impressed with the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C. It pushes all the right buttons for me and is reasonably priced for what it offers. I guess I was asleep and hadn't noticed that Dodge no longer offered a full-sized van any longer. They did have a tall commercial van decked out with storage racks and shelves. It had an impressive 14 feet of cargo space (estimated with my size 9-1/2's). A family with 3 little girls was looking it over then too. The girls thought it was the perfect playhouse, bunkbeds and all! It had a Mercedes turbodiesel engine (which clued me in to it's origin), but no sticker price that I could see.

Lon

BretD 88GTA

Lon, what kind of towing are you planning? A 1500 series should tow an F-body on a trailer pretty easily. I plan to. Just don't drive it like Nick in OD. Robert Wilson is hauling his toys around with an '04 Avalanche and I don't think it's a 4x4. The hybrid lines will expand more, but it will take some time.

I too spent a bit of time checking out trucks at the show. I was pleased to see the Colorado Z71 got an interior upgrade. The standard interior package feels like it was made by Mattel.

The Nissan Titan was nice, but the Chevy Silverado Z71 felt like home. The Dodge Ram 1500 was nice too. The Ford FX4 4x4 was bland. You have to get the Laramie package to get a decent interior. No thanks.

At $30 to $40k for a new full-size truck, I'll be looking at another used vehicle.

ULTM8Z

The new cars are nice. But yeah, the boring factor of having any other Joe Blow getting the exact same car as me takes the fun right out of it.

Just give me my '71 and I'm happy. Get's more and more rare with each year, but never gets out of style!

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Originally I was just looking for a 1500 series to haul product and equipment to and from vendors. Then, after attending a few F-Body events on the East Coast last year I thought I'd like to build the Formula up to take it with me to shows along with my products. For that purpose I'd like to get a toy-hauler, (kitchen & bath in front, rear hauls the car and converts to dinette & more sleeping area) which will be a bit heavier than just a flat-bed trailer. My Dodge is really the perfect tow vehicle for this application and is already paid for.

I like the King Ranch edition Ford truck. Really nice medium brown leather seats with large exposed stitching. Front and rear center consoles are nice, but reduce it from a 5-passenger to a 4-passenger interior.

12secSS

Bret, I also use a 1500, although Sierra, to tow my F-bodies. And unless I am going up to LACR, I rarely use the Tow Mode. My truck has the Tow Package (trans cooler, frame hitch, trailer harness, etc ...) and I usually use OD when towing. I am in the same boat as Lon ... I am looking for a DuraMax Crew Cab, but 4x2. It will be a long search to find such a beast. I have seen them, but very few and far between. The thing we like about the new F*rd is the trailer brake controller, when you start towing a car, you'll find out how beneficial it is. Not to say you must have a trailer brake controller, just it aids in controlling the trailer and truck more efficiently ... like F*rds commercial demonstrates.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

If you're towing a trailer equipped with trailer brakes, then by all means you SHOULD have an electric brake controller. I installed a Tekonsha Sentinel on my Dodge. I'd also recommend a sway control and load-leveling hitch. The flat bed trailer I rented from Nations Rent las year was equipped with tandem axles and electric brakes. It was really handy to have the electric brake controller to utilize the trailer brakes.

It's nice that Ford has a trailer brake controller built in. This feature alone wouldn't sway me to buy their brand over another truck, ecspecially considering how reasonably priced an aftermarket brake controller is and how easy they are to install. I'd compare the price of a good aftermarket brake controller to the price Ford charges for the option. Remember the old ones that required you to tee into the hydraulic brake line? That was much more of a hassle to install.

Recently I got a ride in a new crew cab 3500 Ford equipped with a diesel. Considering how smooth it was and quiet compared to the old ones I'd be tempted to get a diesel. Too bad a diesel isn't available in the Avalanche. It's looking more and more like the replacement for my truck will be another truck, not a SUT. I just really liked the ability to convert from passenger seating to cargo room. Roughly twice a year I'll haul a 10 foot long load of tubing for my Steering Braces. Other than the occasional time I'll haul two 4' pallet loads of parts, that's about the only time I need an 8' bed.

My original purpose for getting the long bed was to haul my 3 person WaveRunner in the bed while towing my travel trailer. My friends would always have to haul the waverunners on our tandem trailer while I towed my travel trailer. I felt it was always an imposition for them to have to come over to my house to hook up and tow the trailer. They had already bought a single trailer to tow their PWC when they went out solo. If I had a long bed I'd be able to build or buy a custom rack to to the PWC in my bed freeing them from making the trip over here. The night I made the deal on my Dodge I found out our friends were getting a divorce (what timing huh?). I sold the PWC last year.

Lon