November 24, 2011

L.A. Auto Show - Part I


Last sunday I attended the L.A. Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the very first time.  Never before have I seen so many spectacular cars in one place.  I took so many photos I'm going to have to do my coverage in multiple parts, so here's Part I.




I'll begin with Concourse Hall, which hosted the high end luxury and sports cars.  Rolls Royce Motor Cars was the first platform upon entering the room.  These cars are automotive royalty, everyone knows them from their unmistakable rectangular bodies, double R badges and the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornaments.


Here's the Ghost in Royal Blue, a fitting color for such a regal automobile.  


The Ghost is just the baby though...


The Phantom is the big daddy.  Although the two look similar, there's no mistaking which one is which. 


Lotus brought an entire fleet of Evoras, each one in a different color. I especially liked this yellow and black one.  As you'll see later, there were quite a few yellow cars at the show this year.  If you know me, you can probably tell where I'm going next given the particular display behind this car :)


Behold the One-77, the ultimate Aston.  This is the final pre-production model, tested at Nurburgring in Germany.  Road & Track Magazine raved "the overall impression is of a car that exudes attention to detail, a car that combines hand-crafted materials with space-age technology."  I still can't believe I got to see my favorite car in the entire world! Such a rare and exquisite machine.  Only 77 of them exist, each sold for $1.7M.  Unfortunately the rest of my Aston photos came out horrendously, so this is all I have to offer, but I think it's enough.


Bentley was next after Aston Martin, starting off with this ice blue Mulsanne.  Its front end reminds me very much of their Brooklands model, but I prefer this one between the two.


The New Continental GTC convertible, simply dazzling.  I would dare to say it's the ultimate luxury convertible next to the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead.


The paint on the GTC sparkled like crazy, this photo really doesn't do it justice.  


Here's the original coupe version.  You may have heard about the Super Sports setting the world land record on ice awhile back.  Amazing how a car this powerful is so surprisingly quiet, or that it can move that fast considering its size.  Wether its for tooling around town or blazing across the ice, the GT is fantastic.


The Mastretta MXT is a new sports car on the scene, completely designed and built in Mexico.  Production started back in January, and so far the car has been well received.  Could this be a sign that Mexico is looking to get in on some of the action in the auto industry?


The Dok-Ing XD is a three cylinder electric car from Croatia if you can believe that.  It runs on a lithium iron phosphate battery that allows it to go from 0-60mph in about 4.2 and operate for three to eight hours between charges.  Production is planned to start in 2012.


I'll finish up Concourse Hall  with this Morgan Aero.  I only learned of these cars recently, but I'm fascinated by them.  The company creates vehicles that are a perfect mix between classic body styling and modern materials.


Onto the showroom floor, beginning with the ZR1, GM's fasted production car ever built and the pinnacle of American Muscle. The ZR1 only has one flaw, the body its made of plastic rather than carbon fiber.  I wish I could've gotten more shots, but I just couldn't with all the people around it.


Naturally Lexus had the LFA on display, this time is a sexy red.  I heard a little boy tell his mother he wanted one for Christmas, excellent choice kiddo!


BMW has been a front runner for plug-in electric/hybrid car development with their Project i concepts, the i3...


...and i8 (aka Vision Efficient Dynamics).  Both will hit the market in 2012. 


As I said before, I was amazed by the diversity of cars.  This is the Red Bull F1 Racer! Check out those tires.


The second Hot Wheels car I've seen (the other was at The Petersen Automotive Museum), this bad ass green Camaro. Chrome paint doesn't always go over so well, but this is what can be achieved when it's done right. 


That concludes Part I, Part II is coming up next! 




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