Out here at the LA show, we tend to get last years concepts, new vehicles or concepts from the orient, & vehicles trucked in from SEMA. Ocassionally, Chrysler or Lincoln-Mercury premeire future production cars here, but as far as big news showstoppers, we often are a year behind. That haven been said, I went to LA's premeire night last night & got to get up close & personal with alot of last years concepts & a few new cars comming down the line. Figured I'd mention a few and just give an opinion on them (for whatever it's worth).

SOLSTICE: That car is NOT Miata sized!! That thing looks wider than a Camaro! Take a Camaro, chop a foot & a half of front overhang, a foot of rear overhang, and I think the Solstice would be bigger. It looks like it should weigh about 3000 pounds. Again, that thing is bigger than a Miata. No doubt it could manage a V8.

BELAIR: A few people said that the Belair looks better in person than in pictures, now I see why. There is alot of subtle sculpture in the sheetmetal that simply doesn't carryover in pictures. The bodywork and the proportions of Belair is actually very good. It also has one of the best rear 3/4 view of any car I can name. What throws the car off is that the headlights seem oversized, and makes the car look tall & dumpy. If GM changed the front, it would be one hella good looking car.

SKY: It's smaller than a Solstice, so it looks like it'd be a streach to put it on a Solstice chassis (side note, there is no way in hell a FWD chassis is going to be modified to make Solstice based cars. When Solstice does see production, it will be made from GM's parts bin..... which includes RWD components). The front needs alot of work though.

BUICK LaCROSSE, BENGAL, & CIELO: Buick had all 3 on display. The LaCrosse isn't too bad, and you can't help think that this may be the next Riviera. The Cielo didn't do much for me and the front of the Bengal was downright ugly. But the Bengal was the right size for a sports car. It seemed to be roughly the size of a Mustang, but lower (translation: size-wise, you could make a Camaro out of it).

THUNDERBIRD SC: Imagine a T-bird with alot of louvers, and that covers it. But it was placed between 2 styling exercises on variations of T-bird's nose. If some of you feel that retro has no where to go style-wise, you haven't seen these progressions. Basically it amounted to grille, hood, & headlight changes, but it's enough to make the whole car look fresh & actually pretty good. Those 2 cars made the current production T-birds look pretty dull. I still prefer the MN12 SCs though.
(One telling thing about Ford's display: you had to go through a forrest of SUVs to get to the Boss & Cobra Mustangs & the T-birds. It almost seemed as if Ford put cars on display as an afterthought).

MAGNUM SRT8 WAGON: In person that car looks like a tank. It has the best looking rear design you could possibly do on a station wagon, and it's profile looks massive. I'm not crazy about the front though (if you saw Dodge's concept sedan a few years ago, you've seen the front of the Magnum). It WILL also come in a sedan (piece of trivia: this car doesn't run. It has no engine & no underneath. Even the tailpipe tips attach to nothing!)

M80: Not sure what to make of it. I was surprised how small it was (about as long as a small pickup, and as tall as tall sedan), I was expecting something Dakota sized. It's actually a cool little truck, and no doubt it will attract younger buyers, which I guess is it's intention.

GRAND PRIX: I'm still mulling over this one. The interior is most certainly CTS quality (there's hardly a cheap feeling piece in the cabin), and the gauges are nice, but the interior sure feels odd. Not much warmth in the place, and the angles seem odd. Outside, it IS a good looking car, but it just doesn't elicit 'oohs' and 'aahs' the way the last Grand Prix did when it came out. In many ways, I think the last one looks more stylish.

GTO: We got the red one with the light grille out here. The first I thought about looking at the car is "they sure put 'GTO' pretty much everywhere they could think of", yet oddly the only indication of it being a Pontiac was the spear on the nose. The interior seemed to be as first rate as Monaro's is (ironically I could get close enough to million dollar concepts & the Maybach, but noone was permitted near enough to the GTO to get up close & personal), and the car did look sleek, but there were things that dissappointed. I knew that there was work being done on taillights & the rear bumper, but those taillight tweaks were minor, and the reshaped bumper went to HSV. The rear ground effects remind me of someone wearing a skirt, and the rear fuel tank has been removed & placed elsewhere, yet the rear pipes (the rest of the exhaust it true dual) are joined & exit on a single side. GTO apparently is an ongoing project (2005's seem to be the ones that will have the GTO cues alot of you want... hood scoops, dual tailpipes, maybe even a 'Judge' version , not to mention alot more power).

CROSSFIRE (production version): That car is alot smaller in real life than in pictures, and doesn't have nearly the impact the inital concept did.

CIEN: After seeing it in real life, I really wonder why Cadillac is producing the XLR. This IS the car they should be producing instead, even if it's without the V12! The XLR is a nice car in person, but in the end it's just a nicer riding Corvette. Cien says "Arts & Science" far more than a brand-managed Corvette does. Even if they have to "Fiero" it (use pieces from existing FWD & RWD cars, ie: Sigma front suspension & rear drivetrain & suspension from the nose of FWD Northstar Cadilacs). Cien is fantastic!

SSR It would be a great styling exercise for a future pickup, but as is, you just look at it and ask why. Producing that truck simply defies logic, especially when it's displayed directly across from a practical, and actually pretty good looking Belair. To top it off, GM expects to loose money on each one. They are doing it to bring excitement back into Chevy, so said the Chevy rep on scene.

Plan on going back up there as a paying customer today. Unfortunately, San Diego is also having an autoshow this weekend. If they actually planned things better here, scheduling a show here immediately after LA's could bring alot of LA's concepts down here, and make our show alot better.

 

I agree, the Bel Air is not the catastrophe everyone seems to think. If the front clip was given a second try it'd be a nice car.

 

The Bel Air was even in person. The Cien, however was
The SSR gets a big
Grand Prix gets a
The GTO would get a but its price makes me

 

Was the SS concept there? I've seen pictures floating around but was wondering how it looks in person.



Colin
98 Z28

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Guion.....what's this about the Boss?