February 28, 2010 -- Detroit, Michigan -- The 58th annual Autorama came to Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit the weekend of February 26, 27, 28, 2010. While attending the event on the Saturday, there were no signs of decreased attendance due to our depressed economy. In fact, with a ticket price of $18 a person - the venue was absolutely filled with spectators. The aisles were very crowded and picture taking was something of an athletic event, with all the dodging of other spectators going on.

The Cars are the Stars
Revealed at this year's show was another creation from Classic Design Concepts in Novi, Michigan. This car is called "the Firebreather". The car is a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro transformed into what might have been a Pontiac Trans Am, had the division of General Motors stayed in business. As you can see from the photos below, this is another fine example of the quality work that comes out of the CDC design studio.

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Not only is the car beautiful, but it will soon see time on the silver screen. The Firebreather is going to be featured in a motion picture, titled "Jinn", which is being filmed right here in Metro Detroit -- the 'new' Hollywood. A 50 car production run of the Firebreather will be available for purchase by the general public. Check out the website: http://www.classicdesignconcepts.com for ordering information.

There were a couple of other '70s Trans Am interpretations at this year's Autorama. These next two vehicles were designed by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. The first car is meant to be a modern day interpretation of the original 1969 Pontiac Trans Am. Although the words Trans Am do not appear on the car, the paint scheme and interior color / materials certainly bring you back to the original car, as can be see in the photos below.

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The second psuedo Pontiac project out of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering is this interpretation of a 1977 Trans Am, which was such a legendary car, as it was featured in the Burt Reynolds film, "Smokey and the Bandit".

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Was this next car from the Henry Ford Museum?
This next vehicle was just tucked into one of the main aisleways with the rest of the entrants. One would think it would be more deserving of a nicer spot in the show, but hopefully the car didn't go unnoticed as it was a real thing of beauty. The car I speak of is a replica of a Ford GT 40 Mark IV, the very same championship car that won LeMans in 1967 with Gurney and Foyt behind the wheel. The level of detail on this recreation is something to see. The car was constructed by Race Car Replicas, located in Clinton Township, Michigan. As you can see from the photos below, a wonderful execution of car construction.

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The car is constructed as follows:

What follows is a gallery of cars that were in the show. The cars located in the basement hall were again more of the traditonal Hot Rod / Rat Rod variety and something really different to look at. Most of these cars, works of art in their own right, seem like they would be more affordable to build, and quite honestly look like alot of fun to cruise around in.

Let's hope the 2011 show has just as nice an assortment of steel as this year's event -- if not even better !

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