What’s Your Favorite Auto Show Moment?

It’s that magical time of year again. Well, now it is, ever since the North American International Auto Show returned to its traditional January time slot. People who think we don’t have enough mid-to-late winter holidays need some auto show in their lives. Yes, the 119th Detroit Auto Show is about to grace the stages of (checks notes) Huntington Place, formerly Cobo Hall, which has hosted the Auto Show since 1992. There are gonna be parties, press conferences, two charity galas full of glitz and glam and, of course, cars. 

The auto show has drawn presidents, CEOs, celebrities and musical acts to Detroit during what is inarguably the worst time to be in Detroit. In fact, it’s one of the show’s charms, giving the restless housebound southeast Michigan populace something to do in the middle of January. It also gives auto journalists a chance to complain about the cold, and there’s nothing an auto journalist likes better than a chance to complain. It’s a win-win. I’ve been lucky to attend pretty much every Detroit auto show since I was a kid as a spectator, then in 2013 I started attending media days, and I still get that little jolt of excitement that comes from being around the latest and greatest the automotive industry has to offer.

There have been a lot of memorable moments for me. That time in 2018 I sat just three feet away from John Hamm at the reveal of the Mercedes-Benz C63, Volkswagen kicking off its 2016 apology tour for “dieselgatem” and in 2009 when Dodge drove a herd of cattle through downtown. Or that time our very own knuckleheads decided to sleep in a car in Cobo overnight and learned that actually, people work round the clock to make the auto show happen (and no one got any sleep). I managed to catch that one as an unpaid intern for our local NPR affiliate. At the first Cobo Hall auto show in 1992, then-vice president of Chrysler Bob Lutz smashed through a window in a brand-new Jeep Grand Cherokee with Detroit Mayor Coleman Young in the passenger seat.

But the real fun auto show memories are the ones where automakers try to be super cool and end up lame. I remember a painfully enthusiastic rock band reveal once for a barely refreshed Mini Clubman. But the more wonderfully cringy and entertaining to be is the Chevy Volt reveal at the 2009 Los Angeles show. It’s so corny and so low concept and just, very 2009. Was I there for it? No. Did my co-workers and I at Autoblog sing it like it was the catchiest Top 20 song to ever hit the charts during every auto show? You better believe it. 

Oh, and when the Bolt came out? We were on that with a by then long-forgotten jingle at GM’s expense. So many laughs had, so many weird moments cherished. What are some of yours?