Outside of visits as a media person, I cannot confirm when I last attended an auto show (not to be confused with a car show, as in a bunch of guys showing off whatever in a parking lot, which you’re also free to discuss), but I would guess it was in the late 1980s when my Dad was in the peak of his new-car-every-two years habit. He usually just got the latest Toyota Celica, but he’d pack up the fam each year and we’d check out all the latest wares nonetheless.
Though not valueless as a buying-decision-helper, the event was hardly essential and mostly just a good time. It did, however, go a long way in building excitement for getting a new car if not solidifying the call on which one to get, and maybe Dad visited a few dealerships he may not have otherwise bothered with before getting that latest Celica. And so, you could say the car show worked.
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A lot has changed since then, what with the electronic tube system communication system and our pocket supercomputers/televisions/attention-absorberizers that have become fixtures in our lives. The auto show scene has contracted greatly, and the era of major manufacturers saving their big new releases for auto-show debuts is long past. The auto show may be defunct as the best, if not sole, means of getting the word out about the newest models, but who among us doesn’t like to look at cars?
And so, the Autopian Asks: What Was The Last Auto Show You Attended?
UPDATE: The Bishop tracked down “The Fiero Triplets” on video, nice:
Top graphic image: The New YorkAuto Show
The Atlanta Auto Show in 2022, I think. Years ago it was great, so many cars from around the world. The last time there were just a handful of dealers that cared to show up. Fiat and Alfa were there because they tagged along with Dodge and Jeep. Chevy, GMC, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Kia are the only ones I remember. Even Hyundai skipped it. Of course, auto shows now are mostly lifted station wagons and pickup trucks anyway. I’m not bitter.
As a Mercedes* fan, I like the top shot
*Merceds Benz AND Autopian’s Mercedes
Ummm, definitely during Reagan’s second term. Possibly during George Herbert Walker Bush’s first year in office. Yeah, it’s been a while.
2014 NYC after 35 visits. I retired and was shopping cars after decades without owning one. Sat in dozens; fell in love with the Fit that was brand new. Mine was ready for me when we got to our new home in Florida and I still have it, hopefully forever.
Well it was in Phoenix. The first year of the 2nd generation Taurus. At the time I was in real estate. I had owned 3 first generation. I got into the back seat (2’2″, 240#) , as a female stand attendant came up. Asked for input I Said. ” I can’t use it. No rear headroom and hard access for clients. She looked hurt. She was a designer of the car.
Went to this year‘s Milwaukee Auto show. It was a letdown. Really small, not much to see at all.
I think 2002. Was shopping for a hot hatch. Thought about the Mini, but when I got in the backseat I couldn’t in good conscience let anyone else back there in a car that I owned.
Saw the Matrix XRS, manual, with its flat-bed interior all the way to the front dash and said, “I could sleep in here.” (And I have, overnight in a makeshift campsite to watch the solar eclipse the next day.)
Still have it, 240K miles, though my mechanic says the odometer will stop at 300K miles.
I attend the new car Auto Expo of local dealers every January for work. Its not terribly interesting but its good for us to know what is on sale each year. This year I did get to see the new Charger EV in person though. I quite liked it. It has a very nice visual presence in my opinion, much better than in photos. Were I the type to spend new car money (instead I spend no car money), I would definitely be considering one.
Uh, it wasn’t JUST interpretive dance, it was ROLLER SKATING interpretive dance. That had to have been better, right! Right? Right.
The UK Autosports show at the NEC in Birmingham in, I think, 2007.
A car I worked on was being exhibited, so I hung around the stand a lot with my friends. I got talking to the model (not in a creepy way, my ex-wife used to do the same work and the creepy guys are the worst) and after an hour or so she revealed that the guy she referred to as “my husband” was the husband she was currently having an affair with, so while the description was correct it was also wildly misleading.
I asked her to not stand by the car for a while so I could take pictures of it.
I scored a load of fire retardant roll cage padding for cheap, but the rest of the show was just loads of stuff I’ll never be able to afford new.
I guess the Festival of Speed counts too. I’ve been to that three times, the final time also around 2007ish on an entirely undeserved press pass as a photographer. It was already crowded back then on press day. I don’t like crowds and haven’t been back. I hear it’s huge now.
I went to this year’s Providence Auto show, otherwise very optimistically known as the “Northeast International Auto Show”. Not all the manufacturers were represented (There wasn’t a single GM) and I think it took us under an hour to see everything including the local Jeep club’s rides. I still like to go because it’s a good way to get a close look at things without being bothered by a sales person.
I used to go to the Providence “Northeast International” show every year since I was a kid in the late ‘90s until about a decade ago. Then, I was in medical school in a different state and couldn’t make it for a couple of years. By the time I moved back to RI for residency, it was COVID. I never made it to the car show post-COVID.
I first started going shortly after I moved to the area, about 15 years ago. The first time I went it was two floors of the convention center and every manufacturer who had a dealer within 25 miles had at least a couple models on the floor. Some had everything they made with multiple trim levels. It’s dwindled since then, especially post COVID. I felt a little cheated by the entry fee this year.
Last show I attended was the 2023 NAIAS.
February, the Chicago Auto Show. Been to every one since at least 1988, (even the Covid years) if not earlier. I have pics I took of the 1982 show and I don’t remember having missed one since then, unless it was in the years I couldn’t drive.
It’s not what it was in the past but I’m hoping it builds back up again, it’s such a tradition for me I don’t know what I would do in February otherwise.
Remember the ‘92 show when Ferrari had the big booth right at the entrance?
2018 Montreal EV Show. It was small but a lot of fun. They had an electric T-Rex 3 wheeler, and a pre-production Taycan when it was still called an E Mission.
I’d love to go back, it’s coming up in a couple weeks, but I’m not crossing any borders right now…
2003 NAIAS at Cobo. It was getting so packed and no longer much “fun” so we just stopped going at all. I had been going for like 15 years straight, but I don’t even miss it anymore.
NAIAS basically was falling apart right before COVID, far less people and some empty floor space, unlike 5 years earlier where it was standing room only. After COVID, it had might as well been dead, only 5 automakers showed up, Ford, GM, (Dodge/Jeep) Toyota and Subaru. There was so much empty space in COBO hall that everything was awkwardly spaced out and Ford had F150 lighting ride along drag races from 0-50-0 mph in the middle of the main exhibition hall! It took 3 hours or so to see all of it in excruciating detail, and that was it. The most fun part was getting some great photos in front of the world’s largest inflatable rubber duck they had brought in as an attraction outside of COBO.
The 2025 Atlanta International Auto Show, but I only keep going each year to keep my 40+ year uninterrupted streak going as it’s a shadow of its former self.
It used to get the concept cars from the big auto shows once they hit the touring circuit. The Fiero display with the dancers removing and reinstalling the panels is seared into my memory for eternity, that was probably the second show I attended.
Last time I went to Atlanta half the floor space was devoted to the Cars & Caffeine contingent. I appreciate them trying to fill space, but it was sad.
2017 Geneva Motor Show, which ruined me for future auto shows. A friend of a colleague managed to get us passes for the industry day (which I think was the day between the media day and the first general public day). Having been to general public days (and experiencing the crowds) in Philly growing up, New York, and Frankfurt, going on the industry day was pure luxury. No crowds, a lot of attention from people working the stands, free food and drinks, and I got to see and sit in everything I wanted. I’m not sure if I could go to another show without those perks. It was amazing.
2020 Chicago Auto Show, in February just before COVID hit. I think I was tired of auto shows before they were cancelled for during the early pandemic, but now that the Chicago show has shrunk I’ve lost interest. I’d happily go to Detroit or NY one year, went to NY several times as a kid.
Same boat. My dad and I didn’t miss a Chicago show for 30 years, but we skipped the covid years and just never went back.
Four years ago, a lowrider show in Española NM.
Not a single answer from Europe yet? Okay, so I‘ve been to probably the biggest auto show in Germany last year. Since there was no „IAA“ in 2024, the „Rund ums Rad“ show in Roth (near Nuremberg) may qualify for that title. It‘s an open air show in a beautiful park. Sadly, the weather was terrible – it was on the edge of snowing although it was in late April. We still had a lot of fun – and even got some brochures of Chinese cars.
https://rund-ums-rad-roth.de
I pretty much went to the Denver Auto Show every year, but don’t think I’ve been since 2021. Might go this year though.
LA Autoshow, maybe 2018, definitely before the pandemic. It’s always a crowded mess, but it’s the only good one on the West coast.
I used to go to the LA Autoshow every year… stopped going right around the pandemic and haven’t been back. If I remember correctly, a few years ago they moved the date and now it’s so close to Thanksgiving. Also, it’s not like it used to be when the new models all came out around the same time. The cars aren’t as interesting. (What cars??) Thanks to The Autopian and other websites, we get the news about cars right away.
I do remember the year that VW had a wax or plastic figurine machine making toy VWs. I remember seeing the harlequin Golf.
I did miss the wheelbarrow of shrimp!!!
I think I have a blue translucent Golf somewhere in the house.
My most recent auto show was the 2024 LA Auto show. It’s the first auto show that I’ve been to in years, so don’t have much in the way of recent comparison. I was visiting family in LA for Thanksgiving (from Chicago) and this was a spur of the moment activity.
The day we attended there weren’t big crowds. There was a lengthy line for the Bronco “off road” course but most other things were accessible.
Not much got a “Wow” out of the family. The Chrysler Halcyon caught the eye but didn’t hold it for long. I think we spent more time letting my 3 year old nephew try sitting in the tricked out golf carts than at most of the automotive displays.
What we enjoyed more was what was in the lower levels: The Garage Aftermarket. Not so much for the aftermarket accessories as for the custom cars. There were a number of amazing low riders at the show. I can’t see myself ever driving or owning a low rider, but we all had to admire the craftsmanship and attention to details. Hilariously, one of them even had a matching casket.
D.C. (2024?) It was not very exciting, but I got a short test drive in a RAV4 Prime.
Like The Bishop, I saw the Fiero show at the D.C. auto show many years ago.
Detroit the year they introduced the Viper, 1989 I think?
Detroit in 1981. Cobo Hall. It was my first, and I never went to another one. Friends of mine would wrangle admission to the press weeks in the ’90s, but that was for all the free food and booze. I never bothered.