Wing King
Enthusiast
So, it was opening day at 9am sharp. At 9:01 I'm through the entrance closest to the Daimler/Chrysler display. Upon my arrival, who's standing there looking at all the new "goodies", but "Mr." Robert Lutz himself. Nothing like the new Viper Competition Coupe or a PT Cruiser stuffed with a 426 Hemi crate motor to put a smile on ANY "car guy's" face. He stayed quite a while there with us in the DC display....... but....... all good things come to an end. Yes, unfortunately, he WAS carrying a brown plastic bag with "General Motors Corporation" on the side. Sigh....... for just a little while....... I relived old times! Thanks for the memories!
During the 3 days I was there. I think I managed to see EVERY one of the displayed show cars or aftermarket "custom" vehicles. Of course this is only my opinion, but I believe the largest gathered crowd and the best raves I heard was for the "Decoma". It's a PT Cruiser modified to be something of an "El Camino" style pickup....... and the Viper V10 under the hood looked like it BELONGED there. I didn't have my digital camera so I have to wait for friends to e-mail me THEIR pics. I'll post them over in Off Topic when I get them.
The best comments I heard from anyone there were actually made to us by a Las Vegas city police officer. We had a conversation with him outside the convention center while our group was waiting to cross the street through a mess of traffic. He told us that attendance at all the other Las Vegas conventions since September 11 had been much lower, and disappointing. But, it looked like nothing was keeping the "car people" away!!!!!! I think that's good news for all of us.
Finally, I picked up a piece of information from one of the Mopar Direct Connection Parts guys from the show. I have NO knowledge if this is correct or not, and he did NOT say anything about what he knew being confidential...... so I'm jusy going to simply tell all of you what he told me. He said they had been told at a meeting that the price of the new 2003 Viper was going to be $85,000. My other sources have led me to believe in the past that it might be a little lower than that...... so take it for what it's worth with my disclaimer attached.
During the 3 days I was there. I think I managed to see EVERY one of the displayed show cars or aftermarket "custom" vehicles. Of course this is only my opinion, but I believe the largest gathered crowd and the best raves I heard was for the "Decoma". It's a PT Cruiser modified to be something of an "El Camino" style pickup....... and the Viper V10 under the hood looked like it BELONGED there. I didn't have my digital camera so I have to wait for friends to e-mail me THEIR pics. I'll post them over in Off Topic when I get them.
The best comments I heard from anyone there were actually made to us by a Las Vegas city police officer. We had a conversation with him outside the convention center while our group was waiting to cross the street through a mess of traffic. He told us that attendance at all the other Las Vegas conventions since September 11 had been much lower, and disappointing. But, it looked like nothing was keeping the "car people" away!!!!!! I think that's good news for all of us.
Finally, I picked up a piece of information from one of the Mopar Direct Connection Parts guys from the show. I have NO knowledge if this is correct or not, and he did NOT say anything about what he knew being confidential...... so I'm jusy going to simply tell all of you what he told me. He said they had been told at a meeting that the price of the new 2003 Viper was going to be $85,000. My other sources have led me to believe in the past that it might be a little lower than that...... so take it for what it's worth with my disclaimer attached.
