The Detroit Auto Show Adventure

Mercedes Sculpture at NAIAS

Section members Joe Adamcik, John Morrison, Morgan Taft, and Gary Goodman made our annual trek to the North American International Auto Show held at the Cobo Center on Jan. 21st.  Over the years there have been many small adventures including snow, high winds, getting slightly misdirected (we could not have possibly been lost), and misplaced turnpike tickets, but the 2010 show provided a new one that is not likely to be topped. After an uneventful trip fueled by Dunkin Donuts, we parked on the Cobo Rooftop and began the tour of the show.  As we reached the halfway point of the show, we decided to go to the lower level to have some lunch.  As we began to eat, with the whirring of electric cars being driven in the background, a very official person came by and informed us that we needed to leave due to a fire in the building.  As we began to file out, we realized that we had a couple of issues to deal with–the outside temperature was around 27 degrees, and our coats were in the coat check in the inaccessible upper level! Since we couldn’t see or smell any signs of fire and there seemed to be no panic, we decided to wait near the exit doors and hope for the best.  After about a 4o minute wait, we were allowed to go up the escalator to get our coats.  We could then smell a heavy “burned electrics” odor and learned that the fire was in the ceiling above the Audi display and that no vehicles or people had been injured in the fire.  When the announcement was finally made that the show would not reopen for another 2 hours to allow the smoke to be cleared from the exhibition hall, we decided to bypass the rest of the show and head back to Cleveland.

If you did not get a chance to attend the Detroit show, all is not lost! Join us for our annual Cleveland Auto Show dinner sponsored by Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted on Saturday Feb. 27th.  Details will be posted here when they are available.  The Cleveland Auto Show has traditionally been the fifth-largest U.S. show in attendance (trailing only NY, LA, Chicago, & Detroit) and has been averaging over 600,000 attendees each year.  It has been common for most of the show cars from the Detroit show to be on display in Cleveland with the added attraction of the classic car display and also ride and drive programs from several manufacturers.