Every year there are annual events that come to Philadelphia. Concerts, theatrical performances, and events that take over the convention center. Every year, the Philadelphia Auto Show consumes the Philadelphia Convention Center. This event did not really mean much to me, as I do not know much of anything about cars. However, this year I won free tickets through a contest with a dealership.
I asked my step father, Mark, to go with me. He was more excited than I was, as he is into that kind of thing. When we arrived at the car show, I was blown away. The classic cars were what greeted us as we walked through the door. Cars of all different colors laced the show room floors. Mercedes and Lincoln had their own showroom in the back part of the convention center (away from everyone else). I was stunned to see that vehicles of every make and model were there.
As a college student, I dream of big luxurious cars when I graduate. Who doesn’t? I drive a tank of a car, a Buick 2005 that I have beaten to death, as most college students do with their first car. She runs beautifully for me despite her quirks as a twelve year old car. Naturally, with graduation approaching, I have begun to car shop for what vehicle will replace my Buick. That was what my intention was at the car show. Mark explained to me that most of the “common car” companies (Toyota, VW, Ford, Chevy, etc.) left the cars unlocked so you can sit in them and see how they feel.
While my step father browsed around, looking at cars himself, I was running around like a child in the candy store. I have always had only two “dream cars” in my life. The first is a 2010 Camaro that’s gold with black racing stripes. An identical car to Bumblebee from the Michael Bay Transformers movies. The second is a Volkswagen Beetle. I think they are the cutest little cars and have always adored them. I have been told by countless people not to get one due to the lack of qualified mechanics able to work on them. Anyway, I got to sit in all the cars I have considered over my year or so of car shopping.
Sadly, my Camaro was not the right fit. The Beetle fit quite nicely but getting any of the men in my family in the passenger seat would be too much of a challenge. So onward I walked, going through the show, looking at and trying out how each car felt. Along the way, we stopped and did the Jeep Test Track ride that the Jeep dealers were offering.
They had all sorts of Jeep models running the track: the Wrangler, the Renegade, and the Cherokee Models. They would take you up steep hills and edges that took you sideways on two wheels. It was scarier than a rollercoaster ride, and I got the craziest driver. It was riveting, though, to see the way Jeep handles. Terrifying, but very insightful at the same time.
In addition to all the dealers and stuff, they had famous movie cars. The Batmobile and Ghostbusters car made an appearance, as well as the Flying Car from the second Harry Potter movie, which had me fangirling. Overall, I had a great time and was very glad I had gone to see what there was to see.
The key to the Philadelphia Auto Show is to get there early, as it was barely crowded at all. Mark and I stayed until about noon and by the time we left it was a mob scene, quite literally. We could barely move about and see what we had left to see. Fortunately, we had both narrowed down our fields of thought, as far as our future cars go. Now, I am looking at the little Chevy Spark and the Jeep Wrangler.