DC Auto Show, Part II

Picking up from my last post, Lotus displayed several of their road cars including this Elise SC.

This Lotus Exige attracted quite a bit of interest.  It took a while before I could get a good photo of it!  These cars are a far cry from the old Lotus 7 America and Super Seven that I owned way back when.

B is for Bentley.

This cabriolet would be fun as long as one didn't think too deeply when filling the fuel tank.

The "Spirit of Ecstasy" mascot from the business end of a Rolls Royce.  This reminded me, in a random way, of a line from a Hilaire Belloc poem:  "The rich arrived in pairs and also in Rolls Royces and talked of their affairs in loud and strident voices."  I think that line is from Belloc's "Cautionary Tales for Children" but am not clearly certain of that.  Perhaps someone can leave a comment and put me straight in that department; odd what triggers  the mind.

Next up was Ferrari.  This is the new all wheel drive FF.  $377K seems like an awful lot of money for a station wagon!

Here is a two seater open Ferrari painted "refrigerator white".  I didn't think such a thing was possible!  This may well be illegal in some countries--in Italy probably so.

I heard a commotion behind me and turned to see this group of elegantly  costumed Chinese reminding us that this is the year of the dragon.  Not sure what that has to do with the Auto Show, but it was colorful never the less.

Meanwhile over at the Honda stand we inspected this Indy Car.

This particular car was driven to first place finishes at Kansas City Speedway in '08 (Dan Wheldon), Toronto in '09 (Dario Franchitti) and Milwaukee in '11 (Franchitti again).

Of course Honda is hoping that all that racing activity rubs off in the showroom and boosts sales of Accords.

What's an auto show without a few concept cars?  This is the Lexus LF-LC.

Hyundai's concept car was the "Veloster".  For the life of me I see no connection between this car and a "velo" as in cycling.  Perhaps they plan to run over a few velos...

There were many other curious things to see on the lower level but with time running on we decided to head upstairs for a look at the domestic offerings.  I'll report on the cars displayed on the upper level in my next post.