Detroit AutoRama 2012 Pictures

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After my unsuccessful trip to AutoRama in 2011, it was nice to actually make it to the 2012 show. Why was 2011 a bust? Well, mainly because when I crossed the border at the end of March to attend the show, I was informed by the border guard that the show took place at the end of February. Confused, I checked the calendar on my BlackBerry and confirmed that yes indeed I had an appointment for "AutoRama 2012" the last weekend in March. I guess I must have made a mistake upon entering the appointment and selected "Mar" instead of "Feb". With my tail between my legs, I drove exactly one block in Detroit to turn around and head back across the border. Of course the whole scenario and the total of 5 minutes I spent in the US must have set of some alarm bells, because wouldn't you know it, I had to pull over for a "random" search once I reentered Canada. I was at least amused during the search as the guard needed to ask for authorization to allow me to open the hood, due to the Insight (as most of them do) having a slightly finicky hood release that he could not figure out.

Back to 2012; After missing the show it was nice to arrive at the Cobo Centre with no drama at the border nor any parking difficulties (Detroit is the "motor city", so it stands to reason there is almost nowhere to park). I enjoyed the show and took a relaxed attitude to wandering up and down the isles, stopping to look at whatever caught my eye. What catches my eye are clean, well done and tasteful cars. Just to give you an idea what that means, few things with a carburetor qualify as "good" in my view.

It was interesting this show to see some TV cars, from both Muscle Car and one of those "Monster Garage type" shows that for the life of me, I can't remember the name of. Seeing the Blue Collar Buick from Muscle Car was certainly an eye opener...I was amazed at how poorly built it is! The TV screen sure does make things look good, when in reality body lines don't line up, paint/clear coat runs are visible, fluids seep from various areas of the engine, the interior is already fading and falling apart, and even the black paint in the engine bay is bubbling up due to lack of prep. I'm happy to report that the BMW M3 built by Kevin on Two Guys Garage is very well done, looking every bit as good in real life as on TV.

I don't even want to know how long it took to build that stuff out of K'nex, anything using large amounts of copper and brass is automatically cool, and metallic lime green paint needs to be used more often.

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