Yes I’m talking about Autorama.

Sacrilege, you say. How dare you compare the classic Geneva Salon, where masterpieces like the Miura were introduced to a gritty greasy trade show of American Racing wheels, blue dot taillamps, and mechanics shirts?

Well, first, I’m not comparing those classic Geneva debuts to today’s Autorama. I’m comparing today’s modern auto show circuit to Autorama. It’s also important to note there are really two Autoramas at COBO as far as vehicles are concerned- let’s call them Upstairs and Downstairs. Upstairs is dominated by parts vendors, food court, Toy-o-Rama, and for the purposes of our discussion, the classically executed hot rods and street rods which in the most expensive end of the spectrum, are awash in polished billet and tri coat pant in efforts to win the coveted Riddler Award. Past winners include both George Barris and Chip Foose, and the Stanley Cup of hot rodding carries a lot of weight and prestige.

Then there’s downstairs. If you’ve been to Detroit’s Autorama, you likely spent most of your time in this subterranean wonderland. In previous years there has been a conflicting contrast between Fast and Furious tuners and rusty welded Mad Max creations that should never be driven but clearly always were. No, for 2012, the tuners were gone, and so was much of the rust. More on that later.

But the creative design was intact and explosive at every turn. Which got me thinking.

Who’s really doing true car design these days?

I got into this business right as the Wacom tablet and Alias began to erase vellum, markers, and full-size tape ( or tape of any size unless it was the crappy stuff that always falls off the greasy clay but that’s whole other post. ) Whatever your opinion on analog vs digital mediums, its clear that it made our profession much more integrated with engineering data, aero data, manikin data, and on and on. Other the ballpoint to the latest 8.5×11 scrap paper, I know of many designs which dont even begin w/o the package data. “To not consider the constraints before you start would be absurd!- We don’t have time to play around. ” Yet this lack of “playing around”, design for designs sake, can in cases homogenize the outcome. Make no mistake, I have little tolerance for “hot hands” which ignore that we have to sell cars in the real world, but rolling over and not challenging constraints is equally detrimental to the final product.

What I very much appreciate and find inspirational is the full disregard for the status quo that the rat rod culture has introduced into the car enthusiast’s world. Some of it is outright ridiculous ( and likely dangerous ) but each represents pure unfettered design expression. The basement of COBO is essentially 100 full size design sketches, constrained only by the definition of what an automobile is – self powered human transportation on four wheels.

Now for people who dismiss this as Hazzard county derelict hogwash, ( one of my colleagues described it as “fart gas rods” ) one thing was very apparent in COBOs basement this year- the rust is slowly fading out. In its place remains the extreme proportions through obliterated constraints, but the amateur rusted “beat-it-til-it-fits” execution has been replaced by top-notch fit and finish, quality materials and interesting paint finishes and colors, and believe it or not, restraint. Unlike the cash cars a floor above, there is a lack of needing to mirror chrome plate everything because you can and have the $ to do it. In fact, I feel some of the basement cars have a longer shelf life and hot rod design relevancy.

One car which struck me with so much awe I couldnt quite get a pic of it was a fenderless, lowered 1928 Packard speedster. I’ve never seen such a thing. How dare anyone destroy a classic stately American motorcar by hot-rodding it???? But it was done tastefully, to enhance and amplify the original design and proportion. This was not a case of some rusty parts, a welder, a six pack, and free time.

Let me be clear however,- there were many many cars upstairs I admired and was inspired by as well. I’m a sucker for old hot rods, both deuce roadsters and fat fendered 36-40 Fords, but these in my humble opinion belonged in the basement with the other cool stuff. In general, for design inspiration and true disregard of convention, downstairs collectively wins the draw.

It makes me wonder what our profession must have been like prior to regulations and computers tying our hands before pen hit paper. When the fins got higher, the sections got inverted, the glass wrapped around, and other “are you kidding me” “holy crap” stuff was done just because it was cool. This goes for not only the Detroit studios, but Turin and others as well.

So, as I spend my days challenging engineers and other non-automotive colleagues to produce competitive, innovative beautifully executed products, I tip my hat to the greased back derelicts who show up at the basement of COBO ( and Sins of Steel, Billetproof and others ) for inspiring me and keep the flame of pure design alive and well.