QOTD: Making an Entrance
You may have noticed one of the pictures I added to Mr. Guy's Dodge Challenger 170 story after the car's unveiling was of the vehicle being airlifted onto the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dragstrip via helicopter.
You'd have seen the whole production if you watched the Roadkill livestream.
During last night's presentation, I turned to one of my fellow media members and said something to the effect of "well, this is the same company that once paraded cattle through the streets of Detroit." Well, OK, it's not exactly the same company -- Stellantis is different than Cerberus -- nor is the person behind that stunt still employed by that automaker, but you get the idea. Brands associated with Chrysler/DaimlerChrysler/FCA/Stellantis have been known to put on a show when unveiling a car.
So, too, have other automakers. I still reminder a New York Auto Show event for Scion (RIP) that included gymnasts, for example.
Sadly, for a variety of reasons, the over-the-top new-car launch isn't as common as it used to be. But once in a while we still get something like what happened last night, either at an auto show or a stand-alone event.
So, I ask of you, B and B -- which one over the years has been your favorite?
Sound off below.
[Image: Dodge/Stellantis, © 2023 Tim Healey/TTAC]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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New car splashes are history, thanks to spy photos and mfr-sourced teasers.
Helicopters suck (Generally. Useful in *some* applications, but if you need a helicopter, chances are 54.879% that someone screwed up somewhere along the line.)
Drones are useful. (So we won't pick on all 'rotary wing' aircraft.)