Yesterday I went to the Toronto Auto Show, although unlike last year, I was not looking to purchase a car; so this trip was a pure photography expedition. A bunch of us met up at my place around noon, grabbed some lunch at Ajisen Ramen, and after some deliberations decided to drive down instead of taking The Better Way. But Joe, Ida, Pauline and I decided to grab some BBT before going, and then decided to park at City Hall; so by the time we actually made it into the show, we were a full building behind the other group.

The show itself was as expected. Lots of people, many of whom were lining up to sit in fancy cars and the other half were taking pictures. Taking pictures of the cars is a lot like taking pictures at a tourist attraction, there are always idiots that stand beside whatever you’re trying to take a picture of, or people walking in front of you. I ahd better luck this year because I brought my 10-20mm lens and was able to stand Right Against™ the cars and prevent this from happening. But overall, the day was a lot of walking around and taking pictures. I didn’t actually sit in many cars this year.

The concept cars this year were not as cool as last, although I was liked the Kia Kue and Soul (coming out in January 2009!) as well as the Toyota hybrid. Toyota also had a separate display for their i-Real which Pauline really liked, but I thought was only the 3^rd coolest thing in the show. I think of it as a Segway for people who get tired of standing out all the time.

What were the cooler things? I’m glad you asked. The 2^nd coolest thing I saw was the Speed Racer car, the Mach 5. It was there to promote the movie (there was also Will Smith’s Shelby in I Am Legend) and I doubt it would actually drive; but still very cool to see in real life.

The coolest thing from the Auto Show was not even a car! We were browsing around the Ford display around 4:30, when by chance they announced that special guest would be signing autographs. It turned out to be Wayne Gretzky’s dad, Walter Gretzky, and we were fortunately in the right place at the right time. After waiting 5-10 minutes, we each got a quick autograph and photo op. Gretzky was there along with a special #99 Ford GT so I guess it was somewhat car related. His handlers also told us to speak slowly and loudly, and so I was panicking with deciding what to say. I knew a bit of his story of how he lost his memory of his son’s greatest accomplishments, but it seemed tragic and common to say something to that respect. In the end, it was very assembly line-ish as he just asked us for our names and took a picture quickly.

Afterwards, we headed to Lone Star for dinner and back uptown to the same tea shop where we bought BBT in the afternoon for, well, BBT.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: cars, celebrities, diary, toronto