2001 Detroit Auto Show

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Did you know that this winter, to date, has been one of the coldest and snowiest in years? Even hardy Midwesterners are flummoxed by the huge piles of snow on either side of their streets, driveways and sidewalks. You can imagine how excited our staff was to board a plane at Los Angeles International airport, where it was nearly 80 degrees, and fly to Detroit, Mich., for four days of press conferences in downtown's utilitarian Cobo Hall.

Very. That's right, we relished the thought of traveling to Detroit in January. The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) is the largest, most important convention of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.or so we self-absorbed Americans would like to think. This is the place where automakers from all over the world debut their latest and greatest cars and trucks, and where thousands of journalists looking for die-cast collectible PT Cruiser models crush, and sometimes grope, one another grasping for whatever freebies the car companies are giving away. Ugh. At the very least this show could be relocated to Miami.

This year, a sensible, small sport-ute called the Jeep Liberty is expected, and, of course, Ford will be displaying the production version of the 2002 Thunderbird roadster. Nissan is unveiling thinly disguised versions of a full-size pickup it plans to produce, as well as the new Z sports car. Mazda will show us how the RX-EVOLV is evolving toward production, and, as is customary, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors will display a smorgasbord of compelling concept vehicles.

Yummy. We can't wait.