The response around these parts to the victory lap the EV industry took for the entire length of this year's New York International Auto Show was "mixed," if just to understate it for comedic effect. There are still those who long for the past. Who cringes at the thought of driving an EV and thinks cars were better in the good old days.
If that person is you, you can thank a classic car museum hundreds of miles north of New York City for satisfying your itch. A quaint little neoclassical facility that used to be a New York State bottling plant built in 1935 called the Saratoga Automobile Museum nestled just a short drive north of the state capital of Albany.
In conjunction with the staff at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan, the two parties gathered a litany of some of the most amazing privately owned classic cars from across the State of New York and made their way down the monstrous Interstate 87 southbound for 200 miles to the Big Apple. The finish line was a place among the best and brightest new cars on concept vehicles on offer in 2022.
This section of the convention center, nestled right in-between the Subaru and Chevrolet exhibition, felt something like a fever dream compared to all the eco-friendly drivel that we V8 and turbocharging-inclined folks our readers tend to have to put up with on a daily basis and especially, here at the New York Auto Show this year.
Whether or not that's a sentiment worth holding is well-beside the point either way. This Upstate New York Museum delivered in spades, and we can't stop drooling over what they've come up with. Seriously, it makes all the EVs we had to photograph, go down a whole heck of a lot easier.
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevoluion
Starting strongly, you're greeted by a fearsome gate guard squad. Sitting proud and at attention at the entrance to the exhibition. It consists of a Vintage Land Rover Defender 90, the ultra-rare Mitsubishi Pajero VR-II, and a flawless early 70s Range Rover Classic Sir Charles Spencer King himself would be proud of.
They're flanked to the left by the might of the latest 2022 Ford Bronco in what appears to be its Badlands off-road Edition trim, though it could just be a show-truck. In any case, this group of capable and iconic 4x4s presents an energy so palpable just walking through the front door than an entire crystal-gem shop your hippy college friend insists on taking you to.
Moving on, a freshly detailed Honda Acty Kei-truck sits happily beyond the view of the 4x4 gate guards. Believe it or not, there are specialist importers of JDM 4x4 trucks in parts of rural America who love these little three-cylinder trucks.
Chiefly because they can climb up steep Appalachian roads with a bed full of farming riff-raff while being small enough to fit in a farm shed, which is very cool indeed. Strolling along, you're greeted by a fleet of metal that'd be the envy of any sultan.
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevoluion
Acura wasn't able to make it to New York this year, in spite of Lexus and Infiniti getting ample space. But at least this first-generation NSX still catches the same way they did in the late 90s and early 2000s.
But if it's rare supercars you're after, the French Venturi 400 or the English Jaguar XJR-15 walk away with it here; it's a showing that's sure to get the Forza and Gran Turismo fans' blood pumping. But if your kryptonite is quirky European or JDM cars, the Renault 5 Turbo touring car racer and the Nissan S-13 turbo drift car will cure what ails you. As will an immaculate E30 BMW M3, which all adds up for showings that steal the thunder away somewhat from the rest of the show.
Special shoutout to the only Mark IV Toyota Supra in the State of New York that's managed to not have its 2JZ engine tuned to the point it slows the Earth's rotation. The same is true of the vintage Porsche 911 a few paces away.
As for the Citroen BX-4TC Group B rally car sitting close by, it doesn't give a rat's rear end about stock parts. Its only purpose is to go faster on off-road surfaces than any man-made vehicle has any business being. The same is true of the Nisan Pulsar GTIR Nismo, a few paces in the opposite direction, where a Ford RS2000 Group B car also sits parked.
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevoluion
If nothing else, the wonderful display the Saratoga Automobile Museum managed to put on in New York City this year proves something we've always sort of known. If Japanese and European carmakers think they have a real gem, they'll tend to hoard them all for themselves.
Google News