On Sunday, my son and I wended our way to Chicago’s McCormick Place and the 2009 Auto Show where we subjected ourselves to miles of walking, crowds of mixed cultures and overpriced foodstuffs. Photo opportunities were rare due to wandering nomads with baby strollers and small clutches of people gabbing in front of the exhibits.

McCormick Place is one huge exhibit hall and the cars were spread out far and wide. All of the remaining space was taken up by people. Lighting in the building seemed rather subdued and my photos reflect that. Nicely padded carpeting covered the entire floor surface. Why am I mentioning these mundane facts? The reason is that I was just unimpressed and somewhat disappointed.

The exhibits pretty much looked like the same vehicles I see on the road every day only nicely washed and waxed. A new Dodge truck had brilliant, almost candy apple red paint job. The Nissan Cube looked like it came from Pixar’s Cars animated movie. Concept cars were few and far between. The most exciting exhibit was Chevy’s Transformers theme with a Giant Bumble Bee standing tall.

The experience gave me a new insight as to why the automakers are in trouble. They have nothing new. Last year’s models with a few more bells and whistles. Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.

When the show comes around around next year, I’ll opt to skip it and lean hard in the direction of attending the World of Wheels show instead.

There’s a nice gallery next featuring some of the standouts of the show coming up next. The Corvette Stingray concept, Sideswipe from the upcoming Transformers movie, was by far the best looking vehicle of them all.

Click to enlarge.