This for all you auto enthusiast in Texas.

Gearheads, start your engines

05:57 PM CDT on Thursday, September 28, 2006

By MIKE DANIEL / The Dallas Morning News

The folks who run the State Fair Auto Show know exactly who comes around.


File 2005 / Staff photo
Eddie Babbe (foreground) and his friend Ryan Wiese, both of Granbury, tried out the NASCAR simulator at last year's Auto Show. Extensive demographic studies by the organizers have pinned down that information. The average Auto Show patron is married, is about 44 years old and has a yearly income approaching six figures. That person is nearly as likely to be male as female and to hold a graduate college degree as not.

But many other types of people wander through the 300,000 square feet of new cars and trucks situated in the Automobile and Centennial buildings as well as outside them. Plenty are actively shopping for new vehicles and thankful for the chance to compare models by about two dozen makers in one place and with little sales pressure. Some are young adults wanting a close-up view of the wheels they aspire to own someday. Some are tagalongs: children or spouses appeasing someone close to them. Some are merely thankful for a comfortable, indoor place to sit and relax.

But the event's true enthusiasts are the "gearheads": those who actively follow the auto industry and who go gaga over new products, especially extreme ones. They want to sit in a Hummer H2 about as badly as in a Dodge Viper. They want to see the retro-cool Dodge Challenger concept as much as the blocky but innovatively powered Ford Super Chief. They want to determine which car, the Lexus LS or the Mercedes E-class, has better leather on its steering wheel, richer wood trim, deeper-looking paint and more neato interior gizmos.

Whatever the reason, the Auto Show is as natural a fit for the State Fair as livestock and country music. We Texans love our cars and trucks.

BIG TEX CHOICE: The choice is clear: the all-new 2007 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, which will debut at the show. The Silverado is General Motors' best-selling vehicle, and Big Tex almost certainly drives a pickup. However, he may be tempted by the Ford Super Chief concept truck, which boasts a supercharged V-10 engine and runs on hydrogen, ethanol and good ol' gasoline. It'll be on view Oct. 12-22.

DON'T MISS: SUVs on display will include the 2007 Jeep Compass and Dodge Nitro and redesigned Chevy Suburban and Cadillac Escalade. New crossovers will include the swoopy Ford Edge and Audi Q7. For fresh takes on sedans, see the Nissan Altima and Maxima, Infiniti's G35 and the all-new Saturn Aura. For gas misers, the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris subcompacts fit the bill, and hybrid versions of the Toyota Camry and Lexus GS 450 are coming.

RETURNING FAVORITE: With all the new vehicles on display, a blast from the past is welcome for context. The Classic Corral, located outdoors near the Music Hall and the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will rotate vintage vehicles on an almost daily basis, most coming from private owners in the area. Highlights will be the Jaguars on Oct. 7, Ford Thunderbirds on Oct. 8, Chevy Corvettes on Oct. 8 and 15, and the Sports Car Club of America (all sorts of exotica) on Oct. 22.

WAIT AND SEE: Because of bookings at other auto shows, some concept vehicles, such as the Dodge Challenger and Chrysler Imperial, won't be on display until late in the fair.