Philadelphia Auto Show returns with fast machines, electric vehicle rides, and that new-car smell

Americans love cars.

We’ve written songs about them: “Mustang Sally.” “Fast Car.” “Shut Up and Drive.”

We’ve sat through nine (or 10?) Fast and Furious movies about them.

Most of all, we spend around $500 billion a year purchasing them.

So, it was of little surprise that motor-mad Philly folk flocked to the Convention Center on Saturday, the first day of the Philadelphia Auto Show.

That COVID-19 postponed last year’s show made the premiere of the 2022 event — the 120th edition, according to the Auto Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia, which owns and produces the show — that much more compelling. For its return, the show had more sanitation stations, but masks were optional under the city’s relaxed COVID rules.

“I was itching to get back after the show was gone because of the virus,” said Dan Mapp, 61, of Folsom, Delaware County, road manager for bands such as the Monkees (yes, those Monkees) and Ween of New Hope. “I love all cars and the energy here is great.”

With the ability to transport us, restless and free, toward new adventure down a winding road, or just to get us to the nearest Dunkin’, the car occupies a primary place in U.S. culture.

That preeminence was on full display Saturday.

Muscular trucks, ready to rumble, sank their tires into gray carpet right near a clutch of Nissans, colorful as candy.

A blue Kia rotated slowly on a mesmerizing lazy Susan.

An orange Chevy Corvette, good-naturedly listed as one of the official cars of the male midlife crisis by Carbuzz.com, sat poised for a slingshot ride down the highway — at prudent speeds, of course, since the thing only gets 19 mpg.

Lots of attention was given over to electric cars, a feature of this year’s show.

Tyra Jay, 40, a social worker from Exton, waited as her husband and son stood in line with dozens of others to hitch a ride in an e-vehicle on a 50,000-square-foot track.

“I’m not a big car fan,” Jay said. “But electric interests me: You can save money, and save the planet.”

» READ MORE: Philadelphia Auto Show is ‘refueled and recharged,’ and highlights electric vehicles

With the war in Ukraine increasing the price of gas, e-cars may make more sense, according to Curtis Richardson, 43, an auto mechanic from Strawberry Mansion who was at the show with his daughter, Ava, 6.

“You don’t see electric cars come into the shop to get fixed except to replace brakes or rotate tires,” he said. “Battery technology has become so much better.”

But Richardson stops short of recommending electronic vehicles; repairing balky internal-combustion engines is his bread and butter, after all. “Those e-cars can put me out of business,” he said.

At an event designed to promote glistening machines of all types, it was the cordoned-off corral of cars from McLaren Philadelphia (so fancy it’s actually in West Chester) that coaxed cameras out of people’s pockets.

“I’ll bet,” said one would-be paparazzo, his iPhone lenses aimed at the pretty, pretty machine just five feet away, “this one is real expensive.”

Yes. Yes it is.

In fact, the McLaren Senna GTR everyone was staring at has a number printed on its sales sticker that reads like some wacky individual’s idea of an absurd joke: $1,691,184, or more than five times the median price of a Philadelphia-area house.

“Well,” explained Tyler March, who does marketing for the McLaren dealership, “it uses carbon fiber in its design.”

Oh.

That’s a polymer five times stronger than steel, though much lighter, covering a twin turbo-charged V8 engine that allows the car to reach 200 mph.

Those components are expensive. Plus, there are only about 75 Senna GTRs prowling the earth, March said, a rarity that pushes price.

“What you don’t want to do,” March added, “is scratch it. One scratch can cost thousands of dollars to fix.”

Less unusual and more reasonable, a $38,000 gray Ford Bronco Sport caught the eyes of Ben and Ellie Stephan of Blue Bell.

Ben, 34, a software developer, sat in the front seat of the car with Ellie, 30, who works in marketing for a chocolate company. That new-car smell was intoxicating, wafting off the dashboard and up from the seats, perhaps persuading the couple to reach for their checkbook.

“I’ve been eyeing this car for a while,” Ellie confessed. “It just looks nice.”

The two said they enjoy the car show because it’s a relaxing way to look at cars without having to enter a high-pressure dealership.

“You get to meander on your own,” Ellie said, smiling.

Then Ben said what most people at the show were probably fantasizing about as they, too, sat high up behind the wheels of dozens of sweet, sweet rides.

“They should just let you get in,” he said, “and drive these cars away.”

The show runs through next Sunday.