Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show The 2013 Chicago Auto Show may not have been terribly exciting from a new product standpoint, but there’s still plenty of sheetmetal to see, especially if you weren’t at Los Angeles or Detroit. Here’s our list of the top 10 things you should check out if you visit the show during the public days:

Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

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Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

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Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

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Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

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Top 10 Things to See at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show

1. 2014 Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Atlas Concept

The two Detroit auto show stars are here and both are worth checking out in the flesh, particularly the sharp-looking Vette.

2. Chrysler’s Stand

Once again, Chrysler has taken up a huge chunk of the South Hall and is providing brief drives in some of its freshest metal along with the obligatory short off-road course for Jeep. You can also get your retina slightly seared by the ultra-purple Dodge Challenger SRT8 Core.

3. Ram ProMaster

While you’re at Chrysler, check out the new Ram ProMaster. It may not be pretty and it certainly isn’t a sports car, but, presuming they’re unlocked for the public, you can spend a few minutes messing around with its trick rear doors (anyone with an engineering background will appreciate the hinge design) and pre-teen boys will enjoy sitting in the driver’s seat pretending to be bus drivers.

4. Kia Forte Hatchback and Cross GT Concept

Kia’s two show debuts are both are cool in their own way. Unfortunately, the automaker only has one Forte Hatchback on display and you can’t get in and mess around with it just yet, but the car is still worth checking out. While you’re there, you can also take a gander at the Superman Kia Optima and the cut-out Hamstars.

5. Ford’s Stand

Though Ford didn’t have anything particularly significant to show — limiting its new hardware to the Fiesta ST RallyCross Car and the Focus TrackSTer — there’s still some fun to be had at the Blue Oval’s large stand. Two highlights include the ST Simulator and the truck display. The ST Simulator, predictably, simulates the experience of driving a Focus ST or Fiesta ST while the truck display has some police and fire vehicles that’ll certainly appeal to the future cops and firefighters, and there’s even an F-Series rigged up as a cherry picker.

6. Nissan’s Stand

There are four Nissans in particularly to look at, and you can easily swing by on your way from Ford and Chrysler. The four are the Nismo Juke (which, by virtue of being more sporty, is less ugly), the Nismo 370Z, 2014 GT-R Track that dispenses with the rear seats, and the diminutive Nissan NV200 commercial van.

7. Corvettes and Camaros

Aside from all the examples you’ll find at the Chevrolet stand, there’s a copious amount of Bowtie sports cars of all eras to be found in the back of the South Hall behind the Toyota Test Track. Local show-goers will particularly appreciate the red-and-black Blackhawks Camaro, though fans of other Original Six NHL teams will have to resist the urge to engage in vandalism

8. Supercar Garage

Nestled in the back of the North Hall, near the Chevrolet stand, is what the show calls the “Supercar Garage,” sponsored, curiously enough, by Comcast Business Class. Contents, include all sorts of exotica including a black Lamborghini Aventador, Rolls-Royce Ghost and several Aston Martins.

9. Classic Car Club

Also nestled behind the Toyota Test Track is the Classic Car Club, which houses about a half-dozen oddball classics, the most notable of which is the tragically short lived mid-engine AMC AMX/3. Right next to this display, in a pen shared with Camaros and Corvettes, is a handful of pre-war cars, including a 1930 Model 733 Packard Roadster and a 1932 Chrysler Imperial.

10. Miscellaneous Automobilia

Sprinkled throughout the convention center are a number of unique cars like the Mad Max-looking “Defiance” Dodge Charger, Turbo Chevrolet Camaro, “Walking Dead” Elantra Coupe, and others. You can read about all of them here in our related WOT post.