So Much For The Windy City, The Chicago Auto Show Blew

With a few facelifts and not much else, the Chicago Auto Show was a snooze fest

The Chicago Auto Show is underway, but you’d be hard-pressed to tell as news was few and far between. However, there were a handful of notable debuts including facelifted versions of the Ford Explorer, Kia K5, and Kia Carnival.

Besides those three models, Nissan introduced a pricey, dealer-installed off-road package for the Frontier. Volkswagen, on the other hand, used the show to promote their Super Bowl commercial.

That’s not much to get excited about, but the show featured a handful of notable classics. One of the coolest was a 1994 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra Convertible, which wears a window sticker showing a price of $26,845.

While that sounds like a bargain, as the 2024 Mustang Convertible begins at $40,615 for an EcoBoost variant, the classic pony car costs the equivalent of $56,324 when adjusted for inflation. On top of that, the 5.0-liter “super high-performance V8” only cranks out 240 hp (179 kW / 243 PS) and 285 lb-ft (386 Nm) of torque. That pales in comparison to the turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder that develops 315 hp (235 kW / 319 PS) and 350 lb-ft (474 Nm).

For those with older tastes, Volkswagen celebrated their 75^th anniversary in America with a 1949 Beetle. The company described it as a “fish out of water, until the counter culture embraced it.”

More: 2025 Ford Explorer Debuts With A New Face, Larger Screen, But Drops Hybrid

If that’s not old enough, the show appears to have a 1929 fire truck, which looks ancient next to the modern Bronco Wildland. The Tesla Cybertruck is also on display and it will undoubtedly attract a lot of attention.

While that’s just a brief overview, the public portion of the Chicago Auto Show runs February 10-19. Tickets cost $17 for adults and $12 for seniors (62+) and children (4-12).

Live picture credits: Chicago Auto Show