July 25, 2004
Saturday I spent the evening checking out Chicago’s edition of the import tuner show
Hot Import Nights. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting walking in,
but in some ways I was very impressed and at others almost horrified.
To the uninitiated Hot Import Nights combines a local competition where entrants display their vehicles to the crowd
and judges for prizes, along with national displays by major sponsors like Ford Racing, Circuit City, Yokohama etc. Not
surprisingly it was the national booths that really had the innovative machines. With lots of marketing dough I guess
it’s not hard for someone like Circuit City to come up with a rotating subwoofer incased in clear plastic or a Mazda
with a matte white, blueprint paint job. They were two breaths of fresh air of an evening that was otherwise pretty
predictable.
In comparison the poor folks displaying their own cars seemed pitifully inept. But it’s not really their fault. Who
could compete with the resources and money of the national sponsors? Even lots of cash spent on high-end parts could
never measure up. I did find a few locals doing interesting things like this classic Datson Z and a handful of others.
For the most part there was a see of Lambo doors and TV screens everywhere. And even when you found some
original video technology it was all playing the same movie. You guessed it, The Fast and the Furious (blooger’s
note: if I hadn’t seen the movie playing two dozen times Saturday night I would let it slide).
Then there were the women. Whether it was a tuner magazine cover girl or Playboy Playmate, they
were selling autographed pictures at $10 a pop. And any booth with something else to sell had to have a model in skimpy
clothing selling it. It seems all the sex that left the mainstream car shows years ago has ended up in the tuner
aftermarket. And the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Even the large numbers of women in attendance were ambivalent to the
often raunchy displays.
Making the sex appeal a bit humorous was the location of the event. McCormick Place is one of the country’s largest
convention centers and can hold multiple events each day, even those as large as Hot Import Nights. But this well-oiled showcase forgot
to put signs up telling patrons where to go. If anyone headed right (towards the area where the International Car Show
is held every year) instead of straight when coming in the front doors they would wind up at an extremely large
gathering of Pentecostal churchgoers. A surreal mix-up indeed. This license plate on a Toyota Camry in the parking lot
could be appropriate for a holly roller or someone into hydraulics. Since the car seemed stock we figured it was the
former.
In the end it was worth going if the only goal is to spend a night among tuners and models. But there weren’t many
instances where a person might see something new or innovative done by a do-it-yourselfer. And that seemed to be the
main drive behind the event.