Seen but not photographed: Big Unlabeled Audi

This one is still an Audi, but the magic is gone.  Sleekness and style are starting to yield to bloat.  Has Audi become Detroit in the late 60's?  It was a prototype, which means it might not be too late.

Unlabeled Porsche

Porsche prototypes are rare in the wild.

Seen but not photographed: Jetta Wagon 2.5, Mitsubishi iMiEv, Tesla Beverly Hills

Both looked about the same as they always do. The Jetta was the most puzzling, because the 2.5 is supposed to be going away.  Often, however, cars that are a few years old are used to test new engines.  I have pointed out in the past that the only reason displacement is written on the outside is because you wouldn't have any idea otherwise.  In this case, nothing in the way the car was driven indicated anything about the engine.  Whatever they're testing is just like everything else.

Seeing the Mitsubishi was interesting, just because they're not dead yet.  Their electric car hasn't caught on, and I doubt more testing will help. 

Tesla is falling behind stylistically.  Their dealership is a squat box painted flat black with a sign done in polished aluminum letters.  They are just in time for the rat rod trend.  Will their cars have wide white walls?

Mercedes Loaf of Bread

Some day, this company will hire a designer.

Vision SZR

My late grandmother often said, "It's not what you know, it's who you know."  The people driving this car were great, but I have never heard of them. I hope that those in the business who matter have heard of them.  The Vision was designed and built in Orange County, California, USA.

Seen but not photographed: The Mercedes Accord

There is an E class running around that has less chrome than the current one.  The new shape looks familiar. It is hard to believe, but a company that once defined so much is now imitating someone else's bland but very functional car.  They have inadvertently taken laziness to a new level.  It was painted in a new Honda color:  Hematite Metallic.  Will this trend extend to lower prices?

Cars of the American West: The Stillborn Series

This is the last of the series.  No such feature is complete without a rundown on the destinations.

There is plenty to see and do in Las Vegas, and you can be finished in about an hour.  Drive the strip and look at the casinos.  Pick one, and go in for a meal.  While the exteriors are different, their interiors are exactly the same.  Unless you have friends or family in the area, there is nothing else.

Salt Lake City:  The natural history museum has one of the greatest dinosaur collections anywhere.

Jackson, Wyoming is Santa Barbara in a borrowed cowboy hat.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon lives up to the hype.