Good afternoon,

This morning, Dad and I took our annual 'Father & Son' outing to the Melbourne International Motor Show. It is apparently the last one before Melbourne and Sydney start alternating Australia's largest (only?) new vehicle exhibition from 2010 onwards. The day dawned sunny and we made the trip to Jeff's Shed in good time. The crowd was relatively thin, with a number of school excursion kids filling up some of the available space.

The Shannons Auction vehicles outside the main hall seemed a little down in numbers than I had previously remembered, but an interesting array of mostly vintage and veteran marques nonetheless.

Driven no doubt by economic issues, Mercedes Benz (much to Dad's disappointment), Rolls Royce, Range Rover/Land Rover, Mini, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Saab, Volvo, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Ferrari were notable by their absence. Apologies to any others that I missed, who were also missing. The most impressive stands I thought were Audi/Skoda/Volkswagen and BMW (with the M1 'Homage' (above) & the By-Appointment-Only chiffon disguised 7 series salon) who both went to considerable effort with a large range of impressive vehicles on show. Lexus (with the LF A supercar below), Toyota, Holden and Ford were also commendable in their efforts.

Although to be fair, most / all exhibitors made a significant effort to attractively display their goods. Apart from the absentees, there wasn't a low-rent or Global Financial Crisis feel to event at all. I hope that bodes well for the motoring industry as a whole. A special mention however does go to Bentley, who as a small seller, seemed to have a very large part of it's quarterly sales allocation on display. Very tasty they were too, especially the four door Continental Flying Spur Speed (below).

Trends? Well, in general, there was a great emphasis on alternate / green fuel alternatives with most manufacturers (and after market specialists) emphasising their electric / hybrid / LPG / diesel credentials. Super for the environment, but not so exciting for those of us who may be somewhat less than carbon neutral........... And strangely, only one replica F1 car on show, rather than the usual flotilla.
The BMW 7 Series & the IS F

My top picks of show? Pretty easy for me. There were two, one of which will come as no surprise. Porsche had a special order 997 911 GT2, bi-winged in white with black logos & trim, and PCCB (look it up!) that looked extremely stunning for (sadly) upwards of $447K. The other was the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640-4 convertible, which looked ridiculously imposing (in a good way) in white (again) with matte black accents & wheels and deep red pleated leather interior. Upwards of $800K would start the purchase conversation. It would be very hard to go incognito in either of these babies....... And the Lexus IS F (in blue, above right) continues to gnaw away at me as a quality M / AMG competitor while retaining many of the core values of the Lexus brand.

Best in Show

Any more affordable vehicles of interest then? Well, perhaps my favourite was the new Volkswagen Passat CC which was very attractive & well finished for mid $60K money, but otherwise I kept my hand on my wallet pretty easily. Not too hard when Dad and I rocked up in a pretty sharp looking Porsche 911 Carrera 4 S .........

A most enjoyable morning, so until perhaps 2011, adios MIMS.

But wait, there is more! After the show we moved on to a fantastic seafood restaurant, 'Rubira's' at the Swallow Hotel in Port Melbourne. Rubira's used to be a high-end seafood restaurant in Sorrento but fell foul of a fairly fickle crowd. John has opened up again with the same excellent combination of fresh seafood and fine wine selections. We had a delightful meal of Oysters Kilpatrick, King Prawn & Spring Onion Spring Rolls, and Grilled Gold Band Snapper all washed down with a 2008 Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc. A wine that even Dad liked, but he couldn't get much of it as I had the bottle pretty close me (!), which resulted in the chauffeiring picture below. Thanks for the ride home Dad!

Bye for now, BomberBoy