Notes from the Greater Kansas City International Auto Show
The one car that probably captured the attention of children more than any other at the Greater Kansas City International Auto Show was the Camry with Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants wrap. It was there to help promote the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 NASCAR race at the Kansas Speedway on May 9.
The colorfully wrapped Camry also captured the attention of adults. It is one of the perks of being the pace car for a NASCAR event.
“I think the exposure that this gives us to the NASCAR fan base has been huge, whether it is the Camry or the Avalon or the Highlander,” said Brandon Allan, Toyota district sales manager for the Kansas City region. “When we get at the Kansas Speedway and get our vehicles in front of the public, it definitely has an impact.
“In the local market, following the races, there is always an uptick and the question, ‘We saw the Camry was the pace car, tell us about the Camry.’ The dealerships here in the region definitely see a boost.”
Publicity for museum
When Doug McGregor of Independence arrived at the auto show last week, he had no idea there was a local museum dedicated to the history of cars in Kansas City.
That all changed when he walked to the area where the Kansas City Automotive Museum had a display.
“This is cool,” McGregor said. “Knowing we have a car museum locally – that is pretty good to know. I think it is great.”
KCAM is in Olathe. For the display at the auto show, the museum didn’t have to bring any of the cars that are currently in the museum.
“All I had to do was make a couple of phone calls and send out a few emails and here we are with 16 different cars,” said Luke Spence, collections coordinator at KCAM. “We were aiming for a little bit of everything for this display this year. We have everything from a 1914 horse-drawn carriage to a ’73 Vega. We have a little bit of everything down here.”
Spence was thrilled the museum was able to get this type of visibility at the auto show.
“It is really neat,” Spence said. “We have already run into some people who didn’t know we were around and are really enthusiastic about the possibility of lending us their car and display their antique memorabilia.”
Auto Show enthusiast
Dave Roller of Overland Park is like many of the thousands of people who come to the annual Kansas City Auto Show at Bartle Hall. This wasn’t his first.
“We have been here the last five years,” Roller said. “It is real convenient. Not much going on in town so it is fun.”
The best feature about the auto show is car buyers can compare all the different brands of cars and SUVs in one location. Several of the manufacturers allowed test drives in downtown Kansas City.
David Boyce
This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 7:00 PM.