If you climbed into the driver’s seat at the 1901 Chicago Automobile Show, you probably would have stepped into an open wooden buggy steered by a tiller, not a wheel.
The gas tank would be around 5 gallons, the wheels about 3 inches thick and the engine a single cylinder.
These “horseless carriages” were the technological wonders that inspired some and scared others.
Trading a trusted horse for one of those newfangled motor cars was not an upgrade many people were ready to make. So the 1901 Chicago Automobile Show attracted a meager audience of 4,000 people to the Coliseum at 15th Street and Wabash Avenue.
Early advertisements boasted the benefits of owning a car. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved Dash ad compared the $650 car with horses, not other cars.
Drawings showed runaway horses tipping over carriages and read, “No accidents with The Oldsmobile.”
As horses were put out to pasture and cars were brought into the garage, the Chicago Auto Show grew to be the largest in America.
Now in its 96th edition, the Chicago show has more cars on display, dominates more square feet and attracts a larger audience than any other auto show in the U.S. About 1,000 vehicles are showcased on 840,000 square feet at McCormick Place.
And while attendance records are not released, show spokesman Paul Brian claims the Chicago show has the largest attendance.
The Chicago show has been the largest in America since 1950. Even though the show was stopped from 1942 to 1950 for World War II, the show picked up in popularity when it reopened. Attendance swelled, more cars were displayed and the show moved from the International Amphitheatre to McCormick Place in 1961.
The cars at the Chicago Auto Show are predominantly intended for consumers, not auto industry insiders.
With so many potential buyers present, many car companies wait to unveil their new cars in Chicago.
Ford Motor Company spokesman Dave Reuter considers Chicago “the ideal place to debut.” This year, Ford kept the 2005 Mercury Montego off the Detroit showroom floor to save it for Chicago.
Without influence from those in the industry, Brian says the Chicago audience is “untainted” and can give car companies clearer ideas on how the cars will be received in the market.
“This is where they find out how it plays with the public,” he says.
