At Least the Cause Was Worth It
The Scene: It was a sea of feet and wheels as a wave of eager autophiles fanned out through the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday night for the special charity preview of the 1996 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. Besides the hundreds of automobiles assembled, the show also featured the Southern California debut of “Yugo Next,” an art show featuring useless Yugos--the ill-fated, ill-rated Yugoslav-made subcompact--redesigned into toasters, showers, movie theaters and confessionals. All proceeds from this preview went to benefit Comic Relief and Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles.
Who Was There: About 3,000 people paid extra to catch the first glimpse of what would be the world debut of some of today’s sleekest rides. “Honorary Host” Billy Crystal was not among the Comic Reliefers present, although the organization’s president, Bob Zamuda, was. Celebs who did show included Jay Leno, Tony Danza, Jerry Seinfeld and a number of B-list personnel whose excitement-generating capabilities were less than, say, those of the 1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante. Also spied flitting through the show was the president of the now belly-up Yugo of America.
What They Ate: Many didn’t. “Don’t go up there,” warned one VIP who had just descended from what turned out to be a drab, featureless VIP room. Those wielding the twice-the-price VIP tickets soon discovered that the cause was worthier than the cuisine as they confronted a less-than-mouthwatering display of chicken wings, fried zucchini and chips and salsa.
Quoted: “Cars from 1900 to 1980 have more in common with each other than cars from 1980 to 1996,” said “Tonight Show” host and vintage-car aficionado Leno, who cruised the hall eyeing automobiles and signing autographs. “I mean, these are all well-made cars, but they’re all computers and microchips, and any of the normal tools you use to fix a car can’t work on these cars. Old cars you can actually fix. With these, it’s like software problems.”
Money Matters: Tickets were $25 to $50. Ticket sales and donations raised about $50,000 for the charity.
