Chicago Auto Show history

Robert Duffer is a writer, editor and teacher who has been covering cars at the Chicago Tribune since 2013. Though he’s schooled in butterfly valves and cleaning battery nodes with a toothbrush, his most enduring automotive lesson was imparted by his father, who would speed up to nice cars and say “Don’t look. Don’t give the jerk the satisfaction.” Duffer is an award-winning creative writer and essayist whose work has been broadcast on Chicago Public Radio and published in The New York Times and Canadian Builders Quarterly. An adjunct at Columbia College Chicago, where he earned his MFA, Duffer owns a Subaru Forester. His favorite car was his 2002 Honda Odyssey; his daughter’s favorite car was “the truck,” a 2014 Ram EcoDiesel Crew Cab; his son’s favorite car was the “Tes-a-la” Model S. His dad is the jerk driving the ’68 Ford Mustang.