May 11, 2007 - There is just something about a concept car that excites and delights the imaginations of car fans everywhere. We know that when we were kids, the highlight of our year was the concept car issue of Popular Science. Being fans of all things even remotely related to the future (such as big robots and spaceships that transform into bigger robots), we'd pour over these photos of jellybean-shaped rides and try to imagine ourselves driving one to whatever hangar was holding our big jet - that coincidentally transforms into a robot. We spent years waiting for the concept car that could turn into a robot companion - sort of our very own Bumblebee or T-Bob, if you will - but 20 years on, that day still hasn't arrived.

But a small part of that childhood dream has been realized. Unfortunately big robots weren't involved, but we did get to tool around in a few of Chrysler's latest concept rides. The American half of DCX brought three of it concepts - the Jeep Trailhawk, Chrysler Nassau and the white-hot Dodge Demon - to the Rose Bowl parking lot. Chrysler stressed to us that while most car manufacturers like to build concepts that just look pretty - meaning cars that don't have things like working doors, seats or engines - the "C" in "DCX" likes to make sure that most of its fantasy cars are actual runners.

Seeing these concepts up close and in person is a bit like meeting a real live actual Playboy model: still very attractive up close, but not hot enough to knock your socks off. Without the benefit of studio lighting and PhotoShop, one is able to notice the subtle "flaws" that knocks the Playmate/concept off its imagined pedestal. Perhaps you'll notice the slight onset of wrinkles, or maybe you'll see that the high-tech stereo is really just a painted piece of foam. These things kind of deflate that heightened sense of fancy you first felt when gazing upon your object of desire on the glossy page of a magazine. Not that it matters, because slight flaws or not, both are something you still want to experience first-hand.

We know that when we do a lot of articles about these concept cars, we say that they look production-ready and that it would make a whole lot of sense to put 'em into production right now. After driving these Chrysler concepts, we've come to realize that there is a whole lot of work that goes into building an actual production-ready car. We've also learned that the concepts' builders and designers ignore approximately 99-perecent of this work needed for production just so these concepts can get on to the car show floor as soon as humanly possible. Again, the purpose of these cars is to sit on a stage and look pretty - it doesn't have to be smooth, quiet or functional. All a concept car really has to do is be a statue. We say this because driving these cars really wasn't "all that".


Like most of you, the car that really interested us was the convertible Dodge Demon. You think this car looks great in pictures - but man, does it ever look amazing in person. The way the sunlight just shifts and bounces over the body work is nothing short of awe-inspiring. It looked great sitting in the Rose Bowl parking lot, and we imagined that it would be even better to drive.

It wasn't. We noticed that the gauges didn't work - they didn't need to as this car was built to just sit around. We tried putting this car into gear, but we always ended up grinding the tranny when we tried to put this car into first. In the end, we drove off in what we assume is third gear... We weren't the only ones having trouble shifting the Demon - we later found out that the transmission is a Mercedes unit that had the shifting gate removed. You see, the Mercedes unit sits off at an angle, while Chrysler wanted the shifter to stick straight up. No one is really supposed to drive this thing, so Chrysler yanked the gate out so that the shift lever would look good on the auto show floor. Great for looks - crap to drive. The ride was also very choppy, the brakes didn't work all that well and the car didn't track straight. Still, everyone that happened by the Rose Bowl lot that spied the Demon sure did love it. We guess we'll have to wait for Dodge to build some actual chassis/engine test mules - those will be the driver's cars we crave.