Dateline, The NADA Show

31 January 1998

Here in New Orleans, the sound click-ity click click-ity click,
normally means a tourist wagon is coming by powered by an old nag who
knows her way around the Vieux Carre better then a 25 buck-a-thrill
Bourbon Street babe.  But this week that quaint old sound is being
superseded in the area around the New Orleans Convention Center by the
click-ity clicking of mice in the booths of Internet based car dealer
services.  And there are a million of them, from the good old standbys,
Auto-By-Tel to those companies with digital dollar signs in their eyes:
"low cost per deal," "the latest," "the newest," "the greatest."
Whew, all this to try to lead a new car buyer into the lair of the
local dealer.

An example is the just announced  www.cars.com, a new site funded and 
owned by 3 major newspaper groups, The Times Mirror Company, Tribune 
Company, and The Washington Post Company. I guess they finaly see the 
writing on the wall.  The world's future WCs  will have to be designed 
with electric outlets and LAN connections (I can almost hear the 
forests breath a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of being 
spared the woodsman's axe, because those bastions of free speech will 
soon be using silicon chips instead of wood chips to diseminate those 
first amendment protected classifieds.

By actual count there are almost 70 companies exhibiting here under the 
Computer Services banner--from  A.D.I. Forte Performance Systems, to 
Wizard (for a complete list, send a self addressed E mail with 50 
cents enclosed, and I will forward the list directly to you).

There are probably more millionaires here on the show floor then in 
any one place on the planet right now, (how do they all sell cars below 
invoice and still afford their 500 dollar per night hotel 
rooms?)  That is a mystery that may never be solved.  To that point, the 
most unusual exhibitor is not in the auto business at all but Piper 
Aircraft, previewing a new model private aircraft for those guys who 
don't make money selling cars, don't make money selling parts, and 
definitely don't make money servicing your car at 60 bucks an hour . . . 
that Piper is sure is a pretty plane
 
On a personal note, with the room rates jacked up to meet the demand
from those folks, the only room I was able to locate was kinda
historic, a place that I recognized right away--it just has to be the
former abode of Porgy and Bess . . . "oh my room, I love it so . . .
youll never know" (sorry Ira and George) it may not be that exact
building, but it sure looks , sounds and smells like it, and at only
95 bucks for the night (the days are free).

Well I gotta go now, there seems to be a groundswell of movement from 
the working press toward what I heard is a so-so  press conference with 
a great lunch . . . jouranalism is sure a dirty job but I guess someone has 
to do it.  Hmmm lets see--if the newspapers' number one revenue category, 
the classifieds, are no longer being printed in the paper, what's going 
to happen to the reason the bosses put up with those messy reporter 
types? 

Another mystery for the ages, folks--talk to y'all again 
soon, unless I find a car manufacturers' junket to Spain for the week to 
test drive their newest model . . . and eat a few free great 
meals.  Click-ity-click, from The Big Easy