Part of the Autostrada magazine display at the 2024 Canadian International AutoShow.Lucas Scarfone/Handout
This year’s Canadian International AutoShow is missing some big players, including Honda, Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, all of which chose to skip the event. But, who needs a hum-drum Mercedes when this year’s show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is packed with its largest-ever collection of spectacular machines from the likes of Pagani, McLaren, Rimac, Porsche, Lotus, Bentley, Zagato, Ferrari, Pininfarina, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bugatti.
Most showgoers aren’t here to buy a million-dollar car, but after seeing one up close they might just daydream about it for years to come, which is kind of the point.
“Some of the manufacturers have felt they could better spend their money elsewhere, but I disagree,” said Christopher Pfaff, chief executive officer of Pfaff Automotive Partners dealership group.
The company’s display this year includes approximately $30-million dollars of cars, including the new Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo racecar and a McLaren-Mercedes SLR HDK, of which there are only 12 in the world. The three supercars on display from Pagani alone are worth a combined $12-million.
“I can’t quantify the payoff for this [AutoShow display], but I really think there is a payoff. I think it’s really important that you see this stuff. So we’re really happy to be here,” Pfaff said.
The Grand Touring Automobiles display has ten cars collectively worth about $20-million.Lucas Scarfone/Handout
This year there are more unique, rare and exotic cars on display than ever before, said Jason Campbell, general manager of Canadian International AutoShow. Typically these special cars are corralled into the Auto Exotica exhibit, but this year there’s exotica to be found throughout.
Ferrari of Ontario is back for the first time in 15 years, with a room full of blood-red supercars and racing machinery, while Porsche returned to the show with its own 10,000 square-foot display. In addition to all the modern machinery, the Cobble Beach Classics booth has an impressive roster of vintage machines, including a beautiful 1938 Peugeot. A pink 1957 Chevrolet Corvette inspired by the Barbie car and the recent film starring Margot Robbie is on display as well.
Luxury dealership group Grand Touring Automobiles is celebrating its 50th anniversary by putting on a display of 10 cars collectively worth about $20-million. Mary Borg, the company’s director of marketing, said they have clients whose childhood dream to own a Lamborghini was sparked by auto show visits. “Dreams can become reality,” she said.
“Over half of our post-Show survey respondents list Auto Exotica as their No. 1 favourite feature of the Show; apart from the chance to see the new cars and trucks in the market, it’s a big driver for attendance,” Campbell said.
Sean Patrick and Lucas Scarfone, co-publishers of Autostrada magazine, regularly have one of the largest displays in the Auto Exotica section, but it wasn’t always that way. “We started 10 years ago, when the magazine started, at the bottom of the escalator. We were in the hall with one car,” Patrick said.
Since then, through the magazine which is for and about car collectors, they’ve built relationships with people who’ve lent their personal cars to the display. (It’s not in the hall anymore.) This year they have around $20-million dollars of other people’s cars, including a Versace-edition Lamborghini Murcielago and a replica Dark Knight Batmobile.
Getting all these cars transported to the show is a high-stakes logistical nightmare, but Scarfone and Patrick said they do it to share their passion for cars with the next generation. Patrick remembers one young car enthusiast tearing up after getting a picture with the McLaren P1. The boy’s dad said they’d driven all the way from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., because his son wanted to see the McLaren.
Scarfone remembers his mom would let him take Monday off school to take pictures at the show because there’d be fewer people in the background then. “I’ll never forget at the Lamborghini booth, this guy Vito – a sales guy there back in the day – saw me taking photos and took me into their VIP area to see the [then-new] Gallardo Spider up close,” Scarfone said.
Jason Campbell, general manager of Canadian International AutoShow, said there are more unique, rare and exotic cars on display this year than ever before.Lucas Scarfone/Handout
Scarfone went on to make a career out of automotive photography. “You can’t overestimate the impact sharing your car has,” he says. “A lot of people did that with me, and it changed the whole trajectory of my life.”
Many of the people working in the industry say their love of cars stems from early visits to the AutoShow, Campbell said.
Laurance Yap, who manages the Show display and other special projects for Pfaff, remembers skipping school in junior high to get to the show before the crowds. “The game I’d play was to try and sit in as many cool cars as I could,” he said. “In some way I ended up working in this business because of those visits to the show.”
Similarly, John Cappella remembers his dad would take him to the car show to see all the exotics and sports cars. “This is where I gained that passion, and that helped bring me to where I am today” said Cappella, who is chief executive officer of Porsche Cars Canada.
Were it not for the fact his parents took him to so many car shows when he was young and impressionable, this writer probably wouldn’t be writing this story for you now.
Matt Bubbers, a long-time contributor to Globe Drive, also writes for other publications that include Autostrada magazine. He was not involved with the auto show or any of the displays.
Matt Bubbers