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World carmakers converging on Kingdome |
Craig Henderson's sleek car may be the most aerodynamic auto in the world. And at 1,500 pounds, it's also one of the lightest. Though Bellingham isn't Detroit, it is the 'home of one of America's newest automobiles, the Avion, a $30,000 sports car which will be on display at the Seattle International Auto Show starting Wednesday at the Kingdome. The show will be the first public display of the Avion prototype, a long, lean, low two-seater with modified gull-wing doors. It stands only 43 inches high, but it's 14 feet long, has a carbon-fiber and fiber-glass body and ample trunk space. The chassis is aircraft-alloy aluminum. Henderson says the car will do 130 miles per hour with the Chrysler 2.2 Shelby turbocharged engine that will be installed in production models. The prototype is powered by an Audi motor. Henderson Motor Co. is housed in the basement of a Bellingham building, where the carmaker has tooled up to turn out the handcrafted vehicle. He makes the body and chassis, and fits the interior to customer specifications. Leather seats and a rosewood dash are standard equipment. Henderson estimates that delivery time will be eight months from the time a car is ordered. "The drive train and suspension components are mostly standard," he explained, adding that he obtains the parts he doesn't manufacture from a variety of sources." "I put it all together to make it run," he said. The co-designer of the Avion is a fellow Western Washington University graduate, Bill Green. Green is studying architecture in California. Henderson, 28, caught the car-manufacturing bug by being around WWU's Vehicle Research Institute. He has financed the prototype production and the tooling for regular production from his own earnings as a consulting engineer in production, environmental, mechanical and waste-products areas. Now he's looking for venture capital. Also on display at the auto show will be other special models such as the Rolls-Royce's $110,000 Silver Spirit four-door sedan and the Lotus $50,000 Esprit Turbo. Mercedes-Benz will be participating for the first time. But most of the models will be current ones from the other United States and overseas carmaker's, most of them with lower price tags, says Jim Hammond, show director for the sponsoring Puget Sound Automobile Dealers Association. The show is one of the five largest in the country. The number of manufacturers "is the largest number the show has ever had," he says. Some manufacturers are putting in displays costing upwards of $200,000, not counting the cars. The auto show is a good place to get a good deal on a car because competitors are working right next to each other, Hammond said. As in previous years, some manufacturers will offer special prices. In the past, some have cut as much as $1,000 off the base price. The show will also include 180 booths, most of which will be selling or displaying auto accessories, financial services, finishes and additives, and other goods. "This is not a dealers' show," Hammond points out, "but an industry show." And it's not just a Seattle show. It will draw attendance from throughout the Northwest and Alaska. |
