SIAS again.

Masters and I just got back from SIAS; my second visit, his first. I had a second glance at the Fisker, and a more in depth look into some other rigs.

The Fisker is clearly the most exciting American car in attendance this year. From the electric drive train to the stunning looks (both inside and out), it made sense that this car drew a crowd all day. I've walked past it more than a dozen times in two days now, and each time there was a crowd at least two people deep around the monster. And this while only 100 feet from the new Audi R8 Spyder (which consequently had no real crowd drawn). Well done, Fisker. Now let me drive it and we've got a deal.

The Americans seemed to have some pretty big victories, actually. The Cadillac CTS, CTS4 and CTS-Vs were silently seething with pure villainous intent from the center of the lower floor. Mazda seemed duly intimidated by the rear drive hooligans. Ford had a steady line waiting to sit in the Mustang Boss 302, while the SVT Raptor alone had more people in, on and around it than Kia had in its entire booth. Sure, people were milling around the Ferrari and Maeserati booth, but the Chrysler/Dodge booth drew the real numbers thanks in no small part to the 6.4L Charger, 392 Challenger, Rubicon Wranglers, and the regrettable Fiat 500s. Chevy's Camaro and Corvette were crowd favorites, and I heard close to a dozen people commenting on how they wanted to sit in the locked ZR-1. I even saw a security guard stop to take a photo of the 638 horse Vette.

So, what did I walk away with? First, American cars are once again something that we can all take pride in. Well, except those wretched GMC trucks. Almost as lousily made as the Toyota pickups. Second, you can make eco-mental cars that are beautiful, exciting and even sexy. Third, I learned that sitting in a car and touching the materials in the cabin offers way more information than does reading statistics online.

Finally, I learned that Americans are eager to buy cars that cause a fizzle, the kind that James May described. We want to be passionate about our cars again. We want flash, pizzazz and verve. Build us more Boss 302s, Ford. We don't want Fusions. Follow the CTS leader, GM. We aren't into Buick Regals. Give me more SRT8 Challengers, Dodge. I don't care about the Journey.

If you build it, we will come.