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T here was a period when Oliver was about 2 years old where he could identify pretty much any car by make, and sometimes even by model. I would often carry him on my shoulders on the way to a nearby park and he would gleefully call out “BMW! Honda! Buick!” as we passed one parked car after another.

At the height of his fixation, he would prolong our trips by showing a sudden urge to look for a very specific car that he had in mind. We usually had no trouble locating, say, a Saturn, even a green Saturn at that, but a rallying cry of “Let’s look for Lincolns!” led me to realize that they were rather thin on the ground in our neighbourhood. As with many childhood obsessions, Oliver's carspotting quickly and mysteriously ended and shoulder rides eventually became a thing of the past.

His interest in cars, however, has recently re-emerged, partly because of the Pixar movie Cars and a gradual accumulation of Hot Wheels models in the playroom, so I decided this past Family Day, February 16 in Ontario, that he and I would pay a visit to the Canadian International Auto Show.

We rode the subway to Union Station and walked to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre via the SkyWalk. This took us across about a dozen railway tracks, and since Oliver is still interested in trains as well, he insisted on spending a few minutes observing the area to see if any were arriving or departing soon. There were not.

Oliver takes the wheel: At least he's got his seat belt on. (photo by Larry Koch)

Oliver was interested in principle in seeing cars on display, but I think that he took exception to the layout of the exhibition, the amount of walking involved, and the convoluted routes between the different levels of the north and south buildings of the Convention Centre. He had a point: the up and down escalators between levels were far from each other and there were crowds around each one. The shuttle bus to the exhibits in the nearby Rogers Centre was convenient by comparison.

After viewing the vintage Corvettes with alternating bursts of enthusiasm and boredom, Oliver opted to visit the on-site daycare. Sponsored by VW, and featuring two of its new minivans strategically located near the entrance, this enclosure offered parents a chance to let their kids play for up to two hours at a time. I spent about half an hour by myself, viewing the more distant exhibits, before buying two hot dogs from the food concession area, picking up Oliver and sitting down for lunch.

T he available food choices were very disappointingly poor: there was an array of pizza and a veritable glut of candy apples and fudge. I bought our hot dogs, oddly enough, from a Quizno’s concession, which offered none of its trademark subs. In fact, the only sandwiches sold there were of the pre-packaged, sliced-bread variety. There was a crepe stand close to where we ate that seemed like a mildly healthy and fresh option, but Oliver would have none of it. I’m glad I brought fruit.

Oliver paid another visit to the daycare and then seemed to get a second wind as we visited the main hall of the north centre. He really liked being able to sit in the cars, even if they had all had their batteries disconnected. That meant no testing the headlights or opening the trunk! He particularly enjoyed the Smart cars, or "Smirk cars" as he renamed them, so much so that I had difficulty persuading him to get out of one of the display models. Fortunately, there were several others for him to sample, and they seemed quite well proportioned to his 3'9" frame. Despite being surrounded by crowds of adults and placed well out of reach, the life-size versions of Oliver’s toy car Ferraris also went over well.

I enjoyed observing that despite the economy, people were still interested in cars, affordable and not so affordable, green and otherwise. We’re not in the market for a new car, but I was impressed by the solidity and appearance of quality of a new Pontiac, the G8, that could give BMW a run for its money, but since the time of the first draft of this article, the Pontiac division of GM has been shut down! And as a parent, I reflexively assessed most cars in terms of how easy it would be to install and uninstall a car seat.

That brings to mind the subject of a recent recall notice from Britax. Last fall I vainly attempted to get police assistance in checking my installation of Oliver’s new Frontier seat, before being assisted by the fire department. Recently, we received a notice from Britax regarding that same seat, asking that we install some rubber caps on the harness on the back of the seat to prevent the shoulder straps from coming loose. (http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/safedrivers/childsafety/notices/2008p07/menu.htm)

Since this required uninstalling and reinstalling the seat, I thought to enlist the help of the fire department as before, but I was informed that they were no longer authorized to do this. Instead, I was directed back to the police, who promptly returned my phone calls and took care of the entire matter at a minimally signposted “car seat inspection centre” at the back of their station. They did an excellent job, especially since, according to the senior officer on duty, they had not been informed of the recall at all.

This was followed by a recall of the recall itself, because, of the two stickers to be placed inside the manual, indicating how to install the rubber caps, the French version initially made reference to replacing a printer cartridge. In summary, the auto show was well attended, especially given the economic downturn. I kept wondering who would actually buy all those cars, but as Oliver asked several times why there was an auto show at all, I concluded that people were still interested in the market, even as they took a wait-and-see attitude to buying