Report from New York City Prius Connection

Thursday night in New York. A clear, windy and extremely cold night. After driving the three hours from Lancaster to NYC I was glad to see a friendly valet take my Prius and welcome me into the Skylight Gallery.

While the layout in New York was different all the components were the same. The same three Prii that we saw in Detroit (Michelle V. of Prius Chat compared the VIN numbers). It was nice to have some more time with the car to sit in it, check out the controls and ponder which 2010 should be sitting in front of POG-HQ in May.

Mea Culpa

While I was there I had the pleasure, yes, genuine pleasure to meet someone who makes a lot of appearances here on the POG, no less than Jerry Flint of Forbes Magazine (picture below). While I disagree with Mr. Flint, sometimes vehemently he was one of those people whose warmth instantly wins you over. He happened to be sporting an old American Motors pin in his lapel which caught my eye as my father worked there when I was a kid. So, Mr. Flint while we may continue to disagree on auto industry strategies and how we view the various accomplishments of the big three, you won this round on humanity.

Back to the New York Prius Connection…

Mr. Tim Morrison of Toyota welcoming the attendees to the Prius Connection New York.

Ms. Natae Rayner of Toyota discussing the new 2010. I want to say that Natae was very helpful (and sympathetic) with my own questions about the 2010. Thanks Natae!

As an aside, these little things were some kind of amazing fig concoction that can only be described as a nuclear fig newton on steroids laced with whatever addictive substance you care to name. They were tasty. Cheers to Toyota for the wonderful food.

The Skylight Gallery.

Now here is something that doesn’t happen every day.

This is Mr. Gary Carter, Prius owner and POG reader. I don’t meet many people who actually admit to the existence of this little site so I was delighted when he recognized the site right away and said he was a reader. I had a great time chatting with Gary and he was kind enough to pose for this shot.

Yes, Prius trivia was a central part of the connection in New York as well. And to add even more surprise to the evening, I triumphed in one round although I was competing against my kid and one other person. So it’s not like I was faced with a panel of experts from Priuschat (thankfully).

The kid got the “Prius Genius” t-shirt.

You can see the entire gallery from the New York Prius Connection by clicking here.

So, late Sunday night we begin the eleven hour drive to Chicago for the final Prius Connection (that I’ll be attending). That takes place on Tuesday, expect a full report and pictures from the trip and the Connection. And while this is the final Prius Connection report for the POG it is by no means the end of the reporting we’re doing on the 3G 2010 Prius. Huge things are coming very soon. Stay tuned.