Detroit Auto Show Top 5

Of course the world's automakers focused on alternative, affordable, sustainable energy at Detroit Auto Show. Given the devil's own trifecta of fossil fuel ills, global warming and a worldwide economic meltdown they could hardly have done otherwise.

Thus the presence of what might be considered the ultimate expression of the 20th century performance automobile - the Mercedes-Benz SLR Stirling Moss - was at once exhilarating and bittersweet. Exhilarating because, even in these turbulent times, one of the world's great auto makers is unabashedly producing an elite performance automobile with no compromises, from a 650 hp supercharged V8 capable of propelling the SLR from 0-60 mph in 3.5sec and to a top speed of 215+ mph, to an arrow-shaped, carbon-fiber body that dispenses with such practicalities as a roof or windows, to a sticker price of 750,000 Euros.

Bittersweet because one can't help but wonder if, ultimately, the SLR Stirling Moss is a coda - albeit a glorious one - rather than a prelude.