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Tucked away in a corner of McCormick Place was this custom WRX STI built in as part of a cooperative effort between Subaru and Travis Pastrana's race team, Vermont SportsCar. The car commemorates Pastrana's third consecutive Rally America National Championship, and although a one-off, many of the parts on the car can be purchased through your local authorized Subaru dealer.

The exterior features custom yellow paint, a carbon fiber hood and rear spoiler, front chin spoiler, and a set of PIAA 2100 HID driving lights. Handling is improved thanks to an SPT strut tower brace, lower chassis brace, and BFGoodrich G-Force Super Sport A/S tires wrapped over satin black Work Evolution XD-9 wheels.

Under the hood, the 2.5-liter boxer engine gets an upgraded ECU and custom downpipe, while the interior now sports custom blue Alcantara seats with yellow piping, short-throw shifter, Kicker sound system and... an XBox 360.

[Source: Subaru]

It made its debut over the summer at Pebble Beach. It showed up again in November at SEMA. And finally, we have a set of our own live shots of the CC Gold Coast concept because Volkswagen sent the swanky 4-door to Chi-town.

The Gold Coast is doused in a rich-looking brown finish dubbed "Pepe Pepper" by DuPont, and it adopts a squat, muscular stance riding on a set of KW coilovers. 19-inch wheels fill out the wells nicely, and a full ground effects kit brings the look even closer to the ground. Veedub's 280-horsepower 3.6 FSI V6 sits underhood, mated to a six-speed DSG. Stopping power on this looker is further enhanced with a set of the Audi R8's ceramic discs in front.

As we told you last week, Scion is taking advantage of this year's Chicago Auto Show to drop yet another tweaked Scion tC, just like they did last year. This year's example is the 2009 Scion tC Release Series 5.0, of which 2000 examples or fewer will be built.

One thing that makes this Release Series more interesting than some of its predecessors is the fact that Scion's modifications go beyond new paint and wheels. Besides the gloss black paint and red-lined, matte black, 18-inch wheels, parent company Toyota has added virtually everything in their TRD parts catalog. RS 5.0 gets lowering springs, a rear sway bar, a sport muffler and special badging, and there's also an optional rear lip spoiler.

The interior features the same blacked-out TRD theme, with a leather-covered steering wheel, black seats and TRD-badged floor mats. To keep it from being too dark and depressing, the seats feature red inserts and stitching. Best of all, this TRD-infused package will add just $2,300 to the base price of the standard tC. Expect to see the new tC arriving in dealers beginning in March.

At last year's Chicago Auto Show, Suzuki showed off three versions of the Nissan Frontier Equator. Those three concepts were the RMZ-4, Quad and Quay, each designed to haul a superbike, a quad and a boat, respectively. Since then, we've driven an Equator and heard that the production truck will sell for $17,995, but we still haven't seen any on the road (Suzuki America's Chris Brown noted that the Equator just started arriving in dealerships). Flash forward to the 2009 Chicago Auto Show and we're looking at three more Equator "concept" trucks, as Suzuki tries to prove that this is the most tuner-friendly truck on the planet.

To be fair, these are less concept and more custom, having undergone some restyling and tweaking by the likes of 4-Wheel & Off-Road, Off-Road and Truckin' magazines. The three "Hill/Street Hues" customs are apparently a play on the Hill Street Blues. We don't get it either.

Although the U.S. might not even realize that Suzuki is still in the car and truck business, Brown wanted us to know that they are committed to this market. After all, Suzuki is the 11th largest vehicle maker worldwide, and America does love trucks.

Toyota doesn't have a press conference scheduled for the 2009 Chicago Auto Show, but it does have two noteworthy debuts. The first is an all-new 4.6L V8 engine that will replace the current 4.7L V8. The new eight-cylinder produces 310 hp and 327 lb-ft of torque while delivering an estimated 15 mpg city / 20 mpg highway. That puts the new 4.6L V8 near the head of the pack in terms of power and fuel economy for standard V8s in the segment. The engine will also be paired with a "new" six-speed automatic. Rather than simply use the six-speed auto that's paired with the larger 5.7L V8, Toyota engineers instead used the truck's five-speed auto, added an extra gear and respaced the ratios.

Toyota's second debut in Chicago was a new Platinum Package available on Tundra CrewMax Limited models with the 5.7L V8. Though it shares an adjective with the new Ford F-150 Platinum, Toyota's top shelf truck is more low key and the package adds $5,140 to the vehicle price. Included is a new grille with chrome bumpers, unique 20-inch wheels, daytime running lamps, branded door sill protectors and Platinum badging around the truck. The package also includes a number of upgrades for the interior like a power moonroof, nav system and wood trim on the shifter, steering wheel and door trim.

The replacement for the Spectra retains many of the design elements first seen on the Koup Concept, and we're glad it does. The complex lines of the side profile and particularly where the A-pillar meets the hood make it quite attractive. Even Kia admitted that the Spectra was a fairly forgettable car, but we're guessing that the Forte will be making waves in the small sedan segment. In addition to the standard 10-year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty, Forte owners will get a 2.4L inline-4 with 173 horsepower and up to 25/34 mpg in SX trim, while the LX and EX offer a 2.0L inline-4 with 156 horsepower and 26/36 mpg. Pricing has yet to be announced, but expect it to be highly competitive within its class.

Lexus wasn't doing much in the Windy City this week, so it used the opportunity to release a new line of F-Sport accessories for the GS, IS AWD and upcoming IS C.

Thankfully, Lexus is keeping the majority of its F-Sport items focused on performance, beginning with 18- or 19-inch wheels and six-piston front and four-piston rear brakes, each equipped with stainless steel lines and uprated brake pads. Bilstein shocks, lowering springs, sway bars, a chassis brace, clutch set, short shifter kit, intake and stainless steel exhaust round out the performance options, while a carbon fiber engine cover, shift knob and floor mats appease the dress-up crowd.

When installed by an authorized dealer, the TRD-developed performance parts carry a 12-month warranty on their own or for the balance of the new car warranty. We're looking forward to getting some seat time in a fully-kitted IS 350 equipped with all the F-Sport goodies, so stay tuned for a thorough review. Make the jump for a listing of all the F-Sport parts.

Twenty years ago, Mazda took the wraps off the first generation Miata/MX-5 in Chicago. Over the next two decades the lightweight roadster solidified its place in the enthusiast hierarchy and evolved with larger engines, more gears and extra amenities. Amazingly, it never lost its edge.

Mazda wanted to commemorate the Miata's milestone at this year's Chicago Auto Show, but rather than trot out a 20th Anniversary Edition with a few badges and a custom color, Mazda dusted off a handful of concepts, one-offs and notable MX-5s that defined the roadster and help create the Cult of Miata that a few Autoblog staffers continue to worship at to this day.

General Motors used the Chicago Auto Show to introduce the world to its latest concept vehicle, the Corvette Stingray, which will be featured in the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie on June 26th. According to GM, the vehicle is nothing more than a styling buck that was influenced by the original 1959 Stingray racer when it was spotted by director Michael Bay while he was touring GM's operations looking for inspiration for the first Transformers movie. Don't expect this concept to spawn any sort of production vehicle, which, needless to say, is a shame.

In robot mode, the Corvette Stingray Concept will take the form of Sideswipe, who will reportedly be a skater with wheels for feet. The General doesn't have anything in the way of new product to show off here in Chicago, so it's using the blockbuster movie to drum up interest instead. It's working... sorta.

In addition to the Corvette Centennial Concept, Chevrolet showed three more AUTOBOTS at the Chicago Auto Show that will make their big screen debuts in the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen live action flick, along with one that we're all very familiar with. While we've seen images of the Chevy Volt on the Transformers set, this is the first time that GM has displayed the vehicle for public consumption. This is no show car, as the vehicle on display showed significant wear and tear from its day job. In robot form, the Volt will be known as Jolt, which makes us hope for some shocking footage this summer.

The other two vehicles were the Chevy Beat, which will be called the Spark when it enters production soon, and the Chevy Trax. These two vehicles will be known as Skids and Mudflap respectively, and we're hearing these two 'bots could provide a bit of comic relief to what will otherwise be a sobering storyline. Lastly, we have the yellow and black Camaro, aka Bumblebee, which was represented in both car form and in 17-foot-tall robot form.