By now nearly everything has been said and written about the 2005 Frankfurt motor show, a flamboyant affair of nine vast exhibition halls with numerous floors and tiers. In Dublin, it would stretch from the RDS to Merrion Square.
Germany cradled the first car and it's had car shows since 1897. The 1921 Berlin show had an incredible 67 makers, showed 90 cars and 49 heavier vehicles.
In 1951 Frankfurt became the show's permanent home. At that time every second car built in Germany was sold abroad. Some 14 years later, the first Japanese cars made their debut and now 40 years on China is preparing its automotive assault on Europe.
So, how does the 2005 show match up? A bit unreal, we'd have to say. The mad escalation in oil prices got hardly a mention. Exceptions were, of course, companies such as Toyota and Honda and now even Ford with fuel efficient hybrid powertrains.
This year the emphasis was on styling, occasionally with flair, fun and emotion - and occasionally intimidating bulk. Ford's striking Iosis concept embodied all the elements of the future design of European Fords. Iosis is the work of Martin Smith who joined Ford last year from Opel: the Astra was his last model creation there.
On the bulky side was the Q7, a monstrous SUV from Audi. Some of us doubted if even the US would take to it although that's the target market.
Almost beside the Iosis concept were two fuel pumps that appeared to have strayed from a filling station. They were there to demonstrate Ford's new system which prevents mis-fuelling - putting petrol into a diesel car.
It works by means of a detector which allows only the larger diesel nozzle into the filler pipe, locking out the thinner petrol nozzle. It will be standard on all Fords within the next couple of years.
Mis-fuelling is unlikely with the happy green folk driving the hybrid Toyota Prius or Lexus 400h. The oil prices surge has meant Prius sales in Europe doubled this year to about 20,000. Next year Lexus hybrids are expected to account for a quarter of all Lexus European sales. A second hybrid, the GS450h will be on stream then - it boasts 340bhp, going from 0 to 100km/h in less than six seconds.
Karl Schlicht from Lexus Europe isn't happy about brand awareness. "It's going to take another three years. We're just launching a major survey on how we are perceived but I don't expect the needle to change. The fact is though, that we have a lot of good news around, especially with these high performing but economical hybrids."
Another kind of brand awareness was occupying Bob Lutz, GM's deputy chairman: "Where you produce the cars is secondary as long as you keep the identity. Mercedes and BMW are German but many of their cars come from other places such as South Africa and the US. Saab over the years has used other people's components yet it's viewed as very Swedish.
"Saab has done its own thing for too long, not going for common items which people don't see such as wiper systems, wiring, airbag and braking systems. It decided to be different, thereby wasting money."
Was Saab's parent lacking in control? Bob Lutz didn't accept that, preferring to anticipate Saab's eventual profitability "in two to three years time."
The Frankfurt show runs until next Sunday. By now a million or more mostly German motoring enthusiasts will have visited the show, while the motoring bosses from Europe, Asia and the US along with the international motoring press have moved on. Another big international show is beckoning, in Tokyo next month.