Ideas Worth Driving; A quick spin in GM's drive-worthy concept cars.

Look back no further than the 1999 North American International Auto Show to gauge the difference between General Motors concept cars then and GM concept cars now.

In '99 GM showed us a Pontiac GTO, a grim exercise made entirely of copper-painted foam, so at least no metal was wasted on it. And the Pontiac Aztek. We're always challenging manufacturers to turn concept cars into production vehicles. Well, GM showed us, huh?

And there was the pretty Buick Cielo, which had about as much chance of life-after-show as Joe Heitzler did of getting free tickets to the Long Beach Grand Prix this year. And the very neat Chevrolet Nomad wagon, which had the misfortune of being based on the doomed Camaro platform. Of all those, to think the Aztek was the one that made it...

For 2002 most of GM's show cars are built from parts, and on platforms, that have a future. And most actually ran.

And keep running. Well, sort of. To demonstrate, General Motors staged a ride-and-drive of four concepts that stand a better-than-average chance of seeing production. All were electronically governed not to exceed 40 mph, and even at that speed a couple were kind of scary.

For the location, GM rented out a near-abandoned military base in northeast Florida, accessible only by alligators, lizards and extras from the film Deliverance. In attendance: the Pontiac Solstice, which is a roadster; the Saturn Sky, also a roadster; the Saab 9X, which is a coupe-cum-wagon; and the Chevrolet Bel Air, which is-well, we aren't exactly sure what it is.

Let's start with the Bel Air, easily the most polarizing of the quartet.