How to get free or reduced tickets to the Twin Cities Auto Show and make $150, too

Three historic Ford GT racing cars in one location, a 10-feet tall Raminator monster truck, and more than 600 cars, trucks and vans under one roof. All can be found at the 2019 Twin Cities Auto Show running Saturday through March 17 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for kids ages 11-15 and free for children under age 11. There are several ways to get in free or pay less.

FREE: Get two tickets from Morrie's Auto Group with nearly 15 locations around the Twin Cities. Sign up online and pick them up at any of the nearly 15 Morrie's locations in the Twin Cities. Also, all active and retired military with valid credentials get in free on Tuesday. Their friends and family receive $2 off.

DISCOUNTS: Half-price day is Wednesday. Save $2 by on any day by ordering tickets online or getting coupons at most Speedway stores (formerly Super America) and metro auto dealerships.

MAKE UP TO $150: For about five years, several U.S. car makers have offered a $50 gift cards if you sign up at their kiosks and then go to one the dealerships to test drive a new vehicle of your choice. In past years Buick/GMC, Chevrolet, and Ford/Lincoln participated. Since Ford and Lincoln are part of the same company, one $50 offer can be used at one but not both brands. The same is true at Buick and GMC.

Gift card vendors offered vary from year to year but may include Visa, Mastercard, Target, Best Buy, Starbucks, Cabela's, and Lowe's. To sign up, go to each manufacturer's info desk and ask where to sign up for the test drive offer. The rep will input your personal information such as name, address and the type of vehicle you'd like to drive. You may be asked to provide a 4-digit code that you should write down on the postcard they will provide. You then have several weeks to go to a dealer of your choice for the test drive. After the test drive is completed, the gift card usually arrived in six to eight weeks, sooner if an emailed gift card option is offered. The offer is limited to one person per address.

PRIZE DRAWINGS: Register for a one-year lease of a 2019 Mercedes Benz A-class sedan (car of the show) in the main lobby, free gas for a year from Speedway in Lobby D, and a two-year lease on a 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV electric hybrid vehicle in the electric room.

Despite Chevy's decision to drop the Volt, the electric room at the show isn't being downsized. "We're doubling down," said Scott Lambert, president of the Greater Metropolitan Auto Dealers Association of Minnesota. "It will be the biggest footprint for e-vehicles we've ever had. " He thinks that sales of electric vehicles or gas-electric hybrids may take off in the way that electric sedans did not, partly because of Americans' shift toward bigger vehicles. E-vehicles will be displayed in the electric room as well as the main showroom.

Anyone driving their electric vehicle to the show can get VIP parking, charging and admission, all free, to the show if they get one of the 12 parking spots on 2nd Avenue in front of the convention center.
Besides sitting in the cab of the monster truck called the Raminator, Lambert thinks the three Ford GT racing cars will be the most photographed cars of 2019. "They only made three models, a 1968 GT40, a 2006 GT and an all-new custom 2018," he said. "For car buffs it's a once in a lifetime viewing. No other car show has this."

For a complete list of events during the show, including dog and puppy adoptions, and visits by "Minnesota Bound" host Ron Schara, Vikings' cornerback Xavier Rhodes, pro football Hall of Famer John Randle, and Hoops Green of the Harlem Globetrotters, go to Twincitiesautoshow.com.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, and 4-10 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.