By Sharon Gittleman
DETROIT – Gay car, truck and SUV designers, engineers and dealers helped put the Motor City on the manufacturing map. LGBT contributions to the auto industry don't end at the assembly line. Gays and lesbians also play an integral role in creating the North American International Auto Show – the world's premiere motoring showcase.
As any visitor to the auto show can tell you, the displays – from their giant revolving turntables topped by new cars and trucks to their Broadway-quality lighting, help transform even the least inspired vehicles into objects of desire.
Greg Steinmayer from Dearborn, a gay senior engineer for an auto show exhibit and display company, is responsible for helping bring these car displays to life.
Steinmayer said each display starts with a drawing matched to the car's style, geared to seduce the vehicle's likely buyer.
"For example, the Hummer display looks very rugged. It's all exposed steel, nuts and bolts and rocks and cement whereas the Lexus and Infinity displays are all fine woods and exquisite paint and craftsmanship," he said. "The Mini display immerses you in the Mini attitude – youthful fun and excitement."
Color, texture, shapes and angles are carefully selected to help create the vehicle's display image, often at a cost of millions of dollars, Steinmayer said.
Workers start their planning for each year's show immediately after the last one ends, he said. The new display's first stop is at the auto manufacturers who give their thumbs up or thumbs down to design drawings.
"We take the drawings done either by our in-house or outside designers for the automakers and convert them into construction drawings so they can be built by our in-house carpenters," said Steinmayer. "They fabricate the bits and pieces which are assembled in Cobo Hall to make up booths."
Workers start building the displays in the shop in October, he said. Right after Halloween, they bring the display to Cobo Hall, with the onsite construction beginning in November and continuing until just before the auto show opens in January.
Steinmayer said today's displays try to create an environment that gives visitors a total experience of the car.
"Ten to fifteen years ago when I started in this business, it was you put all the cars on a big square of carpet and you put a sign on the corner telling who the manufacturer was and you were done," he said.
Cars revolving on giant turntables and vehicle cutaways showing the auto's interiors are now standard fare, said Steinmayer.
The hardest part about creating a car display is interpreting the designer's intentions, he said.
"Designers have a tendency to want to do the impossible – like creating things that float in the air with no visible means of support," he said. "There's unusual things for press shows, like breaking a new truck through the floor of a building or making the new minivan leap through the air and land on a lily pad."
This year's press show was no exception. One car manufacturer concealed its revived muscle car model beneath a race car body, then whipped the race car body's shell off to reveal the new vehicle inside, Russian-doll style.
In another simpler but equally spectacular display, after making a speech at the balcony of a two-story stage in a packed auditorium, an auto executive attired in a suit and tie suddenly grabbed the balcony railing, leaped over and plunged down 30 feet, his landing concealed by a makeshift wall, only to emerge moments later at the wheel of his company's new model.
While the displays shown to the public may be somewhat less dramatic, their beauty and elegance are the result of the work of hundreds of people, including gays and lesbians, who combine their efforts to create an exciting show.
"It's always new and different," said Steinmayer. "It's always a challenge."
The North American International Auto Show runs from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Jan. 15 to 22, with no admittance after 9 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Jan. 23, with no admittance after 6 p.m. at Cobo Conference and Exhibit Center, located at One Washington Boulevard in Detroit. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for seniors 65 and older. Children under 12 can visit for free, when accompanied by their parent. For more information check out the auto show website at www2.naias.com on the Internet.
