How To Load A Concept Car Onto An Auto Show Turntable

Ever wonder how the auto show the public sees gets put together? We did. So last night after the Detroit Auto Show closed, we watched technicians load the hand-built Lincoln C Concept onto its turntable.

We lingered long past the close of the show last night, making time with some of the cars without the annoying presence of other people and managed to hit the Lincoln stand as the little C was being loaded onto its spinning round table. It's sort of like making sausage, you never really think about the process of doing it, only the end result.

Here in Detroit, the process begins with a crew of Teamsters coming in and taking down the barriers put up to guard against the filthy masses during public days. Next they lay down cushions to protect the pristine edge from any damage which may occur as the long aluminum ramps are laid in place. The next part is easy with a car that has an actual powertrain, fire it up and drive up the ramp, as we see here, taking guidance from your Teamster spotters. In an unpowered concept it's a matter of pushing the thing up there. The car is then centered on the table and the ramps and pads taken away, the people-fence is reassembled, and it's ready for the unwashed masses and thousands of camera phone photos.

Sadly, the turntable is stationary throughout this whole process; we'd like to see the degree of difficulty elevated.