Auto show-stoppers

Associated Press

GENEVA — Maserati, Bentley, Lotus, Lamborghini. Some visitors to Europe’s most prestigious car show get the rare opportunity to touch and even sit in the luxurious objects of their octane-fueled dreams.

Just try to ignore the security guard whose job it is to make sure you don’t try to steal a cigarette lighter as a Ferrari souvenir, or the hostess who checks the brand of your watch to see if you merit a glimpse behind the glass partition.

If an uninvited onlooker climbs into the driver’s seat of a $352,000 Pagani Zonda at the International Auto Show in Geneva, company spokeswoman Roberta Bicocchi rushes into action.

"I beat him," she said, grinning.

Security becomes a bigger concern when the show opens to the public on Thursday, and many of the companies displaying high-performance sports cars replace their cautious welcome mats with no-nonsense steel fencing and glass partitions.

The idea, exhibitors say, is to try to control the crowds gathering to ogle cars that few can afford. Camera-wielding visitors have gathered four deep around the Ferrari display stand during shows in previous years, and Bicocchi describes attendance during weekends as "a river" of humanity.

Pagani of Modena, Italy, makes just 25 Zondas each year, and customers must order them in advance. The version on display at Geneva sat like a glittering blue praying mantis with its doors open and rear-mounted, 12-cylinder engine exposed — a severe temptation to any car buff who might venture too close.

Bicocchi and her colleagues must approve before anyone can put a foot inside the car’s cream-colored interior.

"No one is allowed to sit in it unless they’re serious customers. I would look at your shoes and your watch to see if you’re really a customer," she said.

"You’d never trick me," she tells a reporter.

As she spoke, an unsuspecting Czech journalist clambered into the Zonda to be photographed by a friend. Bicocchi strode over to evict him.

The doors of all five Ferraris nearby were locked. Any auto industry representatives or reporters eager to take a closer look had to ask a security guard for the keys.

When a visitor clutching a glass of white wine leaned against one of the speedsters, Ferrari car washer Kerry Reddington strode over and shooed him away.

"You’ve got to show some respect," said Reddington, a 12-year veteran of Geneva’s annual auto shows.

A native of Orange County, Calif., Reddington lives now in Frankfurt, Germany, and earns what he said is a very good living wiping fingerprints and dust off some of the most expensive cars in the world.

Dressed in suit pants and a dress shirt, his face covered in stubble, the self-appointed "King of the Car Washers" poured scorn on the efforts of his rivals at neighboring display stands. Reddington’s tools include a long-handled duster and a bottle of Meguiar’s cleaning spray.

"What do you mean, you never heard of Meguiar’s? This is the best there is," he said, rubbing the smudged hood of a black Ferrari with his yellow towel till it shimmered like obsidian.

He also uses two Japanese-made towels — the pink one for windows, the yellow for paint.