A single level is barely sufficient to contain the expanding and increasingly hi-tech North American International Auto Show.

The auto show, in its twelfth year as high-profile, international event, is taking up virtually every inch of the 600,000 feet of exhibit area available at Cobo Center. And trades workers last week were setting up some of the most elaborate displays ever, including double-deck displays, wiring that's more intricate than ever, and figuring out how to suspend vehicles from beams that were only intended to support the roof and the parking lot above.

"We put miles and miles of wire in this place, and it's only a 10-day show," said Dan Malinowski, an IBEW Local 58 foreman for Trade Show Electric. "But you do your best to make it look as good as you can, even behind the scenes."

More than 1,500 carpenters, electricians, iron workers riggers, stagehands and teamsters worked for more than a month - over two shifts toward the end - to set up the show on time for its media opening on Jan. 10. An estimated 700,000 will attend.

Each year, more than 40 auto manufacturers exhibit over 700 cars and trucks at the NAIAS. While the NAIAS is a stage for major industry news, it also has a significant economic impact locally. According to David L. Littmann, first vice president and senior economist, Comerica Bank, the total incremental economic impact of the 1999 NAIAS on Southeastern Michigan was estimated at $427 million.

The NAIAS 2000 is the eighty-fourth show in Detroit, making it the longest running auto show in the country.

Trade workers we talked to said they enjoy a much better spirit of cooperation with the exhibitors than what existed in the early 1990s, when the visitors complained of Cobo Center's jurisdictional rules for workers. Now, exhibitors are more concerned about things like light placement and schedules.

"It's been a real smooth show," said Local 58 steward Bob McIlhargey, "we've worked hard and we've done a good job. Ford and GM helped us a lot because they started work on their exhibits on Nov. 1, when in past years they would have started on Nov. 15. That made a big difference."

Last year, Ford was the first automaker with a two-tiered exhibit, and this year there are 17. GM is weighing in with its double-deck "GM Experience," a 164,456-square-foot display that will feature all of its current and feature products.

In 1965, the Detroit Auto Show moved to its present location at Cobo Conference/Exhibition Center. In 1989, after the hall was expanded, the show was renamed the North American International Auto Show. Cobo still ranks as the seventh largest single-floor showroom in the world, but it is slipping as other cities build new or expanded halls.

The facility is capable of housing a 600,000 square-foot show in one open-view hall, along with an additional 100,000 square-feet available on the River Level. Additionally, the facility boasts 84 meeting rooms and a l00,000 square-foot concourse and atrium area. 

ELECTRICIAN installing lights at the North American International Auto Show 2000.