BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - After setting up for a week, the Buffalo Auto Show kicks off on Thursday.
There will be nearly 300 cars at the auto show from a maserati to the Batmobile....but don't think, though, that this show is made just for car enthusiasts.
"We have a practical show," Paul Stasiak, President of the Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association, told WBEN. "We don't have what Detroit and LA has in terms of glitz and glare. Buffalo is more about 'What can I drive? What can I drive now? How do I drive it most affordable and is it a safe vehicle? What's the coolest technology in the car that I'm going to drive in six months."
Expect all the varieties of cars to be showcased throughout the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center over the next few days, from the conference rooms to the ballroom level.
"There's four separate rooms in that convention center," he added. "There's not a bad spot. Some allow you to do more creative things."
It's tough to imagine it in person, but they actually get the cars into the building a variety of ways...including through the front door of the convention center.
"We do," Stasiak said. "Ironically, the main level of the convention center goes through the front door, down the ramp, through the kitchen, around the stone guy."
Others come through freight elevators, too.
As for the future of cars, Stasiak predicts autonomous vehicles will be here during our lifetime but not in the future.
"There's too many safety factors to take your hands off the wheel," he said. "But the features in the cars will be like the features in the house. We have 20-inch screens in these cars now in the back...12-inch screens on the dash board. The luxury vehicle of the past is a common vehicle today."
We joked about flying cars in the future, but he believes it could be a thing.
"You've got to deal with a lot of FAA stuff," he noted. "Last year, we had the Back to the Future vehicle. This year, we're bringing the Batmobile. I don't know which one is going to draw more attention but I certainly know the Batmobile won't fly."
He believes to expect more "amphibious" vehicles that can travel on both land and water in the future. Regardless of the future, he expects future shows to showcase it.