Car lovers who will toss away a year’s salary on a speedy little convertible are a dime a dozen, but it takes the most die-hard of fanatics to spring for a luxury car that isn’t meant to be driven.

No fewer than 252 of the finest collector cars go on auction this weekend at the Fine Motor Auction and Luxury Lifestyle Expo at Pier 94. Valued between $100,000 and $5 million, they tend to be delicate creatures that couldn’t be counted on to weather a road trip. The collection, from all points of this country and Canada, includes Muhammad Ali’s 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud 3, the 1992 “Batman Returns” Batmobile, and a firetruck-red American Underslung Roadster that dates back to 1907.

When the auction opens to the public Friday at 2 p.m., all the cars will be in their assigned spots and a makeshift road will cover the floor, but yesterday the event’s preparations were still very much under way. The event’s organizers and investors, Bradford Rand and David Workman, were dashing about, ordering exhibitors to clean up their spaces and drivers to park their cars in the assigned places. Mr. Workman, who works in real estate and moonlights as an antique-car enthusiast, had a limp from pushing one of the cars along.

Messrs. Workman and Rand, who have been friends for the past 20 years from the Hamptons scene, came up with the idea for the show two years ago. Mr. Rand puts on trade shows and exhibitions for a living. Mr. Workman, in his travels around the country to attend other car auctions, was struck by the vacuum in the New York market. He and his friend thought New York would be up for the show, especially given the runaway success of the Guggenheim’s motorcycle show. The two spent the past two years traveling to car auctions to make contacts, who were invited to this weekend’s event. They said they’re not interested in attracting people who aren’t serious shoppers. To keep gawkers at bay, they are charging $100 admission, 10 times the admission fee to a typical car show. The price to register as a bidder is $150.

Mr. Workman sees collecting antique cars as a guy thing, and “for the wives” he set up a mini-mall of luxury brands, featuring watches, chocolate and jewelry.

“We want people who can afford to buy something from one of these booths to come,” a jittery Mr. Workman said over lunch last week. “We don’t want a huge crowd.”

Indeed, he and his partner have done everything they can to ensure that the event draws an upper-income-bracket kind of person.

Their fascination with wealth is interesting in itself. Promotional literature about the show includes these mystifying statistics: “$12 trillion of inheritance will actualize over the next 20 years,” “Luxury growth is up 20%-30%,” and “Cosmetic surgery is up over 200%.”

Most of the cars are classic, such as the 1938 Maybach SW38, one of two in existence, that is valued at $5 million. Among the other celebrity cars up for auction are ones that formerly belonged to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and John F. Kennedy Jr. The latter car, a maroon Thunderbird Turbo coupe, is considerably harder on the eyes than was its erstwhile owner.

A valuable antique car is “a better investment than the stock market,” the owner of an antique-car business, Tony Averso, said. His Troby’s Memory Lane in Hackensack, N.J., is auctioning off seven cars in its collection, including a ’54 El Dorado and a ’67 Corvette, as well as Earnhardt’s car.

“People saw these as children and couldn’t afford them. I don’t want to call it a mid-life crisis, but they have good memories related to these cars, and now they can afford them,” Mr. Averso said.

He said he knows most of the people involved in the rare car scene, adding that collectors generally hold onto a car for a few years and then put it up for sale again. He cited as an example a man who might buy a ’60s convertible and then – a few years later when his wife tires of its lack of air conditioning – trade it in for a car that can keep them cool en route to dinner.

The pier, at the West Side Highway and 54th Street, was overrun with car experts, who were flown in by different car owners to perform bodywork and maintenance over the course of the weekend. From Germantown, Ohio, came Tom Dworetsky, to take care of Fran Speer’s plum-colored ’33 Ford, which was recently awarded top prize at the National Show Car Association. Mr. Dworetsky, a former college baseball star, turned to car maintenance after a knee injury limited his career on the field.

“Sorry,” he said mid-conversation with a reporter, “I see a spot I don’t like.” He pulled one of about a hundred clean washcloths out of a duffel bag and started rubbing the car with it.

A man who does detail work for movies and commercials, Mike Spinella, is working for all of the owners. He had just spent two hours waxing a Ceylon blue ’51 Ferrari that was valued at $1 million.

“It belonged to Enzo Ferrari,” he said, and stopped talking to blow a speck of dust off its hood.

For those who don’t think a Ferrari is flashy enough, a purple and yellow 700-horsepower Hummer might do the trick. It has been outfitted with 10 flatscreen monitors, emergency lights, sirens, and a fire extinguisher. It can be found on the southernmost edge of the pier, with songs from the New Wave band Depeche Mode blaring from its speakers.

“I like to park it outside a club,” its caretaker, Jhan Dolphintheme, said. “When you pull up, the club empties out.”