REALLY BIG SHEW; Even Ed Sullivan would have given props to this year's domestically driven New York show.(News)(New York International Auto Show )

Byline: BOB GRITZINGER

New York's spot at the tail end of the annual auto show tour is a blessing and a curse. By the time the Big Apple's spring fling comes, much of the industry's products have been revealed on stages from Los Angeles to Geneva. At the same time, the New York International Auto Show (open to the public April 18-27) represents the automakers' last chance to show off their seen and unseen wares.

The result is a Jacob Javits Convention Center crammed with world and North American debuts, backed by many of the showstoppers that premiered elsewhere since last fall. For instance, while gazing at Cadillac's grandiose Sixteen concept, the 13.6-liter, 16-cylinder 1000-hp dream car revealed in Detroit and subsequently quashed for production, you can spin around and spot the Corvette-engined Cadillac CTS V-Series. The first production model from General Motors' Performance Division, the 2005 CTS V-Series arrives in dealerships in January packing a 400-hp 5.7-liter V8, six-speed manual tranny, performance Brembo brakes and beefier suspension.

The General also shows off the 2004 Malibu Maxx, Chevrolet's five-door ``extended-sedan'' version of the same platform that underpins the Opel Vectra and the Saab 9-3. Other GM highlights include the Buick Rendezvous Ultra, a 2004 model due early next year with a 3.6-liter 255-hp V6; and Saturn's Vue Red Line performance edition, the first Vue fitted with the Honda-built 250-hp 3.5-liter V6 that replaces the 181-hp 3.0-liter V6 in 2004 Vues. The performance Vue arrives early next year, followed in spring by the 200-hp Ion Red Line model.

Ford's next midsize car won't be on display at the show, but we're told if you imagine a 9/10th-scale model of the Ford 427 concept that debuted in Detroit you'll get a good idea of what to expect when the Mazda 6-based Futura arrives in 2005. Futura won't get the 427's 590-hp V8 revealed in January, but rather will come with a base 2.3-liter hybrid-adaptable, variable-valve-timing four-cylinder engine or the same 220-hp, 3.0-liter dohc V6 found in the Mazda. Ford sees the Futura eventually replacing Taurus in its lineup, between the entry Focus and the upmarket Five Hundred due in 2004. Ford is also book-ending the 40th anniversary Mustang with the concept version of the next-generation pony car, the Mustang GT.

Ford's luxury division shows the latest take on the hot-rod Lincoln theme, this time in the form of the Navigator K concept powered by a 385-hp, supercharged 5.4-liter SVT ...