by KYW's Mike DeNardo
      
Mayor Nutter drove the ceremonial "first car" at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Wednesday, as preparations revved up for the Philadelphia International Auto Show.

Mayor Nutter got behind the wheel of a Honda Civic hybrid, with Auto Show chairman Scott Lustgarten in the passenger seat.

(Lustgarten:) "Start it up, but you won't hear it."

(Nutter:)  "Really?"

Surrounded by local mascots, Nutter drove the quiet car a few yards on the bridge between the Main Hall and Grand Hall, to promote Saturday's opening of the show.  

He says that as as mayor, he doesn't get the chance to drive himself much anymore:
    
"What I'd really like to do is just kind of go up and back for the rest of the afternoon and really test my driving skills."
       
The show features 700 cars from 40 manufacturers.  It opens Saturday and runs for nine days at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets, in center city Philadelphia.

(Photos: KYW's Mike DeNardo)