I used to 'do' the motor show press days once upon a time...in the old days, and yes they certainly went for near naked females drooling over the latest Maserati or Mercedes or whathaveyou. Prior to digital then but i did have quite a few pictures taken both at the Motor Shows and the Motorcycle Shows...many a fine statuesque figure I saw. It was an extra way of attracting the photographers to the stand when they were spoiled for choice with the cars. It helped get your car on the frontpage of tomorrows paper with a bit of luck...I remember photographing all that.. it was a hard job but someone had to do it!
But public opinion put an end to all that around the same time as public opinion put an end for example to the Miss World contest on TV. Everything changed virtually overnight and the glamour aspect of these big big shows vanished down the starchy modern plughole. The cars themselves had to provide the clamour and glamour from then on.