If you had dropped by the Auburn Auction Park a few days ago, you would have seen the general manager and chief financial officer on their hands and knees painting the big stage where autos are displayed when they come up for sale.

So much for the notion that CFOs only wear suits and crunch numbers.

That just gives you an idea of the amount of work that the people with Auctions America by RM have had to put in at the sprawling facility.

The company bought the old Kruse International Auction business and park only two months ago, and in that time it has had to renovate and clean the entire place. Everyone has been working 16-hour days, seven days a week, says Kerrey Kerr-Enskat, public relations director for RM.

The ceiling of the big auction barn used to be a tangle of wires and banners. They’re all gone now. The lights that hung from the ceiling weren’t secured properly. They could have fallen, so they had to be re-hung. What is called the mezzanine, a wooden structure that formed a sort of balcony in the barn, wasn’t supported correctly and could have fallen, too, so that had to be reinforced.

The huge lot that surrounded the auction barn used to be largely gravel, and it would kick up a huge amount of dust. Now it has all been paved, about 1 million square feet, and the floor in the auction barn has been repaved, too.

Workers have installed new lighting in the auction barn, along with a new sound system, wireless Internet access, fiber optics and shiny new aluminum bleachers. The restrooms have all been renovated.

In all, the company went through 3,000 gallons of paint, covering up all references to the previous owner. One worker even had the unenviable task of scrubbing the name Kruse off the countless orange traffic cones that are used to direct traffic around the auction grounds.

All that work comes together starting today, when the auto auction kicks off its four-day run in conjunction with Auburn’s Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival. So far, about 1,000 cars have been consigned for the auction, and 300 car owners have signed up to put their cars in the car corral, where they will try to sell them themselves.

The roads in the corral, by the way, also have been paved to cut down on dust.

RM, which started out 30 years ago as a one-man shop that restored old automobiles, has grown to become the largest auto auction company in the world, according to Kerr-Enskat. But the Auburn auction will be the largest event it has ever held, by far.

Most of RM’s sales are one-day affairs with perhaps 80 cars, polite affairs that draw serious bidders, people with money who are there to buy cars.

Auburn, though, is different. It draws serious bidders, but it also draws spectators, people who might not be able to afford new tires, but who just want to watch high-end cars go on the block for prices they could never hope to pay.

RM, based in Canada, has been welcomed into town with overwhelming good will, Kerr-Enskat said. There’s no wondering about who this new company RM is. People are just delighted that there is going to be an auction.

There was some fear that after the previous owner ran into financial problems and lost his auctioneer’s license that the auction wouldn’t happen and the thousands of people who visit to watch or bid wouldn’t come.

It’s been a Herculean task, Kerr-Enskat said, making all the physical improvements and organizing the huge auction in just two months, but the company appears to have pulled it off.

And for the people who are just lookers, there’s even some good news. Admission is just $10 a person for one day, or $25 for a four-day pass. The admission used to be $20 a person.

“We were aware of feedback that it was not affordable for a family,” Kerr-Enskat said. “We want to encourage as much participation as possible.”