This year’s Chrysler Nationals at Carlisle was one of those events that a person will remember for years to come, especially if it was the first time you attended an automotive event at the Carlisle Fairgrounds. This past week in July, on the 6th through the 8th, we got to witness what seemed like the world’s largest gathering of Mopar cars, enthusiasts, and parts all in one place. It was an event of epic proportions, and believe us you needed all three days to take it all in.
Upon our arrival to the Carlisle Fairgrounds Friday morning, the weather was less than cooperative with dark overcast clouds that gave way to torrential down pours by 11am, which continued all day. With all the rain that fell, it did not stop the hundreds of people from walking around the car show and swap meet area as many bought umbrellas and rain gear, or took shelter in one of Carlisle’s many display tents until the rain subsided enough to continue on.
Saturday the weather was beautiful and with it came thousands of people and many more Mopars than we saw on Friday. The Fairgrounds were jam packed with people and everything was in full swing. The show car field seemed like it went on for as far as your eyes could see, hundreds of A, B, and C-Bodies all lined up in their own rows, along with rows and rows of new Challengers, Chargers, and Ram pickups. There were show classes for everything Mopar, from stock to highly modified, it was here, oh, and we can’t forget all the AMC entries that showed up too.
Sunday brought the awards and a diminished crowd as many came from far and needed to travel back home, but it was still a good day to see a more calm and less crowded fairgrounds. Many of the swap meet vendors had packed up the night before which made Sunday an easy day to look for parts without stressing out over a huge crowd.
The swap meet area was enormous and took us the majority of two mornings to explore every isle, with the parts ranging from the 1920s to 2011. If you needed something rare for your ‘Cuda or Charger it was there, and yes plenty of Shaker hoods, Six-Pack setups, and of course HEMI parts. Just the vast display of all the vendors set up in this huge 82-acre facility left us wondering if we would be able to see all the parts that were here.
It did not matter if you needed sheetmetal or a date-coded intake manifold, all you had to do was ask, and chances are someone had it or knew a guy selling one. If you know the Mopar culture, they are a tight knit group and they know who has what, and where it is, so with all the new and used parts that were here, there was no question you would find what you were looking for.
Just in front of the fairgrounds at Carlisle was one of the neatest displays we have ever seen: Beeney Motors, a retro style dealership complete with cars and memorabilia from 1971. The front windows were painted with the Dodge Demon and Plymouth Duster logos along with a few other enticing promotional ads to draw potential customers in to see the new models.
It was as if you went back in 1971 all over again and the attention to detail was amazing. Inside were all the new model Dodges and Plymouth cars, with a service area that included Dick Landy’s famous pro stock Challenger, and a real HEMI cutaway engine, believed to be one of only eight that Chrysler produced.
Along with all the show cars and parts for sale, Carlisle had a full schedule of entertainment in store for us over the weekend, there were celebrities like John Schneider (Bo Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard” television series), Dan Woods from the show “Chop Cut Rebuild” was present at the Legendary Auto Interiors booth signing autographs, and American Graffiti co-star Paul Lemat (who played John Milner) was there with his yellow ’32 Deuce coupe.
There was the famous Chrysler’s at Carlisle Burnout Contest, a Miss Chrysler Bikini Contest, and Carlisle’s Giveaway of a ’99 Chrysler Sebring convertible and a big block engine giveaway sponsored by Muscle Motors and Mopar Muscle. Some of the most unique attractions were the Celebrity Movie Cars featuring Christine, the General Lee, the Batmobile, “Starsky and Hutch” Grand Torino and many more.
The Survivor Display was awesome featuring some of the rarest low mileage Mopars known to exist all under one roof. The manufacturers midway had a huge turnout of all the big vendors and manufacturers like Indy Cylinder Heads, Comp Cams, Mancini Racing, Red Letter Dodge, and Mopar Performance. If you wanted to see how much power your car made there was a chassis dyno there as well.
Knowing how big the turnout was and how much we loved this year’s Chryslers at Carlisle, we are already looking forward to next years event and you should too. Its definitely a must attend event, so mark it on the calender for next year.
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