Before I had my license, I begged my dad to take me to the fairgrounds at Carlisle. It was one of the biggest car flea markets in the country and it was only three hours away from my Wilmington home. Dad wasn’t a car guy, but he loved me enough to take me there, where I saw lots of things that I’d only seen in magazines.

Make sure to visit the Photo Gallery HERE.

Fast forward to June, 2010, and I paid my first visit to the Carlisle GM Nationals. Being a Pontiac guy who owns an Oldsmobile, I figured there were two brands that pressed my buttons, but there was plenty more to press. No doubt the event’s most popular show cars were F-bodies – especially from 1993 to the present – but my interest is piqued by vintage iron.

This 1969 SS427 stood out because of the rare Liquid Tire Chain and light monitor options.

I started out near the car corral, which is where the big Chevrolets were being shown. Contrast the blue Impala above – the last of the Impala Super Sports – with the last of the 409s, which was replaced mid-1965 with the 396.

Moving on down, I stumbled upon a host of Buicks. This ’69 Electra was a great example how Buicks attracted the likes of dentists and other well-to-do members of society.

It’s quite a contrast from the hottest Buick from the muscle car era, the 1970 GSX. Only 678 of them were built, but this is the one and only modified by Motion Performance of Baldwin, Long Island, NY.

Oldsmobiles started to pop up amongst the Buicks. This Cutlass S was a great representative for 1972 because of its color – new for that year – plus you don’t see “regular” Cutlasses in this kind of condition. Compare it to the ’72 Hurst/Olds.

All that horsepower (OK, so they were low compression by ’72) was inspired by 1949 and later Oldsmobiles, among the first American cars to offer high compression motors. Considering the horsepower race really started in 1955, why not show an Oldsmobiles from that year?

Oldsmobile steadily increased horsepower through 1967, but 1968’s 4-4-2s received a new long-stroke 400 that actually hurt performance. In fact, the sticks were rated at 350-hp while the automatics (like this car) were rated at 325-hp.

Add a bigger cam, better heads, and Oldsmobiles’ famous air induction system and you got the W-30 package. You don’t see them too often partly due to their rarity (around 1,100 built in 1969) and partly because everyone wants a ’70 with the 455.

Turning the corner and walking back, I was presented with more Buicks, this time, Rivieras. They had more of these than even Gran Sports! The 1971s have come into their own even though they are a love/hate-kind of car. Me? I think they’re pretty nifty!

Of course, the first ones from 1963-65 are perhaps the best designed American cars of the 1960s, but they were scarce at Carlisle; however, I was truly surprised to see a good number of 1966-67 and 1968-69 versions.

Walking to the end of the aisle, I skipped the Novas (no nice L79 cars or anything like that, unfortunately) but found the Chevelles. The first year for the El Camino SS396 was 1968, even though the 396 was available on the “Elkie” since 1966. This maroon example with tan interior was a stand-out. Compare it with this rare Chevelle SS396 ragtop, which is also in the same color but has the stripe package.

But now it was time for the Camaros! First encounter was the pace car tent, which had Camaro pacers from every year and then some – here’s a rare ’67 plus its ’82 cousin.

In mid-year 1970, Chevrolet debuted the Camaro’s first redesign. Despite it being a better car in just about every way, collectors flock to the 1967-69s. This particular Camaro is a Super Sport, which was nowhere near as popular as it used to be; the Z/28 was beginning to be everyone’s favorite performance Camaro. Compare that with the Firebird, which maybe wasn’t as popular as the earlier ones but the Trans Am began to gain momentum, culminating with Smokey and the Bandit seven years later. And while everyone went crazy over black and gold Trans Ams, some people preferred the more subdued Formula.

I finally reached the GTOs – my favorite from my youth, and still the one to which all others are compared. I don’t think I saw a ’64 – the “original” – there, and there were only three Judges in total, but this Judge caught my eye.

Most of them were painted Carousel Red, but after February 20, 1969, one could order a Judge in any color. This one here is Limelight Green, which isn’t an uncommon color for GTOs as far as I know but it’s rather rare for a Judge. In sunlight it’s almost drool-inducing! Compare it with the silver ’70 Judge right beside it – notice how they changed the spoiler and stripes, among other things, for 1970.

Come 1971, GM lowered the compression on all its engines but that doesn’t mean the new cars were slow; history as proven that the 1971 455HO GTO was a monster just about on par with the hallowed Ram Air IV.

But Pontiac was so much more than Firebirds and GTOs. After all, it was #3 in sales for much of the 1960s, no doubt due to the sporty nature of all its cars, from the Catalina to the high-zoot Bonneville. Check out this ’62 Bonnie with period modifications!

As a veteran of the Mopar show at Carlisle, I’ve seen their mock dealership (this year will be the 40th anniversary of 1970’s models), so I headed to the old converted John Deere dealership on the perimeter of the fairgrounds to see what the organizers did for the GM folks. Outside, a gaggle of late-model Camaro “Supercars” were lined up, and inside, a bunch of vintage Chevy Supercars were waiting to be bought like it was 1970. Amongst the Yenkos and Dick Harrells were some special “regular” Chevys that would make any Bow Tie guy grin.

Going back to the service area showed an even more beautiful sight.

So I made it all the way to the other end of the fairgrounds with a lot of zig-zagging in-between. Boy, was I tired! I wasn’t looking forward to my four hour drive, but there were still a few other things to hit – off to the barns!

The Corvair had a companion Corvan Greenbrier for a few years, and a variation of the Corvan was the Rampside pickup, perfect for landscapers! Alas, it didn’t sell too well, but it’s a neat forward control truck, no? Maybe not as neat as this car, though – a 1965 Bonneville with the 421HO and a 4-speed! Dig the 8-lug wheels . . .

I know Chevy people won’t agree with me, though, as they probably would prefer a Camaro like this COPO L72 car, which was quite nice in its black and red trim combo.

So, now, more than six hours later, I was done! I headed out to my car – I had my “secret” parking space where I didn’t have to pay – and I passed by the car corral that I ignored before. Lots of cars were now gone for the day, but I will leave you with this image from 1973…