Well,
what can I say? The All-Chrysler Nationals at
Carlisle 2003 event was truly an incredible show!
We entered the gates and were completely taken
back at the awesome site of vendors, swap sites,
tents, cars, and people. It looked like a Mega
Rock band had just rolled into town. Seeing how
this was my first time at Carlisle I was not
expecting how big this event actually is. The hard
part was deciding what to do first and where to
start. With 1,936 show cars and more
than 1,200
vendors it was not going to be easy.
It is
not hard to see what makes this show so great and
that is with out a doubt the people. Everyone was
very nice and just happy to be at the show. The
range of parts that were available were
incredible! You could blow all your money in the
very first row if you weren't careful. The
assortment of Reproduction, NOS & OEM parts
were incredible. Most of the vendors had
everything laid out for easy pickings. Seeing how
this year we only spent one day at the show it was
hard to see everything and it left me thinking
about what did I miss?
After we
saw all of the vendors and swap, meet it was off
to the Car Corral, WOW! There was a lot of cars
for sale. I am not even going to make an estimate
in fear of being way off, but lets just say it
would put a lot of local car shows to shame! They
ranged in various conditions from needing resto's
to show winners! Once again it was really nice
meeting everyone especially the owners of
Barracuda's that were for sale. Remember folks, if
you didn't sell at Carlisle throw them on
Cudaworld.com! (shameless plug)
Considering
we had been on our feet since 6 am, it was nice to
finally sit down and have a nice cold pop in the
food section. While you sit there you realize that
the whole morning has gone by and you still
haven't even seen any of the show cars yet. As a
matter of fact between the car corral and the
swamp meet you could loose the whole day just in
those 2 sections alone, now I know why they call
this the "BIG ONE"!
After a brief rest we were back at it again, my
wife was a real trooper (man I am going to pay for
this one). As we got closer and closer to the Cuda
section we began to notice that all of the cars
were separated by model. I had only heard about
this, but when you actually see a whole row of
Cuda's almost as far as the eye can see you know
you are at The Chryslers at Carlisle show. You
almost begin to ask your self "what is so rare
about these cars? There are soooo many"
;)
For me this was the highlight of the
whole show, getting to meet some really great
people and checking out their incredible Cuda's.
Although I was hanging around the E-Bodies for
most the afternoon I still managed to check out
the other cars. Believe me, it is doable in one
day but you need at least two days to take it all
in and actually enjoy it. My body was acking and
batteries were dying, whew, time for another
break!
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Now we all know that I own a 70 AAR Cuda so of
course it was a real trip to see all of these
AAR's & T/A's lined up in a row! Everyone was
so nice down there. I met Jeff from Transamcuda.com giving
information seminars about the AAR & T/A
history. Also it was a real trip meeting Tom
Quadrini with his beautiful 1970 Plum Crazy AAR
which was the "Cuda of the Month" for February
2003. Tom was lucky enough to be photographed for
an upcoming Mopar Collector Guide issue. How cool
is that? I also had the pleasure of meeting Senior
Editor of MCG Robert Wolf. :) That is the cool
thing about this type of show, you never know who
you're standing beside.
After a long and mind boggling day at The
Chryslers at Carlisle show it was real treat to
watch the burn out show at the end of the day.
There is just something about it that seems to
always draw a crowd. Also when you hear the big
bang of some tire being grounded to a pulp it
always seems to bring a smile to your face as you
shake your head from side to side.
In
closing, I must say my wife and I had a fantastic
time in Carlisle. The variety of Mopars and parts
was second to none. I'd like to go on record
saying that if anyone out there has not been to
this meca event, you are certainly missing out. No
matter what pictures you see or what articles you
read nothing can compare to the real thing. We
loved it so much that we are already planning next
years journey. At this point I should be knee deep
into Project AAR starting this fall on
Cudaworld.com.
The Chryslers at Carlisle event is definetly a
celebration of Mopar. The organizers of the event
have spent an awful amount time making this a show
not to be missed. This extremley well organized
show has something for everyone, wether you are
there to buy your dream, fix your dream or live
the dream it is an event like this that makes the
whole hobby worth it.
See you all next
year!
Chris
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