2007 Carlisle All GM Nationals

[Camino LS6]

Yesterday, Black and Blue Landscaper and I made the trip out the PA turnpike for this event ahead of a terrible fatal accident which later shut down the turnpike for many hours. Once there, we met up with Ocnblu and had a great time checking out all that there was to see at this year's event.

We saw the Camaro Concept convertible ,of course, and I spoke very briefly with the Fbodfather himself though there was no time to really chat since his time is more than spoken for at events like this.

I've decided to do something different this time rather than simply posting the pics, after each one I will at least caption it. In some cases I will expand on an aspect of the show which is related to the posted pic. Please withhold your comments until all of the pics (about 50) are posted.

One other point before we start, I remember recent critcism of Saturn's Brand Advocate program which our own Flybrian was a part of which demanded to know where Saturn was at non-GM arranged events. Well, I can tell you that they were there in force at this show taking and entire block of space in the center of the fairgrounds. Aura, Sky,Vue, and Outlook were prominently displayed. Not that the rest of GM went unrepresented, far from it, with The Fbodfather bringing the Camaro vert, his Atomic Orange Zo6, and a host of cars from the GM collection for display. And, Chevy brought 3 new Silverados (including a new Duramax), a Trailblazer SS, and an HHR which were all available for a test drive (read accelleration test) up the steep hill and the around a route through the parking areas of the fairgrounds. I drove the new Duramax and the Trailblazer SS. Ther wer other new GMs there as well: Hummers,Solstice,a few Buicks...

There were other points of interest as well at the show, but I'll let the captioning tell those stories.

So, on to the pics!

B&B spied this rare white, automatic Firehawk parked just outside of gate 3 at the show. The Firehawk count inside totalled only one real 'Hawk and one fake.

This rare Chevy Monza Mirage was one of the cars brought in from the GM collection.

a shot of 2 of the three (55-57) Nomads on display with the GM collection cars, these were privately owned and invited to be part of this special display.

A rear shot of the Camaro Convertible Concept.

Front shot

The Fbodfather made it into this shot but his back is turned.

interior

Here is the VIN on the Camaro, I was a little surprised to see that it actually carried one. Note the "EX" at the end.

[Camino LS6]

Onward:

This insane custom '57 vert featured 8, count 'em,8 turbos.

The car was named "Inciner8tor"

And... it was from (of all places) Alaska!

I decided that it would be cool to show a few of the "projects" available.

There were quite a few big, 60s Pontiacs there in a wide range of conditons, Balthazar should have been with us!

Super rare 1986 Grand Prix 2+2 (Aerocoupe). Very few were built, and the seller of this one claims only 300 are left. I nearly bought a slightly damaged one back in about '89.

Rear 3/4 view

[Camino LS6]

Forward!

Absolutely the sweetest Chevelle at the show: 502 power,4-wheel disc, Hotchkiss suspended, triple black, '71 SS vert! This thing sounded sooo sweet!

Project Buick, anyone?

Incredible custom first-gen Firebird 400 vert. The level of detail on this car was simply stunning.

Another invited show car, this Yenko duece really pushed my buttons.

No worries, Olds wasn't left out. :AH-HA_wink:

see?

[Camino LS6]

to continue:

Very tastefully done first gen Camaro.

The Saturn Display.

The GMMG Supercars were on display under one tent with HP ratings from 380 to the 630 on this Dick Harrel editon.

The GMMG lineup.

The front of the Dick Harrel car. Remember the Sunoco show car GM did in 2003? GMMG bought the molds from GM to create these monsters.

Spec label.

A slightly tamer? GMMG product.

[Oracle of Delphi]

The vin says that Camaro was built in the USA.

[Camino LS6]

Broadening the scope:

You don't want this in your rear view mirror.

I love that GM didn't scrap these demo cars, a few of them escorted the Concept Camaro at it's public Ren Cen debut.

Spirit of America edition Caprice.

Very nice '57 Sedan Delivery.

It's 265 smallblock with dual quads and "batwing" air cleaner. Yup, it was a factory option!

The Heavy Chevy pilot car! The '70 Camaro Pilot car was also present (sorry, no pic).

The only '58 Sedan Delivery I have ever seen.

[Camino LS6]

One more group after this one.

Vintage GMC with a huge,early V6!

Very rare 1970 Monte Carlo SS 454.

Goats on a hill.

Late day view of a portion of the showfield.

The grandstand view of the main stage as they prepared to choose "Miss Carlisle". Ask B&B about "JJ".

[Camino LS6]

Final group. After choosing "Miss Carlisle" they moved on to the burnout contest. There was also a rock climbimg area at the top of the hill where various Jeeps and a Blazer crawled all over a pile of boulders. One of them rolled with a very loud crash - we lost B&B for quite some time at this attraction. There was also automotive music coming from the Dyno all day long.

On to the burnouts!

Monza!

What we saw after his "practice"

Monza again. He eventually blew the right rear tire apart.

4th gen. He broke something as this car was smoking from the exhaust later on.

A '67 takes its turn.

A respectable job by this mid-2nd gen.

This second gen was a full-on race car and he couldn't keep the car from trying to launch, if he had been able to, he would have been an easy winner.

The winner!

Along with the '67 owner this guy was a crowd favorite. Man does he have a clean-up job ahead of him!

On our way back to the truck, I had to get a pic of this 41k original-mile '75 M/C for sale.

That's all folks!

[I hope GMRULES again]

Nice pics. I've never been to the all GM show . Can anyone try out the cars like you did or do you have to "Know" someone?

[Camino LS6]

Nice pics. I've never been to the all GM show . Can anyone try out the cars like you did or do you have to "Know" someone?

Any licensed driver can do it.

[ocnblu]

Good, solid thread, Camino. Nice to see you again sir, and good to finally meet B&BL.

Yeah, I saw that burned-out semi behind a line of crunched cars on the way home.

[Camino LS6]

Good, solid thread, Camino. Nice to see you again sir, and good to finally meet B&BL.

Yeah, I saw that burned-out semi behind a line of crunched cars on the way home.

Thanks,my friend.

The wreck was really nasty, three fatalities and 3 or 4 burned out cars. One car was crushed beneath the tractor of the Semi, which also burned to bits. There were other injuries and a 40+ mile section of the highway was closed for more than 8 hours.

Glad we got an early start, or we would have spent our day there instead of the show.

[Camino LS6]

Link to story and videos:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=...&id=5415318

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Nice photos. Those take me back to a time when car design was a work or art and not just a car. They had style and grace. GM is getting back to that again. I saw Black vipers arm in the photos with the Camaro. I knew it was him because of his arm and his shirt.

[ocnblu]

Uh... Blackviper wasn't there, Ninety-Eight.

[Black and Blue Landscaper]

good times were had by all and it was good to finally meet ocn.

yes the rock crawl was very distracting and i would have loved to

have stayed however there was a whole mess of vehicles i had

yet to see. interesting side note to the crawling demo, when the

gentleman rolled his jeep on to the passenger side, there was a

waitress from a family restaurant that was carefully picked

(for the thick she was a hooters girl) so she really got a taste of

what rock crawling is all about. there was a lot of fun to be had by

anyone who enjoys gm or sunburn, and i kinda wish we could have

stayed all weekend.

miss j.j. was my pick for miss carlise 2007 shes kind of a petite girl

the way i like'em. and camino forgot to say why the '67 was such a

crowd favorite.

it goes like this...he rolled up to the burnout box and the annoying

announcer asked him a few questions including where are you from

to which he answered "Connecticut"

which was swiftly followed by badgering about why he would enter

a burnout contest if he had to drive back. anyway he rolled into the

box and started to light his tires. he went about 3 times and called it

quits. as he left there was smoke pouring out of the inside of the car

and you could not see into it but the driver gave a "thumbs up to the

crowd. as the driver stepped out more smoke

started to pour out and the crowd loved it. after a few minutes the

driver opened the trunk and more smoke poured out of the car.

the crowd went nuts.

as far as i could tell he did not break anything.

but it was very enjoyable to watch.

and the 2nd gen race camaro was awesome to listen to i just wish the

car would have stayed still...

all in all the only thing that could have made the day better was

lots of money, beer, and j.j.'s number.

[Camino LS6]

Well said!

[z28luvr01]

Nice pics Camino! Shoot, this sounded like a great time. I know I said I was gonna go, but personal stuff got in the way. I'm still game for the Corvette show at the end of August.

[Camino LS6]

Nice pics Camino! Shoot, this sounded like a great time. I know I said I was gonna go, but personal stuff got in the way. I'm still game for the Corvette show at the end of August.

Thanks Z, too bad you couldn't make it it would have been great to have you there.

As for the Corvette show, I've never had a reason to go to that one.

But who knows when I might. :AH-HA_wink:

[gm4life]

That looks like fun anyways.

[camaro]

I was at that show on Saturday and it was amazing! They had a 2007 Chevy 2500HD with the Duramax available for a test drive. I laid 2 thick strips of rubber over 100 feet long. That diesel is sick!

[Chevyguy2001]

Did anybody check out the Cobalts????? I was there.....I had the Laser Blue SS/SC, oh and BTW I won 1st Place!!!!!

I also have a few pics of the show too...

[Camino LS6]

Congratulations, Chevyguy!

Saw the Cobalt lineup, would have stopped to chat if I knew you were there.

[GMTruckGuy74]

I was there on Saturday, and since it was the beginning of a three-day getaway, we had an early start (and thank God too, as I missed the accident completely). Before I post my pictures below, I want to add a different perspective about this show. To put it simply, I was disappointed. If you're a Camaro or Chevy fan, then this show was for you. Most of the rest of the GM brands didn't have a great following. Out in the showfield, there was one '57 Olds 98 coupe, one '07 SKY Redline, one Solstice, just a handful of classic GMC Trucks... and this was on Saturday, the main day of the show. I told my wife I should have entered the SKY - I would have taken either 1st or 2nd place!!! The same sentiment was felt by the '57 Olds owner... when I told him he'll be taking 1st since there was no other competition in his group, he replied, "Where's the fun in that?". Even in the vendor area, they could have put all of the vendors in three or four rows rather than spreading them all out. In the T-Building where the Camaro Convertible Concept and invitational cars were, it was predominitely CHEVY (I understand that the '57 model year and the Bel-Air were the guest, but the only other '57s were a Caddy Eldorado and an Olds 88 sedan). Even GM only showed Chevy cars from it's heritage collection... there are other cars & trucks they could have brought too (like the Pontiac G8, Buick Supers, Yukon Hybrid, etc). I got the feeling that this show is losing it's interest outside of the Chevy folks, which is a darned shame because how many other large all-GM shows are there? I know next year I'll definitely be taking the SKY, and I suggest that many of us C&Ger's that attended the show this year do the same. We can even enter as a club. How about it guys???

About the brand new vehicle displays... there were more than in the past, and this is a good thing. The Saturns (OUTLOOK, SKY RL, AURA) were from the local Saturn dealership (in Carlisle). I spoke with several of the sales staff and Saturn event staff there - I had my Saturn hat and a SKY t-shirt on, so they started the conversations with me! They were impressed that not only did I have a SKY, but an AURA too. They were disappointed that I didn't enter the SKY, as they stated there was only one in the whole group (competition). Over at the Chevy event tent, I test drove the brown Silverado Crew Cab LTZ 4wd Z71... I have to say I'm very impressed with the way it rode, performed and felt and my 13 y-o stepson was impressed with the rear seat comfort. It makes me want a Sierra just a little bit more than before going to the show. As for the other brands, the wife liked seeing the Acadia and Enclave pretty much side-by-side, and she still likes the Lucerne. She sat in the OUTLOOK and likes the Lambdas all together, so I forsee getting a Sierra won't be happening any time soon (but I'm an optimistic person, so who knows?).

Overall, it was a beautiful day with unseasonably great weather (all past shows have been too hot, humid, and in some cases thunderstorms and rainy). For a Chevy show it was great, but for a GM show it needs to get better. Enjoy my pictures, and feel free to ask any questions you have about them.

Btw, how many of you saw the swarm of bees at the wooden tables behind the Grandstand? There must have been a 1,000 of them! There was a nest under one of the tables and someone must have disturbed it. I quickly got out of the way since I'm allergic, but a half-hour later the ground crew had the area sprayed and taped off - no more bees!

[GMTruckGuy74]

More....

[GMTruckGuy74]

And more...

[GMTruckGuy74]

And even more...

[GMTruckGuy74]

[GMTruckGuy74]

[Camino LS6]

Great pics!

Glad you didn't get caught in that wreck - I was starting to wonder when I didn't hear from you.

I agree that the non-Chevy owners need to get their butts out there for this show. And I like the idea of a C&G club registration next year.

[ocnblu]

Very nice pics of some very sweet vehicles, GMTG74 and ChevyGuy. That blue circa '81 Grand Prix is a clean, simple stunner, I'd love to have that. It's much nicer than the one I had from '81-'83.

I'm sorry we missed you, sir, and ChevyGuy, and anyone else who was there from C&G. We stopped by the Saturn display, it was good to see that. We saw the line of Cobalts, didn't realize one of them was yours, ChevyGuy. Congrats on the win!

[GMTruckGuy74]

Great pics!

Thanks! There were over 150 that I downloaded from my digital camera's memory card. Those are only 46!

Glad you didn't get caught in that wreck - I was starting to wonder when I didn't hear from you.

Thanks for your concern! Yeah, I didn't get home until later Monday night; we stopped by my parents house on the way home (the "kids" bought them some goodies from Hershey) and my mom told me about the accident then. What a nightmare - 3/4 people dead, a loss of 4 vehicles, and the PA Turnpike closed for a long lenght of time. Boy am I glad we didn't have to go home from Carlisle. That would explain the traffic that I experienced getting off at Harrisburg/exit #247 to go to Hershey. There was a long line of traffic on 283 North and also on 322 East.

I agree that the non-Chevy owners need to get their butts out there for this show. And I like the idea of a C&G club registration next year.

Well Camino, I can't take on the full responsibility alone, but if you're willing to help out, how about we co-chair the event for 2008? I'd love to see more GM owners/enthusiasts here get invovled in the show. We'd have to decide whether the participants would enter their class (i.e. I'd park my SKY in the "SKY" catagory) or if we'd be in a non-judged car club area. We'd have to start working on it in the fall/early winter I guess. What do you think?

Ocnblu, my mom had a triple burgundy (burgundy exterior, burgundy half-vinyl top and burgundy cloth interior) '83 Grand Prix LJ that I absoulutely loved (she kept it until June '93; it had 70K on the clock). That was one strong car! There's one similar to it I pass from time-to-time in Moorestown that has the T-top option and looks like it needs work. One of these days I'm going to stop and see if it's for sale!!!

[Camino LS6]

I like the idea of trying to get enough C&G folks to go to the show to get a club area. This event is tailor -made for C&G and I think it should be our annual gathering .

Maybe we can toss the ideas around through the Winter so we have our act together for next year.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Camino, it sounds like a plan. I'll try to get some info from Carlisle within the next week or two on club participation.

On a totally separate note, here's a picture of a DIVCO (milk) truck I took inside of HERSHEYPARK:

Of all the DIVCO trucks I've seen, none have been as large as this one. It's part of a singing "Milk men" entertainment group that performs in the park (didn't watch them). It caught my attention and I thought maybe some others here would enjoy seeing it too.

[Black and Blue Landscaper]

ok no one has posted about this yet so i guess i have to.

the hero's truck. it has earned the title of the most gaudy thing to ever roll the streets. ever.

look at all the detail that was put into the truck and think about the amount of time and money

must have taken to do this, and then double it...probably...

enjoy

hero's truck

[knightfan26917]

WOW!!!!!

Nice pics everyone .

Sure wish I'd been able to be there.....ah, well.

Cort:33swm."Mr Monte Carlo.Mr Road Trip".pig valve.pacemaker

WRMNshowcase.lego.HO.model.MCs.RT.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"I want a 2-tone Chevrolet" ... BJ Thomas ... '2-Car Garage'

[mrmonte]

A friend of mine owns the Heavy Chevy pilot car. He also had a Vedoro green 69 GTO there for sale. Both are sweet

the bottom of the chevy is as nice as the top.

[SuperSport623]

great pics camino! mine are basically the same... our trip was full of "fun" including blowing the radiator hose and having to stand on the side of the road holding a sign that said "NEED WATER/COOLANT!".. but the show was great.... i was DROOLING over the Yenko Duece and the 454 Camaro....and the burnout contest was sweet.... and anyone who was there during the MISS CARLISLE contest.,.. remember the group of guys honking the airhorn somewhat frequently???? :AH-HA_wink: