Capital Area Mopars |
|
Supplemental - Carlisle Special Edition |
2003-07-15 |
It was a very early bright and sunny morning when I left Rockland to meet Gil at his place. The sun was just rising and was casting a red and violet glow throughout the countryside, very peaceful and tranquil.
Too bad I wasn’t driving the ‘Cuda this year but I was looking forward to driving down with Gil in his 1970 Dodge Polara Super Light-equipped Station Wagon.
Getting to Gil’s at 5:30 AM, we proceeded to pack said wagon with various spare parts, tranny and rad fluid, oil, Gil’s ghetto blaster, and most importantly, our special passenger, “Kimmie”... :)
Tim and Dean arrived shortly thereafter and after tuning into Channel 6 on our FRS radios, we headed off down the 416 for our 7:30 AM appointment at Mallorytown.
Upon arrival, we were met by Pete King, followed by Yuri in his mint 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. No sign of Neil yet in his 1965 Barracuda S as we sipped on our extra-large Tim Horton coffees... ah, there he is, roaring in right on time at 8:00 AM.
The convoy rolled out and headed out to the 1000 Islands Bridge. $3.00 dollars now for the bridge toll charge!!!
Upon arrival at the border, and much to Gil and my chagrin, it appeared that we had a female US Border Guard who may have taken exception to our “passenger” in the back.
Much to our collective relief, she thought it was hilarious and apparently was still chuckling about this several cars later after we crossed through... It’s always nice to see a good sense of humour in officialdom.
Fort Drum came up next on I-81 and where the hell is Yuri?!! Loaded up on fuel and proceeded on our way, eventually surmising that he stopped at the duty-free to load up.
This was the point where Gil and I discovered that the Polara at 75 mph in high winds had the most unwanted tendency to sway back and forth. Poor Gil had to wrestle-steer the car all the way down to our first break at Burger King where we took a much-needed break.
After discussing the situation with the guys, Gil and I decided that a slower speed would be easier to manage and so after Gil “decompressed” a bit, we took off ahead of everyone as we assumed we would be passed shortly afterwards. Little did we know that would be the last time we saw our fellow CAM members until Carlisle!
I guess that Polara is a lot faster than it looks, perhaps the addition of the Super Light helped, eh, Gil?
Arriving at Carlisle around 5:00 PM, we headed over to Registration and registered while waiting for everyone to show up. Hoping that nothing bad had happened, we were relieved to see everyone pull in about an hour later, woo hoo, we made it first!!!
We took a fast look around the fairgrounds and met Christine guarding their cherished 1969 Dodge Charger Hemi R/T, followed by Al and Clode, who had arrived the day before to load the car into Building “T”.
Gathering everyone up, we finished our trip up at the Amerihost Inn in Shippensburg, PA, checked-in, and then headed out to dinner.
My main mission at Carlisle this year was to have fun and gather up information from the various vendors for my 1969 Hemi Dart project. The following is a list of manufacturers websites that you may find interesting to check out:
Hot Heads Research & Racing, Inc. “Specializing in Early Hemi Engine Parts”
Redline Gauge Works “Automotive Instrument and Gauge Restoration Repair”
Krusin Moons Mopar Specialties “Fender Mounted Turn Signals...”
The Right Stuff Detailing “Exact Reproduction Brake and Fuel Line Systems”
Fine Lines “Reproduction Brake Lines, Fuels Lines...”
Dave Aydelotte Race Electronics “Chrome-moly tubular K-member”
Reilly MotorSports and BigBlock Dart “AlterKtion complete front-end suspension kit”
Hardens Muscle Car World
Layson’s Restorations
Mancini Racing Enterprises, Inc. “Disc Brake Conversion Kit”
The Paddock Performance & Restoration Parts
Passon Performance “Specializing in Chrysler A-833 4 speed Transmissions”
(570) 401-8949
Penstar Reproductions “Mopar restoration parts”
ESPO Springs ‘n Things “Springs, mounts, etc.
Legendary Auto Interiors Ltd. “The Interior Specialists”
www.legendaryautointeriors.com
And a host of other vendors to numerous to list here, just come on down and walk the market!
Personal observations this year:
- People going into the NOS part tent are nuts, filthy rich or both... Suggestion, have your
Walkman play “Mas Que Nada” when you walk in...
- E-body parts are going ballistic! Example, 1971 ‘Cuda grille for only $2750.00 US funds!!!
- Lots of good and bad deals in the Car Corral.
- A whole bunch of winged and hemi cars this year, asking prices between $69,500 up to
and including $175,000!!!
- Vendors pulling out early Sunday morning are going to get their knuckles rapped for next
year, in my humble opinion.
- 18" retro-style Cragar wheel rims with low-profile (40 series) red-line wheels are cool and
look fantastic on cars, really lends that Hot Wheel look to them.
Apparently, Gil and I missed Southern hospitality including authentic peach cobbler Saturday night but damn, we were tired!
And so, another year at Carlisle has come and gone, lots of stories to reminisce about at the ‘Nut but here’s one CAM member looking forward to driving down (hopefully) with some winged cars next year.... :)