Has anybody been to the Carslile Import Nats? Anyone going? The upcoming show (May16-18) Is supposed to feature British vehicles. Anyone headed down from MA or CT?

 

I've got a friend of mine that goes there every year, he and his dad both have 951's, along with their 914 and 968 cab. I'd be interested in going over there, so long as they don't harass us about the background of the new MINI, and whether it's really English or not

 

We had a LOT of MINIs last year. In fact it was the best Imports show at Carlisle in a long time. MANY more cars than the past few years. There are only a very few Minis. The MINIs outnumber them heavily so don't worry about it. It's a all Imports show and there's no bias.

When I say it's a import show, it's truly that NOT a mostly Japanese / Tuner show. Nothing wrong with those but just so you know. The vast majority of the cars on the fun show field are stock or close to it. I don't recall many japanese cars in fact. It's mostly european imports as I recall. In fact the Volvo and SAAB groups are among the biggest. It's also a kit / replicar show and that's fun too. Add in fairgrounds food, (which I like - Smoked sausages, mmmmm) lots of Diecast dealers, shirts, caps, guys who specialize in old brochures for your vintage car, and the large number of generic cheap tool / fleamarkety vendors which I enjoy.

Here's a thread with lots of info on this years MINIs at Carlisle...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=122937

 

Sweeeet, I think I'm gonna go. I've never really been to any of these enthusiast style meets and things... should be exciting!

 

Cool, im thinking about going. I used to go to the All Truck Nats there It was a great time till morons ruined the camping for everyone, and things kinda went downhill from there in other areas too. Havent been in a few years tho. It was great seeing a town like carlisle transformed to a big cruise with hooked up vehicles everywhere. Think it will be a good time.

 

Do yourself a favor and go! Just make sure you go on Sat. and not on
Sun. On Sunday everything is coming to a close and you would be dis-
appointed, Sat. however, you will have a great time

 

I don't know if this is right, but is there some sort of autox event there or something? If so, is it on Saturday then?

 

We've been going for the past couple of years and already have our reservations made for 2008 (the good places fill up quickly).

There is an auto-x, although it is set up different than any I've seen. You take multiple laps of a course with each lap timed. Not many turns, bit of elevation change, rolling start.

Some history... this show used to be the Fiero and Kit Car show (and the Fiero clubs still attend) and Imports were added to increase attendance. "Tuner" cars were also part of the show, but were split out after... umm... conflicts... arose... As a result, the imports are mainly European cars although a few older Japanese models are there.

Unlike most shows where the swap meet is a big focus, this show seems to be moving towards being mainly a car show. There is still a swap and vendor spaces are available, but for better or worse, I don't think it's the focus of the show anymore (it's not why we go).

The kit car vendor displays are really cool.

The show field features a pretty good mix of older and newer cars. The two big makes are Saab (usually the club with the mst cars as the club makes the event their Eastern National Meet) and Volvo, with VAG, BMW, and other makes represented as well your typical British cars. Last year there were about a dozen MINI's with maybe half as many Minis.

We're planning to attend with a '73 Volvo 1800ES and a '79 Spitfire... depending on the weather... if it looks like rain, we'll bring the two MINI's instead.

Even if you just plan to be there one day, register your MINI anyway. There's also day-of-show registration. It actually works out to be cheaper and you get to park on the show field (obviously much closer) vs. the general parking lots a mile away.

 

It sounds just like the All Truck Nats. we used to go to. We stopped because of... yup conflict, mostly with camping, but the local police started pulling modified vehicles over, measuring height, exhaust, etc. I would like to go to check out the scene tho.