 $3,000 was the price on this set of yellow ‘71 Cuda bumpers. |
Of course, Carlisle’s invitational display cars are always impressive. Remember the Dayclona crew we featured in the very first issues of Mopar Muscle? They showed up with a spectacular GTX convertible…from 1971, a year the factory had not offered such a beast. Working until the very last minute, Pam and Gary Beineke, together with friend Mike Goyette, created what may be one of the most impressive ‘coulda happened’ cars ever. The GTX and Charger lines for 1971 were pretty sleek, yet this car looks just right with the top down.
 The Dayclona crew’s GTX convertible was finished just hours before the show was slated to open. |
There were also Mr. Norm cars and show cars from Chrysler, wing machines and ‘50s era classics, plus a lot of other stuff. The aforementioned dealership display featured several stock 1967 cars up front plus a batch of race cars, a police car and a survivor Hemi car ‘under repair’ in the rear garage area. The Mopar Survivors tent located close by featured 40 unrestored machines.
A real M-code Six Pack Super Bee, restored to perfection, in the Car Corral. SOLD!!!…
 Kevin Hurd’s blue Superbird has been a celebrity in the past, and was decked out in CARS movie trim for fun in the Y Building Bird Cage, dedicated to wing cars this year. |
Carlisle’s swap meet is also legendary, but the days of easy deals have ended with the increasing value of muscle. Sure, there were bargains on ‘diamonds I the rough,’ but the NOS and rare stuff was understandably all pretty pricy. Mopar guys tend to be hoarders, and there were many vendors who unloaded stacks of taillight bezels, old carbs, and trim into piles where they were searched through. There were quite a few project cars for sale as wellin the swap. The separate Car Corral offerings ran the gamut from 150K-plus restored E-bodies to rough 2K four doors.
One trend that continues with price increases is that cars that once would have been excellent parts machines are being peddled as projects and solid pedestrian vehicles, for the parts business are being changed around. This is a ‘buyer beware’ market, as many of the best hard-to-find pieces have either been removed or replaced by less marginal items. I talked with one guy who had recently found a cherry Challanger drop-top. He was buying used pieces like a grille and trim so he could save the minty examples on the six-banger for later use. It pays to know what the sum of the whole is before jumping in on ‘a great deal.’
Carlisle does have racing action on Friday evenings at the South Mountain Dragway, while the popular events on-site included celebrity signings (Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney), a tire-blowing burnout show, and the well-attended bikini contest on Saturday night.
I’m writing this in between the just-finished Carlisle show and the York reunion, where I will be the official photographer. For the first time, the two events were not on conflicting dates, so this was my first trip back to Carlisle in about five years. Once York is over, it will be back home to start it all over again…
Stunkard can be found here at MoparMax once a month, or all the time over at www.quartermilestones.com.
