Carlisle 2007 wrap-up

Well folks, it’s in the books. And, I have to say that my first Carlisle All-Ford Nationals was more fun and more successful than I had hoped. I am still riding the adrenaline rush of it all. I haven’t had a decent nights sleep since Thursday of last week. It’s all a blur. We had many of the people who had previously committed join us as well as a good number who found out about us at the show join us on-the-fly. I sought out nearly every limited edition LX 5.0 Convertible I saw and told them what we were doing. Many found us on their own.

I already gave a brief summary of my travels and arrival at Building T so here’s a recap of the rest of the weekend.

Friday
I got to the show around 9:00 AM. I first spent some time indoors with the other owners of the limited editions. The display was right in the center of Building T. Great location.

My 1993 triple white (click on each image for a larger view)

Barry Andersen’s 1992 Vibrant Red

Mike and Barb Poore’s 1993 Canary Yellow:

Bill Roever’s 1990 Emerald Green 7-up

By the time I got out to the tent parking was getting tight. There were only 7 or 8 of our cars there by the tent but cars were closing in from both sides. The Bad Mustangs Club was on one side and had parked very near our tent in order to block out some space for themselves. Ultimately, I ended up speaking to the gentleman in charge of show field parking to inform him of the situation. He stated that they would be doing a drive around during the day and re-evaluating the show field parking situation at the end of the day. He said that we did not need to stake out our own territory. We had enough parking for Friday, so I headed back to my hotel in the early afternoon.

On Friday night, I met up with Chet Ziedler and Rick Melby who were also staying at the Holiday Inn in Mechanicsburg. This hotel also happened to be the hotel for many members of the Yellow Mustang Registry and also the Merkur club. The back of the hotel was pretty much dominated by the two groups.

At one point, our discussion turned to wrecked Mustangs and that night I spent part of it tossing and turning on the issue and toying with the idea of restarting my search for an appraiser while at Carlisle. That always seemed to be a good first step down the path of protecting my investment but I never had success in locating someone who would appraise my Mustang. I also knew that Grundy Insurance was there and maybe they would be worth a chat with.

Saturday
On Saturday, I got stuck in traffic getting to the show and, although I intended to arrive earlier, did not arrive until after 9:00 AM. I was amazed to see that seven 1992’s had managed to line up together. This was an incredible site. The grassy area behind this line of cars quickly filled in with others.

While away from the show field in Building T, I overheard someone ask another whether they had seen the line of red cars on the show field. Pretty cool to be noticed like that.

All together, 21 cars were with us on the show field. The breakdown was as follows.

10 – 1992 Vibrant Red
1 – 1993 Canary Yellow w/black interior
1 – 1993 Canary Yellow w/white interior
3 – 1993 Vibrant White
6 – 1990 Emerald Green 7-up

There was a 700 mile 1992 owned by David Landrow. David and I had corresponded numerous times leading up to Carlisle. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him in person. I got there after David had left the tent area and when I was under the tent I only saw David as he drove out in the late morning/early afternoon. His spot was quickly filled with Clint’s triple white.

Both interior color choices of the 1993 Canary Yellow were represented.

When Jeff Goldman and his crew arrived with their five cars, folks were nice enough to let them through to park in the center between rows.

A number of 1990 Emerald Green cars lined up on the opposite side of the tent from the reds.

The line of 1990 Emerald Green 7-ups was broken up by one Red hatch (long story).

The tent provided much needed shade for everyone. It was HOT.

I asked Mike Poore who had his yellow 1993 with my car in Building T if he had ever consider an appraisal. He replied by saying that there is no one to go to; we are the best experts on these cars. How true that statement is.

As the day went on I pretty much dismissed the thought of appraisals and insurance. Too much to see, too many people to talk to, etc. At some point I decided that I had better see more of the show than Building T and the tent. I started walking around the car corral and swap meet/vendor sections to see what was going on. I wanted to make one loop through. Just as I started to turn back toward the tent area, I happened upon a booth on appraisals. I asked a few questions and before I knew it I was making plans to have my car appraised at the show. I got a good feeling from talking with the firm’s representatives and I figured what better time as my car would never be cleaner. The whole thing took a little over two hours from when I happened upon the booth until my appraisal was done. It will be a few weeks before I get the results. One thing they would like to incorporate into the write-up is the history of my car in terms of ownership and everything else I know. They said the best thing I could do was to write a paper on my car. That was my homework assignment from Carlisle and I will write more on that here in the near future.

Sunday
I went in very early to take pictures of the Building T display when no one was around. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I wanted to have enough pictures of. I took around 130 pictures and about 6 minutes of video. In addition to the individual cars, I got some nice pictures of the whole group.

There were some nice rears at the show too…

The experience was pretty darn close to perfect. My only complaint is that the show guide had the wrong text description next to the picture of my car. I guess I shouldn’t complain as the pictures of the other three cars were not even the actual cars that were displayed. Also, the sign that they provided for display next to my car also had the incorrect text. Luckily, they provided a nice souvenir that made up for it.

All the cars looked good. I don’t think mine would have looked as good without the advice from Ken (cobra2top) about Zaino. I had looked at it a couple years ago but it seemed like too much work and a bit too much like a chemistry experiment. After I saw Ken’s results I was convinced to try it. I used two coats of polish to get this result. Swirl marks I could previously not get out with my wax regimen are almost entirely gone. A couple more buffs and they will be. Thanks Ken, I owe you one!

At 8:00 AM, the show field was pretty dead. Just one triple white covered under the tent. Weather-wise, Sunday was the bad day. Rain was forecast and the usually light Sunday attendance was probably lighter than usual. This lonely picture says it all but at the same time shows off the sign I made to tell the world what are cars were about.

So, the only question remains is how many cars will we get next year? I’m up for it if you are. I may have to look to others to help with a portion of the planning and organization. This was a lot of work to make happen. I spent countless hours in front of my computer. It was all worth it in the end. I met many people n person that I had previously only known through on-line correspondence. Some people I did not meet at all. I had my family with me and tried to balance time with them, time on the show field at the tent and time with my car in Building T. For those of you there that I didn’t meet in person, I apologize. Although, I assume you came to be with others like yourself (and not just to meet me) and I think that happened. You are a great community and I thank you all for attending!