Carlisle 2019
 

was up there today and the vendors are way down. and the prices on project cars are way up. and when I say project I mean project. didn't take a lot of pictures today besides of the new C8. which is very comfy once inside. should be a blast to drive and I can see how they are sold out. meet up with some old forum friends. the weather should be better for Saturday.

The C8 tent was full every time I went by there today . C7’s everywhere. Rainy 1st half of the day . Tomorrow looks very promising .

What kind of prices on like a 66 bare?

I was there Thursday and it was dead. If it wasnt for the C8 being there it would have been a ghost town. I know Thursday is early but I have been there plenty of times on that day and there was alway many more people. The internet, the price to get in and parking is hurting it. The hill was empty and the Car corral area was 1/10 the way full. I hope Friday was better but it was raining.

It was my first year there but I thought it was amazing. No doubt rain on Friday morning hurt attendance but I liked that it wasn't crazy crowded. Sat in on seminar presentations during the rainy parts and it cleared up around 1 . Forecast for today and tomorrow is perfect. What other car generates the spirit and enthusiasm of Corvette? There was a fantastic range of cars present, from vintage race cars to restored garage queens to everyday drivers. The C8 displays were a highlight to the event for me, although I did find some things to buy for my C1. I wondered what will happen to all the new C7s for sale at prices similar to the new C8. One of the sales guys said the allocation for the C8 was sold for 2020 and some places were taking reservations for 2021.

Thursday parts sales were slower than usual. Many people complaining about the heat. Sat was problematic in the morning... forecast was just rain during the night, but it rained up until 1130am or so, making everyone button down. Everyone quickly uncovered their stuff when it stopped and there were a couple hours of real buying after that. Later, it turned into the tire kickers. :willy:

Big parts and miscellaneous item vendors on either side of me complaining they were in the red for the weekend when I left Friday night. Many vendors left Friday night or planned to go early Sat.

Biggest crowd I've seen there in a couple of years. Friday afternoon and Saturday weather perfect. Half a dozen forum members stopped by to say hi.

I'm curious....................... and since I was unable to attend ............. did anybody here see any really RARE parts there?

Thanks,
Rex

there was a bunch of real knock offs and 67 bolt on wheels. at least 4-5 sets each. other then that nothing really special. Jack Podel (sp) had the aluminium SB there.

As far as "builder" cars go, there were more than a few and prices on some of them seemed a bit on the high side. I saw a 1966 convertible body only, no front clip and no doors or interior, just basically the rear body shell and while it wasn't too bad, there wasn't a lot there. Owner wanted 10K for it but by late Saturday it was down to $7500. On the other hand, there were some complete driving cars for pretty reasonable prices if you looked hard enough. All in all a good show this year, the C8 amped everything up quite a bit.

Vendor next to me had some nice midyear stuff, including a set of ‘67 DC wheels, caps and rings, a set of NOS ‘67 caps in boxes and a beautiful ‘66 NOS grille.

Have to wonder which comes first, the chicken or the egg. The vendors are leaving because people are not buying Sat-Sun, and the buyers may be avoiding Sat-Sun because the vendors have left. We had someone on this forum saying they could only attend Sunday and wanting to buy stuff. Wonder how many more there were like him?

The C8 without a doubt completely captured the casual Corvette enthusiast as well as the curious dedicated enthusiast. The lines and crowd around the display never seemed to dissipate.

For me the highlight was the race car display. There were certainly some iconic C1 and C2 road racers that were not roped off so you could get close to view the details. :cool:

I had to leave after 12 today and some vendors were packing up already, yet there was still a good crowd. Made me wonder. I was there for three days and found some good deals on C-1 parts cause I found a couple old timers that just wanted to sell out. Also saw more 53-55 parts than I had in a long time. The heat Thurs was rough, Fri morn rain and stuff was covered, then it got beautiful.

Race car display was cool. I got to see the Purple People Eater ! C-8 display was a big deal , I like it.

My friend's 57 airbox car was in the race car display and he said it drew a lot of attention. It's a really neat car with a ton of history. These guys have worked extremely hard to research this car and they deserve the recognition they and the car are getting. Congratulations Dale, Jason, Jerry, Greg and Jimmy !!!!

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I had a small list of stuff I was looking for. Arrived Friday morning about 8 am and dropped bumpers off at Lubrandi's then walked around between the raindrops till 11:30 then took off home. No one had what I wanted there, but some had the parts back home, so I'll mail a check and have them shipped. Most parts were covered up because of the rain, so not much fun. The C8 display was mobbed. I inquired about some of the project cars, but all were asking retail +20% IMO.

Its a reasonable question. Sunday sales at Bloomington when they were still busy in swap and Carlisle ended long ago, though. Then it quickly became routine that a lot of vendors started leaving mid day on Sat. The last time I had a spot, a couple years ago, I was shocked that sales were strong on Thur and Fri, but not a sniff, nothing, on Saturday. This year vendors I spoke to pretty much all said they felt there were no sales to be made in Saturday, so they were leaving Fri night or Sat AM. So, which came first... the chicken or the egg? Seems like a tie, with both exacerbating the other.

In recent years Bloomington was trying to influence vendors to stay through Saturday by returning a deposit (I think) if they stayed later. Probably a good idea for awhile. Might be an idea for Carlisle, but people considering going to any swap on a Sunday should know there’s going to be next to nothing there. Sundays have been that way for years.

So now the question goes to you... what do you think now that you’ve seen it up close?

I was happy to get a long close look in Monterey last week so I didn’t have to deal with the crowd looking at the C8 in Carlisle.

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