VAA Retro Look Back ..Import Carlisle's Rain Didn't Dampen The Spirits Of The Odd Car Faithful

Let's face facts. If you are an Import Car Nut you have a screw loose. Nobody ever woke up in morning saying "I really wanna collect French Cars" Hmmmm perhaps people have, who knows for sure. That’s OK because Import Cars are very cool. Every year in May the fans of Odd Car’s or Imports from all lands head to the iconic Carlisle Fairgrounds for Import Carlisle and Kit Car Nationals.

Vehicles of all types from all over the globe fill the showfield, swap meet and car corral. Italian, German, French, Swedish, Japanese, Canadian (have you heard of the Bricklin?) Korea, China, Russia and Merry Ole England are represented with stunning show cars, daily drivers, patina, crust, rust, mold and all kinds of automotive oddities.

Despite the rain and chilly temps the showfield and swap meet were full. It wouldn’t be an Import Carlisle without some rain and mud up to your knees. Seems the Import Crowd is a tough lot of Blokes and Bloke-A-Lady (Lady and Bloke combined) and stood strong till Sunday morning.

As usual we were set up on BZ32 in the Z Building under the Grandstand. Wonderful group the French Car Crazies. We did get a chuckle when a young lad in a Renault Fuego went driving past us upon which someone commented “Look a running Fuego, something you don’t see everyday” ..Less than an hour later we spotted the young man with hood open on his Fuego, smoke belching and jacked in the air. He did manage to get it fixed. More than likely a combo of a La-Croissant and La-Duct Tape.

We are always amazed how beautiful the Austin Healy 100-6 is. The few that were there took our breath away. Other notables were an Opel Kaddet Fastback, Fiat 124 Spyder in Race Trim, Saab 96 Monte Carlo and a VW Beetle Cal Look with just the right amount of crust and patina.

Even with the rain we set an appraisal record for on showfield appraisals. We shared old memories with longtime friends and made new memories with new friends. From the show we are also doing a 60 car collection of all VW Beetles. We will keep you posted as details and dates are set.

As with all good things Import Carlisle came to an end for another year. We look forward to the 2017 edition of Import Carlisle when the Import or Odd Car Faithful gather once again to grand times and love of old cars.

Till next year's Import Carlisle enjoy a VAA slideshow from years past >>>>