Carlisle GM Nationals 2005

Carlisle GM Nationals 2007

As usual, I, along with my good buddy Lance, made our annual treck to Carlisle for the 2007 GM Nationals. This was the very first year that we had great weather for the show. Every other year has been 95 degrees and humid, except for last year when it rained all weekend. Overall there seemed to be considerably less non-Camaro vehicles at the show this year, and the swap meet was smaller than ever. But, with around 600 Camaros in attendance, there was certainly plenty to look at. I tried not to take pictures of the same cars as last year, but still managed to find plenty of odd and impressive vehicles.

Swap Meet

The swap meet was smaller this year, but still had some interesting things. One car of particular interest was this beautiful green 69 Camaro SS, nicely priced at around $25k:

69 Camaro SS

The other item of interest that I had to take a picture of at the swap meet was this amazing air powered chain saw, made by the Remington Arms company.

Air Chain Saw

Car Corral

On Friday, along with the swap meet, we went through the car corral to see what was for sale. One big trend that we noticed this year was a return to normal prices for the old classics. Last year it seemed that everybody had Barrett Jackson Fever and was asking insane prices for their stuff.

IROC Convertible This red convertible seemed pretty solid overall, but definately needed plenty of work. I think the asking price was somewhere between $6k and $7500.

91-92 Red Z28 This red Z was a real nice overall car. I never saw a price posted though.

White 88 GTA This is my personal GTA. I had it marked a bit high at $6500, and not surprisingly, didn't sell it.

White 88 GTA Here's a pic of the other side.

Red 86 IROC This was a pretty solid 86 that needed odds and ends for $4500.

Green 91-92 RS This was a super nice, low mile RS with a very unique color combination. Pics don't do this car justice. It was a beautiful car.

Green 91-92 RS Here's another view.

83-84 Red Z28 This was a very nice, original Z28 that was for sale.

83-84 Red Z28 Interior Here's a shot of the interior.

Red 89 IROC This low mile IROC was nice overall, though not perfect. The paint appeared to have a bit of a patina to it, and the tires weren't original. Overall a nice car though.

Red 89 IROC Interior The interior was clean overall, but the steering wheel showed significant sun damage, as did the fog light switch. The cheesy mats looked out of place.

Purple 84 Trans Am This Trans Am didn't look like much from a distance, but a closer inspection showed that this was a very nice car with some well done modifications. This car appeared to have the "go" to back up the "show".

White 88 GTA Notchback It was fun to see a genuine notchback in person. I hadn't seen one in person before.

White 88 GTA Notchback At first this car appeared to be a bargain at $7,900, but further inspection revealed some significant issues. The seller stated that the car was all original, but it was obvious that the hood had a repaint, and you can see that the headlamp fitment is very poor.

White 88 GTA Notchback The interior was beautiful, though don't be fooled by the stuff on the carpet. There's no way this carpet is original. The other cars that this guy was selling had the same tape over the carpets.

White 88 GTA Notchback A pic of the notch. The paint on the car had some minor issues, and one of the three wheels was off of an 87 GTA. Odd issues for an "all original" car that "was never hit".

White 88 GTA Notchback Another pic of the notch. This car would require some major scrutany before I'd feel comfortable buying it, but as long as it was solid, it would seem to be a good car for the money.

White 88 GTA Notchback Another interior pic. I liked the interior.

70 Chevelle SS This car was a great example of some of the bargains at the show. This car was very, very nice. The body work and paint was exceptional, as was the interior and the engine bay. $18,000 was a steal. Not surprisingly, this car was only there the first day.

70-73 Camaro This was a nice pro-street style split bumper Camaro in Hugger Orange.

87-90 Firebird This pro-street style Firebird was very clean. You can see that the firewall has been shaved.

87-90 Firebird The interior in this firebird was a real standout. Leather everywhere, and a nice modern look.

Grey 69 Camaro This 69 had a real unique color combo that really caught my eye. The graphite paint with gray stripes was very nice.

Orange 70-73 Camaro This hugger orange Camaro had a super clean body, a cowl hood and Boyd Smoothie wheels. A very nice car.

Orange 70-73 Camaro Another view of a great looking car.

Late 70s Monte Carlo This car was certainly pegging the "unique" meter. As odd looking as it is, it appeared well built. It sounded great too.

Late 70s Monte Carlo Here's a close up of the paint and interior.

69 Chevelle Priced at $15k, this was a deal.

65 or 66 Chevelle Wagon This Grocery Getter was just a set of wheels away from being a super sweet, affordable ride.

80 Z28 A nice car for the money.

Camaro Convertible Concept Pics

In one of the buildings was the 2009 Camaro Convertible Concept. Just like the silver hard top did last year, this car stole the show. I know we've all seen a million pics of it already, but here are more!

Concept 1 The non-metallic orange doesn't quite have the understated elegance of a metallic orange, but is striking.

Concept 2 I love those wheels! They are very reminescant of the thirdgen Z28 wheels.

Concept 3 The stainless A-pillars really look nice on the convertible.

Concept 4 Amazing, liquid-like paint

Concept 5 It'll be interesting to see what the production headlights look like compared to these LED lights.

Concept 6 It'll also be interesting to see if that little "scoop" in front of the hood will be functional on the production car. I'd almost rather see that disappear if it's not functional.

Concept 7 This picture nicely illustrates the very sharp body lines that the car has. You can clearly see the line at the top of the fender, as well as whe wheel well bulge.

Concept 8 The graphite stripes are a beautiful compliment to the orange paint, and tie the wheels into the theme nicely.

Concept 9 Sharp lines on the cowl hood too. Notice the faux wipers.

Concept 10 A close-up of the cowl area and the back of the hood.

Concept 11 The mirrors will change on the production car.

Concept 12 Yup, that's the front again. It still looks good!

Concept 13 Definately thirdgen inspired wheels.

Concept 14 One area of criticism is the tailpipe treatment. It does give the car a bit of a ricer-esque appearance sometimes. It also limits creativity with the aftermarket.

Concept 15 The tail lights. Notice also that the stripe ends at the bottom of the spoiler.

Concept 16 Shiny.

Concept 17 Nice view

Concept 18 The CAMARO badge is more obvious on the orange car than on the silver.

Concept 19 Another view of the badge.

Concept 20 Another wheel pic. The orange stripe is a nice touch.

Concept 21 Here you get a rear 3/4 shot and a view of the gas cap.

Concept 22 The car looks like it's mad at you from every angle!

Concept 23 The interior is basically the same as the coupe, but the white really changes the whole look.

Concept 24 I can only wonder what the production seats will look like.

Concept 25 The back seats appear to be just as useless as on previous Camaros.

Concept 26 Center console. I think this is a great place for gauges. The stitched leather on the side of the console is a nice touch that'll never see production.

Concept 27 A close-up of the scratched steering wheel. You can also see the stitched leather on the dash pad.

Concept 28 Hopefully they ditch that cheesy radio & heater control area and go with something more conventional.

Concept 29. Here's a shot of the rear underside. None of this really matters, but it's interesting to see the guts of a concept car. Those look like Flowmaster mufflers.

Non F-Body Highlights

For the first half of Saturday, we walked around the non-Camaro portion of the show field. A lot of the vehicles were the same as last year, so I didn't re-take the pictures. Here were some standouts from this year.

57 Chevy This was an absolutely amazing 57 Chevy.

57 Chevy The underside was as nice as the top side.

57 Chevy Outstanding interior.

Heroes Truck This truck was truely outstanding in every respect. The interior was just as heavily detailed as the top and underside.

Heroes Truck You can go to the truck's website at http://www.heroestruck.us/.

Heavily customized 50s Chevy I don't remember what year this car was, and it's so heavily customized that I can't tell from the pictures. From the Mercedes headlights to the frenched grill and beyond, this car was stunning.

Heavily customized 50s Chevy Interior.

Heavily customized 50s Chevy Beautiful lines.

2 Hearses and an ambulance Just incase any Ford owners wandered in!

A pair of Hurst Olds' A very nice pair of 72s.

A purple Cavalier This car apparently was owned by a young man who died, and his parents continue to show it in his honor.

71 GMC Sprint Not only do you almost never see these, you certainly don't see them with the factory inline 6! Awesome car!

83 Monte Carlo SS My favorite color Monte Carlo. This one was very nice all around.

Monte Carlo SS This Maroon Monte had 17" Torque Thrusts and had the right look.

Jeff_H's Caprice This was a very nice car, and had a T56 6 speed!

White 65 Impala I had to take a picture of this just for the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Short 57 Chevy This Chevy was extensively shortened.

Patriotic 57 Chevy This 57 had amazing paint.

Unrestored 57 Chevy This was a great car. It was an unrestored 4-door 57. Sure it was rough, but it was completely original.

Orange 55 Chevy This was one of the nicest customs at the whole show. Beautiful in every regard.

Orange 55 Chevy Subtle ghost flames in the paint.

Orange 55 Chevy Beautiful!

1st & 2nd Gen F-bodies

And now, on to the F-bodies. Since there are so few, I'm lumping all of the non-thirdgen cars together. Sorry 4th gen fans! There wasn't anything particularly special this year, so I didn't take any 4th gen pics.

69 Camaro This nice 69 had the RS hideaway lights and nice Boyd wheels.

2nd Gen Camaro Nice blue early 2nd gen with Boyd Smoothies and aftermarket headlights for a nice modern look.

69 Camaro Nice 2-tone 69 with aftermarket wheels very reminescant of the period "Mag" wheels that were very popular.

2nd Gen Camaro Nice early 2nd gen with great paint.

Late 2nd Gen Camaro Nice late 2nd gen with stock appearing restoration. Just need to get rid of the chrome hood hinges.

2nd Gen Camaro Nice clean big block SS Camaro.

Black 2nd Gen Nice car with Cragar SS wheels.

Late 2nd Gen Camaro with nice Torque Thrust D wheels.

2nd Gen Camaro with sidepipes.

2nd Gen Camaro with a cowl hood and green paint with white stripes.

2nd Gen Camaro Stunning lime green paint. My favorite color on early 2nd gens.

Late 2nd Gen Z28 A nice white one with Torque Thrust knock-off wheels.

Early 2nd Gen A great looking blue Camaro with Boyd Smoothie wheels.

Orange Late 2nd Gen A great looking Z28.

Wild 67 Camaro This car won Best of Show and it was easy to see why. Amazing car in, out and underneath.

Wild 67 Camaro Beautiful paint work.

Wild 67 Camaro The tail pipes were totally out of place on this otherwise amazing custom Camaro.

Wild 67 Camaro One last shot.

Grey 69 Camaro This camaro really appealed to me. I loved the stripe color over the silver paint.

Grey 69 Camaro Another pic from the front.

Grey 69 Camaro Nice closeup of the stripes.

Modified early 2nd Gen This was a really neat car. Lots of motor, and no chrome.

Black 69 Camaro A very nice 69.

Black 69 Camaro It's not easy to make black look this good.

Black 69 Camaro Clean fuel injected small block.

Thirdgen Firebirds

There weren't as many firebirds here this year as there were in the past, but there were a couple nice ones.

Blue Formula This blue Formula was very nice overall. Some red painted engine parts looked out of place, but overall the car showed very well.

White Trans Am This guy liked his flames. I didn't.

Maroon GTA This was a very nice GTA with a very friendly owner.

A pair of Formulas Very nice stock Formula 350 and a nice red one with Ronal wheels.

Red GTA Convertible A real nice ASC convertible GTA with Ronal wheels.

Thirdgen Camaros

This year there seemed to be more thirdgen Camaros, but less nice IROCs. There were a lot of nice 91 & 92 Camaros.

Black 85-87 IROC This clean, mostly stock IROC had some unique wheels that gave it a nice look.

Maroon 91-92 Z28 This car was super nice all around.

White 87 IROC This was a nice clean 87 IROC that had rally stripes painted on it.

Red RS Camaro This Camaro had a Ram Air II hood a Z28 spoiler and a Z28 grill.

White 88-90 IROC This IROC had 15" American Racing wheels and an aftermarket stripe above the ground effects.

Red 88-89 IROC This IROC was mostly stock, but had a couple minor modifications including a strut tower brace, stubby antenna and stripe.

White RS Camaro This RS Camaro was mostly clean, but had paint damage to the front of the car and could have benefitted from new plastic tanks in the engine bay.

White RS Camaro This RS was outstanding. Very clean original car.

Yellow 88 IROC Convertible This was a very nice, well preserved IROC Convertible in a rare color. It may not have been yellow originally, but the paint work was well done and the interior was in great shape.

Black 86 Camaro This car was a very nice car.

Teal RS Camaro This TBI-powered RS camaro was wearing Z28 badges and a Z28 grill.

Black 92 Z28 This was a nice car with red stripes.

82 Pace Car This Pace Car Replica was extremely nice and even had the roof lights like the actual pace car used. This won an award for its outstanding engine bay.

Black Z28 This black Z28 featured a healthy small block, a lift-off hood and Tenzo racing seats among other modifications.

88 Camaro This plain looking camaro had an LT1 and drag radials and probably caught a lot of unsuspecting Mustangs at stop lights!

88 Camaro We caught him on the engine dyno, but weren't able to find out what the results were. The car sounded great.

Blue Z28 This blue Z28 featured a steel Goodmark cowl hood and chrome wheels.

Blue 87 IROC My good old buddy that still didn't add any stripes! Overall this was a very nice car, with a couple minor exhaust-related modifications.

Maroon 88-89 IROC It's hard to argue with a nice set of Weld wheels and RWL tires.

A pair of red IROC Convertibles A very nice pair of cars, especially the one on the left.

91-92 Black Z28 Convertible Very nice clean exerior. The engine bay, while nice, wasn't as nice as the outside.

Red 85-87 IROC A nice clean car.

Red 91-92 Z28 with black stripes.

Black 83-84 Z28 with an original L69 motor. Very nice car.

2 Tone Camaro This car had a unique 2-tone paint job and had the emblems on the ground effects shaved.

Red RS Convertible A real nice RS convertible with some unique striping on the front bumper.

Silver 85 IROC This silver 85 had dark gray ground effects for a unique look.

Red Camaro This one's tough to pin a year on, but I'm guessing that it's an 88 with a 91-92 Z28 spoiler and an IROC grill up front.

Red Camaro This car had nice aftermarket seat covers to freshen up the interior.

Black IROC This black 86 was pretty solid overall, but could have benefitted from a good detailing.

Black IROC This 88-90 has the standard interior, which was a bit rare in the later IROCs. New parking lamps would really freshen up the front of this car.

Red RS This was a very nice red 91-92 RS.

Black 91-92 Z28 Another nice black 91-92 with red stripes.

Maroon 88-90 IROC This IROC looked like it was in nice shape overall, but needed to loose the bra and seat covers.

Red 88-90 IROC This red IROC had 17" Torque Thrust wheels and a repaint.

Red 88-90 IROC Here's the same car's seats with nice replacement seat covers. You can also see evidence of the repaint on the A pillar.

Blue Pro Street RS Wild flamed paint on this pro street ride. Notice the slicks out back.

Another blue Pro Stret RS Another nicely done tubbed Thirdgen.

Blue 83 Z28 This car was closed up last year, so I was happy to finally see it open. My favorite color on the early thirdgen Camaros.

Blue 83 Z28 I love the Conteur interiors in these early cars even though their appearance is very dated.

Red RS This RS needed paint and maybe less stickers, but certainly had potential.

Black Primered 83-84 Z28 This Z28 was mostly in primer, but looked like it was well on its way to becoming a nice car.

Red 91-92 Z28 This camaro had custom painted stripes that had a marbled type appearance. It had aftermarket seats and a strut tower brace. Nice car, but I'm surprised to see the trophies.

Black 85-87 IROC This black IROC had a cowl hood, aftermarket seat covers and a few other things.

Teal 91-92 Z28 This Z28 had a modified TPI motor, painted 6 point cage and Foose Nitrous wheels.

Blue Camaro This camaro is one that I posted a lot of pictures of last year. It had a modified small block and different headlights.

White Camaro Not sure what year this one is. It's got a 91-92 Z28 wheels, hood, rear spoiler and grill, but it's got the 85-90 ground effects and fog lights along with a TBI motor. Headlight buckets and door handles show that it's had a repaint.

Red 91-92 Z28 This Red Z28 was nice with a clean interior. It could benefit from a new front grill and parking lamps.

Black 88-90 IROC This TBI-powered IROC had a nice body and a decent engine bay. Once the interior is brought up to snuff, it should look real nice.

Teal 91-92 RS This Camaro was a little bit rough. The paint had issues, and the 85-90 grill with the red painted "CAMARO" logo seemed out of place, as did the red coolant tank.

Maroon 91-92 Z28 This modified Z28 was an extremely impressive car. It had a Stealth ram on top of a healthy small block, outstanding paint, and a very nice interior with custom leather seat covers. This was a damned nice car.

Maroon 91-92 Z28 A better pic of the engine bay.

Maroon 91-92 Z28 A pic with the hood down.

The Bikini Contest

Who cares about cars, right? Here's the Bikini contest. $500 for first place, $300 for 2nd place, and $100 for 3rd. This year there were 17 girls in the contest, and most of them were a major improvement over previous years entries. Posted are the 3 finalists together, and their individual pics. I believe that the girl in the gold bikini finished 3rd, the girl in the blue bikini (my favorite) finished 2nd, and the winner was the one in the black bikini.

IROCZone.com Award Winners

And finally, here are the IROCZone.com award winners for 2007.

IROCZone.com Awards Here are the awards that we gave out.

Best Stock Award Here's Christopher accepting his award for best Stock IROC. Karl Scheffy, president of the American Camaro Association handed him the award while I announced it.

Best Modified Award Here's JR accepting his award for best Modified IROC. Again, Karl handed it to him while I announced it.

The award for Best Stock IROC went to Christopher Diehl of Germantown NY for his beautiful red 1989 IROC. This car had low miles, and it showed. The only non stock item on the entire car was the black pinstripe along the body line. Everything else was just as it should be. What really impressed me was that his car was still wearing the correct Goodyear Eagle VR 50 tires. He explained that he was lucky enough to replace the tires right before Goodyear discontinued them.

Best Stock IROC Here's a nice overall shot of the car. Other than the stripe, the car was completely original.

Best Stock IROC Another nice shot of the car.

Best Stock IROC It's clear to see that in addition to being all original, the engine bay is very clean and well kept.

Best Stock IROC Another great shot of the engine.

Best Stock IROC Likewise, the interior is just how you'd expect such a nice original to look.

Best Stock IROC Here's a great shot of the back interior with the original t-top bag and sun shade.

Best Stock IROC Here's one of the wheels with the correct Goodyear Eagle ZR50 tires. You can also see (somewhat) how clean the wheel well area is. The underside is similarly nice.

Best Stock IROC Here's a pic of Christopher with his trophy next to his car.

The award for Best Modified IROC went to JR Flinn of Parkersburg WV. While a wide body kit is a love-it or hate-it type of modification, there is nothing to debate when judging the quality of the work that was done to the car. JR did most of the paint, body, and interior work himself, and the craftsmanship is truely first rate. From the fully functional ram-air hood and air cleaner box, to the custom dual exhaust, this car was full of unique ideas.

Best Modified IROC Here's a nice overall shot of the car. You can see the mirror-like reflection in the flawless black paint.

Best Modified IROC Here's an up-close view of the front of the car. In addition to the wide body fender, you can see the modified lower valance with fog lights. You can also get a good idea of how good the panel fitment is on this car from the lines around the hood.

Best Modified IROC Here's a great view down the side of the car that shows the widebody kit. This widebody kit is much more subtle than some of the others that I've seen in the past, and unlike those others, this one does a great job of retaining the car's original lines while still adding room for wider tires.

Best Modified IROC This shot shows once again just how good the paint was. Amazingly, this is JR's daily driver and it still looks this good! The IROC-Z decals are underneath the clearcoat, which gives an absolutely seamless appearance.

Best Modified IROC Custom touches here include the NASCAR-style side exit exhaust, the new gas cap, and the modified race wheels, complete with IROC center caps.

Best Modified IROC In the rear is a stock 91-92 Z28 spoiler and tail lights that were darkened, as were the rest of the running lights on the vehicle.

Best Modified IROC The cowl hood gave an indication of what was underneath.

Best Modified IROC Here you can see that the cowl hood was modified to include this ram-air design. The modification was well done, with no signs of failed body work.

Best Modified IROC The underside of the hood was just as nicely modified, with work that allowed the ram-air hood to be fully functional.

Best Modified IROC Here's the clean engine bay with the air cleaner base that mates to the ram air box on the hood.

Best Modified IROC Here's a good look at the custom valve covers on that 383.

Best Modified IROC one last engine bay pic.

Best Modified IROC Here's the interior, with the custom seat covers and door panels. Also notice the gauges in the center console and the re-arranged switches. Don't miss the rare GM Parts 140mph speedo.

Best Modified IROC Here's another pic of the interior.

Best Modfied IROC Here's JR holding his award with his car

Best Modified IROC Here's JR and his family with the car. It's great to see people make car shows a family event.

That's all until next year!