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2010 Carlise Ford Nationals - East Coast EntertainmentThe 15th Annual Carlisle Nationals did not disappoint From the October, 2010 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan Photography by Mark Houlahan
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No matter your taste in Fords,... No matter your taste in Fords, from stock to wild, from Pintos to R-code Galaxies, you'll find 'em all each year at the Carlisle Ford Nationals. The 15th Annual Carlisle Ford Nationals Did Not Disappoint
Car enthusiasts everywhere look forward to their favorite shows of the year. The reason these shows end up being at the top of their travel lists vary, as any one show can mean different things to different people. For some it's the actual show location. Aren't we all guilty of fitting a family vacation in and around a major show event? Come on, you can tell us the truth (and your wife isn't fooled either guys, trust me!). Other reasons include annual meet and greets within the show for those diehard Ford fans of Mavericks, Torinos, 7-Litre cars, Cougars, T-birds, and more. Not to mention the show's activities are a big reason too; from driving events and cruises, to photo opportunities, drag racing, celebrity signings, and so forth. Whatever the reason, we all have our short list of favorites, and for us the annual Carlisle Ford Nationals is right there near the top. Sharp eyed readers might have noticed the event is no longer called the "All-Ford" Nationals and now is simply called the "Ford Nationals." If you attended the show and got a copy of the event directory, or visited the Carlisle Events website you'd also see the "Ford" in Ford Nationals is the corporate Blue Oval logo. This is due to Ford's expanded support of the event. Ford has been involved in some shape or form from the beginning of the event, but over the last few years, both Ford corporate and the Ford Racing divisions, have made a very noticeable presence at Carlisle, with the inclusion of the Ford Performance Tour, the Mustang Garage, the Ford Ride & Drive Experience, and new vehicle "walk-arounds." With all of this support, Ford has given the Carlisle Events company the go ahead to use Ford's corporate logo within the Ford Nationals logo. That's how involved Ford is with this show. The wife says I look good... The wife says I look good in orange. I wonder if I came home in Douglas Failor's sweet-looking '65 Falcon if she'd still agree (or if I'd be looking for another place to live!). Doug's Falcon popped, even on the overcast afternoon we saw it. Of course the new logo isn't the only great thing happening at this year's event. For those who couldn't make Carlisle this year you missed some great activities, visuals, and more. Besides the regular grin-inducing components of Carlisle's Ford Nationals-like the burnout contest, autocross, Ms. Carlisle contest, and so forth-there's also the huge vendor midway, swap meet, car corral, and giveaway car year after year. For the 15th anniversary show, the Carlisle crew pulled out all the stops with displays on Ford design and performance history showcasing Model As, Model Ts, GT40s, Cobras, and more. A Cobra Jet display with '68, '08, and '10 CJ race cars, including Don Fezell's collection of beauties like Al Joniec's Rice and Holman CJ and all three Daddy Warbucks CJs (one from each year!) was a highlight as well, though the planned Friday night drag racing display of these awesome cars was cancelled due to inclement weather. Hopefully we'll see many of you there next year. Who knows what Carlisle will have in store for us all then? But you can find out yourself by being there-June 3-5, 2011. Magellan To The Rescue
We've been going to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the Carlisle Ford Nationals for more than a decade, and over the years we've flown into different air-ports, stayed at different hotels, and gone to different restaurants for meals with guests. Up until two years ago, finding our way around meant either pre-printing maps for our destinations and not deviating from what we printed, or paying extra for in-car GPS options from the car rental agency. Well along comes a little guardian travel angel in the way of a Magellan GPS-a gift from the wife a couple of years back. Now we were no longer chained to those printed maps. If we needed a discount store for some supplies, just punch it in. Visiting an advertiser on the way? Just feed it the address. We were in car guy heaven, never having to ask for directions! We recently found out that Magellan's latest line of GPS navigators has been released and knowing we're such big fans it asked us to try out its new Roadmate 3055. It was perfect timing with our big Carlisle Ford Nationals trip just a few short days away from starting. Once on the ground and our gear stowed in the back of our Brand X rental (yuk!), we pulled the 3055 from its packaging and without even looking at the manual got it setup in no time flat. The new Magellan windshield mount is more compact, but with a larger suction cup and a simple one hand adjustment wheel for positioning. The new bracket also holds the power cord, so placing the unit into the bracket is a one-hand operation now. The unit itself has so many features we don't have room to discuss them all here, but the hands-free Bluetooth is great and sync'd with our Blackberry fast and easy. Turn-by-turn directions were spot on and we loved the new lane assist to show you which lane you need to be in on the highway. Check out the new line for yourself at www.magellangps.com.  While the earlier Falcons...  While the earlier Falcons certainly get their fair share of custom builds and resto-mod attention, the '66-'69 Falcons don't often enjoy such interest. One exception we came across to that notation is Carl and Naomi Henderson's spiffy little '66 Falcon coupe. With a 289 underhood backed by a C4 trans and running a Stainless Steel disc brake conversion up front, the red coupe looked like a performer with its blacked-out trim.  We always thought Ford's Ranchero...  We always thought Ford's Ranchero was a great idea. Room for two (or three) and a decent bed out back for hauling the home project stuff, car parts, and more. While the Falcon and Fairlane body styles are quite popular, the Ranchero was built off of the Torino and LTD chassis later in life. This '68 Torino-based Ranchero, owned by Rod Weaver, sports a string-straight body in one of our favorite colors and is powered by the venerable 390 FE big-block. We'd be right proud to have this as our parts chaser.  Steve Hornbaker's immaculate...  Steve Hornbaker's immaculate '69 Cougar Eliminator had a crowd around it all weekend. The CJ-powered Eliminator certainly had the goods to deliver with a 428 Ram Air CJ, Top Loader four-speed, and N-case 9-inch with 3.91 gears. The top coat and white interior is a perfect match in our book.  Another brightly hued '69...  Another brightly hued '69 we spied was Kirby Place's Mach 1. You could see the attention to detail everywhere on Kirby's SportsRoof and the amount of chrome underhood meant we were thankful we had our sunglasses on!  It's no secret we love engine...  It's no secret we love engine swaps around here, so when we strolled past Chris DeJarnette's '70 SportsRoof we were expecting another pushrod Ford. Low and behold Chris tried to pull a fast one on us by bolting his Shaker assembly....  ....(which is functional)...  ....(which is functional) to the top of a 4.6L Four-Valve modular! The 305-horse modular is controlled by an ACCEL Gen 7 DFI setup and the SportsRoof features a Mustang II frontend, five-speed trans, '04 Mach 1 power leather seats, and more.  When you see decals like these...  When you see decals like these you know this car has a story or two to tell. Greg Boozel's '64 Comet certainly looks the part, but we had no way of knowing if Greg's Comet was the real deal or a nicely done tribute.....  .... It pays to have a little...  .... It pays to have a little info displayed with your car at an event, remember that. Nonetheless, this Comet looked great and ready to head down the 'strip.  Another well-screwed-together...  Another well-screwed-together engine swap participant was found in Dean Koncsol's '65 Mustang convertible. Dean's running a late-model 5.0L roller small-block with Ford's production EEC-IV EFI. The drop-top also featured rack-and-pinion power steering, Fox Mustang high-back sport bucket seats, disc brakes, and more.  Where else are you going to...  Where else are you going to see seven 7-Litre Galaxies lined up in a row but at the Carlisle Ford Nationals. It's a once-a-year pilgrimage to see the greatest stuff Ford has ever built.  When we hit the truck section...  When we hit the truck section of the Carlisle Ford Nationals we have become accustomed to seeing everything from V-8 Rangers to early F-1s and all sorts of stuff in between. But we have to say this is the first time we've seen such a super clean classic F-series with a later-model diesel engine swap.....  ....This F-250 Camper Special...  ....This F-250 Camper Special looked clean enough to eat off of and had all the right details, but when you got to the engine compartment there sat a first gen F-series diesel (a 7.3L we believe)-a pretty cool engine swap in our books.  The vendor midway is always...  The vendor midway is always a great place to find what you need for your classic Ford or Mustang build. Mike and Jim Ring had their "Afterburner" Fairlane on display in the building-T invitational area, but they also brought out their vendor trailer to Carlisle for the first time. Other regular vendors included TMI Products, Pypes Exhaust, Meguiar's, Ford Racing, and much more.  Of course, if you think the...  Of course, if you think the vendor midway is booming, then all you need to do is head over to the swap meet area to see that things were absolutely crazy over there. From classic Ford car and truck parts, Mustang parts, and engines, to complete project cars, detailing products, tools, and much more, you could find it in the huge swap meet area. You'll even find major dealers like CJ Pony Parts and Tony Branda Shelby and Mustang Parts vending within the swap meet area as well.  Moving inside to the building-T...  Moving inside to the building-T invitational display area, one of the first rides we spotted was the '70 Mustang Mach 1 that competed in the Bullrun TV show earlier this year. While the duo didn't make it too far into the show, it was still great to see some classic Ford iron compete in the driving contest.  Also in building-T were these...  Also in building-T were these two extremely low-mile examples of Ford's F-series "Explorer" package. We're talking less than 500 miles on each of these rare trucks. Both trucks are part of National Parts Depot's massive car collection. One came from their Michigan store and one from their Florida store.  While her story was local...  While her story was local news to us here in Florida, the amazing tale of Rachel Veitch and her '64 Comet Caliente has gone national. Rachel is the original owner of "Chariot," which at 45 years old has more than 600,000 miles on it. Rachel herself is 91 and still drives her Comet. She jokes that her car has served her better than all of her past ex-husbands and she loves to show people receipts for "lifetime" replacement parts that she bought decades ago. Her Comet was on display in building-T and we got to meet Rachel at the Saturday luncheon. Here, she's being given a nice pencil drawing of her own car by renowned artist David Snyder of David Snyder Car Art.  Every year there are plenty...  Every year there are plenty of things to watch and do at the Carlisle Ford Nationals. The burnout competition is one of the most popular, bringing all sorts of Fords, from supercharged late-models, to big-block classics into the water box to fry some rubber. This Starsky & Hutch Torino was certainly giving it all this year. Smoke 'em til they pop everyone!  Part of our Saturday event...  Part of our Saturday event travels included finding a "celebrity pick" that each media guest is asked to do for Carlisle Events. Trust me, with a show field like this it is not an easy task and we went back and forth between several cars before we decided that Vince Denno's '68 Mustang fastback earned the honor this year. It's hard not to love the Dark Highland Green Bullitt theme and those late-model Bullet wheels, especially the deep dish rears, as they just give the car the perfect stance.  Gabriel Ducote's '65 Mustang...  Gabriel Ducote's '65 Mustang coupe had a black paintjob that looked six miles deep, even in the light rain we had when we spotted his ride. Gabriel's coupe runs a nicely warmed up 351W and has some really nice details to it. Look for an upcoming feature on Gabriel's car in Modified Mustangs & Fords too!  Lastly, building-T held some...  Lastly, building-T held some of Ford's finest performance machines as part of the Ford History, Design & Performance Display. Not only were show goers in awe of the quartet of 289 Cobras on display, but also an honest-to-God GT40. This GT40 was a '66 Mark II and is owned by none other than Lee Holman, who we had the pleasure of meeting this year as well. Finally, just past the GT40 was a selection of rare pre-production built Ford GT supercars.
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