Mopar Nationals - Columbus 8/9/19...Opinions

[formula_s]

When asked by members of my Mopar club about the Nats vs Carlisle I simply say ' It's a car show , an all Mopar car show and that's where the similarities end'.

[anlauto]

I've been going to Carlisle for over 20 years before I went to the Nats for the first time. Always heard it wasn't that good and it's not as clean as Carlisle. I've only been there twice in the last five years or so and yes it isn't Carlisle and if it wasn't 10 hours away from me I'd go every year simply because it is different and I'll see different things. If you have the time go before that disappears like Englishtown! ( That's a whole different story)

I used to enjoy the 11 hour drive to Englishtown, I went for several years in the 90's, still have the satin jackets to prove it 

[MEK-Dangerous]

I've been going to Carlisle for over 20 years before I went to the Nats for the first time. Always heard it wasn't that good and it's not as clean as Carlisle. I've only been there twice in the last five years or so and yes it isn't Carlisle and if it wasn't 10 hours away from me I'd go every year simply because it is different and I'll see different things. If you have the time go before that disappears like Englishtown! ( That's a whole different story)

I used to enjoy the 11 hour drive to Englishtown, I went for several years in the 90's, still have the satin jackets to prove it 

I went to Englishtown once for the Mopar show. Now, I'm not sure about the year, maybe 2008? It is a first rate race track. I will say that. The Mopar show wasn't much as far as swap meet or show cars. I heard "everyone is going to Carlisle now", so I don't even know if they bother to do this Englishtown show anymore.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

So I went to the Mopar Nationals and to Carlisle this year. Been to the Nats many times over the years, but Carlisle was a first for me this year. I was super excited and think Mopar fans should be attending both if they can as they are both stellar shows.

Carlisle was interesting. First thing I noticed coming in was there was no Fun Field parking(bring your vehicle in and park where you like). I was driving our SRT Jeep and like hav8ng a home base with a pop up. Carlisle had me register and then advised me my group was at the top of the big hill. No big deal, I would be with other jeeps, the view was great, but the hill climb just get tough while carrying parts and we could not park near my buddy's car. The side benefit is Carlisle appeared more organized. There was no drag racing, which I was good with as I think it cuts down on the "sightseeing" golf cart people wondering around in everyone's way. But there was a Mopar sponsor Hellcat autocross thing. The bathroom/porta potties were clean and Carlisle has a big indoor space display area which you don't see at the Nats. I could easily locate the different groups of body styles on the show field and even passed by the E-bodies.org tent a few times and saw fellow members having a good time. Saw many of our favorite hobby celebrities there too. The swap meet at Carlisle appears bigger and if it is, it's not by much. Very hard to tell as Carlisle Is like 6 super long rows while the Nats are a dozen smaller rows all over the place. Carlisle's swap area has a better layout. It has a good bit of pavement/hard pack and I don't recall any swamps or mud pits. It was a really enjoyable show and I can't wait to go back.

The Nationals this year experienced severe weather on Thursday night that I missed, but by early Friday morning all the vendors had busted ass to get cleaned up. Applause to those folks. We parked in the fun field and I got a really great spot. I was one row over from the swap meet, one the main isle and my home base was in the center of everything. Can't get much better than that. I could bring parts directly to the car without having to lug them around. It was a great location for a quick pit stop or lunch break before making the rounds again. It was also close to the vendor midway which I felt was bigger than Carlisle but smaller than in years past.

Right off the bat I felt like the Swap meet folks were making good deals. I only had one guy I had to negotiate with. By comparison I felt as if the Carlisle sellers were bringing some of their best shiniest stuff while at the Nats the sellers were just doing a job they had done for 30 years. The Nationals seem to have what I call a lot of "littles" and much of it was priced really well. People seemed to want to move merchandise. Carlisle could be thought of as where the pros go to sell and the Nationals where everyone else goes to move their 30 year lifelong collection of parts. Neither is better, but seemed a little different depending on what you hoped to find. Carlisle had a good bit of high end nice parts, where the Nationals had folks willing to break up sets of parts to make a deal or who had parts there were unsure of the current to the dollar value of something. Friday and Saturday at the Nats were almost perfect weatherwise as the after show cruise and burnouts at Buckeye Lake were cool as well.

Both shows are really comparable and I think the location really plays a larger part on what you see and experience. Now I need to learn about the other big shows in the country..Moparfest, Spring Fling- how do they compare to the others as I would like to attend them sometime.

[7E-Bodies]

Wow, @Chaos-N-Mayhem , now THAT'S a REVIEW! You have filled in every blank! Amen, brother. I think you've sold me.Im currently lining up lodging for Carlisle 2020 (I was there in 2017) and will begin the same lodging quest for Ohio. Thanks much for painting an entire picture. Perhaps we'll meet up.

Kevin