Musclecar and Corvette Nationals 11-23 & 24 Rosemont IL

[MoparDave]

Ben. Good to have met up with you as well and had a great time hanging out with you and other media guys. Always great to meet up with members from a far. I'm sure we'll bump into again today or tomorrow.

[JH27N0B]

What a show today! Record numbers of spectators, the whole lobby was filled with people lined up out the door to get in this morning. For a while you could barely walk down the aisles they were so crowded.
Here is my first batch of pictures, this is set up on Thursday.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/111914442@N04/albums/72157711911546146

[dodj]

Nice selection of cars. Thanks for the pics.
That yellow billboard cuda is the first cuda I've seen where I thought the billboard added to the look of the car. Very nice.

[JH27N0B]

Heading back in a few minutes, looking forward to another day there and my car's birthday! 
I'll get my Friday and weekend pictures organized and posted this evening or tomorrow.

[anlauto]

Great pictures

[E74cuda]

Thanks for posting the pictures. The B5 blue 70 hemi road runner convertible was in my area years ago. Cool to see it restored

[JH27N0B]

What a show!  I just woke up after getting 8+ hours of sleep which was nice.  My feet are still killing me though.  I worked around 50 hours there over 4 days, but not complaining!
The weather was pretty nice and I drove my car home no problem.  No trailer needed.
I did download the rest of my pictures and started to upload last night but was too exhausted to make more albums but will today.
I met a bunch of members there over the weekend and it was great meeting you all.   
Someone even left an E-Bodies.org sticker on my dash.
Lots of highlights for me.  Friday I managed to get my hands on a motorized cart when I was working on getting a starter unit to help out a Boss 429 owner whose car was DOA outside the exit door.  While driving around, Jim Rhinehart stopped me and asked me if I could give Mr Norm a lift over to a Dart to sign it, as Norm is getting up there and having trouble walking.  Then later, a guy asked me if I could give his dad a lift to their pickup parked by the exit door.  I said sure, so he pointed to a group to show where his dad was.  It was Mr Norm again!  As he got in the pickup he thanked me and told me to stop by their booth the next day for a fresh hat.  I did, and he gave me a red hat to match my Mr Norms T/A, and autographed it.  Now I forgive him for the time I bought a laminated ad from their stand around 10 years ago, and after he asked me if I was in the Mr Norms sport club and I replied I'd let that expire, he autographed the ad "renew your membership"! 
Shortly afterward I saw Diego Rosenberg and as we talked I mentioned I hadn't got a dinner break, and didn't know if anyone would relieve me so I could.  He said let me check on something and ran off, came back 5 minutes later with a leftover Giordonos pizza from a little party some participants were having.  Saved me from starvation!
There was a vendor called Wild Bills by the stage area selling unique pop.  Their deal is you buy a tin cup, and get free refills all day, and at later events, bring your cup and for $6 get free refills all day. I was watching the stage area Saturday and thought maybe it would pay off to buy a cup.  Around lunch a coworker came by and said all us employees were getting a cup free.  They had them up in our lounge, special ones with the MCACN emblem on it.  They originally negotiated to buy them to give to the judges and celebrities, but Vicki Ashton said no, give them to our employees!  They had several cup sizes but we got the large size, 34 ounces!  Needless to say, I drank a lot of pop!  I liked the sarsaparilla the best!  Thanks Vicki and Wild Bills soda!
Then during awards yesterday I was helping get the trophies in order next to the stage.  Bob Ashton was on stage and at one point Courtney Hansen came up on stage to speak. I was leaning against the stage step railing to take some weight off my feet, and when she finished she headed to the steps.  I glanced over to make sure I wasn't obstructing the path of the stairs for her just in time to find I was looking at her cleavage from about 6" from my face.  Only a split second but still made me happy! 
Those are just a few highlights for me, oh wait, I forgot to mention the cars....

[anlauto]

I'm sorry, but I really have to laugh at your last post....You're at the best Muscle car show in the WORLD  and the highlights for you were....pizza, pop, boobs and some old muscle car legend that can't walk very good.....

You would think at least one highlight might be a musclecar....

[JS29]

That old man is a muscle-car legend!    

[anlauto]

That old man is a muscle-car legend!   

Yea I know...I fixed my post...

[JH27N0B]

At MCACN incredible cars are a given.  But to me, and I know I'm not the only one who has said this about the show, perhaps one of the biggest highlights is the people.  I've met so many well known people in the hobby there over the years, people I've read about, people I've talked to online etc, I would most likely would never have met in person, but there they are at MCACN.  An example, in 2011, I saw the Diamanté there, but looking back to then, I think about meeting and briefly chatting with it's owner, Steve Juliano, and I value meeting Steve more than seeing the car, if that makes any sense.
And it's not just the famous and celebrities, it's people I've befriended online from far away, but ordinarily never get to meet in person.  On Friday I met fellow 71 V code Challenger owner Chris, Morty426, there and we talked for a half hour or so, could have talked all day if we'd had time. We've talked many times over the years online and in PMs etc, but never met in person.  One car I'd really looked forward to seeing was the turbine car, which I drooled over and got some great pictures of for my picture collection, but I'd rank meeting and talking to Chris higher than finally seeing the Turbine cars.
The show is so much more than a bunch of cars!

[anlauto]

I know...I know ...I know....I was just opening this thread this morning hoping to see all your pictures that you post every year....saves me from making the trip... thought your highlights were kinda funny that's all...

I enjoy Moparfest and Carlisle for much the same reason....when you've been around this hobby as long as we have.....there's not much in the way of cars that can really surprize you or impress you

[JH27N0B]

Don't worry Alan, I'll get to the pictures.  I took over 500 over 4 days, and takes some time to look at each one, trash ones that are blurred or out of focus, crop some, correct exposure on some etc, then upload to Flickr and organize an album.  I'm sure Ryan Auto Archeoligist will post his pictures too, he takes thousands but just uploads them all, fuzzy, duplicates etc along with the good, and I know there wouldn't be enough time in the world for him to try to evaluate each and every one before posting like I do, so I hope my work with the smaller group of pictures I take is appreciated.
The memories I posted today are the ones that put a smile on my face when I got rolling this morning and am glad they amused you too!
But for now, it's 50 degrees out, so time to drag my achy behind out to the garage and get my convertible out, change oil and filter, put stabilizer in the tank, pump up the tires and put it's car cover on and tuck her in for her long winters nap, before this reprieve from winter weather here ends and I'd regret my laziness if I don't get it done right now!

[dodj]

I'm sorry, but I really have to laugh at your last post....You're at the best Muscle car show in the WORLD  and the highlights for you were....pizza, pop, boobs and some old muscle car legend that can't walk very good.....

You would think at least one highlight might be a musclecar....

Boobs are always a 'highlight' Al.
Hopefully he got a picture..... 

[JH27N0B]

No picture sorry. In fact I was standing there next to the stage in front of maybe 300 people in the audience not to mention "da boss" so I was trying not to gawk at Ms Hansen with all those eyes pointed in my general direction.
Here are some more pictures, Friday setup.  Still need to upload and organize the pictures from the actual show.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157711942781652
Thinking of the stage area, where I have been assigned to watch over in recent years, another highlight comes to mind.  They've had the same sound crew every year since almost the beginning, and I've got to know the guys pretty well.  The head guy Steve is pretty cool, a few years ago he asked if I had any song requests, and I told him I like some off the beaten track music like Frank Zappa.  The next day he played a Zappa song which pleased me greatly.  He still remembers that and over the weekend played a few Zappa songs.  At one point we were talking and I mentioned I'd made a compilation song collection of car related songs, and mentioned a few like Outta Hell in my Dodge by Lynyrd Skynyrd , In love with my car by Queen, and Heading out to the highway by Judas Priest. Later in the day I was behind the stage helping organize the trophies and heard Heading out to the Highway playing.  I made sure to go over and tell Steve I was out of sight but not out of earshot when he played that, and enjoyed it.  It's cool establishing a friendship like that over the years.