Mopar Nationals...Well ?

[JH27N0B]

I don't know much about the scene across the nation, but I have been sad to watch the steady decline of several all Mopar shows in the Chicago area. The spring show and July show were major events 15-20 years ago, some "ringers" were even bringing their high end show cars from out of state for these shows.  Now the spring show is a minor event.  The summer show is good but still far from its peak days.  The Chicagoland Mopar connection club is still popular, but they just can't seem to get the local Mopar crowd motivated like in days past.
Nats bashing has been popular for years, especially among the Moparts crowd who love to pile on.
Getting run down by golf carts, toilets, disorganized etc.  It's always been that way and didn't keep people away in it's glory years.  (maybe the toilet situation is better though, along with the golf carts, I was dodging a steady stream of sanitary service trucks yesterday!).
But it's still a great show for the variety.  They have racing and a nightlife, which I understand Carlisle lacks.
If I lived similar distances from both shows, and could only go to one, I'd pick Carlisle because I'm mostly interested in the car show aspect.  But I'm a bit over 6 hours to Columbus, but 12 to Carlisle.
As it stands now, the nats has little room for any more show cars, swap or car corral since the west side of the track is now spectator parking instead of show cars.

[cuda hunter]

Honestly the thing that I didn't like about Carlisle was that there was no cruise and no night life. 
It was cool to hang with the club after the show.  Not complaining about that at all.  That was well worth hanging at the correct hotel.
  I wish there was a better night cruise scene though.

  It appears the Nats doesn't segregate the cars?  They just put them wherever? 

Awesome cars!  Thanks for the pics!                                            Is the swap small?   comparatively speaking. 

[JH27N0B]

No, with few exceptions the nats doesn't segregate cars. They have several feature tents and areas, but the vast majority of cars are parked in the order they arrived.  Therefore you need to walk down a row that looks to be all new Challengers and Chargers to see a handful of vintage rides parked among them. But it's not so huge that it's too inconvenient to cover the whole area, even me with my weak foot "ran" through all but some of the swap and part of the pits in 3+ hours.

[GrandpaKevin]

To me the fact the Nationals are at drag strip is the main reason I go.
I get bored real fast just walking or sitting around looking at cars at regular car shows.
I love looking at all the beautiful street and race cars then watching them race on the track.
I also make it to the Mid Ohio Mopars show at Dragway 42 for the same reason.

At the Nationals I make some real quick passes through the swap meet area dodging all the lazy idiots on golf carts and such.
I don't have the time or desire to look at every little item for sale and most of the used parts are junk and/or overpriced.

[PLY474]

Pictures from Saturday.

[superdave]

@PLY474 Thank you for posting that. My car is supposed to have stripes like that orange convertible. That is about as good a picture as I've ever seen of them.  

[Burdar]

Didn't take many pics but here are a few.

Sent from my SM-S327VL using Tapatalk

[Spikedog08]

Looks like a lot of fun!  I had family in town and staying at my house this past weekend so I could not attend.  2014 was my last visit to the show and I was thinking I may drive down this year for Friday but that failed when I heard family was coming in . . .

Next is the Woodward Cruise but going to miss that as well . . . May drive down on Thursday and do a lap before going to beautiful Torch Lake in north Michigan!  Planning a boat day on one of the best lakes in the world.  Always next year! 

[PLY474]

SuperDave,
No problem.  I liked the original condition of the orange convertible.  The stripe appears to have separation line down the center.  Here are the other photos I have. 

[Burdar]

I think that orange one got some damage from the storm on Thursday.

Looks like things got a little crazy as cars were leaving the track on Saturday.  Just found a video on Youtube of some of the action.  I won't link to it here... A woman in the background looks to have had a few too many and enjoys lifting up her top. 

[cuda hunter]

I think that orange one got some damage from the storm on Thursday.

Looks like things got a little crazy as cars were leaving the track on Saturday.  Just found a video on Youtube of some of the action.  I won't link to it here... A woman in the background looks to have had a few too many and enjoys lifting up her top. 

come on,,,,,,,,,,

[Jay Bee]

come on,,,,,,,,,,

At least give the us the video's title.

[cuda hunter]

My issue is there is really only a few videos on youtube.  They all seem to be from last year.

The burn outs were pretty fun to watch! A big truck had a great tire blow out! 

[Burdar]

Just search Mopar Nationals 2019 and it's the first thing that pops up.  You were warned... 

[JH27N0B]

SuperDave,
No problem.  I liked the original condition of the orange convertible.  The stripe appears to have separation line down the center.  Here are the other photos I have.

I liked that convertible too, always good to see another flat hood car!
But that pinstripe isn't factory.  My JH27N0B car has the V7W pinstripe option, and in '70 the factory pinstripe was along the beltline.
In '71 the V7* option was along the top of the fender and door, ending below the end of the quarter window glass.