This is happening at just about all the shows that don't have a year cutoff. And i doubt thats gonna change.

without modern muscle , u don't have a show....

I have zero issue with the modern cars. A significant amount of the population lives in a situation where they simply don't have the space or resources to have 2 cars and a toy car. Good luck finding a real 3 car garage these days for anything close to reasonable price. I respect people who want to be part of Mopar culture and do it through their modern vehicles. They obsess over their cars often as much as people with older rides. What better way for an enthusiast to find a car that excites them, than Carlisle. Almost all years models are covered. The only true lagging area is pre 55. As people gain more resources and space, they'll jump into an old car most likely. We all have to start somewhere. Never understood crapping on people who just like something else or can't afford to jump into a money pit restoration.

I spent time talking to a guy that had a really cool sea mist green K car on Thursday. He also had one over in the tent that was a 12k mile original. That guy was as passionate and detailed about his car as anyone on the grounds. I enjoyed talking with him and appreciating his enthusiasm for the car. It doesn't take much effort to not be an A hole.

Mike

^^^ This.

I'm not a new-car kind of guy these days, and I reserve my most serious appreciation for building vs buying; but in the past, I'd fuss over my new cars just as much as my old ones.
There's no reason to be rude to folks who have late-model stuff - we should appreciate the gearhead and enthusiasm in them.

The best thing about our passion of MOPARS is the people. My friend from Maine swung by and picked up my Daytona convertible and brought it to Carlisle for free. The starter broke when we went to take it off the trailer. My friends that live local to me drove me to the motel and back. Another friend vending gave me a starter for free. Borrowed tools from someone that didn't even know me. Got it fixed in a couple hours. Everyone I met at the grounds was polite and friendly. Everyone staying at the motel said "good morning" or "hello". I really had a good time despite of the heat, crowds, and high prices. WINGNUT

I did the analysis on this a couple of years ago because I assumed the same thing and it turned out to be wrong. Yes, the majority of growth about 10 years ago came from the modern muscle but the classics have also continued to GROW each year. The rate of growth of modern muscle was huge 15-17 years ago but that growth has slowed. What's happening now is that those classes are all over the place because those cars are aging so the 2010 Challenger R/T Stock class is shrinking because the owner sold that car for a 2020 Scat Pack and the guy who had a 2018 Scat Pack a couple of years ago traded it for a 2022 Hellcat. So I would have to look at the total number of LX/LC cars and look at overall growth.

I haven't analyzed it since Covid but I can tell you just from laying out the Showfield this year that the classics and muscle era cars are still growing. Maybe some of them didn't show up this year (due to the heat or they brought their truck or whatever the reason), but they were registered. I know because I used to use the area between the Midway and Building Y as a "club zone" of sorts. I had no extra room for a "club zone" this year - it was all Showfield this year. The area that I'm referring to is in the infield and the infield is always classics and muscle cars. The newest car or truck in the infield should've been 1984ish and there would've been very few that were from the '80s. I went through the infield a lot all weekend and it sure looked pretty full to me. I don't estimate every class perfectly so I might have guessed 1 or 2 cars above what actually showed up in some classes, but I didn't see much grass.

The Malaise area (mid-'70s to mid-'80s) was overflowing. We moved some signs around to try to make more room but the club that was organizing that display told me that many of them moved over to the Blue Field and parked with the FWD Malaise Era classes. So, maybe you went through at a time when a certain area hadn't yet filled up or maybe you spent most of your time in one area that did have some empty space, but I was on my golf cart (driving responsibly!!) all weekend and the entire property was very full. Most of the comments that I heard were that Thursday felt like a Friday and Friday felt like a Saturday.

Regardless, I know it's not perfect and I take everything I hear in stride. I use ALL of it to try to improve the show every year. I'd say about 98% of what I've heard so far has been extremely positive. And almost all of the negative was minor and isolated (things we can't really affect). I do totally agree that we should've put up the misting tents like we used to. I never even thought about that until I read the comments here. We haven't had temps this high in a while so it wasn't on my mind. I have a "logistics" person who handles things like that and I'll ask him tomorrow in the post-event why we didn't have them. It's possible that those were run by the ambulance/EMS crew. We have a totally different EMS crew starting about 3 years ago and maybe this crew doesn't have the misting tents. MAYBE that's the reason. But even I am curious on that one.

I do thank you for the feedback (good and bad). I try to read as much as I can here and on social media. I do the best I can to implement improvements and changes each year. I do have one question for those who think we're getting fewer classics each year. Did you show a vehicle this year and if so, what was it?

I'm back in the office today and working on next year!!

Ed B

And today I actually went online looking for hotel rooms for next year already. Didn't have much luck as the site I was on wouldn't let you check dates that are a year out. I must have looked at the WRONG site!

I'm also thinking about coming up on Wednesday and setting up on Thursday. We'll see how it all works out!

Thanks for reading our comments and feedback especially about the misting tents and classic and newer mopars.Talk with you again.Take care all the best to you and yours...Now back to watching Clarks Place Chryslers at Carlisle 2023 on YouTube To see what we may have missed.Cool show!!John and Ellie

Ed B. on Sat I was walking around looking for the autograph tent, I wanted Dave Rea to sign something he gave me a few years ago. i asked a young guy in a golf cart where it was and he drove me around for about 5 minutes until he found it. I thanked him for saving what what little meniscus (cartilage) is left in my knee. The name on the side of his walkie-talkie is "Mike N." he told me he's been there 15 years. If you know him give him an "Atta Boy" for me. CS.

Get out of my way or I’ll run you down, seriously I use the scooter like I drive on the road, with some sense. I’m very hard of hearing so I don’t hear much, but I also don’t pay attention to the loud mouths either just like the politics, smile and move on. I’m looking for parts.

I’m old school, kids should be seen and not heard. Plus none should be on any motorized cart. They do come in handy carding parts though. Your barking up the wrong tree about kids and the future of the ‘sport’ Im 74 and don’t care. Anyway I’ll keep coming back till it’s over.

"without modern muscle , u don't have a show...."

No, what you have is a used car lot.

a new hemi challenger, doing mid/low 12's or faster down the 1/4mile.... with the ac on, against a 60/early 70's hemi , lucky if it's in the mid 13's , on a hot day where its 90 outside, but 110 in the car... yeah if i had to choose.... give me ac all day long

Some notes from a first-timer to Carlisle:

Weather: It's July. It's hot. The humidity did surprise the hell out of me, but that's why I kept a cooler of drinks in the car and left early when it got to be too much.

Swap Meet: Just because we don't stop and paw through everything doesn't mean that we aren't looking. Especially for off-year vehicles. That being said, the swap meet had plenty to offer and those that I stopped and talked with were very friendly and knowledgable, just like I hoped they would be. Another vote for ditching the political crap, though.

Modern Cars: I had no issue with them. There were plenty of vehicles in the field that showed the owner's care and pride well. There were a few that made me wonder if the daily driver got a pass, especially in modern trucks, but overall very pleased.

Scooters: If you need it, you need it, but stop trying to run me down like you're playing GTA: Car Show.

Malaise/1980s stuff: I was glad to see the mix and to see how engaged these groups were. Traditionally, it's been the punching bag of a Mopar show. I was attending Carlisle for the first time because my car got accepted as a feature in the Malaise group and the response was fantastic. The parade was great, it was cool to see how many people were checking the cars out along the route.

Overall, this was a great time provided you could tolerate hot weather. I saw the EMTs treating the woman who went down near the food vendors, kudos to them and everyone else who was assisting her. If you go to a car show and don't expect to hear a salty word or two here and there, then welcome to the real world. Even the old timers and kind old grandfather types know how to color their language. I've got one more hotter-than-Hades Mopar show on the calendar (MoParty) and then I'll be investing in meat-locker worthy air conditioning for the Charger!

I look forward to the event each year.

I had a great time as always with my Mopar family as well as meeting new relatives.

Thank you to those that bring out their cars for us to enjoy.

One thing I noticed was there were quite a few dogs walking on the hot blacktop over the weekend. A few dogs had booties (and one with ski goggles on).

I was worried about the dogs feet too, owners should know better.

I didn't bring a lot of money to buy parts or souvenirs, my house repairs have been eating it up.

One thing I did find & knew it was a good deal, was a 1969 Dodge Charger tail light cover for $10 that wasn't missing corners or look like a pit bull's chew toy. This is the large, black plastic panel that goes in the trunk. I had a couple of these decades ago. One I used in my Charger & one was a spare that I eventually sold at a swap meet. I have a 1968 Charger & don't know if it will fit but for $10 it was worth finding out.

the last time i was there was several years ago. i was using my handicap scooter, pulling a little trailer, going slowly ate the very edge of the road on one of the swap isles with my buddy.
the Hemming's van lightly "tapped" me, and i thought a riot was going to break out !
i wasn't hurt in any way, just super surprised at the sudden jolt !
i thought the surrounding people were going to lynch the Hemming's driver !
afterward, while passing their spot, my buddy took several pictures of the front bumper of the van that tagged me. the paint was cuffed up pretty good ! i'll bet there was some "'splain'in" to do when they got home.
i should have asked them for a free subscription..............

My wife and I will be back of course..we will make sure we bring a mopar we can park on the showfield!And be earlier then 1030 am it was our earliest but I'm feeling 8am will be good!