Carlisle Show

[Timothy B.]

I went to the Carlisle show Friday and saw some nice cars, the 1961 display was very nice as well as some resto-mods I looked at. NCRS had a nice showing as well as the GM display, that new ZR1 is just awesome and the tires are solid rubber. Did I say that new ZR-1 is awesome!!

I arrived at 7am and the fields were pretty empty but everything filled up nicely. The weather was hot and I left a 4 because I had enough for one day, I assume everything cleared out because of the storm approaching. Great time, great hobby, just on my feet all day..

[Stuart F.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Sorry I missed it this year, but my son was up there yesterday as well without me. He stopped in today with a poster and a Corvette Blue T-shirt for me. He had a hard time understanding why a T-shirt celebrating all year blue Corvettes had one red one on the back, and what looks to be an early (53-55) polo white Vette in the background. At least the C-2 looked like mine with the exception of the 67 hood. Nice commerative shirt never the less. The poster is one of the new C-6's in black with the red stripes. I know it has a special designation, like pseudo Grand Sport or something. I'll hang it in my garage.

Son said the swap meet was bigger and better than usual, least wise to our experience. He saw a lot of good deals going down, including a set of four NOS shocks for a 78 PC complete with stickers on them. Also, he's been on look out for a nice BB C-2, but said the dealers had them all snapped up before the gates opend, or so it seemed.

Hope you fellows from the Northeast get home ok and that you were spared any severe damage. Being a Floridian, I know what you may be going through: you want to be home to protect your property (and Vettes), yet you also want your family to remain in a safe area. I wish you all the best of luck.

Stu Fox

[Joe R.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Well it's about 11PM on Saturday night and I am hold up in Morristown, TN for the night.
The crowd at Carlisle was (well what crowd?). Seems as if the weather flushed the crowd like a covey of quail!
Enjoyed meeting all you NCRS guys that came by the tent! Had some good laughs and connected some names and faces.
Really mild temps as compared to other years at Carlisle!
Lot of people there on Friday and brisk buyers in the crowd!
Definately C-5 and C-6 owners dominated Corvette Carlisle for 2011!!!! Those owners would average in the 55 to 60 year old range. Corvettes do not interest the younger group especially the younger kids!

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS OR THE AMERICAN MARQUE WE CHERRISH WILL FADE FROM THIS EARTH AND SOON!

JR

[Clem Z.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Well it's about 11PM on Saturday night and I am hold up in Morristown, TN for the night.
The crowd at Carlisle was (well what crowd?). Seems as if the weather flushed the crowd like a covey of quail!
Enjoyed meeting all you NCRS guys that came by the tent! Had some good laughs and connected some names and faces.
Really mild temps as compared to other years at Carlisle!
Lot of people there on Friday and brisk buyers in the crowd!
Definately C-5 and C-6 owners dominated Corvette Carlisle for 2011!!!! Those owners would average in the 55 to 60 year old range. Corvettes do not interest the younger group especially the younger kids!

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS OR THE AMERICAN MARQUE WE CHERRISH WILL FADE FROM THIS EARTH AND SOON!

JR

because the older corvettes has been turned into a collector car not just a used sports car and priced out of the range of most younger people. even if a younger person might be interested in a older corvette he found for sale the owners because of B/J think they have a ticket to retirement. just to get a old corvette running the used parts are way out of the reach of most younger people because the people who have the used parts see what they bring on ebay. because a lot of people have decided to make a living out of used corvettes they have poisoned the well and this nothing personal JR as i am just stating my opinion as a corvette owner for over 50 years.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Joe Ray,

I agree with your statement about the older Corvette owners, lots of grey hair walking around. I think (hope) as long as Chevrolet keeps making cars like that new ZR-1 the hobby may be OK. I don't know what the $ tag is on that car but it would probably cost double to buy the package in another car.

[Paul J.]

Re: Carlisle Show

because the older corvettes has been turned into a collector car not just a used sports car and priced out of the range of most younger people. even if a younger person might be interested in a older corvette he found for sale the owners because of B/J think they have a ticket to retirement. just to get a old corvette running the used parts are way out of the reach of most younger people because the people who have the used parts see what they bring on ebay. because a lot of people have decided to make a living out of used corvettes they have poisoned the well and this nothing personal JR as i am just stating my opinion as a corvette owner for over 50 years.

As I've preached for years.

Paul

[John S.]

Re: Carlisle Show

because the older corvettes has been turned into a collector car not just a used sports car and priced out of the range of most younger people. even if a younger person might be interested in a older corvette he found for sale the owners because of B/J think they have a ticket to retirement. just to get a old corvette running the used parts are way out of the reach of most younger people because the people who have the used parts see what they bring on ebay. because a lot of people have decided to make a living out of used corvettes they have poisoned the well and this nothing personal JR as i am just stating my opinion as a corvette owner for over 50 years.

it depends what you consider old. for a young person a old car would be 20 to 25 years old putting them in the c4 range. excellent c4 are available for less than $7500.

[Terry M.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Well it's about 11PM on Saturday night and I am hold up in Morristown, TN for the night.
The crowd at Carlisle was (well what crowd?). Seems as if the weather flushed the crowd like a covey of quail!
Enjoyed meeting all you NCRS guys that came by the tent! Had some good laughs and connected some names and faces.
Really mild temps as compared to other years at Carlisle!
Lot of people there on Friday and brisk buyers in the crowd!
Definately C-5 and C-6 owners dominated Corvette Carlisle for 2011!!!! Those owners would average in the 55 to 60 year old range. Corvettes do not interest the younger group especially the younger kids!

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS OR THE AMERICAN MARQUE WE CHERRISH WILL FADE FROM THIS EARTH AND SOON!

JR

This is, like so many things now days, is an easy problem to eloquently define. It is a lot more difficult to outline a solution. There is no one clear solution, and there may not even be any solution, however repeatedly defining the problem without offering solutions is no answer either.

[Clem Z.]

Re: Carlisle Show

it depends what you consider old. for a young person a old car would be 20 to 25 years old putting them in the c4 range. excellent c4 are available for less than $7500.

the problem with C-4 cars they require many electronic parts that are difficult,"expensive" or not even available. the older corvettes use a lot of parts that were used on chevy passenger cars so they are a lot easier and cheaper to find.

[Clem Z.]

Re: Carlisle Show

This is, like so many things now days, is an easy problem to eloquently define. It is a lot more difficult to outline a solution. There is no one clear solution, and there may not even be any solution, however repeatedly defining the problem without offering solutions is no answer either.

i have a answer that nobody here is going to like do away with judging and this business of top flite at any cost for parts will go away.

[Terry M.]

Re: Carlisle Show

i have a answer that nobody here is going to like do away with judging and this business of top flite at any cost for parts will go away.

But Clem NCRS was judging Corvettes starting in 1974 and at that time, and for a long time later, Corvettes were just used cars. What has happened in my opinion, has nothing to do with NCRS or anyone elses judging. I don't think it has anything to do with BJ or similar made for TV auctions either. It has to do with a change in our culture. Young people no longer want an American made sports car at any price. End of story -- oh, and there is nothing we are going to do to change that.

Just enjoy the ride.

[John D.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Sorry but I don't agree with the above. Well maybe I agree with some of it but let me tell you that this past Corvette Carlisle was one busy show. My aisle was full of spectators and buyers. My vendor spot was extremely busy.
Now to kiss up to Clem and Joe Ray etal let me tell you a story that you will love (or hate).
As some of you know I used to own a May 83 Corvette that is now MIA.
Anyhow I had boo coo NOS 84 parts that I had bought over the years. My son had a tent set up in front of the trailer that was full of Corvette parts. He did a great job separating the parts according to years or categories such as C1, etc.
I asked him what sold the best this past show since he did quite well. His answer was the C4 parts sold the best and attracted the most interest.
Well gang you have to realize just how many of those cars were produced.
But as far as 57 to 65 FI interest let me tell you the hobby is far from dying. Tru story. Old JD
Thanks for stopping around Joe Ray. Whew!!!
By the way NCRS members let me say that our hobby is alive and well. This past show reminded me of the old days of CC. Lots of enthusiam by all ages. And they didn't have deep pockets like in the past. I also see a lot of the younger generation playing with the earlier Corvettes. Take for example my 22 yr old son. He loves the older Corvettes.

[Dick W.]

Re: Carlisle Show

because the older corvettes has been turned into a collector car not just a used sports car and priced out of the range of most younger people. even if a younger person might be interested in a older corvette he found for sale the owners because of B/J think they have a ticket to retirement. just to get a old corvette running the used parts are way out of the reach of most younger people because the people who have the used parts see what they bring on ebay. because a lot of people have decided to make a living out of used corvettes they have poisoned the well and this nothing personal JR as i am just stating my opinion as a corvette owner for over 50 years.

Corvette is no different from any other car, inspite of your conspiracy theories Clem. Why do people collect Model T Fords, old Chevies, etc. My father told me that you could not give a supercharged Cord away in the late '40's and early '50's. When the stock market took the big dump in the late '80's, all old cars became collectible. Why is a '52 IH truck worth almost $100k? Just like Corvette's, there are collectors out there for them.

It is not that the younger people do not want collectible Corvettes, they want nothing that is collectible. I see that all the time in the auction and appraisal business. The "Y" generation wants immediate gratification and they want it now. The whole collector car hobby has missed at least one generation. SEMA has said that the kids coming up today are auto orientated, it is up to the marques and clubs to cultivate them.

Instead of spending all your time beating the hobby down, take a little time to study the generations and their likes and wants. You might actually begin to have a clue as to what is happening.

It is not

[Steven B.]

Re: Carlisle Show

Having been in the product development and marketing business, in a Fortune 10 organization, and earlier in the automotive parts manufacturing business for much of my life, and a car and Corvette enthusiast all of my life I have a couple of observations.

Along Dick's lines when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's we had a couple of car collectors in town---both in their late thirties and early 40's, and both with extra money to spend on cars. The young guys then dreamed, and bought, the newest car they could. The new cars were exciting and had more "attention value" with those you were trying to impress. Working in a gas station full time you could even afford a Vette. One such fellow in town bought a 427 Ford. Those of us on a more limited income built hot rods from what we could afford. Noone was interested in restoration. None of the young guys wanted to buy a classic or brass car.

In the early to mid 70's car manufacturers migrated to spending their R&D dollars on safety, mileage, and luxury because insurance companies, government safety regulations, the oil crisis, etc. drove manufacturing and operating costs up quickly. Luxury options also brought increased margins. The manufacturers realized the younger buyer could not afford the new products, and the demand for them was lower in the youth market, so they targeted the buying segments who could afford them, the growing baby-boomers.

Today the youth market can afford smaller, 4 cylinder, 4 passenger cars so they buy them and modify them and a new type of hot rod is born. Today youth use their cars for cruising and not for marking off a 1320 outside of town and running them. 'Too congested in most places today, anyway. Where we used to do our top end runs are probably high traffic areas today, anyway.

In light of this, I believe Chevy is missing out on a great opportnity. Why do older adults go to McDonald's?? Because we did as kids, kids were, and are targeted and nutured by the company to be life long customers. Chevy does this with the regular passenger cars to some extent but does very little to 'grow" Chevy customers into the Corvette. 'remember the "good old days" when you could get a Corvette, then get married and have a Duece, then as time and kids came you went on to an Impala, Olds, Buick then a Cadillac? Today youth go from Civics and '70's low riders to Lexus. We are making progress with the Camaro, Challenger and Mustang. That said, their is no better American Made image maker or performer than the Corvette-new or old.

Off my soap box. 'gotta clean my WCFB's and do some reminiscing.

Steve

[Rich C.]

Re: Carlisle Show

From a 'younger enthusiast' (no gray hair) a few observations: 1) the variety of engine and option choices sure made for more interesting underhood appeal prior to 1980, now they all have a/c, pwr stg, pwr brakes, etc.( not knocking post '80, I'd love a '82 and a mint C-4) 2) ebay is killing the swap meet, I've had far better luck finding NOS parts on ebay then carlisle the last few years. I LOVE swap meets, but the parts seem to be drying up! (at least nice C-3 parts) It's incredible to see some parts that have repeatedly been soaked in water. 3) GETTING EXPENSIVE, Why $14 to get in?, Fall Carlisle is $10. If I go Th, Fri and part of Sat, that's $42, and that's before the wife, who sit's in the grandstands and reads! We are walk-ins because the vette is not quite ready for a 1000 mile round trip yet. The NCRS events should think about a guest pass to introduce people to our shows. The ncrs display at Carlisle is a good start, but no open hoods??? 4) lots more but I'm getting tired, maybe I am getting old!

'73 LS-4 454