Carlisle Import Nationals

To be precise, it's actually the Carlisle Import and Kit Nationals, but personally, kit cars (with the exception of Lotus 7s and some tasteful 550 Spyders) don't do much for me. The event consists of two main parts: a show, and a swap-meet. A decade or more ago, the swap-meet portion was enormous and one could literally spend an entire day browsing. Anything from endless British-car sundry items to say, an engine block for a Lancia Aurelia could be found. Unfortunately, it seems that perhaps the internet and the gloomy economy have taken a significant toll. I saw every vendor at the swap in just a couple hours. The car show is still pretty decent though. Interestingly it always seems that there are large groups of certain makes and models while others remain notably absent. Saabs, Opels, Audis, and Citroens are always in ample supply, along with a fair selection of Italian cars. The British Leyland sports cars and Japanese make a fair-sized appearance as well. Porsches are few and far between as well as most more "up-market" brands. (For that, the Pittsburgh Vintage GP offers a lot, actually.) Many of the same cars show up from year-to-year as well. Essentially, it's worth the trip if you're willing to take a drive for a few hours, especially if you've never gone before, but probably not worth coming from across the country for any longer. (Sorry, Ronan)

Anyway, here are a few highlights from the show, but by no means everything notable. For my full album, see: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3142452&id=9370809&l=8fe6f05953

Tatra 603 light-housing/"grille" - it's been for sale at the same vendor for years. $350 "firm":

Renault R5 Turbo - beats the hell out of a LeCar, eh?:

Lamborghini Islero - only 250 were made between 1968 and 1969:

A few contrasting Citroens - HY and SM:

1924 Citroen Type C 5HP - 856cc engine with, you guessed it, 5 (taxable) horsepower:

A couple of Saab 900s - these are just the convertibles too:

Very nice "bullnose" Saab 93:

It's not often you see this masterpiece of East-German engineering. The iconic Trabant:

One of the greatest ultra-luxury cars of all-time, the Mercedes Benz 600:

Auto Union DKW Junior DeLuxe - in those days, they were part of Daimler-Benz:

Some rare BMWs - Z1 and M1:

And finally, when was the last time you saw a 2002 convertible?

Again, be sure to check out all the photos from the show at the above link or on the RWP Facebook page.

Musée Automobile de Provence.

The Musée Automobile de Provence is a museum with several interesting vintage cars inside (with a 5EU admission fee) but also an ever changing collection of old cars in various states of repair and disrepair outside, most of them for sale. This is a small sampling of what they had to offer a couple of days ago:

1940s Talbot Lago Record.. a rare specimen from the days when Talbot was one of the most prestigious car makers in France (as opposed to making Peugeot clones), this one was in its juice but was all there.

1947 Paris-Rhone electric car. The same people who make the regulators in my Renault 4 made this, I don't know much else about it but it makes a BMW Isetta look like a Saab in terms of safety.

1965 Trabant.. the notoriously polluting Trabant, straight from the ex-East Germany. At 500 Euros I was (and admittedly still am) tempted.

1960s Triumph Herald 1200. I've voiced this before, I'm not a fan of British cars, but I would love one of these. Built to compete against economy sedans at the time but never caught on.

1960s Lancia 1500S Vignale.. a rather rare car to have sitting around like that. The textbook definition of "ran when parked", this one is a steal at 1,500 Euros.

Finally, a 1980s LNA and a 1970s Peugeot 204 Break.. at 600 and 300 Euros respectively, these are the unloved cars of France's past. Likely doomed to never find their public as in the collector's market, they're great bargains for the few who appreciate them.