Mopar Nats Today

My son and a I attended today. It has been at least 7 years or more since I have been. I have to say there were some great cars and trucks as always. I'm just not a fan of the National Trail venue. It seems very chaotic and unorginized. The vending or food choice is horrendous. It reminded me of why I hadn't been back in so long. The weather was actually great. I much preferred when it was in Indy. I know alot of people had issues with the police in Indy, bUT I just feel it is a better venue and drew more cars. I have no basis for that other than my own opinion. I would be curious as to what others think. I left kind of disappointed. In a few years the new stuff will out number the old stuff.

I haven't been there for years myself and drove 6-1/2 hours to be there Friday just to go thru the swap meet and car corral. After 3-1/2 hours I was done, cancelled my hotel room and drove home. It's great if your into racing your car or watching racing but I'm not sure if I'll ever go again.

I drove the 5 1/2 hours there for sat. I toured the swap meet and the vendors. Didn't get the time to check out the cars or sit and watch the racing.
I thought it was great. Wish I had more time. I have not been there in about 12 ish years. I enjoyed it alot.
I would go back again. There are not many mopar events around here like that. So I thought it was worth the trip.
I left around 4 as the dark cloud's were rolling in and drove the 5 1/2 hours home

I've been to Nats - Columbus many times, but not since maybe 2012-13? too darn far, motels too high, costs too darn much, sorry venue, terrible food, toilet facilities, BUT great cars, swap though, only reason to go....
Indy? there back years ago when they moved it... the cops patrolled the motels for trouble...t hat was great... people at the tract acted like Mopar people had some disease.... never seen such an attitude..... never would go back there if ya paid me!

I think maybe it's more just a sign of the times. I think back and you pretty much had to go for that hard to find part and you just dealt with all the BS. TheRe wasn't one thing in the swap that you couldn't find on line in some of these forums. It amazes me how the Internet has changed everything. I guess as far as talking mopars it's still a good time, just don't know that I will do it again. I wasn't crazy about all of the new challengers and chargers. Not much blood, sweat and tears poured into those.

thanks to all the FABO members that took the time to stop by and say hi.......Sorry I could not meet everyone, Its hard to be sociable when the brats are burnin'.

For all the forecasting of a turd floater, we were fortunate the rain held out until around 4:40 Saturday afternoon.

see ya' next year with a few more new rides in the tent.

Were u the one selling hemi k frames?

HemiDenny said:

thanks to all the FABO members that took the time to stop by and say hi.......Sorry I could not meet everyone, Its hard to be sociable when the brats are burnin'.

For all the forecasting of a turd floater, we were lucking with rain not showing up until around 4:40 Saturday afternoon.

see ya' next year with a few more new rides in the tent.

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I haven't been to the Mopar Nationals in 15 years. The venue sucks and the swap area is about 20% of the size of Carlisle swap area. I enjoy watching drag racing, but after 2 hours I've had enough.

dodgedifferent2 said:

Were u the one selling hemi k frames?

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What type of k frames are you talking about? Converted factory K frames or rack and pinion / coilover conversions for Hemis.....I (HDK) do the r &p / coilover coversion
moparsuspension.com

Stage II and the New Gen Hemis

I was there all 3 days ,I really enjoyed it.Sorry I didnt get up to your tent this time Hemi Denny.I had my Dart for sale and did not expect the activity around it .I was busy all wkend .I did sell it and bought a 73 Duster(future 5.7 swap with 4 speed)I will go every year as long as I can'

I hadnt been in prob seven or eight years, not crazy about so much traffic driving through the swap area no way i would take my kids, thought the swap was decent some stuff really overpriced but a few deals, seemed the midway was a little smaller, the dodge thrill rides were cool, lots of cars and for sale, take all the new challengers and chargers and vipers out it gets a lot smaller cause there were a lot of them and all the new darts whats up with that one lol couldnt figure that out. Will prob skip a few years before i go back , going to carlisle next, and they dont let them do small burnouts anymore so the cruising stunk where i was but overall it was ok, just my two cents

I was there, I go every year. Of course it's close enough.
I have to agree on a few points, I was selling in the swap meet. The assholes on the golf carts were out of control.
I've no beef with the guy who has health issues, but when I'm watching these guys drive by at 15mph or drinking beer as they go, now I have a problem. They would park the golf carts in front of your stall, walk across or over to the next stall. I'd had enough, I stuck my key signs a good 1/4 of the way out into the walk to prevent it.
The cruise, well that stunk on ice! The cops made sure that I'll be gone on Saturday evenings now and no longer have a reason to stick around until Sunday. All that did was cost the city of Heath a bunch of money. Between the gouging of the hotels rates, and the cops, see ya Heath!
I was also asked to bring my survivor car for the display. Now this was back in June, so I submitted the application like I was asked, sent the pictures ect. Never heard anything back. I walked up to the survivor tent and saw how sparse it was. I was told they had a bunch of no-shows. Well, if others got the same lack of communication I got, they weren't no-shows they were no-tolds.
Disorganized is an understatement! The place is a cluster f**k!
But, I'm a glutton for punishment, so I'll be there again next year.

Of course we go every year, and this year was no different!! It's all what you make it!! We had 2 swap spots, met tons of people, sold a bunch of stuff to people in need, laughed, sweated, wrote a couple songs, sang em to our customers, camped in the pits for $50 for the entire weekend!! Ya, I'd say it was a good weekend!!!

The only thing that screwed us is Greg had to head back home due to a hitch malfunction. He made it back to the lower Michigan ok....but he took the gas powered blender with him.......no margaritas, but Don (Bullitt) didn't miss a beat and stepped up with the ol three finger pour.

We struggled thru without Greg.....but you are right, it's what you make it....

Me??.... I'm havin fun....as usual. (John Milner / American Graffiti )

I will not go back to this show!!!!! drove 540 miles and was not happy with the disorganized people and event
36 years and they still have no clue on what they do....

my daughter did get 2nd place tho so she is happy with that,,

70duste said:

my daughter did get 2nd place tho so she is happy with that,,

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I did see a young lady driving a FM3 Duster like in your Avitar....must have been her.

The golf carts drive me crazy. I had one lady threaten to run over me with one. They were everywhere it seemed. They post all the rules about them and then do not enforce them.

I went and go every year had a great time also found some nice parts for the Barracuda hope to see some of you there next year

I went. Had a good time. Spent most of the time at the camper because I was sick of dodging golf carts. It seems less and less cars each year. Could blame the chance for rain. Not sure. In spite of my bitching. I'll see y'all again next year.

Well, my first Nats was 1983 and have been to every one except the couple years in Indy. Kind of my silent protest against the move. I should have gone to the first one at the Chelsea proving grounds but didn't. It was real grass roots back then and now seems to be more revenue oriented.

National Trail is not a very good track. It has degraded since being taken over by NHRA. Any complaints should be directed to them, not the Mopar nation.

You should have noticed by now that the typical classic Mopar guy is aging which may explain the golf cart thing and yes, they are a problem. Also the growing presence of newer cars. When you hear a 400 hp small block you know it. Compare that to a 400 hp LX car that outperforms the old iron in every way including doubling of the gas mileage. A typical 20ish Mopar kid usually is not going to go out and buy a 60's Mopar. Too expensive and too hard to get financing. So he shows up in a new Dart or a Neon, maybe an SRT that runs low 14s. And the older guys turn their nose up at him? Did your parents like you hot rodding around in your Dart in the 60s and 70s?The percentage of new iron is just going to get higher every year so get used to it.

Ever take a look at the typical racer? Notice his age and the amount of equipment he brings to the track, Cummins, enclosed trailer, kitchen, generator, 4 wheeler. A lifetime of accumulating stuff and then, uh oh, he's getting older every year. A lot of old guys are selling their junk snd going with the new stuff too.

It still takes me about 6 hours to go through the swap meet and car corral. I may be looking for specific things but always manage to come back with unexpected junk too. Most years when going only on Saturday, i barely saw any of the show field or racing because i was in the swap area all day. Except the Nostalgia SS and Hemi racers cause those are my favorites.

There are plenty of all make swap meets in this area but I stopped going to those 20 years ago. I just don't like wading through brand X junk. I much prefer Mopar only swaps a few times a year.

So I put up with the bad and make the best of it.
I choose not to dwell on the negatives, but on the positives.

I want to thank Orangewagon Ross and Hemi Denny for spending time with me and my son under the big top. Denny even thanked us for cleaning up the leftovers. The good guys are what makes this fun, not the mismanaged things.
And if one of those golf cart guys run me over, I want to thank them in advance for financing my new Challenger.

The Heath/Hebron cruise is still going strong. I've been hitting Heath the last few years after Brice road fell flat. The first year I hit Heath it was INSANE! It was like Brice road was 10 years ago. I don't believe the local authorities in Heath were ready for it. Every year after that has been lame, with Cops everywhere. Now if you're just into "cruising", then yeah, Heath is still a good place for that. I like going to Tri-County Dodge (think that's the name) in Heath for there car show-food-live music venue.