The annual event, Corvettes at Carlisle, is the world’s largest Corvette gathering. Typically, there are some 5,000 Corvettes presented at the event, and this year’s show was no exception. The event, run last weekend from 26-28 August, was deemed to have drawn in the second largest crowd in the show’s existence. It was only the Covid-19 driven exclusion of fans from Canada that stopped the Carlisle 2021 show being the biggest ever.
The Corvettes are spread out across the Carlisle Fairgrounds in rows and rows, and it takes more than one day to walk around all the cars. There are cars on display. There are Corvettes of all ages, conditions, and prices for sale at the Car Corral. There is a huge automotive flea market with all manner of Corvette parts for sale, manufacturers’ displays and even an official General Motors tent manned by GM engineers, designers and marketing personnel, all ready to answer your questions.
This year’s featured model was the 1996 Corvette Grand Sport, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary. These cars were all painted in Admiral Blue with a full-length White stripe up the centre and two red hash marks on the front left fender. These hash marks have become a regular feature on all Grand Sport models. The 1996 Grand Sport was limited to 1,000 vehicles and included 810 coupes and 190 convertibles. Not all 1,000 were at the Carlisle event, but there was a large gathering of these beauties, all lined up in a row. This was surely the largest number seen together at one time since they were lined-up at the end of the assembly line.
The C8 Corvettes featured prominently at the event. The newest and biggest dealer, Ciocca Corvette of Atlantic City, brought a dozen C8s to Carlisle. The parking lots were full of C8s and it would seem that many of the owners were first-time Corvette buyers who were making their maiden visit to the Carlisle show. The three new 2022 colours were there to be seen, as well as the new IMSA GTLM Championship Edition Corvettes.
As usual, Sunday night was celebrated by the traditional Corvette Parade, with cars stretched out through the streets of Carlisle. People gathered on both sides of the road to cheer their favourite cars as they passed. What more can I say about the parade other than suggesting you take a look at the video presentations available on YouTube.
As someone who has been to one of these Carlisle events, I can thoroughly recommend that if you are a true Corvette lover, this event definitely needs to go on your bucket list.