Charlotte Auto Fair

As I expressed in my previous post about my first-ever visit to Charlotte’s AutoFair, Thursday’s and Friday’s visits disappointed me. The Car Corral was a complete letdown, the Flea Market held nothing of interest, the Car Club area was sparsely populated, and not one person working at the show knew the first thing about the on-site auction.

Saturday mostly made up for all of these issues. As it is officially named, the AACA Southeastern Spring National took place as scheduled, with show cars streaming into Charlotte Motor Speedway starting at 7 a.m. But there was this inaccurate statement in the show handout: “AACA Nationals Field: The show field is inside the Speedway in the Xfinity Garage and it’s totally paved.” Am I the only one who interprets this to mean that the entire show will be in the Xfinity Garage? Because that was not the case. The garage was utilized to hold the pre-war and immediate post-war vehicles, of which there were about fifty. But the remainder (another 100-150 cars) were outside, which was fine; I just wish the show organizers had been more honest.

AACA judges give this Firebird the once over

Let’s put my quibbling aside and talk about the vehicles which were there. As expected, most cars were assigned a Class based on model year and/or make and model. There were also Driver Participation Class (DPC) and Original (formerly HPOF, Historical Preservation of Original Features) Class cars. Domestic vehicles from the 1960s and 1970s dominated, and I saw cars that are infrequently spotted in the Northeast. Examples included a Chrysler TC by Maserati, a 1960 Ford Country Squire wagon, not one but two Mustang IIs, a Willys station wagon, several Toronados, and several Eldorados. Import cars were limited to a late 1990s BMW 3-series, a Ferrari 308 GTS, and a Jaguar E-Type coupe.

The charmers were inside the garage. Two 1911 cars, an Oldsmobile and a Thomas Flyer, both had brass polished to an impossible shine. Several 1930s Cadillacs and a 1940 LaSalle looked great. And there were a number of ’40s and early ‘50s Fords, each one nicer than the next.

The day started with beautiful weather, and as it got warmer, the garage provided some respite from the heat. By 3 p.m., I had taken in all that I could, and my visit to the AutoFair was done. Saturday was an early night because I intended to drive home in one day. Departing the hotel at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, I arrived home eleven hours later. I allowed myself plenty of stops, and traffic wasn’t bad, but I was beat, and was glad to be home.

Long before the Internet was a thing, I recall reading about the Charlotte Auto Fair in Hemmings Motor News. It sounded like the South’s version of Hershey, with a flea market, car corral, and car show all rolled into one. I’ve often thought about attending, so earlier this year, when my AACA magazine advertised that a National Judged Show would be part of this year’s Auto Fair, I decided to make the drive. I headed out on Wednesday morning, April 8, and overnighted in Roanoke, VA, to break up the trip. Early Thursday morning, I was back on the road, and arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 10 a.m. Finding the place was easy, there was no wait to get in, and once I forked over my $10 for parking, I was inside the Speedway.

Although I’ve never been a racing fan, I’ve always understood that NASCAR is a really big deal in the south, and stepping onto the actual track at the Speedway was awe-inspiring. The place is huge. When infield seating and standing room accommodations are included, total audience capacity is 95,000. That’s big. The map I was handed as I walked in showed me that the track’s entire infield oval, plus several fields beyond the oval, were taken up by the show.

While the flea market fields were filled to capacity with vendors on Thursday, the same could not be said for the area set aside for car clubs. There were very few cars on Thursday, and just a few more on Friday. The car club area did not completely fill up until Saturday. I wandered through the car corral both Thursday and Friday, but it was less than half full both days, and many of the cars there were late model, heavily modified, or both. (The “Hershey rule” that only AACA-eligible cars are allowed in the car corral was not in force in Charlotte.) Many asking prices were astronomically beyond reasonableness.

My map showed one building marked “Auto Fair Auction,” but when I wandered over to it, there was nothing to see: no auction cars on preview, no signage, nada. I stopped at two different information booths run by AACA’s Hornet’s Nest Region, the club responsible for the entire show, and no one knew anything about an auction. Saturday morning, I gave it one more shot, and was extremely disappointed by my findings: two old project cars, plus a small smattering of garage “junk,” and that was the totality of the items for the auction. It was not advertised, it was not promoted, and it held zero interest for me, and probably for the majority of show-goers.

Saturday’s AACA judged National Show was worth it, as there were many fine cars on display. (The write-up and photos for that show will be covered in a separate blog post.) In retrospect, attending the Charlotte Auto Fair all three days was excessive. I could have seen everything I wanted to see on Saturday. But not all was lost. I got to spend time with two long-term friends, both of whom retired to North Carolina, and that made the extra days I spent there worthwhile. Would I attend the Auto Fair again? Probably not. We will file this in the “one and done” category.

FLEA MARKET

Old car parts the way we used to search for them

CAR CORRAL

1967 Volvo 122 wagon, asking $18,000. Weber carburetor, claimed original interior.

1963 Studebaker Avanti, asking $32,500. 289 V8, auto.

1963 Citroen Camionnette, two-cylinder air-cooled engine, four-speed, FWD, many new parts, needs brake work. Sign says MAKE ME AN OFFER!

1965 Buick Riviera, rebuilt nailhead engine, $9,500 OBO

1963 Pontiac Bonneville Safari, 389 tri-power, buckets/console. No asking price shown.

Sign: “1958 Studebaker Silver Hawk. All new Chevy crate engine. Mint condition. Rare. $63,000.”

CAR CLUBS

CORVAIR

MOPAR

FORD

Falcon Ranchero (wood was added by owner, not available from the factory that year

OLDSMOBILE

HOLDEN

Impressively, the Holden Club brought many cars. I didn’t know there were this many Holdens in North Carolina, much less America! There were Chevy SSs, Pontiac GTOs and G8s, and actual Holdens (or at least converted to Holdens).