For Immediate Release

Fords Stampede Carlisle at the World’s Largest All-Ford Gathering

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

CARLISLE, PA – During the weekend of June 6th-8th the world’s largest all-Ford event once again gave its true blue fans an unmatched gathering of spectacular cars and displays. Despite a heat wave that brought with it record temperatures and humidity to the east coast, blue oval enthusiasts came out en masse to the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Carlisle, PA to take in the best from Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.

If you have never been to a car show at the Carlisle Fairgrounds then you cannot imagine what it is like to look across a sea of over 2,000 specialty and collector cars and trucks from personal collections from all around the country. And if you’ve never been to the All-Ford Nationals at the Carlisle Fairgrounds, you don’t know what it is like to look across a sea of over 1,000 Mustangs. At first glance you might think the All-Ford Nationals was the All-Mustang nationals because the first half of the showfield looks like a pony corral. It wasn’t all about the Mustangs though as the weekend hosted new, classic and antique cars and trucks from Ford Motor Company. A few that really stood out were the original Ford Model Ts, an official U.S. Secret Service Crown Victoria and the modified Ford Focuses. There truly was something for everyone.

In addition to the huge showfield, swap meet and car corral, Ford fans were treated to a number of special gatherings of noteworthy vehicles. The Invitational Display included some outstanding examples of privately owned beauties. The SVT Owners Association celebrated their 15th anniversary with a special display of high performance Fords engineered by the Special Vehicles Team. But the belle of this Ford ball had to be the Cobra Jet reunion including a number of 135 lightweight drag cars. Drag racing legends Al Joniec, Sam Auxier Jr., Phil Bonner, Barrie Poole and Vince Liska accompanied these princesses from the past and were on hand to talk about the specialty Fords on display, meet with fans and tell stories about the glory days of drag racing.

Ford Motor Company is always well represented at the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals and this year Ford came with a stronger presence than ever before. Ford Motor Company took the "Drive One" primary brand campaign to the 40,000 plus attendees at this year’s All-Ford Nationals event. Ford utilized the Carlisle Expo Center where they organized a full-line Ford and Lincoln Mercury vehicle display including over 20 vehicles from its current line-up and five specialty Mustangs and concept cars (including the Shelby GR1, GT500KR and KITT from "Knight Rider"). There were also audio-visual aids informing visitors of its current progress on what Ford is doing to maintain and advance its GREEN, SAFE, SMART and QUALITY initiatives. Ford enlisted Jon Runyan, offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, to sign autographs, and Funkmaster Flex, custom car builder and Radio DJ, to show off six vehicles from his Ford collection.

Other highlights of the weekend included the burnout competition, Friday drag racing at the Quarter Aces Drag-O-Way, a rock crawling demonstration, the Women’s Oasis and Kids at Carlisle, seminars, test drives and more. One lucky attendee even drove off in a 1995 Ford Mustang GT Convertible as the winner of the annual All-Ford Nationals Giveaway!

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Journalist note: Information about Carlisle Events, its event listings, auction offerings and the Carlisle Expo Center is available to journalists by phone:


Michael Garland
Media Specialist
717-243-7855 ext. 133
michaelg@carlisleevents.com

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