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From YourSITE.com Events Coverage The Carlisle Import and Kit/Replicar Nationals is pretty much unlike any other car show you might attend. It’s not held on a prestigious racetrack or a swank golf course, but on the fairgrounds outside a Pennsylvania college town. As its rather awkward name suggests, any non-domestic brand is welcome, though that rule is even fairly flexible given the inordinate number of Fieros that attend every year.
The mix at Carlisle is always eclectic, so it is perhaps fitting that even the marquee-specific showing of Audis is amazingly wide-ranging - from a vintage DKW to the upcoming B8 Audi S4 and virtually everything in-between.
It’s hard to say whether the main event here is the field of Audis itself or the party tent alongside. Whether or not the show is judged is up to the organizing owners and, as has become typical of this event, the focus is the social nature and not the handing out awards, though you may have won bragging rights if you were to show your prowess in the four-sided beer bong.
Whether it’s the beer and barbecue or spending a sunny afternoon talking cars with like-minded owners, Carlisle has proven itself a strong venue for Audis and this year didn’t disappoint. There may have only been one DKW as representative of the now-defunct Auto Union-NSU brands, but the mix was otherwise quite diverse with the typical slant towards the B2 chassis Audis popular with many of the key organizers. This included three turbocharged 4000 sedans. Among the newer cars were several A4s and S4s, an S5, an RS 4, Phil Ackey’s supercharged C5 S6 Avant and a new B8 supercharged S4 on-loan to Fourtitude from Audi of America.
Vendors remain a bit of a miss for the Audi crowd here. With such a heavy mix of older cars, Carlisle is perhaps not a natural target for many of the modern chip tuning-focused aftermarket players who tend to show up in numbers at other shows. Walk vendor row and you’ll find more of a diverse mix of used part and automobilia vendors though we did find one booth this year selling used parts for Audi vehicles.
As mentioned, Carlisle isn't just about Audi. Walk the many fields of this fairground and there's no shortage of automotive interest. Cleanly built or pristine survivors from Saab, Volvo BMW and even long-gone brands like Peugeot tend to show up in large numbers. There are whole halls dedicated to Kit Car manufacturers. Or, maybe check out a car for sale (including a black Coupe quattro) in the used car corral. If you have the time next year, this three-day event is not to be missed. Even better, camp on the grounds and get to know the most ardent of the Audi crowd on a wholly different level.
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