South for Winter
Carlisle Events brings an auction, a car show and more to the Sunshine State
By Steve Turner
Fans of Blue Oval machinery are surely familiar with Carlisle Events, the company that puts on a massive show each June celebrating all things Ford. This event is held annually in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but during the colder months the company brings its series south for a pair of events dedicated to all things automotive and more.
After outgrowing the events’ previous location, Carlisle brought its Fall Florida Autofest and Florida Winter Autofest to the Sun ’N Fun facility at Lakeland Linder Airport in Lakeland, Florida. At this larger facility, Carlisle has room to offer everything from a motorcoach concours and bi-plane rides to a car corral and swap meet. The company also hosts its own auto auction, where the seller doesn’t pay unless the car for auction sells. And, if that weren’t enough, there was even an opportunity to meet Tom Wopat, who played Luke Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard.
While all that stuff is fun, the real draw for us is that this event also served as the location for the Imperial Mustangs of Polk County club’s Mustangs & Mustangs car show, which brings together Fords and Mustangs for a car show an a photo op with a P-51 Mustang airplane and donates some of the proceeds of the show to Volunteers in Service to the Elderly.
We dropped by to soak up all that the event had to offer, and that was a lot. If it looks like fun to you, mark your calendars for November 10-13, 2016. That’s when the Fall Florida Autofest returns to Sun ’N Fun.
The Carlisle Events Florida Winter Autofest brings together a myriad of automotive events, ranging from an auction and a car corral to a car show and a swap meet. There were also plenty of food vendors on hand.
There were hundreds of cars up for auction at the Florida Winter Autofest, and the action was fast-paced in the auction building. We didn’t see too many modern Ford performance rides for sale, but there were a few.
One such vehicle up for auction was this 63,381-mile 1986 Mustang SVO, which is said to be one of 347 painted in Oxford White. This 2.3-liter, turbocharged Mustang was way ahead of its time.
Since the Sun ’N Fun complex is at the Lakeland Linder Airport, there are opportunities for more than automotive fun. You could pay to take a ride in Flying Adventure’s World War II era Stearman Bi-Plane.
What really attracted us to the Florida Winter Autofest was the inclusion of the Mustangs & Mustangs car show, which brought out over 180 Mustangs, including Billy Ivey’s Triple Yellow 2015 Mustang GT.
There were plenty of Mustangs to be envious of a the show, but Scott Schuh’s 2016 Shelby GT350 was near the top of the list. This Avalanche Gray example features the optional black roof, and Scott has every possible piece of documentation on display with his Hummingbird.
You can’t argue with a classic. Dave Blickenstaff’s super sano 2003 Cobra convertible is one of 81 sprayed in Satin Silver. As clean as it is, David’s Terminator is, it is not stock. It features a JLT cold air intake, an MGW shifter, Nitto tires, Steeda suspension bits and more.
Well that didn’t take long! Not long after they were introduced, we’ve seen our first privately owned 2015 Shelby GT, and it’s a convertible. In fact, it was the first production version built. Owned by Patrick and Liz Carroll, this Triple Yellow example features a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger, which cranks up the fun factor beyond 630 horsepower.
Speaking of clean examples of SVT classics, one look at Joel Paretas’ 1993 Mustang Cobra brought us right back to the swan song of the Fox era. It’s not totally stock, as it wears bolt-ons like a BBK cold air intake, but it’s outward appearance is straight out of the early ’90s.
Here’s one you don’t expect to see on the show circuit. Joe Curley brought out his 2008 Cobra Jet. This factory-prepped drag car is one of the earliest examples and features a 5.4-liter engine similar to the one found in the GT500 of that era, but it is topped by the Ford Performance 2.3-liter TVS supercharger.
Definitely a show stallion is Walter Taylor’s 1995 Mustang GT, which features plenty of shiny bits under the hood, including a Vortech supercharger.
A definite show stopper is Dmitriy Dinovitse’s black and green 2013 Mustang GT, which rides low and packs a ProCharged Coyote underhood.
Looking the part of a modded GT500 was Christopher Manciulea’s 2009 Mustang GT, which still has a Three-Valve 4.6 under that TruFiber hood. It does, however, wear one of Ford Performance’s intake manifolds and a cold-air intake.
All the Fords weren’t in the car show or the auction. We spotted this clean Fox convertible for sale in the car corral.
