Syracuse Nationals
2007 ( July 20 - 22, 2007 )
The Syracuse Nationals is the flag ship show for the Right Coast Association with over 6,500 registered cars and countless spectators over the three day event. There is always a lot to see and do once you arrive at the state fairgrounds. This show has something for everyone like classic show cars, used cars for sale, tech seminars, vendors, food, live music, grandstand shows and to top it all off they give away a car. This year the right coast gave away a custom 1932 Ford.
This was the fourth time HotRodding.ca has attended the show. We headed down to the show starting in Orangeville Ontario and making stops in Alton and Mississauga. The drive down on Thursday was wet and rainy but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. For the first time none of our cars developed any problems that delayed our drive and we arrived at the host hotel and were registered by 3:30pm.
The weather on Friday morning was grey and rainy and didn't really improve until 4:00pm. This cold wet weather kept a large number of vehicles from heading out to the grounds and some vendors like Year One didn't even setup their booth. The grandstand show started at 5:00pm and showcased a burnout contest, flame thrower display and a stunt show. During a slow spot in the show the crowed started getting bored and were voicing their frustration with the evenings organization. The organizer had to send out some more cars to do burnouts too keep the mob happy. Most people felt that the truck and tractor pull from years past was far more entertaining and organized, after all who doesn't like going deaf?
On Saturday and Sunday the weather was beautiful and the bad Friday weather was forgotten. Cars poured into the show grounds quickly filling the New York State Fairgrounds with rolling thunder. We checked out the cars and attended some of the events such as a tech seminar on welding and the classic car auction where we saw a yellow Superbird sell for $77,000. We got a close encounter with Dennis Gage from "My Classic Car" and stood by the GM booth where a technician started up a 572 crate motor. The Right Coast gave the 1932 Ford away on Saturday instead of Sunday however that didn't seem to help us win it.
Sunday was a short day for us as we were only on the show grounds for a few hours. We took one last look at the cars and headed for home around 11:30am. Once we recover we will start making plans for next year. Please enjoy these pictures from the show and keep in mind this only represents a small portion of what there is to see at the Syracuse Nationals.
