Six Vehicles Damaged in Accident at Fall Carlisle

[MattGergeni]

At least six vehicles were damaged Saturday morning at the Fall Carlisle Collector Car Swap Meet when a truck and trailer lost control and slid down an incline.

Despite large crowds at the show, witnesses say that no one was injured in the incident.

The accident happened at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the Car Corral area.

You can check out the story and photos at:
www.oldcarsweekly.com

[1948Lincoln]

Are funerals being held for those poor cars? And the driver being indited for car-slaughter!

[Dave@Moon]

Here's what's become of Carlisle:

An accident like this happens, and six vehicles in the for sale lot at random are damaged at the height of the show on Saturday morning. One is a street rod. One is a camper. One is a Caddy Eldorado circa 1999. One is a Dodge van circa 1990. One is a Maxda RX7 circa 1985. And one is an antique, a 1963 Buick LeSabre that looks to have taken the brunt of the action. [img]<>/frown.gif[/img]

And (thank goodness) there weren't enough people in the way for any to get hurt. I wonder why? [img]<>/confused.gif[/img] [img]<>/wink.gif[/img]

[r0ckstarr]

That poor Buick...

[Skyking]

The 63 LeSabre looked like a nice one.........just goes to show you the lack of common sense people have. I hope he's insured!

[sparky65]

I am still not following all this. By the time i got around to that spot they were finishing cleaning up and loading the Buick away, and that was about 10:00. From what i heard this happened early like around 7:00 in the morning I know it was very foggy and wet in the morning so that may have contributed. But still the hill isn't that steep and how did the Buick get pushed that far.

[rocketraider]

Quote:

The 63 LeSabre looked like a nice one

It was, Sky. My bud and I had looked it over Friday afternoon along with a yellow 64 Wildcat coupe.

I heard the Buick popped out of Park when the carrier hit it, and the Buick then rolled into the others. Also heard the driver got out and tried to run and got tackled.

Similar happened at a Charlotte AutoFair a couple years ago. Some fool was driving around the apron of the track (where the car corral is) and decided he wanted to play NASCAR. He goes up thru the barricades and starts weaving like he's heating up his tires- at low speed. Went too high on the banking and lost it; slid down into several cars doing severe damage.

We saw the track ambulance and security roaring around to that end of the track. Turns out three of the car owners had jumped him and beat him within an inch of his life. I'd say he had it coming for being so stupid.

[Leonard Shepherd]

The 63 Buick rolled into the spot where my friend, Frank Drumheller was selling parts. Luckily, he hadn't gotten there at that time in the morning. I was told that a guy pulling a trailer with a car on it was trying to get into his spot on the hill and the truck slid in the wet grass and jackknifed causing it to slide into the cars. I think there were more than 6 cars damaged. The yellow 80 Malibu was not in the OCW photos. Undeterred, Frank kept on selling parts!

[Leonard Shepherd]

In defense of Carlisle even though I agree with Dave Moon that it has gone downhill, the van and camper were vendor's vehicles that were not for sale, and there were still lots of people at the event, but the wreck happened real early in the morning before most people got there.

[jaxops]

My brother from Mechanicsburg was there but only saw one of the damaged cars, so he thought it was a hoax. Thanks for the info. Lots of slippery slopes at Hershey too!

[Dave@Moon]

Originally Posted By: Leonard Shepherd

In defense of Carlisle even though I agree with Dave Moon that it has gone downhill, the van and camper were vendor's vehicles that were not for sale, and there were still lots of people at the event, but the wreck happened real early in the morning before most people got there.

The Old Cars Weekly story says that the accident occurred at 9:30AM. Having bought and sold cars on that field, and walked it most years from 1978* to 2000, I can tell you that 9:30 is just about the peak of traffic on that hill. When those gates open the major rush is to get there, and the second busiest gate is right at the top of that hill (off of the Armory). Frankly almost any reasonably priced car is sold by 9:30.

For those who don't know, that hill is steep and very slippery with dew in the morning (the cars are parked on grass between graveled ailes). The cars are parked perpendicular to the slope, which is probably around 12-15 degrees at the steepest point. I was always surprised that this didn't happen more often there.

=======================

*Somewhere I have a picture of myself (then 20) and 3 college roomate buddies sitting on that hill overlooking the swap meet in 1978. At that time it was used for vendor camping, and no one is set up in that spot (probably because it's so steep).

[Leonard Shepherd]

I think OCW was wrong on that time. I think I was at that spot around 9:30 and Frank had already cleaned up. Frank usually gets there around 8:00 and he wasn't there when it happened. The blue tarps were still covering his tables.

Here is a picture that shows the steepness of the hill and the grass.

[Leonard Shepherd]

I emailed Frank about the time of the accident and here is his reply:

Leonard; According to the police report handled me for insurance purposes, the accident happened at 7:45 AM Saturday. Gerald and his brother, Jimmy, arrived about 8:30 AM. They were about 10 minutes ahead of Wade, my brother, my nephew and I. The Police were on the scene and the Carlisle Security people were arriving as we showed up. The one thing I was mixed up on that was cleared by the article was the suburban and trailer were coming down the hill in Lane 2. Someone told me and I repeated it that the suburban and trailer were coming up the hill when he pulled onto the grass. It makes more sense now! Frank

[Old Man]

I witnessed another accident at Carlisle...
it was near the top of a hill in the car corral area.
A truck was backing UP the hill with a trailer behind him, and despite many people yelling for him to stop, he backed into a beautiful red Buick Skylark conv.
The damage was limited to a small area on the driver's side front fender.