The IsuzuWeb at Carlisle; Custom Compact Power Jam, May 8-10, 1998

The IsuzuWeb car club, participated in another show event and sucessfully flooded the Carlisle show with Isuzus and Storms.
Isuzu enthusiasts came from New York, Virginia, Deleware, Maryland, Ohio, and as far as Ontario, Canada, and Missouri.

IsuzuWeb Members in attendance were Alex Milne and his 1991 Impulse RS; Adam Reck with his girlfriend and his 1991 Impulse RS; Levi Smith with his girlfriend and his 1991 Impulse RS; Andre Dula who had to leave his 1990 Impulse at home; and Bill Luton, with his 1986 Impulse, freshly returned from the body shop with no signs of being impaled by a Grand Am last November at Atco.
Other Isuzu owners in attendance were Nathan and his 1988 Impulse; Sunil Patel and Robert Rego in Sunil's I-Mark; Robert Rego's sister and her boyfriend in her 1991 Impulse XS; Charles Bacon and his 1991 Geo Storm GSi; Fran (The Man) Aus and his 1991 Impulse RS; Mike Lallogia and his 1992 Geo Storm; Calvin Ross and his 1991 Stylus XS; and a stand in for Steve Lockett, complete with a yellow 1991 Geo Storm GSi.

Prelude To A Wet Weekend

For some reason, every time Isuzu enthusiasts converge in numbers on a show, it ends up raining. On Thursday, May 7, 1998, while driving across Interstate 70, I met a wall of water at the Indiana state boarder, and the solid rain and cold did not give up for the rest of the day. I probably should have taken that as a sign of things to come, but I was still optimistic, afterall, when I left Missouri, it was quite warm and sunshiny and I packed mostly T-shirts and shorts, no umbrella, and no jackets or coats, so it had to get nicer, especially since I planned to polish the car the morning of the show. I did, however, manage to make it all the way to Pensylvania without having someone run into my car with another GM product, so I suppose I was doing pretty well despite the foul weather.

Friday, May 8, 1998, wasn't much of an improvement. The day was typifed by steady drizzle occasionally broken by steady rain. I passed on polishing the car, and checked in to the show. The exciting part was figuring out where they wanted me to park the car. They kept directing me into the European Import area of the import show (Italian styling on a Japanese car), instead of the Custom Compact Power Jam. The Import and Kitcar field was on slightly higher ground than the Compact section, which was mostly a swamp.
I spotted Mike Lallogia's Storm, but couldn't locate him.
I walked through the vendor area, which had lots of empty spaces. Someone commented that because of the rain, many of the vendors would probably wait until Saturday to set up.
The same could be said for the show participants. The rest of the day was spent dodging rain drops and socializing with the Opel enthusiasts.

Water, Water Everywhere

Things were looking up on Saturday, May 9, 1998. The rain had diminished to periodic drizzle. There was a significant increase in the number of show participants, and lots of them were making use of the car washing facilities despite the drizzle. Eventually, the drizzle let up, the sun came out, and it actually got hot for a while, because of the humidity.
The Compact section was divided by class, and after locating a spot where I was confident the car wouldn't sink into the water logged ground, I noticed several Isuzus and Storms that I recognized were scattered around the show grounds. We later discovered that the Carlisle staff had set aside a club area for us, and as the show was participant judged, and the participants were predominantly Honda owners, it was determined that this would be a "who has the nicest Honda" contest, and the remainder would likely be totally ignored. This being the case, we IsuzuWeb members decided to pull our cars out of the classes and group them all in the IsuzuWeb club area.
We Isuzu and Storm enthisiasts pretty much spent the rest of the day cleaning our cars up, looking at each others Isuzus, and looking around at the vendors and attractions.
There were a number of Storms attending the show who were not part of the Isuzu internet community, and with the exception of one, we recruited all that we found into the group.
Another interesting turn of events was the large number of people who approached us saying that either they or someone they knew owned a Isuzu or Storm and they were desperately looking for parts, clubs, support, and technical information. They came to the right place and we must have recruited somewhere between a dozen and two dozen people into the Isuzu and Storm community. It appears that there are Isuzu and Storm enthusiasts out there, and they want to performance tune and customize their Isuzu cars just as much as any other Import enthusiast. The major stumbling block looks to be parts and support in the aftermarket and in the major publications. Certainly these Isuzu and Storm enthusiasts who approached us would have brought an additional dozen entries to the show, had they realized that Carlisle was not going to be a Honda-only show, and that the IsuzuWeb club had claimed the event for their own.

The Isuzu Area

Isuzu Boulevard

Looking something like an Isuzu showroom or an extraction from a museum display, the IsuzuWeb club area, complete with tent. Much of the day was spent going over each other's cars with a fine tooth comb to discover the differences between models and details of each other's custom work. Finally a chance to look and experience all of the things only described before.
From right to left: Fran (The Man) Aus's black 1991 Impulse RS; Bill Luton's maroon 1986 Impulse; Adam Reck's red 1991 Impulse RS (that's Adam behind the wheel); Charles Bacon's white 1991 Geo Storm; Nathan's maroon 1988 Impulse; Alex Milne's red 1991 Impulse RS; an anonymous blue 1992 Geo Storm GSi; Levi Smith's blue 1991 Impulse RS; Mike Lalogia's blue 1992 Geo Storm GSi, under the tent; and an anonymous white 1991 Stylus XS, also under the tent.
In the background, you can see the show field, overflowing with compact cars.



Isuzu Lane

We ran out of space on the "Boulevard" so we had to park some Isuzus "round back" on the lane.
From left to right: Calvin Ross' blue 1991 Stylus XS, Steve Lockett's stand in's yellow 1991 Geo Storm GSi, Sunil Patel's maroon I-Mark, and Robert Rego's sister's white 1991 Impulse XS.
Standing behind Sunil's I-Mark are, from right to left: Sunil, Fran (The Man) Aus, and Charles Bacon.



Isuzu Lane; An Alternate View

Looking from the other direction, the same vehicles as discussed above. Standing behind Robert Rego's sister's Impulse, Calvin Ross and Charles Bacon conversing with Charles Bacon.



The Tent

A view from the main cross road up "Isuzu Boulevard". From left to right: Robert Rego's sister's white 1991 Impulse XS around the corner; beneath the tent, an anonymous 1991 Stylus XS. Also under the tent Mike Lalogia's blue 1992 Geo Storm; Levi Smith's blue 1991 Impulse RS, that's Levi's girlfriend taking a break in the passenger seat; an anonymous blue 1992 Geo Storm GSi; Alex Milne's red 1991 Impulse RS; Nathan's maroon 1988 Impulse; Charles Bacon's white 1991 Geo Storm, Charles looking under the hood; Adam Reck's red 1991 Impulse RS; Bill Luton's maroon 1986 Impulse; and Fran (The Man) Aus's black 1991 Impulse RS.
Calvin Ross, Fran (The Man) Aus, and Sunil Patel converse behind.



The Big Picture

The Posed Group Shot

Later in the day, it was decided that we would group the Isuzus and Storms and do a group photo of our cars. Not such a bad idea, but it was so crowded that finding an area to group all the cars with enough room to stand back and take a picture became a challenge. A spot atop a hill was found and we proceeded to cover it with Isuzus and attempt a grouped photo. I helped arrange the cars, so I'm allowed to say this, next time we put the cars on the side of the hill so we can see more of them.
The most humorous part of this photo is what you can't see in this photo. To get far enough back to frame all of the cars, we had to pull down a barrier rope and stack up three 55 gallon drum trash cans on top of each other to get enough height to get a good angle down on the cars. Thankfully no one fell or was hurt, and the Carlisle staff didn't see our acrobatic photographic exercise so we didn't get reprimanded.
From left to right: A local yellow Geo Storm; behind Fran (The Man) Aus' blue 1991 Impulse RS; Calvin Ross's blue 1991 Stylus XS; Charles Bacon's white 1991 Geo Storm; in front of Robert Rego's sister's white 1991 Impulse XS almost totally obscured; Alex Milne's red 1991 Impulse RS; an anonymous white 1991 Stylus XS; an anonymous blue 1992 Geo Storm GSi; Levi Smith's blue 1991 Impulse RS; Mike Lalogia's blue 1992 Geo Storm GSi; in front of Sunil Patel's maroon I-Mark; Bill Luton's maroon 1986 Impulse; almost totally obscuring Alex Reck's red 1991 Impulse RS.



Behind The Posed Group Shot

This is the view of the grouped photo from the opposite side. If you look very carefully, above Alex Milne's red 1991 Impulse RS, you can just see Alex Milne, who is standing, perched atop the pyramid of 55 gallon drum trash cans, taking pictures of the grouped cars.
Closest to the camera, from left to right: Sunil Patel's maroon I-Mark; Levi Smith's blur 1991 Impulse RS; an anonymous blue 1992 Geo Storm GSi; Alex Milne's red 1991 Impulse RS; Robert Rego's sister's white 1991 Impulse XS; Calvin Ross' 1991 Stylus XS; and a local yellow Geo Storm.
Shortly after finishing the photo shoot, a majority of the Isuzu and Storm enthusiasts met at Hoss's Steak and Sea House for a relaxed dinner and more conversation on the topic of Isuzu cars.



Points Of Interest

Personalized Plate

Adam Reck is proud of his personalized license plate, "ISUZOOM".



Unknown Storm

All day Saturday, we tried to locate the owner of this custom Geo Storm Wagonback. The Storm was parked at the show before any of us showed up and was there long after everyone left, and none of the owners of the cars parked around it ever saw the owner. Maybe it was a mirage. No, that's a Mitsubishi car.



1993 Geo Storm

This was one of the sharp looking Geo Storms that we recruited into the Isuzu and Storm community. A very nice all around car with an excellent display.



The Final Day, And The Awards

Sunday, May 10, 1998, saw a return to the foul weather. The rain got heavier and heavier as the day went on.
Those who left for home on Saturday missed some of the more exciting news. The IsuzuWeb club was awarded a tie for second place for the most club participation award.
In addition, Bill Luton, was awarded the longest drive award for having driven the farthest distance to participate in the show. We had assumed that there would be California cars at the event, and it didn't even occur to me to check if I had won until the Carlisle staff pointed it out to us and told Bill to line up for the drive-thru award cerimony in front of the band stand.



Postscript

I believe it would be safe to say that everyone who participated in the Custom Compact Power Jam had a thoroughly good time meeting with and socializing with our fellow Isuzu and Storm enthusiasts. Even while the show was going on, several people were laying plans for future shows to meet at, and I don't think a single one of the group said that they weren't planning on atending the NOPI Nationals. If the pattern continues, and Isuzu and Storm enthusiasts again participate in mass, we could see 20-30 Isuzu made cars at NOPI.
For those of you who didn't have the opportunity to attend, we missed you, and you missed a good, if moist, time. Plan to attend the next big event and participate in your local shows. Who knows, you could help recruit more Isuzu and Storm owners and we could end up with 30-40 Isuzu made cars at the next big event.




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