Text and Photos by Bill Hamilton
The 2025 Carlilse Ford Nationals was a wet and wild weekend. Over 3300 Ford and Ford powered vehicles filled the showfield as 60,000 people came through the gates to enjoy the show.
Special displays this year included 60 years of the GT350,plus a grand cruise-in from Shelby American Team Shelby member.
There were plenty of Saleen Mustangs on display as Steve Saleen signed autographs for longlines of fans. There was no shortage of cool Mustangs of every year, color,style, and condition as there were on-going projects requiring paint and parts,to pristine examples on the move. Speaking of parts, there were row after row of Ford and Mustang parts from large well know vendors to just regular folks selling a few left over parts from the bed of their pick-up trucks.
The main vendors included examples from Ford Performance, Fat House Performance, Shelby American, Ford Motor Company, Duncan Brothers, Saleen, and VMP Performance was available for Dyno Runs. Ford had two great displays as part of their Midway examples, unveiling to enthusiasts a pairof 2026 Mustang offerings with their FX package. These vehicles, exhibited atouch of the to past, while showcasing modern technology with a build toward the future.
There were numerous famous guests in attendance willing to talk and sign autographs for their fansranging from Lee Holman of Holman and Moody fame, Steve Saleen - founder of Saleen Automotive,John Coletti - former director of SVT, Chris Theodore – called the father of the Ford GT and an “Engineer’s Engineer”, and Joe Bellino – the Mustang Brand Manger to just name a few.
Jerry Heasley,automotive author and YouTube personality, held several seminars about barnfinds with classic Mustangs, while John Clor of Ford Performance Enthusiast Communicationsand Outreach Director with his podcast partner Mike Rey held a Mustang OwnersPodcast from the Showfield.
The Rolling Exhaust Contest was won by Nathaniel Hoffman in his 2007 Mustang GT. The Rolling Burnout Contest went to Alex Kleinhenz in his 1968 Mustang.
By Sunday, the Hemmings Club Challenge was won by The Venom Invasion with 211 members present, followed closely by Team Shelby with 210 attendees. Venon Invasion also won the“Coolest Club Award” with the wild display, while Honorable meantions went to the Berks County Mustang Club and the Red Mustang Registry.
Check out more pics from the 2025 Carlisle Ford Nationals in the gallery below.
