Along with the C-Pillar emblems and special carpeting, the Sun Coupes main feature was the manually operated folding vinyl sunroof.

Power comes from Buick's 350 CID V8 that makes 190 hp with the 4-bbl carburetor.

Production numbers were lost at some point. One source I saw said a total of 3,943 were produced. Another said that no more than 1,800 were produced. Nobody knows for sure.

Either way, the Sun Coupe is a rare and unique vehicle.

1940 Buick Series 80 Limited.

If this car looks familiar, it's the same one I saw at the AACA show earlier this morning.

Speaking of familiar cars, I also saw this 1970 Buick Wildcat at the AACA show.

Power comes from Buick's 455 CID V8 that makes 370 hp.

This was the final year for the Wildcat.

We continued our walk around the speedway toward the gate in between Turns 2 and 3 which was close to where I parked. A few more Car Corral vehicles like this 1976 AMC Matador caught my eye.

1976 AMC Matador, asking $8,500.

I can appreciate AMC's different approach to styling in the 1970s.

1979 Corvette L48, asking $18,900.

This car was advertised as a 16k original mile car that has new paint and a new interior.

1964 VW Bus 23-Window tribute, asking $59,900.

The VW Bus is another vehicle that has shot up in value lately, especially the 23-window versions.

This Bus was advertised as a 23 Window tribute, although I'm not sure what that means. The Volkswagen Type 2, (as it is officially known), was available in several different configurations. The Panel van, (called a cargo van nowadays), has no side windows or rear seats. Adding those two items turns the Panel van into a passenger van or Kombi. The name Samba is used to identify a deluxe version of the Kombi that also has small skylight windows in the roof and a cloth sunroof, which this Bus has. So my initial guess was that someone took a standard Kombi and added a Samba roof during the restoration.

The 23-window part is where this gets confusing. The base Kombi prior to 1964 has 11 windows. The Deluxe Kombi added 4 more windows bringing the total to 15. The Samba added 8 small skylight windows to the roof bringing the total to 23. So the term "23-Window" means exactly what it says.

The confusing part is that beginning in 1964 the Deluxe Kombi only added 2 additional windows, (instead of 4), to the standard 11 bringing the total to 13. Adding the Samba's 8 additional windows brings the total to 21.

So if this is a 1964 model Bus as advertised, a Deluxe Samba would only have 21 windows instead of the 23 advertised on this Bus. My guess would be that the builder not only changed the roof during the restoration, but also the body side window configuration as well.

1966 Chevrolet Impala convertible, asking $32,500.

This car has the RPO L30 327 CID V8 that makes 275 hp and a manual transmission.

It also appears to be a highly-optioned car that has a/c, PW, PS, PB, a tilt/telescoping wheel, and an AM/FM radio.

The "F41" in the listing is somewhat confusing.

RPO F41 was a "Special Purpose Front and Rear Suspension" package. But in 1966, it could only be ordered on the big-block cars. So I'm guessing its components, (special springs and shocks, larger front sway bar, a rear sway bar, etc.), were added during the restoration.

Either way, this was a beautiful car !

1952 Ford F2 pickup, asking $49,500.

1952 Ford F2 pickup, asking $49,500.

The F2 model designation indicates a 3/4 ton chassis, or the 1952 equivalent of the modern F250. The F2 is somewhat rare. Only 17,579 were made that year.

1952 Buick Series 40 Special 2-door sedan.

I didn't see a display sign indicating which model this is. But the presence of three Venti-Ports on the front fenders means it's not an upper-level Series 70 Roadmaster, (it has 4 Venti-Ports). The shape of the rear fenders leads me to believe this is an entry-level Series 40 Special 2-door sedan, which would make it 1 of 32,684 made that year.

Something seems odd here.

Oh ! I'm guessing this hints at what's under the hood.

1986 Ford Mustang GT convertible.

1986 Ford Mustang GT convertible.

The "Four-Eyed Fox" will always be one of my favorites !

Fuel injection had been available in the V8 Mustang since 1984, but only cars equipped with an automatic transmission. For 1986, the carburetor was gone. Manual and automatic cars got the same fuel injected V8 that made 200 hp. I had one, (ok, actually wife #1 had one, but you get the idea).

And with that, my first Charlotte Auto Fair experience had come to an end. After a full day of walking, Rob and I headed back to our cars.

This was a wonderful experience ! It brought back a lot of great memories from my time in Pennsylvania and the many trips I made to Carlisle and Hershey. And I got to catch up with an old friend I haven't seen in seven years.

My camera got a workout as well ! I took a total of 1,491 pictures and managed to go through all three of my camera batteries !

This is definitely something I plan on doing again.