Spring Has Sprung

Words: Darren Jacobs

The writers at Mopar® Magazine have noticed a disturbing trend vis-à-vis the Spring Festival of LXs, now in its fourth year. As the burgeoning enthusiast car show continues to expand, the word count of our event coverage shrinks ever smaller, as we cram in as many envy-inducing pictures as possible of modded up and blinged out Chrysler 300s, Dodge Chargers and Dodge Magnums. Add in photos of the many new Dodge Challengers that rolled into the 2009 show in Irvine, Calif. on March 28, and it’s a wonder there’s room enough for any story at all (thankfully, our writers aren’t paid by the word!).

So we’re not going to bore you with florid prose about the amazing collection of Chrysler LX platform cars (with the Challenger a close cousin to the Next Gen LX trio) that filled the event, or the diverse group of owners and enthusiasts, young and old, who checked out the show. We will, however, present you with a brief list of impressive factoids about the 2009 Spring Festival of LXs:

Fact #1: The car count increased to 550, up from around 500 for the 2008 show.

Fact #2: Attendees rose from 1,100 in ’08 to close to 1,500 this year.

Fact #3: The Spring Festival of LXs is the largest gathering in the world of LX vehicles.

Fact #4: The show was entirely organized and promoted through the “car clubs” of today—Internet forums such as www.challengertalk.com, www.lxforums.com and www.chargerforums.com.

Fact #5: Considering the current economic environment, the show was an unmitigated success!

John Fortuno, proud owner of a 2005 Chrysler 300 and the Spring Festival of LXs event founder and organizer, gave his own enthusiastic take on the show.

“The most amazing part to me was that during a horrific economic time, we were able to pull off more cars and more people,” gushed Fortuno. “We had close to 1,500 for a show that was invitation-only. People couldn’t just walk in off of the street. And this was all Internet-based. We didn’t take out ads in magazines; we didn’t put up posters at dealerships.

“We had 42 vendors on hand, and they weren’t just set up in pop-up tents. They had SEMA-caliber displays,” Fortuno said. “Mopar was there, DUB, Brembo, Classic Concepts, Speed Factory, just to name a few vendors. Formula Drift star Samuel Hübinette and the NuFormz Racing team brought out their race cars and rig. There was a Chrysler corral area where Chrysler brought out its top product for consumers to look over. As horrific as things are out there, it went very well.”

One blazingly bright spot was the large representation of Dodge Challengers. The Challenger car count skyrocketed from one vehicle in 2008 to more than 100 vehicles in 2009, including Mopar fan, returning attendee and blues-rock guitar star Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who displayed his new Challenger despite the fact that his wife was scheduled to give birth soon after the show.

“Vendor-wise, almost everyone had a Challenger in their booth, if not two,” said Fortuno. “It was the king this year. We had well over 100 at the show. Overall, to sum up the weekend, we beat every expectation we had for the event. That particular weekend, it was like there wasn’t any bad economic news. It was all about the cars and the people.”

We couldn’t say it any better than Mr. Fortuno. From here on out, sit back, relax and let your eyes pore over and drink in snapshots that will leave you pining for your own Chrysler LX masterpiece. To feast your peepers on a photo collage from the show no self-respecting Mopar nut would dare miss—the Spring Festival of LXs—simply click here!