Don Tavener of Cayuga shows off his 1970 Camero at the first Syracuse Nationals in 2000.

The satisfying rumble from vintage cars and colorful hot rods can be heard again around Central New York as the Syracuse Nationals return to the New York State Fairgrounds on Friday.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the annual celebration of American muscle, cool customs, and restored classics bills itself as the “largest car show in the Northeast,” a tagline which was used even before the first eye-popping car passed through a Fairgrounds gate.

Jim Roth (left) and John Demichele look at 1941 Ford at the 2000 Syracuse Nationals on the Fairgrounds on July 29.

“When we started talking about this, we envisioned 1,500 cars, maybe,” Syracuse Nationals co-founder Fred Fibiger told The Post-Standard in 2000, during the inaugural event. “We said this would be the largest car happening on the East Coast, but it was tongue-in-cheek.”

Fred Fibinger (left) and Bob O'Connor, organizers of the first Syracuse Nationals in 2000, stand in front of the car carrier they will be giving away as a prize at the Sate Fair.

Perhaps it was hyperbole at first, but it didn’t take long to see the Nationals were an instant sensation that opening weekend.

Newspaper reports said the first Nationals drew about 4,300 cars, nearly triple what was predicted, and 30,000 people.

Like many wonderful things, the Syracuse Nationals started as a simple, grassroots idea, which took off and became a fixture on the Central New York summer calendar.

They were the brainchild of two car lovers, Fred Fibiger and Bob O’Connor, two similar guys who floated around each other’s orbits but never met. When they did, they created magic.

O’Connor went to Paul V. Moore High School in Central Square and Fibiger went to North Syracuse.

“We both graduated in 1962, and we had a lot of the same friends in common, but we never knew each other,” Fibiger said in 2000.

Their love of street rods, especially Fords, fortuitously brought the pair together at a car show.

“The more we talked, the more we discovered what we had in common,” Fibiger added.

Their friendship developed quickly as they traveled to car shows and events all over the country.

In 1995, the Fairgrounds hosted the National Street Road Association’s (NSRA) national show, which drew 10,000 cars from across the country.

Car aficionados who attended loved the location’s quirky layout, with paved roads, grass and trees, and numerous buildings. NSRA organizers, on the other hand, wanted something different and signed a ten-year deal with Louisville, Kentucky.

“We were talking about it and suddenly we said, ‘Why don’t we put on our own show?’” O’Connor thought.

Fibiger might not have seen his friend’s vision right away.

“I said that was a good idea, hung up the phone, and that’s all there was to that,” he joked.

The idea, though, “took another step and then they ran with it,” The Post-Standard’s automobile reporter Kenn Peters wrote on the eve of the first day of the first Nationals, July 28, 2000.

“For the last several months, the two have become inseparable.”

For three days, July 28-30, Syracuse, the Fairgrounds, and out into the suburbs were transformed into “Hot Rod Heaven,” with autos from all over the United States, including as far away as California and Texas, Canada, and even one car from Australia, taking part.

“Car owners who knew the lay of the land at the Fairgrounds arrived early in the day to find parking in the shade,” Peters wrote after day one. “Others who took their chances later in the day found spots in and around Cole Muffler Court. By midday, show cars were still streaming through the gates, and there were so many cars on the Fairgrounds that they parked on the midway and parallel streets.”

That “tongue-in-cheek” prediction about the Nationals becoming the region’s largest car show was no longer that. It was reality.

Sensing they had a hit on their hands, Fibiger and O’Connor signed a four-year agreement with the Fairgrounds, moved the Nationals up a week so that it no longer competed with Oswego Harborfest, and made improvements, including more food options.

The Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce estimated the inaugural Syracuse Nationals brought roughly $4.3 million into the Central New York economy, about $8 million today.

Guests filled area hotels, restaurants and the Fairgrounds’ camping area. Pop-up car shows sprang up at Carousel Center, Northern Lights Plaza, Sylvan Beach, and several local ice cream stands.

“Make the visitors to Syracuse feel welcome,” a Post-Standard editorial said as the first Syracuse Nationals began. “Let’s make sure they have a good time – and come back to do it again.”

They have, again and again, for 25 years.

This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at [email protected] or call 315-416-3882.

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