AACA Hershey Fall Meet 2018

If you have never been to the Hershey Fall Meet, put it on your bucket list. Everything is free, except for the parking, so it attracts a lot of enthusiasts, even those with only a minor interest. First time I went, years ago, I figured I could do the swap meet and see the cars in the show easily on a Sunday afternoon. I was wrong then, and it has only gotten bigger since. I talked with a couple guys who spent all day Thursday and Friday (Oct 10 & 11) just at the swap meet, and, even with sore legs, they didn’t see all of it. This year, there were over 9,000 vendors in Hershey for the week. A friend used to go every year to look for parts for his ’49 Pontiac. He’d buy the book that listed all the vendors, look for those likely to have parts he needed, and create a route through the swap meet on the map that came with the book. So, be warned if you want to do the whole meet.

The show, on the other hand, has more reasonable attendance, although the number of cars on the field is in the hundreds. The show is organized in “streets.” First Street is for the oldest cars, and subsequent street have more recent models. Each street is separated into different classifications of cars. For example, “Electrics” was a class, and “Brass Era – Two Wheel Brakes” was another class on First Street. I found that as the street names came with higher numbers, the cars on the street were of lesser interest – to me, not necessarily to others. Owners could choose to have their cars judged or not, but the greater majority opted to be judged.

The Fall Meet is open to anyone with a car 25-years old or older, so there is considerable variety. You can find a ’25 Rickenbacker and an Auburn at one end of the field and an AMC Gremlin and a Henry J at the other. There were sports cars, muscle cars, sedans, and station wagons. There were a number of fire trucks, and a few military vehicles. This is a show that appeals to anyone with any interest in automobiles or trucks. Definitely a bucket list item for an enthusiast.