The "Sweetest" Automobile Event

I just returned from the annual pilgrimage to Hershey, Pennsylvania to attend the annual AACA Fall Meet.  With 9,000 spaces, this is the biggest vintage automobile flea market in North America; I don’t know of one any bigger.  The weather—which is a major factor for an outdoor event like this—was reasonably good this year.  High winds on Wednesday uprooted a few tents, but it was milder on Thursday.  There were intermittent showers on Friday and it poured on Friday evening and early Saturday, but the car show scheduled for Saturday took place.  Approximately 1,300 cars were registered.  (Remember, all vehicles 25 years and older now qualify for AACA membership, so that means a 1984 Dodge van can be displayed.)  For the first time there were rooms available at the Hershey Lodge and other hotels.  There were many open spaces in the flea market.  AACA stated all spaces were paid for so these were expensive “no shows.”  It was good to be there again, but the number of pre-war parts and literature (which interest me) is dwindling and there’s too much non-automotive junk for sale. Truth be told, most people probably go just to be around other car people, see old friends and tell car stories.   If they find some needed parts, so much the better.  There were many international visitors; I visited with people from England, Mexico, Netherlands, France, Spain and Germany.  A number of cars were sold to foreign collectors.