would it be possible for you guys that go there to take some nice pics and share with us. - parts boxes - hot rods - old race cars etc ...leave out the Porta-johns Paul
I first went to Hershey twenty-five years ago. At that time, the AACA was adamant about the 25-year-antique rule. No cars or parts newer than 25 years were supposed to be on the fields. And no modified stuff either. That was what prompted Bill Miller and Chip Miller to start the Carlisle shows. But, of course, some odd stuff slipped in. When it was mostly antique restorers that attended, lots of neat, but non-OEM parts went cheap. My favorite buy at Hershey was a set of original Cal Custom wheel spiders. I had not seen a set since I was a kid, and damn few since. I bought them and still have them in the original box (none of my cars ever had the right bolt pattern). I remember trudging through a field with British cars. One fellow had a really neat little red baby Austin for sale. When a prospective buyer asked him to start the engine, he pulled out the hand crank, inserted it, and began to crank. Nothing happened. He tried again and again. Well, this was pretty amusing and a crowd started to gather. After ten minutes of grunting he shrugged his shoulders and quit. The owner's wife, who was sitting on the Austin all this time, got out. She grabbed the crank handle, gave it one turn, and the car fired right up! The crowd roared its appreciation with laughter. I think he sold the car right then, too!
Paul, I'll be taking a lot more photos this year now that there is a place to share them here on the HAMB. Hope you can get over here for this meet some time. A few years ago there were some guys with Norwegian flags in their backpacks, great idea I thought, sometimes you can loose friends in the crowd.
I've been going out to Hershey since 1992. The first few years I hung out with Frank Ranghelli (if anyone here knows who he is) I missed last year but before that my good friend and fellow automotive artist Tom Hale let me have his space for a number of years. I've sold alot of my work out at Hershey, in fact its the place I've done best over the years. I make and sell cast bronze stuff and people have bought from me and paid cash-thousands of dollars-right there in the fields of hershey. Richie Klein bought a small piece from me one year and paid me with a thousand dollar travellers check..said it was his last one. I've met so many people at Hershey-its a singular experience that brings back feelings I just dont get anywhere else. Like when the suns going down and everyones covering their tables and the smell of barbeques getting going and the sound of generators starting up.... I'll be there this year..in the blue field (formally the yellow field) affectionately called 'the swamp' by the locals...bng 13 ..drop in and say hi... Bernardo
I've been going to Hershey for years. Met a Crazy Canadian there in 1995. Ended up married to him in 2000. You just never know what you'll find at Hershey
Dad and mom took me to my 1st Hershey in 1976, we went every year after till i go tout of school and moved to Florida. i can remember being told not to get out of the stroller, cause Id sink in the mud! That was untill dad bought a bunch of parts and was tired of luggging them around, the mud would suck your shoes off! The Suburban and the f 250 would be full of parts for friends and relatives who could not go. The clean up would take a week to get all of the mud out of the cab and frame! If they ever paint that yellow house and barn on the way to Carlisle , dad and I will never be able to find our way! The best part about it was getting to miss a day of school to go wade through a bunch of cool car parts.
A recent mud story, from a rainy Hershey just a few years ago, before all the paving... At the very end of Satursay, I trekked over the hill towards my parking field, exhausted. That year my wife had to go in a wheelchair after surgery (she's pretty hardcore), and I was pushing a mudcaked wheelchair with my wife barely visible under about half of a '32 Ford heaped in her lap. As we came into sight of the muddy, rutted field, now almost empty, we noticed odd, regular lumps all over, each right at the beginning of a set of fresh ruts...WTH?? When we got closer, we saw that each was a pair of mud-encased boots...dozens of people had stepped out of irretrievably filthy boots into their vehicles and driven away.
Now thats a keeper if i ever saw one. Funny stories and i love them. I have not went to Hershey yet. I have been afraid I'd definitely buy something and drag it home from all the excitement knowing I really couldn't afford it.
"joe dirt #1 -get up at the crack of dawn, walk all day and fine nothing . joe dirt #2 - sleeps in (most likey hung over) walks in at 10 am and buys a duece grill shell for $50........ think those days are gone? nope happens every year " Yep--and there flat isn't a best time to see the place. Come on day one as an early bird and you miss all the vendors with jobs and families who can't stup til Friday or Saturday...tour on Saturday and miss all the vendors who closed up to go see the show. The best weapon is the ability to spot parts you need upside down rusted, and covered in a pile of unrelated junk--at fifty feet. Every vendor has different interests and areas of expertise--you will find folks who have the Edsel hubcaps out front and the deuce grill left in the back of the trailer as something of no interest! The only no-no is walking the field with someone who has the same interests as you--you don't want a battle to death with your best friend when you both spot the $50 deuce grill...
Not Hershey, but Fall Carlisle '98: I had been looking for a pair of '41 Hudson taillights for my '36 (as on the Calori coupe), and had been to maybe 10 swaps in California without finding any. At Carlisle I sought out Hudson guys, made a drawing to illustrate what I wanted, and for four days found nothing. On the afternoon of the fourth day I walked into a guy's booth and found one!! I bought it for practically nothing and asked him if he knew of another; of course he didn't. I walked across the aisle and into another booth and found the mate! They're on my car today. ...and two minutes later ran into a buddy that I hadn't seen in years. A great day!
i only went hershey once. went with 2 buds that had a space. the one bud had a mint 29 sedan hood for sale at 100.00 bucks . this one asshole kept trying to beat him down on price for 2 days, finally on the 3rd day he came back more obnoxious than ever. by that time i had enuf pbr. i handed my buddy the 100 bucks and laid that hood on the ground and did the mexican hat dance on it, the look on that guys face was worth 500 bucks. takes me back. riverrat
The Jalopy Journal
