Takeaways From AACA Fall Hershey Swap Meet 2023

I took a day out of the office this week to visit the sweetest town in America – Hershey, Pennsylvania – for the annual Eastern Fall Meet of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Hershey Region. Hershey is not only home to the namesake chocolate company, but also the AACA itself. And since 1955, the event more commonly known as simply “Fall Hershey” has been drawing crowds of car enthusiasts in search of rare parts, unique cars, and all sorts of collectible automobilia.

It’s been a couple years now since I last attended Fall Hershey. That year I attended as a vendor representing the restoration shop I was running at the time. Several years earlier I had also attended as a vendor, that time managing Eastwood’s pop-up retail store for the full week. For vendors, it’s a long week of mostly standing and talking to people. The opportunities to roam are few, and your leash tends to be pretty short. In other words, you never really get a chance to take in the full visitor experience. Your view on the week is mostly based on what and who visits your booth.

This year was different. I popped in mid-week for several hours to check out the swap meet the same way most attendees do. I was a civilian for once. That meant I payed to park in a remote field that seemed like it was at least a mile away from the entry, crossed a four-lane highway to get into the venue, and walked literal miles of asphalt to visit vendors spread out over more than 100 acres. Had I found something worth taking home, I would have also hauled my bounty back across the same highway to get it to my car, as one of my colleagues did the following day. Twice.

Maybe it was the heat, but I left this year’s swap meet a little concerned about its future for the first time. Unlike in past years, it felt like something was missing. An energy. A drive. And a lot of vendors, based on the number of vaunt spots I saw. I wondered, had I simply perceived the event differently in the past while attending as a vendor, or has something changed with Fall Hershey itself? On the long drive home, I took stock of what has always made Fall Hershey the event it is. Here are my takeaways.

The AACA is truly the car club for fans of American cars and car culture

The A’s in the AACA name really tell you everything you need to know. Antique Automobiles. America. The club itself may be open to all automotive enthusiasts and vehicles older than 25 years, but there’s no doubt what it truly celebrates – the first century of American automobile manufacturing and culture.

Walking the aisles is like a living history museum of America’s fascination with its cars. You can practically witness the evolution of headlamps by scanning one vendor’s offering, or see how large early car radios are compared to more modern ones at another booth. Walk the whole lot, listen in on some informed conversations between serious buyers and sellers, and you’re bound to come away knowing more than when you arrived.

The fall meet is also a fantastic way to connect with owners of your favorite car brand, no matter how long they’ve been dead (the brands, not the owners). Clubs catering to fans of long-gone carmakers seem to appear in every aisle. Packard owners? Yep. Cadillac, too? You betcha. Hudson, you ask? But, of course. These groups are essential hubs of information and support to stewards of some of the most historical cars ever produced.

This event is also a reminder that it’s not just Americans who cherish old American cars. Conversations can be overheard in countless foreign languages on the ground in Hershey. All manner of European, South American, and Australian visitors make the pilgrimage to the Land of Chocolate each fall in search of their missing pieces and other rare treasures.

There is still an unbelievable amount of good stuff to be had

At this point in history, you’d think every valuable old part still sitting in a garage somewhere had already been listed on eBay by now. But Hershey proves that theory wrong. There’s simply so much stuff still being found and resold that you have to come out and look for yourself.

And this extends well beyond just vehicles and car parts. It includes all manner of motoring mobilia for virtually any interest. The “other stuff” on display runs the gamut from books and literature to dealer signage, gas pumps, model cars. There’s also plenty of car-adjacent nostalgia to be had in old Coke machines, vintage clothing, bicycles and other antiques. There seems to be no end to what vendors have to offer.

There can be a simple joy in discovery

Despite the AACA’s best attempts to categorize vendors based on their offerings, there’s very little on the ground in the way of groupings of similar vendors. It is, in fact, the polar opposite of the kind of “search engine optimized” experience you get when searching for parts on the web. For better or worse, the only way to truly find what you’re looking for may be to simply walk every aisle of the lot and look closely. The upside, even if you don’t get what you really need, is that you might just find something you didn’t even know you wanted, if you just keep your eyes and mind open.

IMAGE GALLERY