![]() Now that they’ve done so, the hard surface is more difficult to manage. We used to pray that Herco (Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Co.) would pave the flea market. For years, the swap meet was held on low, grassy fields that instantly became muddy bogs when it poured, as it often did. Despite bearing the scars of time, this 1928 Marmon ran and sounded great. Unrestored cars are often seen at the Hershey show. If you’ve come to Hershey from far away, as many do, it’s hard to return an incorrect item. Savvy shoppers bring pictures of that they’re after, or part numbers. If you’re looking for a door handle, an ignition coil, a horn, or a heater, there are specialists for all those items and more. Over the years, vendors with hard parts like fenders and bumpers have diminished, replaced by sellers who offer petroliana (gas station signs and oil cans), but there are still vendors whose array of heavy metal must have taken days just to load up. Seeing it underway is like watching a time warp. Still running, it’s been owned by the Gapp family in Minnesota for a century. This year, a 1916 Oakland V-8 Tourer, a giant primordial beast from the pre-WWI brass era, dazzled crowds. It’s not uncommon for a 90- or 100-year-old car to be pop-pop-popping down the aisles. ![]() The cars on display range from unrecognizable rust buckets to preserved beauties to pristine restorations. Hershey is one of the few places on earth where a sandwich board is an effective means of communication. Flipping through a pile of catalogs, I discover one, in perfect shape, for the Museum of Modern Art’s 1953 “8 Automobiles” exhibition. It still possible to find NOS (new old stock) parts in their original boxes. The faithful trek to Hershey to buy that special old car, rare sales folder, glass gas globe, neon sign, or any number of elusive vintage car parts. The distinctive odor of freshly poured chocolate wafts over the field, (the Hershey factory is a quarter-mile away), mixed with the aroma of golden Bricker’s french fries and sizzling Polish sausage, and underscored with a whiff of oil and gasoline. Every flea-market space holds treasures waiting to be discovered. I’ve been attending since the early 1970s, and I’ve only missed one or two years. Sprawling over 85 acres at Hersheypark, boasting more than 9000 (!) vendor spaces, maddeningly scattered in no particular order, the seemingly endless swap meet is overflowing with old cars, new and used parts, rusted sheetmetal, memorabilia, and petroliana, not to mention an RM Sotheby’s auction at the Hershey Lodge and a 1200-vehicle judged car show. Known simply as “Hershey,” it’s the world’s largest old-car flea market. For the last 60 years, every October, old-car enthusiasts have converged on Hershey, Pennsylvania, for the mammoth four-day, Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Eastern Division National Fall Meet.
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