VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Hershey swap meet / car show

I'm going to the big Hershey show next weekend for 3 days. Are there any places inparticular I should look for? Any place anyone can think of that might have those dually rear fenders I'm looking for? Anybody else going and want to (for whatever reason) meet me?

Dually rear fenders?

I'll be there, and I'll stop by the VCCA booth a couple of times.

It'll be located at Red Field RWC 25-26

Hey Bob/Bill and anyone else lucky enough to get to Hershey, want to do some shopping for me (very small item)?

Yes, go ahead and post it here.

Thanks Bill, I need the original Phinney-Walker, 1 Day, '32 Chevy mirror-clock.

Hope you find everything you are looking for at a very fair price...hope springs eternal...

Thanks again.

Okay, will keep an eye out for it.

Thanks Bill.

Bill, how about looking for an oil screen for the oil pump on my motor of my '31. I also need an oil pan although I know they are both very hard to find. Thanks,
jerrygolf

Jerrygolf,
Dang.. I just saw your note the day AFTER I got back from Hershey. (I"m in Philadelphia right now.) One booth had 5 or 6 screens at it. I don't remember exactly who it was but I can probably narrow it down. Send me an email next week after Friday (14th) when I get back home. I mailed all of my stuff just an hour ago via UPS and it has all of my business cards in it.

Gator,
I only saw one clock mirror the whole day that I was there. It had a GM label in the middle of it. I would guess it was for a newer car than yours. The price was $275.

Heard about another booth that might have had one, but I never could find it. When I get my business cards at home, I'll send you a name that you can try.

Thanks a ton for your efforts on my part Bill. :) :) I will do a follow-up and let you know the results. I won't tell your wife...

How was Hershey this year...were there more or fewer old car parts available?

Hey, Thanks Bill. I'll do that. I do hope you can narrow it down. Just took my cab and front fenders in yesterday to be sand blasted, fixed, and primed. That way I can try and fit it on the wood.
jerrygolf

Jerrygolf,
I emailed you about the pan and screen. Should have the pan but depends on which screen you need. There at least three types.

Chip,
Sent you an email. I'll check if there are any other small parts I need. Thanks.
jerrygolf

My personal assessment of Hershey this year.

--- Weather - good until Friday and Saturday. then way too much rain.

--- Booths - it seemed to me that there was a small number of vacant areas where normally people have booths filled with parts. So unofficially, I'd say that that the total number of vendors was down slightly (<5%) but not detrimentally.

--- Parts - it's becoming more and more apparent that the 30's era parts are less and less available. Not as many "individuals" unloading mass quantities of parts anymore.

--- OVERALL - A- Still the best there is and way too much to see in under 3 or 4 days. But if you want a 1932 clock mirror, you might be better off staying on top of eBay from now on. My guess is some vendors find it easier to sell there than go through all of the hassle of setting up a booth at Hershey.

My recommendation -- is to still attend. If you didn't go this year, then reserve your motel room NOW and buy your airline ticket as soon as you can. If you're within driving distance, then you are lucky.

Hershey is the best. But, I'm sure that it won't be long before everyone is asking "where did all of the early parts go?"

Hershey: I spoke at length with a representative from the AACA Hershey Region. He stated that reserved vendor spaces were up slightly from last year. Now how many vendors set up at the swap meet is another story. Even the 1940 Chevy stuff is getting harder and harder to come by at Hershey. However, the meet is still "the grand-daddy of them all".
I have already reserved my hotel room for next year. See all of you there Oct. 2006.

I got a fender! Wahoo, only it's a front one. But it was a good deal. We were there Friday and Saturday, but it rained both days. What was the show like before friday? Did anyone see that beautiful '58 Cadillac flower car?

Tuesday - Partly cloudy - Warm - Temps in upper 70's. Good shopping day but not all vendors were set up yet.

Wednesday - Sunny - Warm - temps in mid 80's. A great shopping day.

Thursday - Overcast - Warm - Temps in upper 70's. Another great shopping day. Perdictions for high winds and rain Thursday evening. We packed up, but left the trailer on the space.

Friday - Steady rain in the morning when we arrived at 7 AM. Hooked up the trailer and headed for home. We generally pull out late on Friday afternoon anyway, but with rain perdicted for all of Friday, there was little need to try to sell or do some shopping.

Yep, I saw the Cadillac flower car. Nice vehicle, but I don't have a desire to ride in it.

My observations.......

Wednesday and Thursday were perfect, both weather-wise (shorts, t-shirts & sun block, at least on Wed.) and parts-wise (6000+ vendor spaces !). As usual, most of the stuff was astrnomically priced, but we managed to score quite a few reasonably priced (i.e. "cheap") parts. Actually, prices were all over the place and it wasn't unusual to pass up an 'artifact' for several hundred dollars and find another down several spaces, in the same or better condition for considerably less money. I've made it a point to pass by the guys that put table cloths on their table - always seem to be much too highly priced parts.

It sure seemed to me, that there were a lot more vendors selling brass-era parts and A & T F**d parts seemed to be making a resurgence. There also seems to be more hot-rod stuff available, as well as people walking around wearing hot-rod style t-shirts.

Hotel rooms were a bit easier to get, even at the last minute on Wednesday, due in part to the fact that a huge national horse show, in the past held in Harrisburg the same weekend as Hershey, was moved this year to the following weekend. Hopefully, they will continue to have the horse show on the other weekend and perhaps the hotle room costs will level off. $67.00 / night rooms bumped up to $140.00+ is insane....unless you own a hotel.

It never ceases to amaze me, how many foreign languages are heard while searching for parts. This year my buddy & I identified French, English (Brit-style), German, Dutch, Spanish and there were several we couldn't i.d.
When we stopped for lunch, we wound up sitting next to, and starting conversations with, a couple of Brits on Wednesday and a German fellow & his wife on Thursday. Seems like 99% of the people you meet at Hershey, no matter where they're from, are car-guys you'd love to wrench with in your shop. What a great hobby !!!

-Bob

Never been...it is on my list of things to do while I still know who I am....maybe next year...

My observations also,

The VCCA Tent had a lot of visitors sign the book, I was manning it on Wednesday afternoon and there was a lot of people passing by, many of them seemed to be looking for parts for 28's and the odd part was that none of them were members, nor did they seem interested in joining?????

I noticed a lot of foreign languages also, There were a group parked next to me in the Chocolate World lot on Wednesday and they must have had 10 sets of tires they were loading into a van. I felt that there were more spaces empty than 6% I felt somewhere near 15%. The rain was in the forecast and the cost of fuel vs e-bay had a lot to do with it. It was very hot on Wednesday and Thursday but it was better than rain! I know the forecast for me changed my plans a lot. I wanted to meet with a few people but could not because I had sold an engine and had to get that out of the way before the rain

Being a V-8 era Chevrolet enthusiast I felt I saw more parts for the six cylinder era and nothing for my car (but I still managed to spend a few grand and a pick-up full of parts) My buddy who is a Buick guy swore he saw nothing but Chevy parts. And the guy looking for Packard stuff swears there is nothing but Buick parts. One thing about Hershey is that the majority of the spaces are kept from year to year by the same people, and unless they find another corner of their garage to clean out it is going to be "what is left" There also seems to be a real social connection and to many vendors selling things is secondary to seeing friends.

Hats off to Ron and Judy Flory and the members of the Keystone Region VCCA for inviting any VCCA member to their cookout on Thursday night. There had to be at least 100 members there and a few from California. It was very impressive!

As a side note I heard that Carlisle the week before was a bit of a flop. Vendors were complaining that no one was buying and buyers were complaining that there were more t-shirts and belt buckles than parts for sale.

If you are really looking for something badly then expect to pay the price! Run the wanted ad and search e-bay.

I did see the Flower Car. What was with the modern front seat? Did anyone notice the 58 Eldorado Brougham in Corral? For $98,000 you would expect the correct tires.

I know I got my room for next year already

John

We talked to the guy with the flower car. He said that he put a new front seat in it and modified the dash (for whatever reason he did not say). Did anyone see the Packard pickup? Was that an actual production truck, or a good custom job? There was also a '58 Eldorado in one of the swap meet fields for sale. It was rotted out and busted up and the guy wanted $27,000 for it! But in a pile of his stuff he had a set of Sabre wheels for that car for $400! People are weird with prices. Where was the VCCA tent? I didn't see it.

We were at RCW 24-25, along the fence line looking at Chocolate World. It was in the G&D. I don't know if I saw the 58 Eldorado in the swap meet field, I remember walking past a lot of things but really did not stop and study everything. Up in the White Field near all of the Packard guys there was a 47-48? Dodge with wood doors sort of a "home made" Towne and Country. There was stupid price on it, and it needed everything. They were trying to cliam it was some sort of a proto-type but were not sure. The more we looked it looked like some sort of a failed homemade attempt done long ago. They still wanted near $30,000 if I remember correctly.

I feel fortunate that I only live a five hour drive away. I have been going on and off since I was 12 years old, and can't wait to go next year.

:) :( This year was my first trip to Hershey. It was beautiful weather on Wednesday and Thursday but we got rained out on Friday and Saturday. We didn't feel we needed anything bad enough to get soaking wet for so, since we were driving, we left. As I said in another thread re VCCA Hats, I looked for people wearing one but did not see anyone else with one. Alas! I also did not know about the Thursday night cookout given by the Flory's. You have probably heard the saying that there is always 2% who don't get the word! Anyhow, I had a great time and look forward to returning to Hershey but at 67, I don't suspect I will be attending for 40 or 50 years as some of you have!! Stuart

My opinion of Hershey
The VCCA was not represented very well! There were two listings in the program. I went to one and it looked like I probably had the wrong site.
When I found the other one, the people there did not even speak to me! Since I do not consider myself as a person who voices his opinion yet does nothing, I will be at Hershkey next year (hopefully with my "19 Babay Grand" and I would be willing to spend some time in the booth.
John Maxam