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Sweet Rides

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“We haven’t made it to the car show yet,” I said to Nicole Stanton of Stanton Design after walking the car corral and flea market for more than an hour. “These are just the cars for sale.”

It was her first time at the Hershey car show and she was in for a treat.

The car corral is where cars are displayed for sale on the outer ring of the Hersheypark parking lot. As a rule of the Antique Automobile Club of America, the cars for sale must be driven into the corral and be 25 years old or older. Among the chrome and classics we saw a Herbie Love Bug and a Cadillac once owned by Barbara Hutton and Cary Grant.

Once we made it to the car-show grounds, we started at the the horseless carriages and made it to the American muscle cars and European sports cars. Slowly we wandered past the fire engines and utility vehicles, admiring the engineering and chrome.

The owners are friendly and love to talk about their machines. Some of them, like Robert and Joanne Sweeney, remember me from previous adventures to the show. We share a few moments talking since it’s been a year since I have seen them and, of course, their Austin-Healey 100 BN2. A unique feature of the car is the sliding windscreen, giving the car a lower profile and helping the car achieve a top speed of 100mph. We both agree the windscreen belongs in the down position.

Midafternoon the cars left the field, starting the informal Parade of Cars that ends the show each year. We waved to the drivers, some of them waving back and others honking their unique horns.

As a veteran of the car show for four years now, I have learned a few things. For example, wear comfortable shoes because you will do a lot of walking. I feel that I have developed a way to walk the grounds of Hersheypark without doubling back to see as much as possible, and I can say I still haven’t seen it all.

Photos by Dai Swengler