HomeNews and EventsHershey update: Cancellation, but new November event at Gettysburg

Hershey update: Cancellation, but new November event at Gettysburg

Our weekly roundup of car show news and notes

-

Because of the continuing coronavirus pandemic, the Antique Automobile Club of America has announced that the annual Eastern Division Fall Nationals car show, scheduled for October 9-10 at Hershey, Pennsylvania, has been canceled.

Instead, a “Special Fall Nationals” has been scheduled for November 6-7 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the AACA recently staged its 2020 Grand Nationals.

The Eastern meet, one of the largest collector car events in the country, already had been scaled back to a car show only with no swap meet or other events. 

“There is an old saying about the ‘best laid plans…’ and we had a great plan for the Hershey car show this year,” the organization said. “Unfortunately, in the last few days we were given a new set of regulations to follow which would have drastically affected the quality of the event in a negative way. 

“As much as we wanted to have the show at the traditional location and be able to show-off the outside of the new AACA headquarters, we must cancel the traditional Eastern Division Fall Nationals car show on October 9-10.We owe it to you to get this right and apologize to all who now must make changes to your schedules, cancel rooms, and most importantly miss being in Chocolate Town, USA. We are however committed to providing our members with a safe, enjoyable and sensible event this fall.”

For more information, visit the AACA website.

This show puts vintage sports cars in motion

Road America photo

With cars such as these on the entry list — 1961 Austin Healey “Bug Eye” Sprite, 1962 Lotus Super 7, 1963 Turner 1500 and MGB, 1967 Sunbeam Tiger, 1968 Volvo P1800, 1969 MG Midget, 1973 Datsun 240Z, 1974 Triumph Spitfire, 1976 Mazda RX-3 and Lancia Scorpion, 1979 Datsun 210, 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI — an event scheduled for this coming weekend in Wisconsin would qualify as a fun collector car show. 

But this show has real go because they are among the cars that will compete in the 57th Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs, October 9-11 at Road America in Elkhart Lake. 

Nearly 600 drivers and their cars have qualified for the Runoffs, “the largest annual amateur road-racing event in the world,” the track proclaims. The races will involve 26 racing classes, ranging from open-wheel formula cars to big-bore sedans and from small-bore sports car production categories to prototype racing machines.

While encouraging social distancing and the wearing of face coverings, Road America promises to provide a “fan-friendly paddock.”

This being the ClassicCars.com Journal, we emphasized vintage racers in our earlier list, but fret not, there are much-more modern vehicles as well, including those as new as a 2020 Van Dieman DP08 Formula Continental, a 2019 Dodge Challenger, Porsche 991 and Ford Mustang.

For more information, visit the track website.

Cruisin’ The Coast all week

Cruising’ The Coast photo

Running throughout this week is Cruisin’ The Coast, which calls itself “America’s Largest Block Party” and which has drawn as many as 8,308 vehicles to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with cruises and car shows in a variety of coastal communities.

A dozen car clubs contributed the 700 volunteers needed for such an undertaking, which this year will operate with some concessions to the coronavirus pandemic, and also is being put in jeopardy by Hurricane Delta. Nonetheless, there are multiple events scheduled each day, including a Vicari Auction on October 9-10. 

For more information, visit the Cruisin’ website.

57th Starbird show set for February

The 57th annual Darryl Starbird National Rod and Custom car show is scheduled for February 19-21 at the Expo Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Darryl Starbird began customizing cars in the mid-1950s and became known for his bubble-top creations. 

Fall car-show calendar

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the fall car-show and concours calendar continues to evolve. Here’s the updated schedule, based on official announcements but subject to change, as of October 6, 2020:

October 9-11 — Chico Concours d’Elegance (California), Cruisin’ the Coast (Mississippi)

October 16-18 — Goodwood SpeedWeek, Keels & Wheels, Lake Mirror Concours d’Elegance (Florida), Mid-American Street Rod Nationals (Missouri), Astin Mansion (Texas), Off-Road Expo and Sand Sports (Arizona)

October 19-23 — AACA Central Divisional Tour (Oklahoma) 

October 23-25 — Charlotte Auto Fair

October 30-November 1 — Copperstate 1000 vintage rally car show, Western Street Rod Nationals (Bakersfield, California), Rennsport Collective (England)

To share news of your local car shows and cruises, email [email protected]

Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

1 COMMENT

  1. I have to travel for 6 hrs. to come to your Nov. 6/7 meet. Please tell me if this is still going to take place. Please email me early on Friday the 6th.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent Posts

spot_img