Every October, there are two major car shows in south central Pennsylvania. Fall Carlisle arrives during the first weekend in October while the AACA Fall Meet, otherwise known as Fall Hershey, arrives the next weekend. If you haven't been to either of these events and you call yourself an automotive enthusiast, you should really look into putting them on your calendar.

Carlisle Productions hosts eleven events every year on the 82-acre Carlisle Fairgrounds property. The Fall show covers almost all of that area with vendors selling their wares and cars for purchase in the car corral. It's like Heaven for car enthusiasts, especially those with a preference toward American vehicles since World War II.

The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) puts on their fall event in front of Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Many of the vendors who were at Carlisle appear at this show just a few days later, but you probably didn't have enough time to get through all of Carlisle anyway. And don't think you'll get though Hershey either since there are 15 acres of show cars alone and another 134 acres of flea market area.

But you need to try.

During Fall Carlisle (one of three Carlisle events each year that I try to attend) last year, I had to work. For the first time in more than 15 years, I worked for someone who had a stand at the show. I volunteered to work the show. It put a damper on the amount of time I could walk around the show, but I got to see another side of Carlisle. I met dozens of people that I would have otherwise just passed by. People from all over the place stopping by to get things that would be nearly impossible to find in their home town but things that are necessary to get their project to the next level.

Carlisle and Hershey are great places to shop for all things automotive. I usually buy books or parts for my car, but the main reason to attend these shows is to see what cars have shown up. Walking the car corral at Carlisle is my personal highlight of the trip. Most of the vehicles are common post-War cars and trucks with a guarantee of a number of Mustangs and Camaros and Corvettes. But all of that walking pays off for me when I find the pink 1927 Auburn hot rod or the ex-military 6wd Land Rover or rare 1981 Ford (yes, blue oval Ford) Durango. It's like finding the Maltese Falcon or a new species of insect...something you've never seen before and few of your automotive buddies have either.

A few days go by and Hershey rolls

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