I too am foot weary from a full day Thursday at the Hershey show. Did not
see the 1959 Morgan that was listed, but my wife and I walked all day and
only saw maybe 10 percent of the show.
Found a vendor selling Morgan badges, but they were all gone by the time we
got there. Bought a Morgan baseball cap and a nice Kyhoso metal model of a
Plus 4 Super Sports. While my car is a 4/4, the only 4/4 model I had was
green with black interior. The Plus 4 Super Sports I bought was red with tan
interior, which matched my car more closely. The only difference is the
bulge on the right side of the bonnet.
I felt the map and complete setup of the show was very confusing. We were
attempting to find a friend who had a stand at C87CW, and the map setup was
completely confusing. After 3 hours we found him. Another complaint I had
about the show was most vendors had tents and stands with items for sale,
but no signage indicating what they were selling. If I were renting space at
Hershey, I would have a sign indicating what I was dealing. Saw many Jags
from the 70's, but very few other British autos. Saw a beautiful 1955 RR
6-cylinder that sold for only $8K. It looked great, but there must have been
something wrong with the car for it to sell so cheap. Saw too many American
"muscle cars" from the 70's... cars I am not interested in, and feel contain
no design or mechanical value, other than the raw horsepower affixed to a
family sedan.
Saw some beautiful automobiles, nonetheless. The white 1930 Pierce Arrow was
unbelievable. Only saw one example of an Auborn Boat Tail Speedster (without
the external exhaust pipes and two tone paint). Having attended the show in
1991, I found the prices for these great '30's American autos almost cut in
half (averaging $85 to $100K each). And most seemed to be going to foreign
buyers, something the American Antique Auto Assoc. is very much against.
Some Germans even had a tent set up to arrange exporting. They were serving
German beer to their clients (the only alcohol I saw at the event). They
should ban the Huns from Hershey!
It was amazing to see how many of the truly classic cars at Hershey can be
traced to Gordon Buehrig's designs. Saw an immaculate 1955 Mercedes Gull
wing 300. Believe it was Buerig who patented the gull wing design in the
1930's. I know he patented the T-tops that many Corvettes later used. My
wife, her first time at Hershey, was amazed at the size and beauty of these
autos. We saw a '54 MG, and she almost thought it was a Morgan. But as soon
as we got closer, she realized the lack of style and beauty. It looked like
crap, to me. I cannot for the life of me figure why people mistake my Morgan
for an old MG. There is really no comparison. Also saw an unusual little car
named a "Crown". We could not figure out what country this car originated
in. It was tiny, but cute. Saw a few more little Crosley's, which were also
cute but over priced. There was a fine example of a Nash Metropolitan, which
my wife wanted right away.
Have to say the Pierce Arrow was the most beautiful car I saw at the show.
There was a '29 or '30 Bentley 6-cylinder that was also gorgeous, but not
fully restored. Another stand-out was a grey Rolls Royce two-door Landau
from the '30's. It had dual vertical rectangular thingies about a half inch
thick and 6 in. high behind each door. It appeared these things either
popped out or had some other function, but nobody in the spectator crowd
could figure it out.
As I stated, we only saw about 10 percent of what was there. We both had to
work the next day, and had to work Saturday on our personal business of
building web sites. But I wish they made cars like that today. The Morgan is
the only true example, except it is tiny compared to those monster Pierce
Arrows, Duesenburgs, and Boat Tail Speedsters.
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