Since we arrived early, we spent the afternoon at the AACA Museum of antique and historic cars where we are pictured below at left.On June 11 and 12 we attended the first ever Elegance which included the running of the historic Hershey Hill Climb featuring vintage race cars. The Elegance featured some of the world's most impressive vintage collector cars from 1906 through to 1960, displayed in the unique setting of the Hotel Hershey formal gardens. It included the three Ps of antique cars: Packard, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrow. The Elegance is a celebration of a bygone era when the automobile stirred imaginations and caused excitement. The Elegance is an invitational showing of some of the country's finest cars hand-picked representing what many consider the formative years of the automobile through the immediate post-World War II golden age. Having attended the Hilton Concours de Elegance since its inception nine years ago, I can attest to the collection at Hershey as being the finest I've ever seen. Not only the cars, but the setting itself brought out the beauty and charm of these lovely automobiles.
The first event was the Hill Climb held on Saturday, June 11 on the grounds of the Hershey Hotel. Below are pictures of cars at the start at the bottom of the hill on the grounds of the hotel.
And here is the start.
The track runs through the woods and up the hill to where the hotel is situated.
The video below provides an idea of the race's sights and sounds as the cars come roaring through the woods and up the hill to the finish line.
The Hershey Hotel's grounds are beautiful and made for a fantastic setting which actually enhanced the beauty of these already beautiful and rare vintage automobiles.
Our room is right over my left shoulder on 3d floor.
Below are pictures which give an overview of the Elegance and the hotel gardens.
Here are some of the car we particularly liked and voted for as "People's Choice".
We liked the 12 cylinder 1932 Packard series 903 below, which garnered our votes for "People's Choice". My father worked for Packard as an upholsterer around this time and it's quite possible that he worked on this one. As a child, I remember seeing rear carpeting from similar cars which he had brought home. Around this time, he also worked on a car being custom made for the Czar of Russia which was never delivered since the Czar was murdered in the Communist revolution.
The yellow one is a 1938 Peugeot 402 powered by a 2-liter/70HP ohv twin-carburated 4-cylinder engine and a four-speed Cotal electro-magnetic gearbox, allowing quick, clutch-less shifting similar to today's paddle-shift units, like on my BMW 335i convertible.
Below are some of the many cars which we thought were exceptionally beautiful. In the garden I'm standing next to a 1936 Cadillac series 90, which would be unimpressive in any other setting. The yellow 1935 Bugatti type 57 was one of my favorites, however, I thought the yellow 1938 Peugeot just a bit more interesting.
Below, Lillian is standing next to a beautiful 1932 Packard series 905 V-12 coup-roadster, while I'm sitting in a 2012 Fiat 500. Boy, that Fiat is really small inside, you fit in it like a sardine in a can, but no oil to ease entry or exit. This is really a cute coffin with wheels.
It's hard not to show all my pictures, as there was really no uninteresting automobile. I took over 300 pictures and so had to cull the few you see here. However, I cannot end this blog without showing a few more beauties that caught my eye. The red one below is a 1952 Muntz jet. Anyone who lived in the NY area in the '50s will know of mad man Muntz and his TVs from the many commercials on NY TV. Next to it is a 1954 Hudson Italia sporting a hand crafted body by Carrozzeria Touring of Italy. This is one of only 26 ever built. Below these is the beautiful, aerodynamic, futuristic 1937 Delahaye 135M. Delahaye finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th at the French Grand Prix behind the winning Bugatti, won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1937, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1938; a really impressive history for a mark we seldom hear about or see.
Below, left, is a 1939/47 V-12 Rolls-Royce Phantom III. It was shown at the 1947 Paris Concours. At the right, is a 1934 Brewster ford. Brewster & CO, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rolls Royce offered four different custom built Brewster bodies on Ford V-8 chassis.
Oh! Did I mention that the following marks were also an display: Tucker, Duesenberg, Daimler, Isotta-Fraschini, Hispano-Suiza, Locomobile (my father also worked for them), Palmer-Singer, Lozier, Stevens-Duryea, Lincoln, Alfa Romeo, Mercury, Plymouth, and Avions Voison. Well, I must show you a picture of the 1931 Avions Voison V-12, 4.9 liters, 115 hp. I'll bet you haven't seen anything like this!
As the cars lined up to receive their trophies, it started to rain heavily. It was threatening all day, but around 3pm the rain came and along with it a mad scramble to get cars, drivers, judges, and spectators under cover. We had umbrellas, but we still got wet, especially shoes and socks.
As noted on the umbrella, that's my American Gal!
With this rain, we left around 3pm and got home the next day around 6pm.
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