Arriving in bright sunshine on the crisp morning of Thursday, October 6 at the world’s largest antique auto flea market, the AACA Fall Meet in Hershey, PA, I got to treat my phone cam to a legend right off the bat. As car buddy, Phil and I pulled into the grassy lot directly across from the main entrance, we found ourselves face to face with a super rare 1952 Cunningham C-3 coupe, parked under a tree by the snow fence and left alone like any run of the mill beater. It sported a “Grand Ascent” decal, denoting it as a projected competitor in the Hillclimb to be held on a storied course behind the Hershey Hotel on Friday and Saturday. We didn’t know it at the time, but later research revealed that this C-3 is owned by “Barn Find Hunter”, Tom Cotter (When we returned at the end of the day, he was sitting in it).
A brutish but immensely (in every sense) fast GT in its day, this Briggs Cunningham masterpiece’s siblings also survive. Reputedly, all 25 C-3s produced still exist. Carrozzeria Vignale hammered out a body with the look of a sheetmetal-encased steam locomotive, the image enhanced by the car’s gunmetal topcoat and sheer size. It shouldered a handy electrical system cutoff knob on the driver’s side fender, its status position easily recognized from outside the car.
To find such a rare and valuable bird sitting unattended would be unthinkable almost anywhere but at Hershey, where million-dollar toys are, if not as common as ’57 Chevies, certainly as accessible. Bodied by Vignale in 1952, the C-3 was fitted with a 331 cid Chrysler engine. And, “Yeah, it’s a got a HEMI”.
Along with the big boys’ toys, there are many examples of the first vehicles those now gray-haired motorists (like me) first used putting wheels to pavement: pedal cars. Produced in large numbers and in a bewildering number of versions, their designers aped grownup cars piecemeal, cherry-picking styling cues and adapting them to pressed metal and painted-on trim: the boxy Murray “Tooth Grille” Camaro at left front seems to carry the face of a 1970s Jeep Cherokee. Many of these tiny personal cars attracted creatively descriptive nicknames for easy reference, like the “Sad Face” Murray General fire and dump trucks at back, right, which are now being copied in modern reproductions for the nostalgia market.
Taking pedal car tribute to its glorious extreme is this (no other word will do) adorable replica built by Dan Hryhorcoff in fiberglass on a 1997 Ford Ranger platform. The giant Murray General is shod with 24-inch wheels and rubber from Coker Tire, and driven via a standard size steering wheel that is removed and stored under the hood for shows. It’s impossible to overstate how beautifully finished the car is, or how big the smile its sad face produces on any onlooker.
Going back even further in time, Benjamin Button style, you can find wheeled conveyances for kids even younger than pedal car drivers, such as this cool Taylor-Tot (not, Tater Tot) walker/stroller from the late ‘40s. Check out the winged wheel spats, faux pressed caning and abacus beads.
But, let’s get back to the main attraction of Hershey: cars and parts. Just inside the entrance was this stately 1936 Model 1601 5-Passenger sedan being sold by the Pierce Arrow Society to support their foundation and museum. Members had volunteered their time to make sure any new owner could drive it away if they wanted to. Marked down $3K from the $49,000 “sticker price”, and powered by a 385 cid straight eight developing 140 HP, the Buffalo, NY built luxury car could easily carry you in comfort on today’s roads. Just wear your gangster pinstripes.
Approaching the end of a row, we were attracted to smoke huffing from a tall pipe at the corner of a display space. The conduit descended into 20 feet of corrugated plastic tubing, snaked forward past a pizza chomping onlooker and a under a wire-wheeled chassis, where it channeled the exhaust of a smooth running, whisper-quiet flat head engine that had been (and would continue to be) kept running all day— an effective and entertaining way to promote a manufacturer of ignition timing and charging systems for the ever-popular Ford Model A. After all, who doesn’t like the look and sound of smoke puffing skyward, ala, Thomas the Tank Engine?
Not far away was another vintage Ford, this one adapted to farm duty. Friend, Phil, who grew up in rural New York, referred to it by the traditional nickname of its species, “doodlebug”. These were tractors assembled by farmers from kits or whatever old hardware lay around the barn during the cash-strapped depression, or “for the duration” of WWII, when newly built implements all went to the military. This running example, faced with a “Deuce” (1932) Model “B” radiator shell and powered by a four cylinder engine despite its V-8 hubcaps, had a more particular use: it was one of Charles Worthington’s custom machines, reincarnated specifically for golf course landscaping. Its rusty satin patina is one of the most comforting colors to be found at Hershey, especially on a beautiful autumn day, when activity is slowed to doodlebug pace on the field as well as in the rolling farmlands nearby.
Coming: more Flea Market views and a walk through the Car Corral at Hershey 2016. Note: info on above items that I did not already know comes from various sites on the web, mostly Wikipedia. Behind the doodlebug in the final photo is Catherine Hall, the flagship building of Hershey Middle School, dedicated by Milton Hershey in 1934.
Very nice, all of them.
An article on the 1936 t0 1938 Pierce-Arrows from the society itself.
http://www.pierce-arrow.org/features/feature8/index.php
I envision old Henry and Edsel sitting on the front porch up there, looking down at the running A and the doodlebug. Edsel nervously gulps down his shot glass of Jack Daniels, knowing what’s coming. Henry sips frugally from his glass of recycled rainwater and spits. “Pah. Still running. Where’s your styling now, fancypants?”
I read this and wonder if I’ll ever make it to Hershey, Pa. .
-Nate
3 cheers for the giant Murray General!
MURRAY Camaro??!! Hadn’t had my coffee yet when I read that, so it bent my brain pretty badly.
‘Tis true, apparently, but not an easy one to sleuth out on the interwebs due to 99.9% of search results pointing to the Chevrolet version.
Does anyone here have any more information on when the Murray ones were produced?
If anyone wonders why all those pedal cars look so shabby and patina-ed, it because you try not to restore vintage toys at all costs. It kills the resale value.
Something I learned well in the years I’ve been restoring antique bicycles.
Only cars, trucks and motorcycles hold value when restored.
One of those things that will always have me wondering why: Despite having been born in and living in Johnstown, PA from 1950-1968 and 1977-1998, and active in the local AACA chapter (Flood City Region) from 1968-1984 (the disparity is that I was home a lot during the summer in the years I lived in Erie, PA), I have never made it to Hershey.
And every time I see an article like this, I kick myself for not going.
Thing of it is, Syke, it’s possible to have a bad time at Hershey, too. If the weather is off (especially in the old days before it was paved), or you come with expectations of finding parts and they aren’t there, or if you go too late in the game, or aren’t prepared for lots of walking in possibly hot sun, you can be disappointed. I have had the most fun when I give up early on finding anything, where I just wander the grounds, like the last two years. With the net, some of the pressure to score parts is off, although there will always be things that a sharp eye can find in a pile of parts that the sellers might not recognize. My recommendation is, go on Thursday if you can. All the stuff is still there. By Saturday, it’s pretty much done, and many vendors will have left. The car show is only worth the time if you are staying over for the whole weekend. Despite the rare and amazing vehicles, It’s so abominably crowded that much of the fun is taken out of it. Besides, you can get an eclectic assortment of cars to lust after at the Car Corral.
Thank you for your post. I grew up in Pennsylvania in the 50s and 60s and go “home” fairly often but in over 60 years of being a car nut…I’ve tried to get to Hershey several times, but haven’t made it yet.
Glad to see I’m not the only one here who can say that.
That Pierce Arrow is a bargain. Essentially it’s the last, or damn close to the last, year of production. I’ve read that the company closed down in 1938. And other sources claimed 1937, and some 1936. Obviously, production was awful small those last few years.
The last Pierce-Arrow was assembled in 1938.
If I ever make it to Hershey, it’ll have to be after retirement. I get a lot of vacation as a teacher, but not this time of year. I’ve read Tom Cotter’s “Hemi in the Barn,” and that was a good book, but when I watched his new web show, I was a little surprised at how many factual inaccuracies I caught him in during the first show alone. I didn’t watch after that.
I have to admit, I’ve never seen the show all the way through. It’s curious how many inaccuracies you can find on car shows. History videos about cars often show models not yet designed being built at a given time because of sloppy editing, but these decisions might get made after the experts have gone home for the day. However, when the on camera personality says it, there needs to be a subtitle correction. In all areas of life, misinformation gets picked up and repeated. In our hobby, that’s why we have CC, so the inaccuracies can be sifted out.
I enjoyed his books, but the show seems so scattershot, he goes over one find quickly then rushes off to the next and I’m still wondering about the first car’s story.
He’s definitely a different cat than me, it would drive me nuts to find so many old cars and not be able to save them.
Love that C-3, sadly I’ve never seen one in person. In photos they look even better with no bumpers and halibrand wheels.
I’ve never seen the show, but if it is like others the pacing of the show is so hyperactive that they don’t have any time for detail. Ironically they then spend inordinate amounts of time top and tail-ing every ad break with what is going to happen next, and what happened earlier in the show.
Great find Barry!
If you’ve never been, go, you’ll be glad you did! I’ve been every year for the last 27. Except in the rain-off years, its a greater variety of cars you’ll every see in one place at one time, including those you might only see once. The Saturday show is absolute nirvana, a total embarrassment of riches.
Great stuff!
That Cunningham is incredible. Patina-R-us and very cool shape. The original Italo-American stallion.
Looking forward to the next installment.
That Cunningham is amazing! Something like that, being driven just like any old car–special to see.