This past weekend marked the 35th anniversary of the annual Central Pennsylvania PCA Region Porsche-only swap meet. Being a Porsche nut, I've been wanting to attend this gathering since I started selling Porsches back in 2002.
This annual event claims to be the world's largest Porsche swap meet, with 650 vendors and upwards of a thousand Porsches usually on hand. Were these figures somewhat optimistic? Yes. Was the event a complete fail? No. Granted, I did drive the 160-plus miles with high expectations, and drove home somewhat deflated, but overall it was a something to cross off my automotive bucket list.
Aside from the chilly weather (the wind was the primary cause for this), there was quite a display of Stuttgart's finest parked within the car corral, as well as some non-Porsche stragglers.
Surprisingly, given that this was an event for German automobiles, there was little to no organization in how the vehicles were positioned within the corral. Not only did you have 914s next to 997s, but cars were parked in opposite directions, giving the impression that although the vehicles are German in origin, apparently the organizers are not.
After spending an hour or so perusing each aisle and checking out what was on hand, I walked over to the vendor area in anticipation of seeing some unique Porsche memorabilia or even items created from Porsche parts that could be offered on Car Guy Nation. Unfortunately that was not the case. However, what I did find was that with the right budget one could probably assemble 85-90% of what would be a complete car by days end.
This may be an annual pilgrimage for some, but unless I were in need of that used or obscure part for my Porsche, I don't necessarily know that I would make the trek every year. On a side note I did check out the Hershey Hotel, which was majestic and had lunch at their Harvest restaurant, definitely a fitting end to my day. Interestingly enough, at Harvest they make sure that at least one ingredient from each dish is locally grown.
- Allan Greenfield
