That's right. For the first time ever, over 4,000 '72 and earlier classic trucks, hot rods, and customs turned out for the first Goodguys/DuPont Great American Nationals, presented by Grundy Insurance. The huge attendance set an official entry record for a first-time Goodguys event. And considering the rainy week leading up to the show may even have discouraged some folk, we predict that Goodguys Hershey is destined to become one of the biggest Goodguys events of all. Giant Center, which is adjacent to both the Hershey amusement park and the original Hershey Chocolate factory, proved to be a good fit for the first-ever event. In addition to the massive show area, vendors and exhibitors areas, swap meet, the "Cars for Sale Corral," and live nostalgia entertainment, the Hershey show was also one of our five stops for the Classic Trucks Top 10 awards, not to mention a qualifying event for the crowning of Goodguys' Truck of the Year for 2005. Needless to say, there was a nice collection of trucks in the winner's circle come Sunday.
Goodguys has announced that they will return to Giant Center at Hershey Park for the 2nd Great American Nationals May 19-21, 2006, so log on to www.good-guys.com and mark your calendars for this or any of the 22 Goodguys events.
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Recognize this truck? Lou Calisabetta's '57 GMC, our September cover model, garnered a lot of attention over the weekend but was narrowly beat out for TOTY finalist by another Orange '55-59. |
Dave Pearlman has one clean Pro Street '70 Chevy. The chopped top combined with the stretched out flames made this longbed look, well...even longer! |
We couldn't count all the body mods on Larry Page's '59 El Camino if we tried. He ended up with one helluva truck, though. |
He probably intended it to be a relaxing weekend, but once we picked James Brown's '48 and moved it up front, JB (center) spent literally his entire day taking pictures and signing autographs for fans. And he was extremely kind and gracious while doing it. Not being a huge football fan, I joked that he may have been just as excited to meet me as I was him. But make no mistake, this gentleman was the epitome of class and was every bit as personable as he seems on his show. Welcome to our hobby, Mr. Brown. |
Smitty's Custom Automotive out of Tiffin, OH, built this killer '59 Chevy belonging to Bill Blewett. In addition to being a Top 10 pick, this immaculate Fleetside was voted in as a finalist for Goodguys Truck of the Year-Late award. |
Meanwhile, this Spicy Orange Mica '41 Ford was voted in as a finalist for the TOTY-Early award. Bill and Bonnie Young of Lansdale, PA, are the lucky owners. |
Dan Fuller's '56 big window looks pretty subtle from afar. But upon closer inspection, we found a blown Chrysler Hemi and a hand-built stainless Vette rear. This truck won us over fast. |
Featured right here, way back in July 2002, this PPG Copper '48 Chevy was brought out by new owner Bill Harmon of Fallston, MD. |
Skip Soroka brought out this fine example of why old Dodges are cool. The suede '36 is all updated Ford underneath and all tuck 'n' roll inside. We like how the bias plies transform the look of the Torq-Thrust IIs. |
Jeff Sinon's '68 C-10 has all the right stuff, including a ZZ4 crate engine, Jim Meyer frontend, killer flame job, and Ultra leather interior. |
David and JoAnne Bowen brought out their super clean '72 Chevy for everyone to ogle over. Under the Jaguar Carnival Red paint is a 530hp 383 and a full system from Air Ride Technologies. |
In our feature of Ron Lawson's Blurple '56 F-100, we mistakenly said it was a former Top 10 winner. Since we crossed paths again, we figured we ought to make good on our statement. |
TWO '36 Dodges in a Top 10? We couldn't believe it either! But Darren Clegg's example was light years from Skip's, and the stance combined with the 17- and 20-inch Colorado Customs and perfect red paint makes this Dodge a winner. |
Ready for a good story? Jim "Bones" Noteboom built this '48 Chevy a while back and it landed on our December 2000 cover. We spotted it way in the back 40 here at Hershey and soon discovered that it now belongs to none other than the Emmy-Award-winning James "JB" Brown, host of Fox's "NFL Sunday." Now he can add Classic Trucks Top 10 winner to his list of achievements. |
According to the tag, this patina'd '38 Chevy is owned by Sharon Sherry of Hicksville, NY. It sure was cool to watch it cruising the grounds all weekend. |
Based on the fact that both of the TOTY finalists so far have them and fine examples like this, we'd say that the dual headlight "5-to-9s" are making a strong comeback. |
Don't worry; we weren't sure what it was at first either. But the green monster turned out to be a pretty cool '41 Dodge COE owned by Dana Palmer. |
How about a chopped '63 Ford Econoline nostalgia rod? Jason Acerra of Allentown, PA, thought so, and we say right on! |
Another Dodge? Well, actually this is Craig Malone's '37 Plymouth, and the tunnel-rammed 440 was as unique as the rest of the truck. |
This clean '59 (didn't someone just say something about dual headlights?) belongs to Troy Gutshall of Harrisburg, PA. |
We're going to rename this area "Pennsylvania DODGE Country"! Lou and Linda Poleselli own this clean yellow '47 with matching steelies. |
This otherwise stock '33 Ford features a Hilborn-injected Eddie Meyer flathead and suede interior. It must be a blast to drive. |
Mike Culliney opted for both a late-model bed and LT1 in his clean, low red '55 Chevy |
We caught some flack when we picked Richard Gregory's barn find '36 Ford for a Top 10 a while back. So we just wanted to mention that the Merlin big-block-powered and TCI-chassis'd hauler was once again a crowd favorite. |