The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) held it 83^rd annual meeting at the “Philadelphia 201 Hotel” in Center City Philly PA on February 8 & 9, 2019. The AACA has a long history of annual meetings in the City of Brotherly Love – you can read more about that history here. The show was also covered on the blog last year. This year, for the first time, I spent Friday night in the hotel so that I could attend both days. My primary interest was the judging school, and more about that in a bit.

This is not a car show per se. Rather, the principal activities for registrants (you must be an AACA member to attend) are seminars on a variety of topics; judging school; a trade show; a general membership meeting; and the Saturday night awards banquet. The host hotel is nicely set up for this, with the trade show in a large room to accommodate vendors’ booths and displays, and conference rooms of various sizes for the seminars. Everything is within a few minutes’ walk, with no need to venture outdoors into the 32-degree winter weather.

The seminars I attended included “Market Value Trends”, “The History of the Ford Mustang”, “Keeping Tabs on Hobby-Related Legislation”, “The History of the Ford Flathead V8 Engine”, “Planning Your Collector Car Estate”, and “Modern Motor Oils”.

Almost every AACA event offers a judging school. By AACA rules, all judges must attend at least one judging school per calendar year, so there’s good reason for the frequent offerings. My plan is to judge at the NJ Region’s upcoming National in Parsippany in June, so I need to increase my judging credits. I attended the school on Saturday morning, and it’s refreshing to (re)learn that as strict as the judging guidelines are, the Club also recognizes that this is a hobby, and we all are doing this for fun.

The trade show is primarily populated by businesses wishing to promote their wares (restoration shops, books sellers, and appraisal services). Several schools and colleges which now cater to the hobby also had a presence. AACA takes up significant real estate just trying to sell clothing and tchotchkes. The NJ Region set up a booth to promote the June National, and I spent several hours each day in the booth to talk up our event with attendees. I was pleasantly surprised to meet AACA members from as far as Indiana and Florida who expressed interest in attending.

 

The Annual Meeting is quite different from a meet or a tour: you are not there to ogle beautifully restored cars. However, it is very much like any other AACA event in that it’s about mingling with those who share a passion for the hobby. There was plenty of time to catch up with old friends and become acquainted with new ones. For that reason alone, it’s worth making the trek each February to Philly.

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MARKET VALUE TRENDS SEMINAR

Larry Batton of the Auto Appraisal Group presented results from the recently concluded Arizona auctions. Larry’s style is unpretentious, upfront, opinionated, and straightforward. Whether you’re an auction veteran or someone who wonders what the fuss is all about, it’s enlightening to hear some of his behind-the-scenes stories.

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HISTORY OF THE FORD MUSTANG SEMINAR

Mark Young is a 4th generation Ford enthusiast, and that’s putting it mildly. His great-grandfather owned one of the earliest Ford dealerships, a business he started in 1910. I lost count of how many Mustangs are in Mark’s immediate family, but it’s 7 or 8 (plus a few T-Birds). Mark gave a credible and succinct summary of the original pony car’s success and what it has meant for the Blue Oval fans.

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HISTORY OF THE FORD FLATHEAD V8 ENGINE SEMINAR

There were many V8 engines in existence before Ford introduced theirs in 1932. But none were as low-priced nor as mass-produced as the “flattie” was; it stayed in production just over 20 years. Dain King, an entertaining man in his own right, provided the interesting back story (for example, Ford engineers scoured junk yards to buy up V8s from other companies, so they could disassemble and see what they could learn from them).

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KEEPING TABS ON HOBBY RELATED LEGISLATION SEMINAR

Colby Martin from SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) made the presentation, which was not a bashing of government regulations. Rather, it was an overview regarding how a regulated industry which seeks fairness and consistency can have a voice. One point of great interest that he showed was a lengthy list of Congresspeople from both parties who have identified themselves as “friends and advocates for the automotive hobby”. It’s good to know that such people exist.

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PLANNING YOUR COLLECTOR CAR ESTATE SEMINAR

Father-and-son duo Tony and Mario Monopoli provided a series of common-sense suggestions to help ensure that upon your demise, your heirs either have your cash, or know how to turn your “stuff” into cash. Tony confessed that for the past few years, he’s been getting rid of his stuff on eBay so that he has the cash while he’s still around. If you’re keeping what you have for now, Tony suggested making lists (what you own, what it’s worth, and where it’s located) and making sure your descendants have copies of the lists.

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MODERN MOTOR OILS SEMINAR

Part chemistry class, part history class, and part sales pitch, Larry Giancola, who unabashedly works for AmsOil, provided more information than you need about base oils, index modifiers, and viscosity, as well as phosphorus, calcium, and zinc (for a moment, I thought I was in nutrition class). While touting the benefits of the oil he sells, Larry also kept it real. One revelation was the discussion around Direct Injection (DI) engines and the havoc they are causing. He pointed out that the vehicle manufacturers have specifically requested that the engine oil manufacturers produce an engine oil (SN+) to address this, and they have.

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AACA JUDGING SCHOOL

Dain King and Stan Kulikowski did a wonderful job explaining the intricacies of AACA’s judging rules and points system. All class cars start at 400 points, with points deducted for faults. Cars are judged first on authenticity, and only then on condition. To provide a simple example: if a 1940 Ford is on the show field with radial tires (non-authentic), that car would lose maximum point value for 4 inauthentic tires. If a different 1940 Ford had bias-ply tires correct for that year, but only one of the 4 was half worn while the other 3 appeared new, it would lose nothing for authenticity, but lose condition points for only that one worn tire. As stated earlier, they stressed that this is a hobby, and the judge’s job is not to “destroy” someone’s work with a few stokes of a pen. All in all, it was a very enlightening session.

 

 

 

All photographs copyright © 2019 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.