The 2026 NJ Region AACA Spring Meet

The New Jersey Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America (NJ-AACA), which is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year, has held its annual car show on the first Sunday in May for almost as long. The show’s location for an incredible fifty-three-year stretch was at the Automatic Switch Company in Florham Park, but when that business was shut down about ten years ago, other venues were sought. The club has had some difficulty finding a new “permanent” home for the show, but this year, we were able to use the grounds of a Vo-Tech school in Denville. Most everyone agreed that this location was possibly the best of the half-dozen we’ve tried since losing Automatic Switch. Let’s hope it sticks.

Another variable, and one completely out of our control, has been the weather. The annual Spring Meet has always been a rain-or-shine affair, but two of the last three years have been virtual washouts. This year, we had the desired sunshine, but it was accompanied by temperatures in the 40s and 50s, with wind gusts up to 30 MPH. Most of us were dressed for the occasion, and the show went on. I’m happy to report that I would estimate that we had close to 100 vehicles in the show, a very healthy number. (Also know that there were at least three other car shows being held at the same time within a thirty-minute ride from our show, so car owners had choices.)

The show’s variety was impressive. For those who think that the collection of, and interest in, pre-war cars is dead should attend an AACA show. There were many four-door sedans, a body style often considered “uncollectible,” and the sports car crowd would not have been disappointed in the number of domestic and import vehicles in that class. Unlike a National AACA show, the NJ Region opens its shows to both “Modern Classics,” cars 2002 and newer, and modified cars. This is done in order to encourage enthusiasts who would otherwise be shut out by AACA’s requirement that show cars be twenty-five years of age or older, and in stock condition.

I was on the judging team, paired up with another AACA member and assigned to judge the sports car class, which we enjoyed immensely. The MGA coupe took 1^st place in that category, with 2^nd place going to the Saab Sonnet. The awards ceremony started promptly at 2 p.m. and was finished in twenty minutes. With that, the 2026 edition of the NJ Region’s Spring Meet was a wrap.

PRE-WAR AND IMMEDIATE POST-WAR

FOUR-DOOR SEDANS

FULL SIZE CARS OF THE ’50s, ’60s, & ’70s

MUSTANGS

OTHER PONY CARS

SPORTS CARS

MODIFIED CARS

This year, in honor of the Region’s 75th anniversary, the show included an award for the “best 75-year-old car,” meaning, from the year 1951. But there was only one vehicle from that year at the show, and it was this heavily-modified Ford truck. So it got the award.