News Room

Hershey, PA (May 22, 2012)  The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum will launch its Chevrolet Centennial Exhibit on June 15th sponsored by Klick-Lewis of Palmyra, PA. The line up of cars, special fine art display and automobilia should impress both the car enthusiast and followers of the Bow Tie Brand alike. Over 30 great cars telling the Chevrolet Story for the past 100 years are lined up for this Exhibit.  Pinky Randall, Mr. Chevrolet in the Collector Car Hobby, will be the Honorary Curator.

A few of the cars to be included in the Exhibit include:   1912 Little . . . owned by Robert Little, 1915 Royal Mail Roadster, 1918 V-8 Touring, 1935 The First Suburban, 1954 Corvette, 1961 Impala SS, 1963 Impala SS (50 millionth Chevrolet), 1970 Chevelle LS-6, the Earnhardt Corvette, Reeses’ Nascar, and the Monza GT Concept Car from the General Motors Heritage Collection. 

The oldest vehicle in the exhibit will be a 1912 Little Roadster.  The Little Car Company was founded on October 30, 1911, by William C. Durant and William H. Little. The Museum will have a 1912 Little Roadster; despite the brand name of “Little” the Little cars were of an average size of the early 1900’s. The 1912 Roadster has a wheelbase of 90 inches, 4-cylinder, and 20 hp engine. By 1913 the Little Car Company sold around 3,500, cars and the company was combined with Chevrolet. Even though Little Car Company combined with Chevrolet, Chevrolet kept many of Little’s ideals; one being an affordable car.

By 1935, there was an overwhelming public demand for a heavy-duty truck based vehicle. There were more and more people moving to the suburbs, and the public needed a larger vehicle to carry around more stuff. Chevrolet answered this question with the Suburban. The Museum will have the very first Suburban ever produced, a prototype. The 1935 Suburban could seat a maximum of 8 passengers, and had a 75 x 77 inch cargo space, plus removable seats. Radio, heater, clock and rear bumpers were considered extras. The Suburban was the heaviest Chevrolet weighing 3,255 pounds, and the most expensive, $670, of the entire Chevrolet line.

June 10, 1963 was a big day for Chevrolet; their 50 Millionth Car was built, an Impala SS, which will also be on display at the Museum. This Impala was built at the Tarrytown, New York plant, and was first driven by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The 1963 Impala had crisp lines with pointed front and rear fenders, rear taillight panel made out of aluminum surround by chrome, it was easily the most popular body style of the Impala ever.

Other special cars in this exhibit include the Earnhardt Corvette (c-5) Race Car that will be on display was the last racer that Dale Earnhardt, Sr. finished a race in before his death in the 2001 Daytona 500.  The Monza GT Concept Car was introduced at the New York Auto Show in 1963 and holds a special place in overall concept car history.

Peter Maier the world renowned fine artist will have two of his life sized Corvette Concept Car paintings on display in the Cammack Gallery.  You will also be able to see some of David Snyder’s Chevrolet art work on display throughout the Museum.  In addition, you will see Chevrolet automobilia from Pinky Randall and Ron Smith that includes dealer recognition awards, billboard and magazine advertisements, customer promotional items and period TV commercials. There will even be a special Soap Box Derby Display in the Exhibit. The Soap Box Derby was sponsored by Chevrolet and started in 1934.

The Museum is even hosting a non-judged ALL Chevrolet Car Show on the Museum grounds on Sunday, July 22nd. This show will be open to anything Chevrolet and anyone is welcome to participate in what promises to be a great day.   Here’s a link to the registration information: 
http://www.aacamuseum.org/images/cms/calendar/car%20show%20registration%20web%20version.pdf
    

About the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum:
The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum, a member of the Smithsonian Institute Affiliations Program, displays beautifully restored automobiles, buses and motorcycles in unique life-like scenes representing the 1900’s – 1970’s in a cross-country journey from New York to San Francisco.   The AACA Museum, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, is one of the nation’s newest and largest automotive museums.  Special exhibits change several times a year and focus on a variety of eras and types of vehicles.  The AACA Museum is located just off Route 39, one mile west of Hersheypark Drive in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Regular admission $10, seniors age 61 and older $9, juniors age 4-12 $7, children age 3 and under are FREE.  The Museum is open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and select evening hours during the summer months.   For further information, please call 717-566-7100 or visit www.AACAMuseum.org.