News Room

Hershey, PA (10/25/2012).   Deck the halls with toys, dolls, model trains and Herbie … the holiday season is right around the train tracks and the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum in Hershey is bringing out all the stops!  Herbie The Love Bug is taking a winter vacation and making his return to the Museum to help celebrate the holiday season along with several other holiday activities including more than 25 decorated Christmas trees, displays of model trains including The Polar Express and Thomas the Tank Engine,Ernie’s Taxi from the timeless holiday film “It’ a Wonderful Life”, The Great Grinch & Max Scavenger Hunt, One-of-A-Kind Car-Toon Truck and much more!

It’s the most wonderful time of year and that’s why the Museum is decorating with more than 25 Christmas trees with lots of new themes this year including: A Teddy Bear Tree, the Grinch that Stole Christmas Tree, Santa Claus Tree, Snowman Tree, favorite things of girls and boys Trees, Coke™ Tree along with a vintage Coke Truck, Train and other memorabilia. Our new PEZ™ Dispenser tree is destined to be a favorite for all ages with a wide variety of your favorite characters – do you remember getting these in your holiday stocking?  And to add to the Winter Wonderland spirit check out the trees decorated by our local school students that will be on display surrounded by our newest model train display! Visitors will get the chance to vote for their favorite school tree with the top 3 schools winning a prize for their school.

A star isn’t just for the top of the tree which is why Herbie, the star of The Love Bug sequel Herbie Rides Again which was released in 1974.  After 1969, the release of the original “Herbie the Love Bug”, Herbie became a cultural icon and one of the world’s most recognizable cars.  Today there are only 20 known authentic Herbie cars left and Museum visitors will be able to see the one that started it all this holiday season on loan from the William E. Swigart Jr. Automobile Museum located at Huntington Pennsylvania.  Herbie isn’t the only star this holiday season, the one-of-a-kind CAR-TOON TRUCK will have your jaw drop to the floor when you see this 1928 Ford Model AR Roadster Pickup. With over 3,000 hours of brush/airbrush art covering every inch in illustrations from the exterior to the interior including the seats, engine, firewall and right down to the smiley face lug nuts.   Back by popular demands is Ernie’s Taxi from the holiday favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life” along with Emmy® winning actress Betty White’s 1977 custom ordered Cadillac Seville and the Lakeland bus from “Forrest Gump”.

Our trains throughout the building will get you excited for a holly jolly Christmas with displays including The Polar Express, Hershey Trolley, Tuckerville Roads to Rails featuring Thomas the Tank Engine and Chuggington Station Wood Railway. And see if you can spot Max the Dog and The Grinch who Stole Christmas throughout the antique cars, fire trucks, hot rods, motorcycles, buses in the Great Grinch Escape scavenger hunt.
To capture the moment, holiday themed photo opportunities will be available for families to pose with Sammy the Super Snowplow, a 1967 four-wheel drive Walter Snowplow measuring 29 ½ feet long and
weighing in at 21 tons.  Sammy is always smiling and wishing for a white Christmas so you’ll find him outside keeping a lookout for snow. 

And before you leave you can catch up on some last minute Christmas shopping at the Dog House Garage Store for vintage dolls, toys, games, diecast cars, Holiday Hess Trucks, HARVEYS original seatbelt purses, custom automotive home décor, Byers Caroler figures and much more.  The holiday cheer doesn’t stop there, the Museum is teaming up with Carry the Light Ministries of Mechanicsburg for the annual Food and Toy “Drive”. Help us help local families by “filling up the truck” with donations of any non–perishable food items, toiletries and toys through December 23rd.   

ABOUT THE AACA MUSEUM:
The Antique Automobile Club of America Museum, a member of the Smithsonian Institutution 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.   This 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 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.   The Museum will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.  For further information, please call 717-566-7100 or visit www.AACAMuseum.org.