Other than Porsche Parade, I can’t think of any PCA event that has more Porsche content packed into one day than the Central Pennsylvania Region of PCA’s Porsche Only Swap Meet & People’s Choice Concours. So, my wife Sheryl and I drove our 718 Spyder 500 miles from our home to check it out this year.
Every spring for the last 48 years, the Central PA Region of the Porsche Club of America brings its world-famous PORSCHE-ONLY Swap Meet to Pennsylvania at the Carlisle Fairgrounds. In conjunction with the swap meet, there are typically about 1,000 Porsches on site, so the parking area becomes one huge Porsche-only car show – including a People’s Choice Concours, Car Corral, a GT car display and vendor seminars.
Between the swap and this massive Porsche car show, this is promoted as the largest event of its kind and brings over 6,000 visitors from all over the world together every year. They tell me that a few years ago Jerry Seinfeld showed up to check it out for himself.
The amazing thing about this event’s swap meet portion is that all 650 vendors are Porsche-only focused. I’ve been to lots of car swap meets, but when it’s your favourite marque it’s amazing how much more there is to see at virtually every vendor’s booth. The vendors have thousands of Porsche parts for sale. Those vendors range from Porsche enthusiasts like you and me selling off extra Porsche parts before our wives throw them out (the parts that is) to professional after-market dealers of wheels and exhaust systems. You’ll also find Porsche-only paraphernalia, everything from vintage manuals, posters and artwork to T-shirts and even blankets.
If you’re looking for a rare Porsche or part for your vintage Porsche, this is your best chance to find it. But you better get there early because the most sought-after early 356 and 911 parts go quickly. Since the event is now located at the Carlisle Fairgrounds, it is the perfect venue for an event like this. There are great hotels and restaurants nearby if you want to make it a weekend destination, as we did.
It seems like every dealer and Porsche packrat in a 250-mile radius brings their Porsche odds and ends for sale or swap. Although the numbers were down due to the rainy weather this year, we did see some incredibly cool Porsches.
Looking to see some obscure vintage and modern Porsches “in the flesh”? This is your best chance to see them. The People’s Choice Concours featured about 40 amazing cars on display from an early Speedster right up to current models. Registration for the Concours is on the day of the event and there are plenty of goodies and trophies for the winners.
I was really impressed with the huge array of Porsche colours represented throughout the event. I’m so over black, silver and (50 shades of) grey Porsches. Like at all Concours events, prizes were given out to the Best-in-Category, People’s Choice and Best-in-Show. Trophies were presented to the vehicles receiving the 1st, 2nd and 3rd most votes in each award category.
New to the event this year was the GT car display which was unfortunately underrepresented, likely due to the inclement weather. It only consisted of two GT4s and our 718 Spyder. It did offer us indoor parking during the event, a front-row seat to the PPF demo, and a presentation by a company that builds custom Porsches with a working Boxster-based example in its early stages of becoming a custom interpretation of a ‘60s Exoticar.
The Porsche-only parking was a real treat. Around 1,000 Porsches were expected, and we were very fortunate to check out vintage Speedsters and 356s right up to contemporary 992s in a huge array of specs and colours – some pristine, some not.
Want to Buy a Porsche? Want to Sell a Porsche? Check out the Porsche Corral. For only $40, you can park your Porsche in the Corral, where buyers come to buy. It’s open to both dealers and individuals. They had about 20 cars in the corral, everything from an old 924 to a super clean 944 Turbo to much more modern Porsche machinery.
All in all, it’s a great event to help kick off your Porsche season. Lots of cool Porsche stuff to see, cars to drool over and interesting Porsche people to meet. I’ve uploaded a couple of YouTube videos about the event – you can check them out on my YouTube channel. </>
Story and Photography by Gary Beutler
