Starting out

The idea for the first Carlisle car show came out of an October 1973 disagreement the Millers had with an official from the Antique Automobile Club of America. The Milestone Car Society had invited the two friends to have a vehicle on display at the club’s space during the annual AACA show in Hershey.

Chip Miller brought with him a 1954 Corvette he was hoping to sell but the official would not permit it, saying it was not old enough to be an antique.

“At the time, an antique car was 1939 and older,” Bill said. “With us being in our late 20s, we thought a 20-year-old car was pretty old. This guy got a little testy. He made us take the car off the grounds and put it in the parking lot.”

As the Millers returned to the show, Chip said it was shame hobbyists did not have a venue for post-war cars. Bill said maybe they should start their own event.

“The more we talked about it, the more we thought it was a good idea,” Bill said.

An early step in the process was to find a venue. “We looked at York Fairgrounds, Willow Mill Park, Williams Grove Park and the Carlisle Fairgrounds,” Bill said. Carlisle was chosen because it was the least expensive of the four options.