The American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) held their 2024 National Convention and Truck Show on June 6-8 in York, PA. The last time this show was held in York, at the York Fairgrounds, was in June 2015. Along with the truck show there was an awards banquet, meetings, seminars, presentations, and vendors. This annual event always brings in hundreds of the finest antiques (and some modern rigs) from across the country – and this year was no different.
I arrived early Thursday morning, as this was my first ATHS national show experience, and I wanted to make sure I saw as much on the first day as possible. Needless to say, I was highly impressed at the caliber of trucks that showed up. I spent all day Thursday, all day Friday, Friday evening, and Saturday shooting photos, catching up with old friends, and making new ones! There was a nice mix of fully restored antiques, rat-rods, daily drivers, and newer trucks, as well.
The weather for the three day show was fantastic, with temps ranging from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. I was a little concerned with the forecast for the week at first, but after a long downpour on Wednesday evening, the weather cleared up and gave way for plenty of sunshine. Trucks had begun rolling in as early as Tuesday and didn’t stop until Saturday mid-morning. There was quite a mix of Mack, Autocar, Freightliner, Diamond Reo, Peterbilt, Kenworth, GMC, Dodge, Ford, Brockway, Sterling, and so many others I am sure I am forgetting.
Notable collections included Gary Mahan who brought several beautifully restored trucks. The Mahan Collection Foundation, Inc.’s home is in Basking Ridge, NJ and is one of the largest and finest collections of trucks in the world. The foundation acquires, preserves, restores and maintains an unbelievable fleet. Gary brought numerous Macks, including a yellow B-755 logging truck with trailer, three Superliners, and the world’s largest chain drive truck, a 1943 Mack FC six wheel drive truck.
Venezia Hauling, a company that is based in PA, brought out a beautiful selection of trucks from their collection including Mack R Models, a B Model, and a few Internationals. The Sercombe family from Michigan brought out some really cool trucks including a red and silver 1997 Freightliner cabover called “Beatin’ The Odds,” a turquoise and black 1987 Ford LTL9000, and a copper and white 1979 Freightliner FLC.
RW Smith Trucking (Kevin Smith’s W900A was featured in the March 2023 issue “Worth The Weight”) brought out a few W900As, a V8-powered 359, an Autocar, and their newest project, a 1951 Brockway 260, which was their great grandfather’s truck, and brought back to the family in December 2023. The family, employees, and friends worked tirelessly to get it fully restored in time for this ATHS national convention. So much so, it was finished only 12 hours before they arrived on Friday!
The 717 guys from PA brought out an assortment of trucks such as Matt Kanagy’s white and blue Peterbilt 379, Jason Horning’s blue and black Peterbilt 379, Rolan Nolt’s beautiful brown Kenworth W900L “Roxanne” and black Freightliner FLC, Lanita Specialized’s green and white Kenworth W900A and black Kenworth 521, and Kendall and Virgil Nolt with their black Peterbilt 359 and red Peterbilt 352 cabover.
Some west coast rides showed up, too, including Radco Trucking with two of their Kenworth W900As and a W900L (all three of which are silver with red and yellow stripes). A pretty cool truck that came out to the show from California was Grant Hartill’s orange and brown White Freightliner cabover. Grant drove this cool truck out from Arbuckle, CA all the way to York, PA (which was around 2,750 miles) with no power steering or air conditioning. Let me tell you, that is one committed young man!
Some other cool rides I saw were Manny Lopez’s Kenworth W900A with a Caterpillar C18 and a 6×4 trans, Corey Lormand’s gold, brown and black Peterbilt 359, Jason Sanders’ champagne and brown Kenworth W900L, and Matt Buckwalter’s blue Peterbilt 359.
Inside one of the expo halls there were other trucks, vendors, and displays set up. As 10-4 did not have a booth set up, I worked the show for photos all three days. There were plenty of food trucks at the show and I frequented the BBQ trailer, and the pulled pork was delicious! ATHS events included the Board of Directors and Membership Meeting, EmpowHER: A Women Owned & Operated Tour, and the Gettysburg Military Experience, which explained and showed the WW-II American Experience Museum and Education Center in Gettysburg. Outside the hall, Kenworth of PA had a tent set up with a nice red, white, and black cabover.
I would like to mention a special individual who I had the pleasure of meeting named Barry Chesler. Barry has a pretty cool red Peterbilt 359 pickup truck. Barry and his late wife Gigi (who passed unexpectedly in December 2023) are big fans of 10-4 Magazine and have been following the publication since the very beginning. It was nice to put a face to the name, since Barry, Dan, and myself had been communicating via email in the weeks leading up to the show. I’m glad we could finally meet.
As far as attendance, there were over 900 trucks in total at the event. Being my first ATHS national show I was seriously impressed with the turnout and the caliber of trucks. The 2025 show will be in Madison, WI, and I am already making plans to be there next year. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself over the course of the three days. I saw old friends, made new ones, and got the chance to shoot some cool antique and modern trucks as they invaded York, PA once again!
