September 24, 2026
Hot Rods on Hamilton: The Car Show Returning After 10 Years
Some things disappear for a decade and come back better. Hot Rods on Hamilton — the classic modified car show at the Berkeley Heights Fire Department — returns on Saturday, October 10 after a ten-year hiatus, and if you care about cars at all, this is the one to circle on the calendar.
Ten years is a long time for a show to sit dormant, which means the return is drawing cars and builders from all over. These are not concours cars behind velvet ropes — they are hot rods, customs, and modified classics, the kind of machines people built with their own hands and actually drive. The fire department rolls its own apparatus out alongside them, which is a nice touch.
The Details
The show runs 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Hamilton Avenue, with a rain date the next day. Spectator parking is free, food and refreshments are for sale, and there is a 50/50 raffle. Every dollar raised goes to the Berkeley Heights Volunteer Fire Department, a company that has been serving the town since 1928 — so it is a good afternoon and a good cause in one.
Tickets & info: Official page →
Berkeley Heights Is an Easy Drive
Berkeley Heights sits southwest of Bergen County, off Route 78. From most of the county you are looking at 30 to 40 minutes, mostly highway, and the fire department is easy to find once you are in town. It is a Saturday daytime event, which means the drive is genuinely pleasant instead of a fight through rush hour. Go early — car shows are best before noon, when the owners are still standing next to their cars and happy to talk about them.
Show Up in Something Interesting
You do not need to arrive in a 1950s Chevy to enjoy the show — but this is one event where what you drive there is part of the fun. The parking lot of a car show is its own informal exhibition, and showing up in something clean and interesting makes you part of it instead of a spectator. Half the conversation at these things happens between cars, not in front of them.
The Car Part
We are obviously biased, but a car show is the best excuse you will get all month to actually drive something worth driving. You are going to spend an afternoon looking at machines people love — the drive there and back should not be the boring part. Something electric with a panoramic roof turns the whole trip into part of the fun, and you will have the quietest, cleanest car in the lot.
Go look at the classics, then drive yourself home in the future. That is the whole afternoon, handled.
Your Ride to the Show
One vehicle, one parking fee, and everyone gets home in the same car. Grab a three-row for the crew, or something electric for the quiet ride home.
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