Event Coverage: 2009 Das Awkscht Fescht

Magazine:

sign in

image gallery

For more downloadable images visit the AT Image Gallery.

info

Event Coverage: 2009 Das Awkscht Fescht

Written by Vince Capece

Thursday, 06 August 2009

Three car shows, three days, and one nearly unpronounceable name.

Click To View

There are events that are better known by one simple term. There's Hershey, otherwise known as the Antique Automobile Club of America National Meet. Woodward means the Dream Cruise. Meadow Brook, Pebble Beach, and Amelia Island all refer to specific concours events. And then there's Macungie...more formally known as Das Awkscht Fescht (translated from German as "the August festival").

Macungie might be a more regional car show than the others, but it's just as important. For three days each year, this show features three different displays. Friday is the "Classic Reruns" with hundreds of pre-1989 cars, trucks, tractors, and motorcycles. Sunday is the "Antique and Special Interest Car Club Show" where 34 car clubs meet and show off about 1,000 vehicles. But it's Saturday that draws the biggest crowds with the "Antique and Classic Car Show" and over 1,200 vehicles of all sorts.

Click To View

A car corral has vehicles for sale, the flea market area is the place to find those parts and automobilia, the craft area and toy shows draw the non-automotive minded, and an Oom-Pah band fills the air with John Philip Sousa's "Liberty Bell," but the major part of Macungie Memorial Park has antique cars parked nearly bumper to bumper in a somewhat organized manner.

On one side of the field, you'll find Tri-Five Chevys. Nearly any color and body style of 1955, 1956, or 1957 Chevrolet shines along the upper end of the field luring passers-by to stop in, tailfins and chrome glistening in the August sun.

Like their rear-seated brethren, a row of Corvettes provides the history of America's longest-lived car nameplate. From the first-generation through a few late 1980s examples, there's something for everyone.

Click To View

If Chevrolets aren't your thing, there's plenty more to tickle your fancy. Perhaps Chevrolet's perennial rival Ford can show you something. Like the Tri-Five row, there's a row of Model Ts dating as far back as 1910 and as new as 1926, which leads right into the next group of Model As and across from the row of Mustangs. Whether it's a speedster Model T or a rumble seat Model A or your regular pony car, this is one place where you can follow the history of the American car from almost the earliest days.

Click To View

One of the bigger clubs represented some of the smallest cars. Each year, the Crosley club brings some of America's smallest cars. Post-war models along with some of the rare pre-war models park under the shade of the trees near the entrance. The 1939 convertible and sport roadster mark the beginning of the Crosley era while post-war 2-door, wagon, and Super Sports show off the "modern" cars from Indiana. There were even a couple very rare Farm-O-Road utility vehicles.

In yet another corner of the field, a row of trucks sits seemingly ready to get to work. Ex-military Jeeps stand at the ready from World War II-era through Vietnam. Like it's prepared to haul troops, one of the final original Dodge Power Wagons from 1967, in full military garb is clean and ready for action. On the civilian side, the light-duty Chevrolet Corvair Rampside pickup faces off with the built-for-off-road International Scout SSII with its missing doors and roof. Commercial vehicles weren't missed either as a 1955 Divco looked as if it had just been delivered to the dairy and was ready for its morning milk rounds.

Click To View

Near the Ford section, two electric cars showed the future of the automotive industry by demonstrating where it has been. Detroit Electric's Model 97 was built in 1932 and powered by fourteen batteries for its three passengers, which marked the tail end of the first electric era. In the 1960s, electric cars made a comeback in conversions like the electric 1967 Renault 10 marketed under the Mars II badge, which filled front trunk and the rear engine compartments with 20 batteries. Neither car was quite like a modern hybrid, but it's still another decade before a Prius or Insight shows up in Macungie.

Click To View

While this show is primarily focused on domestic vehicles, there are a few imports as well. In what is literally one row dedicated to imports, there are a handful of Volkswagens, a Volvo 1800E, a classic Ferrari, an MG or two, and even a couple of Datsun roadsters. One owner brought his 1966 East German Trabant where we overheard a wife explaining to her husband what that ancient-looking little beige car was.

Across the main part of the fields were scattered cars of all years and makes. It took a keen eye to spot the diamonds among these gems since very few of the cars touted their highlights. It even took related stories to find some of the rarest of the rare.

Click To View

Seated just this side of the car corral was a plain Jane Chevy. Owner Ron Strisofsky brought his red 1962 Bel Air out for the first time. After eight years of ownership, Ron felt his rare Sport Coupe was ready for the prime time. Motivation for this particular Bel Air came from a 409 cube V8 and a four-speed gearbox. The proud owner explained how he restored the engine compartment and interior but fixing the chrome trim was some of the minor work needed to make the exterior look great. With the bubble-top roofline on top of the extremely clean body, this is one really fine 409, testimony to a restoration effort worthy of one of Chevy's legendary street machines.

Click To View

Parked at the end of a row, up near the trucks, was an unassuming 1969 Buick Skylark wagon complete with "vista roof" and surf boards on the roof rack. The blemishes in the fake wood grain didn't do much to draw attention to this hauler, but a closer look at the badging shows the important parts. On the vented hood is a warning about the 400 cubic inch monster that hides underneath. And at the rear are the labels "GS" just below "Sport Wagon." The combination makes this one of the most rare Buicks ever made with production numbering in the single digits.

For American car fans, there was something to interest every taste. From the one-owner 1969 Ford Torino Cobra to the 1963 Plymouth Savoy 426 Max Wedge to Chester Kline's 1962 Buick Special wagon, the Big 3 were well represented. Orphaned independent brands more than held their own against the bigger brands ranging from a handful of Cords (812s and L29s) to American Motors products from the 1950s through the 1970s making parts of the field look like long-lost dealerships.

Click To View

Macungie proves that the automotive hobby is alive and well and living in many hearts. Chris Bischoff, showing his 1967 Thunderbird, explained the trouble he went through to repair the sequential taillights in his Pebble Beige Metallic hardtop, searching out a guy in Texas who makes these $200 units to operate the unique turn signals. He wondered about the future generations of automobile collectors, fully missing that as a forty-something, he is the future.

The number of young people here showing their cars, explaining their histories, and entertaining the fancies of toddlers and teenagers who stopped by to examine cars and trucks built before their parents were born should provide assurances to the T-bird owner. And since these young people can't be bothered to type more than LOL or :) to express joy, how could they possibly be convinced to learn how to say something so complicated as Das Awkscht Fescht? Which is probably why, it's simply known as Macungie. As long as these cars keep filling the park and car enthusiasts keep coming to see them, they can call the show whatever they want. To paraphrase Shakespeare (badly), Das Awkscht Fescht by any other name would be just as enjoyable!