2017 NCPC Meet: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
The 39th Annual NCPC National Meet was held July 20th – 22nd in Bethlehem, PA. Hosts Bill & Vicki Schimeneck organized another fantastic Meet, complete with driving tours to points of interest in the Lehigh Valley.
We would like to thank our members for their years of support and participation as we work on shutting down.
If you would like a site dedicated to Mopar history, try Motales.com! Or see Chrysler news at Stellpower.
There are many interesting Chrysler-related videos at Youtube.com/@motalesdave as well.
On Thursday morning, we departed the Best Western Lehigh Valley Hotel for the Lehigh Valley International Airport. We were treated to an informative tour of the arrival and departure areas of the growing airport, which included screening by TSA staff.
Our next stop was Lost River Caverns, Hellertown, PA. In addition to being an interesting geological formation, the year-round 52 degree Fahrenheit average temperature provided a welcome break from the July heat.
Driving tours on Friday took us to the National Museum of Industrial History (NMOIH) which is located on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel Company.
The museum was a fascinating place containing collections of artifacts from local industries as well as some that were on loan from the Smithsonian Institution.
After lunch at the Superior Restaurant, we visited an elaborate model railroad display at the Merchant Square Mall in Allentown, PA. The level of detail in the display was amazing. If you look closely enough, you may be able to see the storm clouds looming above the city skyline.
Friday evening included a general business meeting, the popular ice cream social and fun auction. We were happy to be joined by a “larger-than-usual” number of members of the Dodge Brothers Club. Particularly noteworthy was the fact that several of the individuals were young men in their early 20s. It was really great to experience their enthusiasm for vehicles from the 1920s! They were definitely ready, willing and able have fun driving the vintage cars. Watching them on our Thursday and Friday tours reminded me of recent commercials featuring likenesses of John and Horace Dodge driving their creations.
We were fortunate that the weather cooperated for our car show on Saturday July 22nd! The show field contained a nice sampling of Mopars from early to present.
There was also a special appearance by ‘Jack’, the 800 horsepower, all-wheel drive, mega crew cab Mack® pickup truck that was built in nearby Macungie, PA. On Saturday evening, 80 people attended the awards banquet to celebrate the conclusion of a fun and successful National Meet.
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, members and participants, NCPC was able to make a donation of approximately $3,000 to Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County.
If you weren’t able to attend the 2017 National Meet in Bethlehem, please consider making plans to join us July 19th – 21st, 2018 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, for the 40th Annual National Chrysler Products Club Meet!
Hosting via David Zatz, creator of MoTales, a Chrysler heritage/current info site