The sounds of the Corvette will reverberate through Macungie Memorial Park, Aug. 4, 5 and 6, when Das Awkscht Fescht, in its 60th year, celebrates the 70th anniversary of America’s iconic sports car.

The Chevrolet Corvette, which General Motors unveiled in 1953, takes its moniker from the corvette, a small warship. Corvettes, originally manufactured in Flint, Mich., and St. Louis, Mo, have been made since 1981 in Bowling Green, Ky., location of the National Corvette Museum.

You don’t have to go to Bowling Green. Hundreds of vintage, classic and collectible Corvettes will be brought to Macungie as Featured Car of the 2023 Das Awkscht Fescht.

On Aug. 4, there are 48 Corvettes expected, and, on Aug. 5, there are 111 Corvettes expected. On Aug. 6, which is Car Club Day at Das Awkscht Fescht, there may even be more Corvettes.

“The ones under the tent are supposed to be the best of the best. I give tremendous credit to the sponsor, the Allentown Area Corvette Club,” says Atty. Bob Hobaugh, Das Awkscht Fescht chairman.

There are 15 Corvettes expected under the Featured Car Tent, set up by the Allentown Area Corvette Club.

The Corvette has been a bonafide racing car in GT categories, with wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Corvette is subject of pop culture lore, celebrated in song, on television shows and, yes, in Barbieland.

A mid-1970s third-generation Corvette (C3) was Barbie’s first Corvette, dubbed the “Star ‘Vette.” The 1984 - 1996 fourth generation Corvette (C4) was Barbie’s next Corvette. A 1956-1957 first-generation Corvette (C1) is in the 2023 “Barbie” movie.

Barbie (Margot Robbie) cruises down the road in her Corvette with Ken (Ryan Gosling) along for the ride, not unlike Tod Stiles (Martin Milner) and Buz Murdock (George Maharis), who began tooling around in a 1960 Corvette on TV’s “Route 66” (1960 - 1964). If Nelson Riddle’s instrumental “Route 66” gave piano, guitar, strings and brassy breeziness to a Corvette on the open road, pop songs soon celebrated or warned of the Corvette’s prowess.

One of The Beach Boys’ car-culture anthems, “Shut Down,“ on the “Surfin’ USA Album” (1963) warned, “But my fuel-injected Stingray’s really startin’ to go.” The Beach Boys stood next to Corvettes in photographs on covers of the group’s album, “Shut Down, Vol. 2,” and the records, “I Get Around” and “Help Me, Rhonda.”

Jan and Dean took the Corvette myth even further on vinyl in “Dead Man’s Curve” when they sang “I was cruisin’ in my Stingray late one night” and in real life when two years after the song was a hit, Jan Berry crashed his Corvette near the actual Dead Man’s Curve in Beverly Hills, Calif.

And there’s Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” (1982), which was really more about metaphor than four-on-the floor.

Rick Schreiter of Salisbury Township is displaying his 1965 Corvette Stingray at Das Awkscht Fescht.

Schreiter is a 20-year member of the National Corvette Restorers Society, with its local chapter based in Warminster, Bucks County.

“I’m a 300-level judge. That means I’ve been around awhile,” says Schreiter. He learned a lot restoring his 1965 Corvette Stingray:

“I bought it in ‘98. It was in boxes. It took about seven, eight years to restore. The frame and the engine and the tires was in the garage. The body was on a dolly under an apple tree in Hokendauqua.”

Schreiter first showed his restored Corvette in 2005.

The Allentown Area Corvette Club (AACC), which is sponsoring the Featured Car at Das Awkscht Fescht, is “Dedicated to America’s only true sports car.” The AACC, founded in 1969, the has more than 200 members. AACC President is Marty Hegyi.

Hobaugh notes that Das Awkscht Fescht is sponsored by the Macungie Memorial Park Association, with Amy Hillegass, Macungie Memorial Park Manager, and Ontelaunee Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America, founded in 1965 one year after Das Awkscht Fescht’s first year.

Hobaugh was President of Ontelaunee Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America in 2020, the year Das Awkscht Fescht was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the 2023 Das Awkscht Fescht, there are 1,800 - 1,900 vehicles registered, says Hobaugh.

New this year is electronic registration for vehicles. “We picked up a couple hundred more,” Hobaugh says.

“We can’t do this without volunteers. I’ve brought in a number of Rotarians,” says Hobaugh, District Governor, Rotarians, 2021-2022.

Hobaugh has written a history of Das Awkscht Fescht, which he gives in PowerPoint presentations to community groups.

Next year, the Featured Car at Das Awkscht Fescht, Hobaugh says, salutes the 60th anniversary of Ford Motor Company’s Mustang.

Das Aswkscht Fescht is not only about the Antique, Classic and Special Interest entrants and the Auto Flea Market and Car Corral.

There are children’s activities, including Crayola Corner; Outdoor Toy Town; arts, crafts, antiques and collectibles for sale; entertainment, and food and beverages.

Information: https://awkscht.com/