300 60th Anniversary Meet
Macungie, PA - July 29-August2, 2015

Meet Hosts - Mark Souders, Tony Rinaldi and Tony Bevacqua


Mark Souders, Tony Rinaldi and Tony Bevacqua hosted the 60th Anniversary Meet. We set a record for the most attended Meet in the history of the Chrysler 300 Club International, Inc. In addition, tens of thousands of people attended the 3 day Macungie Show.

Jim Krausmann wrote “We're used to the letter cars getting attention at our meets, but this meet was something out of the ordinary. Our cars were gathered at a special display within the Macungie show. Thousands of visitors stopped to view the cars and hundreds chatted with the car owners. It did more to educate folks about letter cars than anything we've done in past. Good stuff!”

The 2015 fall meet was held in Macungie, Pennsylvania as part of the Das Awkscht Fescht. It was a joint meet between the Chrysler 300 Club International and Chrysler 300 Club Incorporated. Das Awkscht Fescht (The August Festival) is a country fair that has been held in Macungie, PA for many years. It is a unique event that features craft tents, food vendors, and a music band shell and of course the car shows. There are car shows on each of the three days with a particular theme for each of the days. The Chrysler 300 was the featured car of the show this year; most appropriate since it marks the 60th Anniversary of the 300. The Meet was a joint meeting of both 300 Clubs. Through the concentrated efforts of the Meet Hosts, it had the most members attend in the history of the Club. The representation of Lettercars was also quite impressive. It was a wonderful turnout with our cars featured in a large tent; certainly the "Stars of the Show" at this year's Das Awkscht Fescht.

We had a special guest of honor at the Meet. Our Grand Marshall was none other that Vicki Wood who raced 300s back in the 1950s. Yes, the 1950s! She is a young 96 years old and sharp as a tack. Gracious and just excited to be there. She must have signed hundreds of autographs on a special set of postcards that she brought along that showed her with a 300B. She cheerfully posed with those who asked for her autograph and spent hours at the show. What a class act she is!

The usual pattern for our Meets is that a car show takes place on Saturday followed by the banquet that evening. This Meet featured a car show for all three days of Das Awkscht Fescht, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The banquet took place on Sunday at the hotel. Vicki Wood was the guest of honor.

This Fall Meet was a financial success due to a 50-50 drawing and an auction conducted by our co-host Tony Bevacqua.

Attending members wrote many glowing testimonials as follows:

The success of the recent 300 Meet rests squarely on the goals that you and your assistants set and executed. You started planning early, gave yourselves adequate time to do the planning, review it, make the arrangements, and resolve problems. Probably the most important keys to the success were your communications telling us about how the 60th anniversary of our Brutes was going to be so special. You got our attention and really delivered! You set the bar very high and you went right over the top!

Thanks again for all of your efforts and time to make the 60th Anniversary of our Brutes so special and memorable. Bruce Paul Cherry Hill, NJ

Thanks to Tony, Mary, Tony, Cheryl and anyone else that helped with putting together this Amazing 300 Meet in Macungie, PA. Everything was very well done and it was nice to see all the old friends and meet some new friends. Vicki Woods was a very beautiful woman and I was honored to meet this legend. I was the closet to Macungie with only a 23 mile drive but I was very impressed that Lynn Dunsworth drove his beautiful White Chrysler 300J , without Air Condition, 2,100 miles from Deming, New Mexico to be with this wonderful 300 family.

There were so many very Beautiful cars, which made judging difficult. Congratulations to everyone that won award plaques. In my opinion, every single one of you was a winner. Until we meet again, Be Safe, Be Well, Enjoy Life and your 300's. Lion Charlie Valentine

Good Morning Tony and all, you did a super job. Congratulations for a excellent meet. A lot of work had to go into the meet, it was perfect, even the weather. Macungie is always a great show; the 300s put it over the top. The one thing that really impressed me was the quality of restorations. Very nice. Tony, thank you for allowing my old red G to be under the tent, it was an honor. Elsie and I enjoyed the meet. PJ Ehmann

Congratulations to Mark and the Two Tonys for putting on an excellent show. I had a great time meeting folks from all over, that share a love for the Chrysler 300. Lots of interesting stories as well. And it was great meeting Vicki Wood. She's a very young 95 years old. Not sure what the final Letter Car + 300 total was for the weekend. But Saturday, I counted at least 43 cars. May be a record turnout. Glad we had nice weather. I have hundreds of pictures to go through. For those that couldn't be there, here's some coverage in the local newspaper... http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-pictures-chrysler-300-featured-car-das-awkscht-fescht-20150802-photogallery.html Ron Waters

To Tony, Mark, and Tony, Thank you for a very enjoyable Meet at Macungie. All of your efforts resulted in a well organized and well attended Meet. As usual, getting together with so many long time friends and to make meet new ones made it seem like a family reunion, which it actually is. Your planning and attention to the details of travel directions and hotel and field directions really made it easy for all of us to follow. Arranging to have Vicki Wood there was a highlight of the Meet. She was obviously delighted to be there. What an inspiring 96 year old. The large poster you presented to her was a wonderful treat for her and so appreciated. Thank you for providing another great experience for the 300 Family. Don Warnaar

A fantastic time indeed! Das Awkscht Fescht deserves its fine reputation. Heaps of credit and thanks go to Tony, Tony & Mark and their families for the hard work in putting the club's fine showing together! Val & David Larsen

Many thanks to Tony, Mark and Tony for a great meet. The Das Awkscht Fescht festival was excellent. The quality of show cars was amazing. I know it took a lot of effort to coordinate everything and we all appreciate and applaud that. Thanks for a wonderful time. Tom Cox

Great meet. Great people and great cars. Our thanks to Tony, Tony, and Mark for all their efforts. We had a great time! Joe and Meg Williams

Just a short note from the Canadian contingent. Adelle and I had a marvelous time, as did the Skeggs. A big thanks to our hosts who did a great job. I know there must of been countless phone calls and e-mails to get this organized. Was able to get some parts for my Sport (thanks to Steve Beard and Mark Souders). Met and chatted with many great members - even managed to meet 2 other Charlies! Like to also mention the great hospitality of our American friends. Our 62 Sport clocked just a tad over 1000 miles on this trip and she didn't disappoint. Charlie in Ottawa

A big thank you to the hosts of the wonderful Chrysler 300 60th anniversary meet in Macungie PA. Wonderful people, beautiful cars... what more could we ask for. It was great to see all of the club members at the meet, being with this great bunch makes us feel good! Jean-Yves and Jacinthe Chouinard.

My wife and I would like to thank the meet hosts for a spectacular time. It was like heaven to us seeing all the 300's there and everyone was in great spirits the whole time. Our D made the 600 mile round trip flawlessly and was honored to be included in the main tent. We are grateful for all the hard work the hosts put into this and will hopefully see you at the next meet. Dan and Diana Roy

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