The

in Allentown will celebrate its fourth anniversary with a star-studded cavalcade of cars that appeared in movies with the debut set for Saturday and Sunday.

The "Cars That Were Stars" exhibit will showcase vehicles from the car that could fly in the 1968 Disney classic “Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang” and a psychedelic-painted 1951 Studebaker Commander that appeared in 1979’s “The Muppet Movie” to the 1998 Volkswagen Beetle driven by Mike Myers in “Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

The exhibit runs through Oct. 6.

Rounding out the field are the 2001 Honda S2000 that smoked the streets in “2 Fast 2 Furious,” and the souped-up 1951 Mercury that co-starred with rocker David Lee Roth in an MTV video of Roth’s 1985 rendition of “California Girls.”

Also appearing are the ahead-of-its time 1948 Tucker Torpedo that shined its three headlights in the 1988 Jeff Bridges movie “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” and the sleek Ferrari that Tom Selleck drove as the star of TV’s “Magnum P.I.”

Many of the cars are on loan from the prestigious Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Locally, classic American car aficionado and international jewelry entrepreneur Nicola Bulgari is loaning the 1942 Buick Roadmaster Estate “woody” station wagon once owned by Bette Davis that starred in her film “Now, Voyager” and the Jimmy Cagney thriller “White Heat.” Also from the Bulgari collection is the taxi that ferried Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed about fictional Bedford Falls in the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The 3 Dog Garage in Boyertown, Pa., is providing “Nellybelle,” the Jeep that transported Roy Rogers and Dale Evans about their ranch on the “Roy Rogers Show.” The 1932 Ford deuce coupe that Ricky Nelson drove on the 1950s television series “Ozzie and Harriet,” also from 3 Dog Garage, will cruise in to America on Wheels in July.

Mack Trucks will display its Megatron truck that appeared in the film “Transformers” throughout the anniversary weekend.

Engineers and mechanics from Air Pro Volunteers, a division of the Air Products retiree organization, are busily constructing a 10-foot-wide movie marquee to welcome visitors to the museum’s second floor main gallery.

Other anniversary weekend festivities will include the museum’s second annual slot car show and swap meet from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, with an ice cream social in the 1950s-era Hub Cap Café 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The America on Wheels’ third annual Bulldog Beauty Contest is set for Sunday, with a parade and runway show of 30 Mack Truck bulldog mascot look-a-likes vying for spectator votes from 1 to 3 p.m.

CARS THAT WERE STARS

Where: America on Wheels museum, 5 N. Front St., Allentown.

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: $7, adults; $5, seniors; $3.50, ages 6 to 16; free to ages 5 and under.

Museum hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Information: americaonwheels.org, 610-432-4200.

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Return of 'The Blob'



Alan Hein, of Sellersville, Pa., has known the 1940 Ford Coupe that appeared in the 1958 Sci-fi thriller “The Blob” since he was a kid.

Steve McQueen’s first leading role in a film, “The Blob” was filmed in nearby Royersford, Downingtown and Phoenixville.

The original owner, Tom Sholl, of Chester Springs, Pa., was approached by the film’s director, who wanted a hot rod to match the film’s youthful characters.

The fast Ford was sold to Hein’s friend, Jay “Pete” Peterman, of Pottsville, in 1960. Peterman further hopped up the car and raced it as an E/Gas drag car, mostly at Maple Grove Raceway. Hein was a member of his pit crew.

After Peterman retired the fabulous Ford from racing he sold it to Hein in 1972.

In the movie, the Blob, a mysterious alien force, consumes people with an ever-increasing ravenousness. The more people it absorbs the bigger and deadlier it gets. Toward the end of the flick the Blob oozes into the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, sending patrons screaming out the theater’s doors. The Blob exits too, but not before eating the projectionist.

Every July the Colonial Theatre holds a “Blob Fest” with a showing of the film and a simulated Blob complete with blinking red lights.

Hein brought the ’40 Ford to the 50th anniversary Blob Fest in 2008.

Now the “Blob Car,” as it’s known in the area, is coming to "The Cars That were Stars" exhibit at America on Wheels in Allentown.