Paul Carpenter
The Morning Call

Fresh waves of guilt arose as soon as the 1947 Cushman motor scooter came into view, in a corner of the second floor of Allentown's America on Wheels museum.

A nearly identical Cushman was the first motorized two-wheeler I ever rode, back in 1957 in Louisiana. It had a centrifugal clutch, which took a long time to let the bike get up to its top speed of about 20 mph. That scooter infected me with a love of motorbikes that continues to this day.

My first car, by the way, was an old Dodge clunker a couple of years earlier. I was then too young to drive on roads, so we tortured that poor car in a field, trying to mimic the stunts we saw the Joie Chitwood Hell Drivers perform at a county fair. Several Dodge road cars followed over the years and represented another love affair.

I already felt guilty as I entered the museum. It opened more than two years ago and I never got around to visiting it until Friday, the eve of its big Road Jamboree fundraising bash, scheduled to feature a procession of fantastic cars rumbling down Hamilton Street.

I anticipated a lot of Mack trucks and a variety of cars, but motorcycles were everywhere, too. The very first item I spotted was a Honda-powered bike with streamlined fairing that set the 125-cc land speed record (133.165 mph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats. "That was built at Lehigh University," said museum volunteer Art Bransky. The builder was Joachim Grenestedt, an engineering professor.

Then Bransky pointed out another motorcycle, a 1909 Marsh Metz. "That was owned by Steve McQueen," he said.

Not far away was a 1950 Harley-Davidson with a suicide shift lever on the left side of the fuel tank. A placard depicted Marlon Brando in the 1953 movie "The Wild One." When asked, "What are you rebelling against?" he replied, "What have you got?" I don't know why, but many motorcycle people have identified with that ever since.

(Not I, of course, but many.)

Being careful not to ignore everything but motorcycles, I checked out a 1933 Hupmobile convertible and a 1919 Mack AB truck with wood spoke wheels right next to a newfangled Segway Human Transporter — one of those gizmos with two parallel wheels that look impossible to ride.

Other vehicles ranged from a 1909 Stanley Steamer (a car capable of nearly 200 mph), to a 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid (46 miles per gallon), to a racing lawnmower and a jet-powered go-kart. There was an 1895 electric car (20 mph) and an 1891 Nadig on loan from David Bausch (the target of a small fuss years ago after it was learned he used a county garage to store his antique cars when he was Lehigh County executive.)

There are various race cars, including a gleaming 1967 McLaren, and, naturally, all sorts of Mack trucks, which helped put the Lehigh Valley on the map.

Most gratifying for me was the big collection of old and very old motorcycles, along with a few newer ones. Harleys proliferated, but there also was a monoshock Suzuki motocrosser and a Yamaha road racer. (Get me going on motorcycles and I'll run The Morning Call out of ink.)

Anyway, next to McQueen's Marsh Metz bike was a 1963 Ford Mustang, a car line created by Allentown native Lee Iacocca. That made me think of what I had read about the museum's current exhibit of muscle cars on the second floor. (The greatest movie chase ever filmed featured two muscle cars and McQueen in "Bullitt.")

So I climbed the stairs to find a Chevy Camaro, a Plymouth Road runner and other muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s. An old juke box played old 45s to reinforce the mood. Then I saw a 1967 Shelby Mustang, very similar to the car McQueen used to chase down the bad guys in "Bullitt."

That chase scene took some liberties. The Dodge Charger of the bad guys lost more hubcaps than it started with, the chase went past the same green Volkswagen four times, and McQueen double-clutched the Mustang GT every time he shifted, something that would be necessary only in an old Mack truck. The most glaring glitch was that the Dodge Charger could run circles around any Mustang GT, but the film company made a deal with Ford and McQueen caught the bad guys.

Nearly everything at America on Wheels was enjoyable, but I prefer to dwell on negatives, and I got my shorts in a bunch when I found that the supreme muscle car, that 1968 Dodge Charger, was missing.

I confronted Linda Merkel, the museum director, with my complaint.

"That's why we change every six months," Merkel said of the exhibits.

Obviously, I shall not be able to wait another two years before I return. I might miss the Dodge Charger. (I always identify with movie bad guys anyhow.)

paul.carpenter@mcall.com 610-820-6176

Paul Carpenter's commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.