CEMA 2012 Charity Car Show at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum

CEMA is the Chrysler Employees Motorsports Association. Yesterday this fine organization hosted its 23rd annual charity car show at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

(NOTE: Please also check out an updated article here at MCG with a listing of all the award winners and lots more photos. Click here.)

As you might expect from an outfit made up of current and retired Chrysler employees, Mopar products were well represented. The focus of the festivities this year was the 20th anniversary of the Dodge Viper, so naturally, the local Viper owners’ group turned out in droves to show the flag. There were Vipers everywhere — on the museum porch and lawn, spread over the grounds, in the parking lot.

However, one nice surprise was the variety of nice non-Chrysler machines in the show, which benefits the Walter P. Chrysler Museum’s non-profit foundation. A few of MCG’s favorites included a gorgeous ’58 Edsel convertible in two-tone black and white, an equally sharp 340 hp ’62 Corvette, and a Citroen SM. Impressive modifieds included a Fiero with a Northstar V8 swap and a rare-anymore ’73 Opel Manta with a Chrysler Turbo four replacing the original 1.8L four-banger. No, you won’t see that every day.

And of course, CEMA brought its club car, High & Mighty II, the group’s faithful recreation of the Ramchargers’ first race car, the ’49 Plymouth Ram Rod. (Back in around 2006 while at Hot Rod magazine, MCG’s Bill McGuire did a story on the original Ramchargers, CEMA, and the Ram Rod, which is immortalized on the Interwebs here. Those interested can check it out.) Anyway, here’s the infamous Ram Rod yesterday, still frightening small children and domestic animals: