7/7/10 CHRYSLER MUSEUM Auto, entertainment stars in Legacy Gala event
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Lee Iacocca is coming, Jay Leno will perform, and Richard Petty will be there. You can, too.
Iacocca
The Walter P. Chrysler Museum is hosting a grand celebration marking 85 years of Chrysler heritage and honoring very special automotive and entertainment icons with the inaugural Walter P. Chrysler Legacy Award.
The Legacy Gala evening is Saturday, July 24, 7-11 p.m. at the Museum on the grounds of the Chrysler Group LLC headquarters in Auburn Hills.
Tickets to this once-in-a-lifetime gathering are $500 and include exclusive access to the evening’s very special guests at a pre-gala donor reception featuring four inaugural Walter P. Chrysler Legacy Circle Inductees.
Leno
They are:
Iacocca, who in 1978 was appointed as Chrysler's president by Chairman John Riccardo and, within a year, succeeded Riccardo as the automaker’s top executive.Iacocca is considered by many to have engineered one of business history’s greatest comebacks.
Leno, who was named America’s Favorite TV Personality in a 2009 Harris Poll. The host of “The Tonight Show” on NBC has reigned as America’s late-night leader for nearly two decades at the program’s helm, earning millions of fans worldwide with his “everyman” style. He is also famed as a car collector and is a vocal supporter of the Detroit-based auto industry.
Petty
Petty, who is the most successful American stock car driver in the history of the
National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, having won a record 200 NASCAR races during his 34-year career. He also raced to a seven NASCAR Cup
championships.
Virgil Exner, who was hired by then-Chrysler President K.T. Keller in 1949 to bring the automaker to the next level by developing a series of “idea cars” to influence new production vehicles. The first of what are now known
as “concept” cars was the 1950 Chrysler K-310, showcasing the company’s revolutionary Hemi V-8 engine. The famed designer, who died in 1973, is being inducted posthumously, represented by his son, Virgil Exner, Jr.
Virgil Exner
Besides the pre-Gala reception, the evening’s festivities will include:
A strolling dinner throughout the Museum’s three floors
The Legacy Circle induction ceremony
A full-length performance by Jay Leno
Dessert and coffee afterglow
For more information about the event and to order tickets, visit the Walter P. Chrysler Legacy Gala website at http://wpchryslerlegacygala.org.
