Chickasaw Report

[VinTin23]

Looking good for this year with 75 % of spaces sold. Some very spirited selling during the wait to get in. I saw a Small Drum Ruckstell, Well aged, unmolested go for $300.

It’s Going to be a windy day, what are you seeing?

[ivaldes1]

Lots of air pumps and horns this year. I picked up a porcelain sign for my garage and amazing 1910-1912 reproduction brass head lights. 30 x 3.5 rims were sparse this year, I was only able to get about 1 good one and one that is missing a mount. Getting there on a return trip from Colorado was blizzard conditions but the weather turned good in the afternoon. Other than that the fellowship was great. The 1927 Roadster for sale for $10K looked great, the 1910 ($23K asking) and 1915 ($10K asking) Touring's that were for sale were incredible. There was a 1923 Roadster that needed a lot of work but seemed mostly complete asking $4,500.

-- IV

[KirkieP]

Very nice and straight

[Upholstery Mike]

[Dan Hatch]

Glad to know what happened in Chickasaw.

But what happened in Chickasha?

[DHort]

What happened in Chickasaw stays in Chickasaw. Didnt you know that?

[ivaldes1]

Interesting that both the 1910 and the 1915 for sale had the gear in place for the speedometer but no speedometer.

[Steve Jelf]

I'm baaaack! The trip home from Chickasha took a couple of hours longer than getting there. That was because of my annual March shopping for new overalls. Why March? I don't know, but that's when I do it. My preferred brand, Roundhouse, is not sold in any of the local stores, so I have to import them from Okieland where they are made. The Chickasha Walmart didn't have many in stock, and they were mostly fat guy sizes. The huge store in Moore had even fewer, and they were all Dickies! The Perry store, allegedly at Exit 186, does not really exist, or is so well hidden that I couldn't find it. The Blackwell store is so small and old that the single men's room has just one toilet, but I did find one pair in my size, which I bought. Finally, I found the Ponca City Walmart well stocked, and I bought a second pair in my size. Why didn't I go there in the first place? Because then they would have been completely out of stock. You know that.

Before I get into the report, a few words about why I had to wait until I got home before posting. The reason was not that I was using an old laptop, or that I persist in using a real camera, or that I use a mouse instead of a touch screen, etc, etc. The problem is outdated software. The ancient software on my laptop "is not supported" by the current versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or anything else as far as I know. And the obsolete browsers that work on my old software are in turn "not supported" by many websites, including this one. The fact that you can easily post from your whiz-bang new device is not because of the device itself. It's because the device has up-to-date software and an up-to-date browser. So why don't I install new software and browsers on my laptop? Because then I would lose the drivers that run my equally elderly printer. So what's a geezer to do? I'll keep the old laptop to run the printer, and before I do any real traveling I'll get something with more current software and up-to-date browsers.

And now to Chickasha: I drove modern and didn't take very much, but of what I took I sold enough to pay for my space and for a couple of meals. I spent $20 for old spark plugs and $8 for a pair of parts book reprints. I couldn't think of anything I really needed, and I didn't see anything that jumped up and down yelling, "Buy me! Buy me!"

The Devines are the only mainline parts dealers who still come to this show.

I was struck by how many empty spaces there were this time.

Asking price on the 1927 runabout was $10,500.

This 1924 Moon was my next-door neighbor. It's even prettier than it looks in the picture.

1935 Miller Ford racer.

[Steve Jelf]

The engine is backwards to run the front wheel drive.

Some of the outdoor goodies.

Friday afternoon Kirk Peterson caught me snoozing. I see my dad in this picture, except he often had a toothpick in his mouth. I worried that he might swallow it, but he never did.

Bedtime. More tomorrow.

[Wayne Sheldon]

Steve J camping under a new Moon?

[TheSaintDiscJockey]

Thanks, Steve, for the concise update. We missed you early on!

[Art Ebeling]

Steve, I never thought of you as being unapproachable but I wasn't going to disturb you. Some guys wake up swinging. Art

[Steve Jelf]

Continuing...

1927 Buick, asking $27,500.

[Steve Jelf]

Mike Walker and his swell trailer, braving the wintry blast.

Donnie Brown's penthouse apartment.


Posted from my 2011 iMac desktop with updated software.

[Original Smith]

I would like to have gone, but the photos above show why I didn't.

[KirkieP]

Wayne
That was good

[Art Ebeling]

Does anyone know if the 10 or 13 sold? Art

[Tourabout]

The 10 was gone Saturday morning. I knew it would sell. The 13 was there when I left. They started it right up as I was leaving.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Looking good for this year with 75 % of spaces sold. Some very spirited selling during the wait to get in. I saw a Small Drum Ruckstell, Well aged, unmolested go for $300.

It’s Going to be a windy day, what are you seeing?

By chance, was the axle you saw laying down under the older-restored '26 Tudor loaded on the trailer Steve Jelf posted a picture of above?

[Norman Kling]

Larry, I don't see anything in the pictures which would indicate why you didn't go? Would you explain, just what it is it in the pictures? Some of the cars even look quite "original". And you know that "original"can mean as first sold, or it can mean "One of a kind".
Norm

[VinTin23]

Brent, Never saw what happened to it after Thursday Evening. I saw several others, but were all priced $1500 or so for complete ones.

[oliverguy]

I had heard this meet was dying but it certainly doesn't seem like it. Pent up demand? Maybe I'll make the treck from PA next year. My kids are old enough now where I don't think they would miss me... I'm happy to see these little meets like this one and Luray doing well. When people bring good stuff at reasonable prices everyone is happy. Hershey should take notice.

[DanTreace]

With my view, the Thursday line up and buying and meeting was the most fun, since all were together in several lines prior to entering the fairgrounds.

Once inside on Friday, the real attendance of many vendors from years past is diminishing. The buildings were just about vacant. The other fields were low too, not many vendors in the center spots on the concrete, and only on the west side of the grounds had a few vendors, many spaced apart.

For me found the fun of seeing folks again, but missed some that had expected to attend. Most agreed the meet is lacking the volume of the past, perhaps the internet, the weather, the distance of travel, and surely the cost of fuel had a real affect. So goes the real world of swap meets.

Friday about 10 am, wasn't set up Thurs, this was the real look of the official first day of the swap.

But, did find some of the good vendors there, Birdhaven and of course, Classtique Upholstery. Mike answering questions, and I got from him a new top boot for the '27 touring, he had specials there at 50% off, couldn't resist!

[VinTin23]

While I don’t disagree with the observations, there were a few things that really stuck out for me. Very poor on line advertising, dates were incorrect and was confused with other swap meets at this venue. I spoke with a number of people Thursday Morning who thought the meet was Thursday-Saturday. One guy had even arrived Weds.

There was a line of people at the RV to purchase swap spaces on Thursday. 75+ Cars, trucks and trailers of rusty gold were in line. They said several had arrived Weds, but left.

On Friday, the registration folks said at least 50% of the paid vendors did not show up. The weather scared off a number of folks. On Saturday, a 30 Foot 5th wheel trailer full of stuff showed up around 9am. I asked him where he was setting up, his reply was “Were Not, there’s nobody here” There were two smaller trucks behind him, they felt the same way and left. People were packing up by 1030 Saturday.



Unfortunately, I think this self fulfilling prophecy is destined to ruin this meet.

[Humblej]

Agree, but the lesson for Chickasha as a buyer or a seller is get there early. Right or wrong, for Chickasha a lot of buying and selling goes on in line on set-up day, and many items are not even for sale, they are being delivered. Years ago when set-up day was Wed and the swap meet was Thur - Sat, the buying and selling was over by Friday morning and buyers and sellers were leaving by mid day. To accommodate those who needed a weekend to attend the days were changed to Thur set-up with hopes buyers and sellers would stay thru Sat, but the reality is, most buying and selling is done on set-up day and the next day. In years past rules for no selling while in line was avoided by not getting in line and parking in a field across the street. Human nature being what it is, get there early or miss out.

[Humblej]

Any more pictures of the meet or your loot?

[John kuehn]

I wonder about the other swap meets going on such as the ones for the later cars in the classic era. How is their attendance going.
I didn’t go this year to Chickasha because of family concerns but going by the photos I probably wouldn’t have missed a whole lot.

[Art Ebeling]

I spent Thursday night in Oklahoma City and got up early Friday to get to the swap meet at 7am. I was disappointed that by 9:00 there were still several tables covered without the sellers present. I kept checking in at a display with a 36 truck grille and never saw the seller there to be able to buy it. There was starting to be a lot of people in attendance by 9 that might have wanted to purchase something. By 9:30 I was outside where some vendors were just starting to uncover and display items. I was back on the road and headed back to Illinois after covering the same ground several times never being able to see a lot of items. Maybe a lot of sellers assumed there would not be a lot of buyers there early because it was so cold and windy. Art

[Steve Jelf]

Confusion with other meets at the same location is nothing new. For decades there have been May and November meets open to both prewar and postwar stuff.

Late opening is not exclusive to Chickasha either. I've seen some spaces remain tarped until nine or ten at Hershey too. Chickasha being a much smaller meet, it's more noticeable there. You snooze, you lose. So does the guy who would have been your buyer.

As an attempted seller, I stick around through Saturday morning. Years ago the meet was changed from Wed-Fri to Thur-Sat to accommodate folks who can only attend on weekends. But it seems every year fewer and fewer shoppers have showed up on Saturday. People don't come on Saturday because most of the sellers have left. Sellers have left because people don't come on Saturday. Would more and better advertising break that cycle? Dunno.