I mentioned this in Rob's thread about coming events, but it might get more response with its own headline.
The old Pate Swap Meet at the museum in Cresson is a fond memory. It was a fabulous event mixing sun, rain, mud, dust, miles of junk and treasure, and huge crowds of people spending money. One classic memory is of a guy from Colorado who had an old school bus full of Model T parts. A rainstorm left him on an island, and he laid down a causeway of hay bales so the customers could get to his space. After the event was moved to the speedway it was never the same, and I haven't been there since I sold the sign business eight years ago. So how is it now? Is there any old stuff, or is it all postwar junk?
Steve,
I was at nearly every Pate meet starting with the first one at the museum. We had perhaps 25 vendors that first year. I think it was about 1977?
The Lone Star T club always has several spaces and we always have several members with T parts for sale. This year there were a half dozen other vendors with T parts.
Was it worthy of a drive from Kansas to find good deals on T parts? I think not. If it is late model Mustang or Camaro parts you are after then Pate is the place for that.
These days If I want to go to a meet for Model T parts Chickasha is the place to go.
The first few I went to years ago was pretty good for T guys but not much in my book anymore.
I dont like walking for half a day and finding a couple of T parts.
Pate is a 2 hr drive for me here in Texas but I dont go.
Chickasha is no. 1 in my book.
I always go to Pate "Just In Case", but seldom find anything I cannot live without. It "ain't" like the old one, but sometimes you can find some T stuff---along with lots of flea market items. As previously stated, Chickasha is the place to be.
I'm Presbyterian so don't go to swap meets that have an entry fee although I also have wonderful memories of the old Pate meet in Cresson. But I'll never miss a Chickasha March event.
Its been more than a decade since I attended a South Central Swap Meet at the Texas World Speedway, and I guess the lack of T parts is the reason that I haven't been back. For the few vendors that had a few T parts, it wasn't worth the 5 hour drive I have to make. I can see that many T parts at the hot rod swap meet in Conroe, Texas at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. If I took all the T parts that I have to the Fort Worth swap meet, I know without a doubt that I'd have more T parts than all the other T parts vendors combined (based on past experience), and most would be 26-27 T parts, including a complete coupe and a complete fordor. I don't know why the large amount of T parts that showed up every year at Cresson, don't still show up at Fort Worth, In the early years, very little hot rod parts showed up at Cresson. As I remember it, there were more Ford parts (T, A, and V8) and all others combined.
Pate does not have an entry fee for spectators. Parking is free too.