Diamond Chapter

The Diamond Chapter May Meeting and Ride


will be Saturday May 23rd at Mt. Ida "Good ole Days" Event. The club will set up a booth and display of motorcycles as we have in the past. Set up will start at 9:00 am. We will need members to help, so come early if you can.


This is a all day event with Car and Bike show, music, food, entertainment and just a fun day meeting people and helping the 4H kids. Meeting will be around 2:00 pm. 800


Please enter your motorcycle in the show. You must enter before 10:00 am. Trophies will be awarded around 3:00 pm.


If you would prefer to ride MT. Ida is only 30 miles from Hot Springs. It looks like the weather will be clearing by then.


Remember all proceeds go to the 4H kids, so come on out and have some fun.


We will see you there. (See Flier)


Pate Swap Meet, Texas Motor Speedway


The Pate Swap Meet is Big, huge, large, enormous, and more than you can see in three days. It is held in the parking lot of the Texas Motor Speedway with over 10,000 venders. It is mostly a car swap meet with a few odds and ends thrown in. Motorcycles are only a small part of the over all but thanks to the Cherokee Chapter we were and will be a larger part of the swap meet in the future.


Spaces were small but most people bought several so they could set up and stay at their sites. RV sites were available. I had two sites, the club had two site , and Stanley miller had two sites so we had plenty of room.


Jed Simpson, Mike Racicot, James Sandage and Russell and Elizabeth Plunkett also were there. James, Russell and Elizabeth did walk the whole swap meet. They can report on what was there, as I did not get to far. I sold a few things and paid for the trip.


Thursday was a busy day as was Friday. Saturday was slower and some venders left that night. Sunday everyone was packing up.


The Cherokee Chapter set up a Antique Motorcycle show with close to 100 bikes on display. Several very cool bikes from the early teen's though the 1980s.


Awards were by decades and voted on by peoples choice. My Triumph Hurricane won in it's class 1970-1980. The Trophy was a beautiful Texas Belt Buckle.


Buck Carson did his radio show at the meet. He interviewed lots of people, including me so the Diamond Chapter got some free advertisement for the up coming September Show.


The Cherokee Chapter did a fantastic job setting up the swap meet. You can go there web site for pictures of the event. cherokeeamca.org


We all had a great time but I was tired of living in the parking lot by the third day and ready to get home.


I am sure the Cherokee Chapter will do this event next year. I will most likely go now that I know what to expect. I will talk more about this at the Mt. Ida Meeting.


Cuba MO. Auction


Well what can I say, if you were looking for motorcycle junk and were willing to way over pay then was your kind of auction. Stanley Miller and I drove to Cuba on Tuesday, Wednesday was viewing day so we got up early to see what was there. Jed Simpson was there so we went together. They had moved most of the motorcycles and parts into a warehouse in Steelville and left lots of item at the farm were the old guy lived.


I will guess there was 70 to 80 motorcycles lined up. Most of them had been disassembled in some form or another. Only a few bikes were altogether. There were pallets full of gas tanks, front ends, motors, exhausts, outboard motors and more than I can remember. Everything was so far gone it would take more money and time to restore than it was worth. At the farm there were some old cars sunk in the dirt up to the axels and rotted away from the weather. Two burned Porsche cars that burned when his trailer burned down. More pallets of stuff, tools, etc. and ticks.


We went to auction Thursday and met up with Butch and Pat Jones. Think got out of control right off the bat. People just had money to burn or no common sense. I could not believe what they were paying for junk. we all had our eye on a few things, but when it came up it started at ten times what we would pay. Example: XLCR gas tank, in so-so condition. I would pay $50 to $100, started out at $500. A 1950 Panther Motorcycle went for $30,000, maybe worth $10,000. That was the way the whole auction went. None of us bought anything and decided to not even go to the farm on Friday.


I guess the old guy had died or was in a nursing home and the state was selling off all of his assets to pay the bills. Even though we get several stories from people who knew him. He had been collecting motorcycles and cars for over fifty years, never buying but trading for all the time. He had a lot of stuff all in pieces. What you saw on the Jerry wood web site was what was there.


Jerry Wood runs a great auction. I know they worked hard on this one and made some money. I can't help but think a lot of buyers will have buyers remorse later.


It was a lot of fun and I am glad I went. there were people from all over the states as far away as California. I will talk more about this at the meeting.


Web Sites of Interest


Carson Classic Motors: carsonclassicmotors.com Info on the Carson Cannonball team and info on Buck and the youth program.


Cherokee Chapter: cherokeeamca.org Great reading and info on the Pate Swap Meet.


What's in the Barn: velocity.com/tv-shows/whats-in-the-barn Great Show.


Antique Motorcycle Club of America: antiquemotorcycle.org Lots of info. Great info on facebook.


Motorcycle Classics Magazine: motorcycleclassics.com


North Texas Norton Owners Association: NTNOA.org


Ozark Vintage Motorcycle Association: ozarkvma.com.


Buck Carson's Radio Show : roadhawgs.net.


Fix my Hog fixmyhog.com/. Video, Q & A, blog and store very useful!


Mecum Auctions | The World's Largest Collector Car Auction mecum.com. Las Vegas Motorcycle auction results.


arkansasrider.com/events.html


Bike of the Month


Rainbow Indian. Factory paint option. Beautiful.


Quote of the Month


Riding a Motorcycle VS driving a car is like the difference between watching a sporting event on tv and playing the game.


Closing Comments


I hope this rain goes away soon. It looks good for this weekend in MT. Ida. We will see you there.


Remember get that little bike up and running for the Mini Road next month.


Let me know of any up coming events ASAP.


Ride em, don't hide em,
Michael Thomson
President,
Diamond Chapter of Arkansas
Antique Motorcycle Club Of America


Motorcycle terms: Ape Hangers, Tall handlebars on cruisers that rise above the rider's shoulders. often on choppers, gangster bikes, or just
ridiculous custom bikes.