By Tom Oncken
It has been my honor to assist Louis Rothermel over the years as he has hosted the Annual Houston Swap Meet. It is still amazing to think that this was the 26th edition of his meet which we held from November 8th through the 10th.
This year was a little different because we had much more exhibit space than we ever had in prior years. Louis had a muffler shop tenant quit paying rent, and the whole back part of his shop was empty this year as a result. Weather was not a concern because we could have had twice the turnout and still would not have filled all of the space available inside the building alone.
I would like to offer a very special thanks to our longtime member, John Slator. John lives in New Ulm, Texas which is almost two hours away from this swap meet and he has continued to support the meet by bringing in tons of items each year. If I remember correctly, he made a couple of trips to bring items on Friday and then again on Saturday. Take it from someone who has had to unload motors for boat shows, it is no simple task to load up your vehicle and a trailer to bring items that may or may not sell. Keep in mind that if they do not sell, he has to reload and take the stuff back home with him again. Thank you John! Your annual contribution to this meet has not gone unnoticed.
It would probably be an understatement to say that almost everyone knows the legendary “Scott-Atwater Al” Smith. For many years, he searched hoping to find a “Green Hornet” Scott-Atwater outboard, but it seemed to elude him for a very long time. Remarkably, one day, he found one and the owner actually sold it to him. End of story, right? Well, no. It seems that once the ice was broken, the “Green Hornets” started following him home. Al now has four of these rare outboards and the smile on his face while at this meet showed how happy he was to display this piece of his collection.
Louis provided the usual donuts and coffee at the beginning of each day. Friday’s lunch was purchased from a local vendor who sold some excellent tamales. Of course, Friday is more of a setup day, but some deals are made if someone is interested in items being set up.
As usual, Saturday is the heart of the meet and people were arriving before the gates opened at 9:00AM. Quite a few motors and parts were brought to display and/or sell and swap. I had been approached by several newer members who said that they have never seen an Indian Silver Arrow outboard, so my son helped me load mine up and we set it up in the big room near the back of the building so that it could be seen, but would not be mistaken as a sales item.
One of our past members, Tony Cloud, decided it was time to sell some of his collection. Due to the immense space in Louis’ back building, Tony’s truck was able to remain in the space during the meet while he was selling off some of his motors.
As is customary for our lunch on Saturday, Louis and I traveled to the nearby Pappas Bar-B-Q Restaurant and purchased brisket, sausage, potato salad, beans, and all of the fixings to go with it. We collected $10 per person for an all-you-can-eat feast. Nobody was shy and we came close to eating all of the meat that was available. Only side orders were leftover to be used on Sunday. Cornelia Kuffner sent over some dessert for the meal and if there was any person that was still hungry, it was their own fault.
On Saturday, I decided to try to recreate something that happened to my son, Mike, and I when we had first joined AOMCI. As I recall, George Jacobs asked Mike if he had a nickel. Of course, Mike came and got a nickel from me. George then proceeded to sell Mike an outboard motor that was disassembled in a bucket. Mike bought the motor and we went home and put it together again and kept it for years until Brenden Macaluso talked Mike out of the motor for his personal collection. Mike sold it to Brenden for the same price, five cents.
Tony and Andrea Robinson recently decided to adopt several children, and their future son, Max, decided to come with Tony to our meet. I saw Max looking at a lot of stuff, but never saw him talk Tony into buying anything. Then, I came up with an idea to resurrect George Jacob’s “nickel deal”. I approached Max and told him that I had a special deal for him if he had a nickel. Similar to mine and Mike’s deal with George years ago, someone handed Max a nickel. I took Max over to my vehicle and pulled out a special outboard motor that I thought would be perfect for him. It was a 5” tall K&O Models, Inc. replica of a 1954 Johnson 25HP outboard motor sitting on a replica stand as well. Max gave me his newly acquired nickel, and I gave him his new outboard motor. Hopefully he has it in his room now.
Sunday was the usual “come and work on your motor” day and a few folks did decide to work on their motors. For the most part, it was a shorter day than usual because almost everyone had left by 3:00PM.
Over the weekend, we had approximately 50 individuals come to our 26th annual meet which is very successful in my books. I spoke with Louis at the end, and he told me that if we are both able, he would like to host a 27th Annual Houston Swap Meet. We hope to see you then!
Follow this link to view all of the Houston Swap Meet pictures: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/26th-annual-houston-swap-meet/
