THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 A5
HIGH DESERT SWAP MEET AND CAR SHOW
Hundreds of classic, antique cars roll in
BY NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
Despite a brown and smoky
sky slowly creeping over Red-
mond, smiles, laughs and ex-
citement flooded the Deschutes
County Fair & Expo Center on
Saturday as the Oregon High
Desert Swap Meet and Car
Show rolled into town for its
38th year.
With more than 300 partic-
ipants bringing their old, clas-
sic and antique cars and wares
from around the state and be-
yond, the event hosted by the
Central Oregon Car Club is a
feast of car and collector culture.
“It’s a fun event and I think it’s
been a great thing for the Cen-
tral Oregon area,” said Butch
Ramsey, one of the co-presi-
dents of the Central Oregon Car
Club. “There’s a lot of camara-
derie.”
The 80-year-old Ramsey said
he’s been interested in cars since
he was 16 and brought one of
his own cars to the event that
was made in a blacksmith shop
in 1904 or 1905.
“Just a fun thing more than
anything,” he said. “There’s a lot
of neat cars.”
Ramsey wasn’t kidding. From
1915 Model T Fords to a shiny
1966 Marathon Model Checker
Taxi to hotrods, the free event
drew in crowds of curious and
passionate car enthusiasts.
“It’s just fun,” said David
Lowe, a 77-year-old attendee
from La Pine who brought two
Chryslers to sell.
Lowe has loved Chryslers for
decades and said his whole fam-
ily had one at one point. Back
in the early 90’s, they’d clean
their cars and cruise around
the neighborhood — all five
of them booming by as people
craned their heads to get a bet-
ter look.
“They just keep going,” Lowe
said, “why would I not like
them?”
According to Ramsey, the car
swap has always been very suc-
A Chevrolet Chevelle station wagon drives past the
Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center’s dairy barn at
the High Desert Swap Meet and Car Show on Sept. 10
in Redmond.
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
LEFT: Denny Bonn of Bend stands behind his 1927 Nash 4-door hotrod. CENTER: The interior of a classic Ford sits exposed at the High Desert Swap Meet and Car Show. RIGHT: A 1966
Marathon Model Checker Taxi cab sits at the High Desert Swap Meet and Car Show.
cessful since it began in 1983.
Before the first event, there
were car clubs all Central Ore-
gon that had their own swaps
and meets. However, they were
small and disjointed until some-
one began to gauge people’s in-
terest in hosting one big event.
The first event saw a little
over 100 participants and it has
only continued to grow since
then, Ramsey said. He wants to
see it hit 500 participants in the
future.
But, it wasn’t just cars on dis-
play at the fairgrounds.
“There’s a real gamut of
things out there,” Ramsey said.
“We’ve had tractors and RVs
and a (homemade) helicopter
one year.”
“We just don’t draw the line
on what goes in this show,” he
said.
Plan your 2023 Getaway!
From old Mustangs, Thun-
derbirds and Oldsmobiles to
ancient, standalone engines
purring along, there was a sea of
options to grab one’s attention.
Collectible car and motorcy-
cle magazines such as Hot Rod
and Cycle World still encased
in their yellowing plastic sleeves
were splayed across tables
while piles of rusted Americana
stacked in rows sat next to bas-
kets of machine and car parts.
Neal Furlong, a vendor who
drove from his home in Spring-
field, said he’s been going to car
shows and swaps for about 40
years and bringing the things he
finds at garage sales — mostly
Tonka Toys and wagons for this
event — to the events.
He got his start, he said, after
going to a big car swap in Port-
land and realizing people were
selling things he’d collected.
“I started selling my stuff
also,” Furlong said, “and I was
just amazed that people wanted
it.”
The car swap and meet will
also help fund scholarships for
the Central Oregon Commu-
nity College’s automotive pro-
gram.
█
Reporter: nrosenberger@
redmondspokesman.com
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