Oakland Roadster Show motorcycle area Hello, In our travels, most car shows we attended in the 60s had varying degrees of custom set ups. In the early days, the custom motorcycles were given a darkened corner of the auditorium or various exposition display locations as the years rolled into the bigger SportsArenas. Sometimes, underneath the second floor walkway, but in the darkened area of the main floor. Despite the huge Sports Arenas, the custom motorcycles still got the less spectator viewing areas of the displays. It was not until the motorcycles were getting national attention that the promoters started moving the custom motorcycle areas closer to the hot rods and customs. That move by the promoters gained more popularity and the attendance increased. Pretty soon, the whole floor section of the main floor was given to custom motorcycle displays. Now the displays were almost equivalent to the custom cars and hot rods, which still took up most of the larger, brighter presentation areas. But, back in those darkened corners, underneath the overhead walkways, were the custom motorcycles showing as much as possible. So, their displays were a little less than the hot rods and custom show cars in the center section of the main arena floor. As popular and as big as the following spectators walked around those motorcycle areas, there just were not enough folks to have a custom motorcycle show, by itself. Jnaki Sheepskin was just not for bucket seats in daily drivers. Big, flowing strings of cotton filling made it look as if the custom motorcycle was floating in air. Or was a present under a huge Christmas tree during the holidays. As the popularity grew, so did the displays with more arena showings and better locations. YRMV Note: Although there have been all motorcycle shows, the dealer displays and factory bikes took up a lot of valuable floor spaces. Still, the custom motorcycles got their time as “part” of the main show attraction. The dealers and factory booths were the main attractions. But, those times did not attract attention like the times the custom motorcycles were on display at the various big time custom car shows.
Pratt Motorcycles, Moorabool Street, Geelong, Victoria, Oz; photo by Charles Daniel Pratt (1892 - 1968) - State Library of Victoria