Hey guys thinking of going to gas city INDIANA area this weekend. Have not gone there in 13 years. Wanted to know which of the two shows has the best swap and is there a lot of older parts or just vendors. Building a 30 coupe model a. Knuck from indiana.
Gas City(Ducktail) is a larger show, and has more swap vendors, but the Fairmount (James Dean) show is very close by, if you have time go to both! wide variety of parts to be had by swap vendors, usually lots of old car parts available. I go every year, course I live only 10 minutes away from Fairmount, 20 from Gas City, so i pretty much am there the entire weekend!
The wife and I along with our son will be doing Dean on friday and the Duck on sat. Be driving the wifes teal green '41 International pu and my son will be bring my old '54 ford moredoor flat black and flames. Look us up, be good to meet you.
At any show, If you miss one row of vendors that is the vendor that has the part you were looking for. If you miss James Dean that is the show that a guy shows up selling the part that you really wanted. Same for Ducktail. Go To Both of them if you are seriously looking for stuff for your car. Good Luck
Ducktail is the larger swap by far. The Dean swap has really gone down the past few years, along with the whole show. Of course, like mentioned above, it depends on what you are looking for.
I agree re: the swap meet at Ducktail - much larger there.. However, as far as the show goes, the James Dean Run is under new management. The 9th Street Gang is running the James Dean show this year for the first time - these are local guys who have always been participants in the Ducktail show, so they know how to run a good show. I'll be at both shows...see you guys there! HRJ
They are close enough most folks do both James Dean is featuring HAMB celebrity Mark Moriarity with his Zingers and custom lawn mower the Atomic Yard Master along with Chuck Miller of Styline Customs who built some of the original Zingers.
If it has been 13 yrs since you have been to Fairmount then you will be in for quite a shock. The Dean Run is 30% of what it used to be regarding the size of the swap meet, car entries, commercial vendors and food vendors. On the plus side it still has the atomsphere that can't be duplicated at Ducktail. Ducktail on the other hand will have close to 3 times the cars, 15 times the swappers, 2-3 times the food vendors and 8 times the commercial vendors. I'm not saying one is really better than the other, go to both
I went last year and set up at the Ducktail....it was OK. TONS of cars at the Ducktail - when I attempted to make it over to James Dean - there were SO many cars at a stand still Sat evening that I could not even get out til about 8pm. I just said forget it and did not even go to James Dean........ I wish I could have made it over there. a LOT of people I talked to had gone to both events last year - hitting the James Dean in the morn and then after lunch heading over to Ducktail. Dont forget that the Voodoo Kings have their flame throwing just after dark and perhaps that is why so many people show up. I may try to stop by James Dean and Ducktail on Saturday on the way up to Kalamazoo for the Relix Car Club show. Seeya there I hope!
I've been going to both for years, even went to all three the same year Rebel Run was in Muncie. It would be nice to see the Dean Run come back and I look forward to seeing what the new club does with it. But I agree, if you can do both. I do Ducktail Thursday and Friday and Dean on Friday afternoon and Saturday. The Ducktail grounds just gets too packed on Saturday to really enjoy it.
John, It was "OK"? Damn, you drive a hard bargain. As a vendor i would have thought you would say it was a vendor's smorgesboard for sales. As a vendor I don't think I would try to do both shows the same day. Most of the people seem to be at Ducktail. James Dean has a flamethrowing contest too, I beleive they have their's going on at the same time. It has just never been as big as the Ducktail flamethrowing. If I was wanting to go to both, from a traffic point of view, I would do Ducktail in the morning to early afternoon then go to Dean in the early afternoon. Once you see what Dean has to offer (usually a killer Merc Corral), you will be ready to go back to Ducktail and should not encounter traffic problems in Gas City until you get inside the park
Me and the rest of the crew will be cruising between both all weekend. The key is not to get blocked in so you can still get out and enjoy the scenery.
I agree that the Ducktail is larger but if you are looking for Kustom stuff the James Dean is a much better bet. The swap there seems to cater to Kustoms. BB
Well it looks like the ducktail in the morning then the james dean show in the evening. I have to go friday. See you guys there. Knuck from indiana.
To give you an idea of the energy and vibe of both of these shows. Note that neither officially start until Friday. On Wednesday morning @ 6am at Ducktail, there were 608 cars WAITING to be let thru the gates and cars kept coming in all day long. The first 608 cars were thru the gates in less than 30 minutes. By 12 noon Wednesday there were 108 vendors moved in and set up. On Wednesday evening at Dean in Fairmount there was one lone Merc setting in the Merc Corral with a car cover on it. No vendors noted at Dean on Wednesday evening. Didn't get a chance to go to Dean this evening. I understand that they were having a downtown Cruise-in car show in Fairmount tonight.
I love Ducktail! It is a sweet show and only a quick drive. Pont406..Strange to see someone on here from Summitville. I am remodeling a house there now.
^ That's hard to find info! The park is on Broadway. Put 500 Broadway in, and follow the cars from there.
hey fbama i did not get your name had a great time out there. Nice meeting you too. It is always a pleasure meeting other hambers. I saw you leaving i left about 20 minutes later. I had to rest my aching feet i think i walked 100 miles out there !!!!!. Anybody know the car count. Great swap meet too. Knuck from indiana.
You know it's bad when two guys from a message board meet, exchange screen names, and forget to exchanbge names! I'm Brian, BTW. I'm sure it drives some people crazy, but I love how it's not laid out in neat little rows. Just when you think you've seen it all, you find a whole new section of cool cars! And I'll admit to spending most of my time at the show completely lost and not caring a damn bit that I was. I was happily bobbing around in a sea of cool iron!
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