1713 E. Walnut, Enid, OK 73701
Once again a good time was had by all at our newly named Enid
Antique Power Show held at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid,
Oklahoma. Great weather greeted the day of October 6, 1990, for the
7th annual gathering of local and a few out of town engine
enthusiasts. About 64 participated with 50 exhibiting engines and
tractors; 14 came in with the Model T Club. Most all of the
exhibitors arrived around 9 a.m. and by 5 p.m. the grounds were
clear again.
The Model T Club had an excellent showing of fine looking cars.
It was about as large a collection of Model T Fords as is seen in
this part of the country. Also, a 1928 AR Ford was brought from
Waukomis, Oklahoma by Phil Burford. The AR was produced by Henry
Ford between the Model T and Model A Ford Cars.
Some of the long distance people were: Tom and Bobbie Brown from
Haskell, Oklahoma, with an 8 HP Economy engine, and Kenneth Martin
from Woodward, Oklahoma with a great collection of small engines.
Frank King, an old faithful from Moore, Oklahoma brought his
Putt-Putt. Frank King and his Putt-Putt are well known in a three
state area. His air-conditioned vehicle, complete with sound system
and horns is powered by a 3 HP John Deere engine.
An interesting and old tractor this year was brought by Paul
Martens of Fairview, Oklahoma. Paul brought his Rutnely Six tractor
and his crew of Dallas Womack and Lewy Nichols also of Fairview.
Dallas serviced this tractor in its heyday on the farm in the
1930’s and helped with the restoration of it along with Lewy.
These three did a great job in restoring a fine looking and running
tractor.
Another interesting engine was a Cooper-Bessemer built in 1937.
It is rated at 65 HP at 600 RPM. This engine saw service on a pump
jack in Coal County, Oklahoma until being retired from service in
1975. It is now owned and has been fully restored by Dean and
Marlin Unruh of Enid, Oklahoma with the help of Stan Melrose. The
engine was disassembled and rebuilt to show status and mounted on a
trailer. When these three men start this engine up, it draws a
crowd, just to listen to it run. In service this engine ran on
natural gas but it has been converted to propane for show
purposes.
A local Lawn Boy enthusiast, David Nicholson, brought three
vintage lawn mowers for exhibit. David is becoming quite an
historical authority on Lawn Boy lawn mowers. He is well known by
Lawn Boy officials both past and present, for his quest for
historical information and memorabilia. David Nicholson along with
Carl Perry of Calumet, Oklahoma, Victor Routh of Enid, and Philip
Beggs of Medford were among the first time exhibitors. It takes
people like these for a show to remain alive and prosper.
Our customary lunch of beans and cornbread was served to the
exhibitors again this year. It has been said that this will be a
part of the show until further notice. It took some help from
several exhibitors’ wives and Gary Phipps to cook up 24 pounds
of beans and the accompanying cornbread. This feast was enjoyed by
more than 100 people during the noon hour.
About 2 p.m. we had our meeting headed by Harold Cooper,
assisted by his wife, Marilyn. Door prizes were donated by the
following area farm implement dealers: Vater’s Implement, Enid
Ford-New Holland, Myers Implement and Long’s John Deere. The
drawing is held from exhibitors’ registrations. This is an
exciting time for the group to see who will win which prize.
Another highlight of the meeting is the presentation of the
‘King of Old Iron’ award. George Oiler received the first
one, with Kenneth Fiegel the second and last year it was won by a
fine gentleman, (as good as they come), Dallas Womack.
Regrettably, we lost a cherished member of our group when
Kenneth Fiegel passed away on November 16, 1990, at age 77. In his
77 years on earth he made many friends. He was a fine man, who will
be missed by one and all.
The 1991 at the Enid Antique Power Show is now being planned
with another ‘King of Old Iron’ recipient to be chosen. Our
show is the first Saturday of October and we hope the weather is
favorable for us again this year. See y’all there.
