Symco Shakedown in Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WISaturday, August 13, 2016
A few years ago Mike Rosenow came to my shop, Gunner’s Great Garage, and told me he was going to start a traditional hot rod show about two miles up the road in Unionville in Symco, Wis. (if that sounds confusing, just wait!). The show was called the Symco Shakedown.
The village of Symco is in the town of Union, and Unionville is a kind of antique village named after the town. It was created by Larry Werth and is maintained by a tractor collecting club called the Union Threshermen. It is a very cool place, with dozens of old steam traction engines that look like mechanical dinosaurs.
Mike wound up with a show that packed the tiny grounds and allowed Unionville to grow a little bigger. The show featured criteria-meeting cars and trucks with a pre-1962 look, pinup girl contests, vintage camping, mini-bike races and very good rockabilly bands. Needless to say, it became a hit and put the village of Symco on the national map.
This year Mike Rosenow left Symco and moved the show to the grounds of the Air Adventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wis. That’s an hour or so south of Symco. This is the site of the world-renowned Experimental Aircraft Association air show. It’s gigantic. Because of the success he had further north, Mike kept the name Symco Shakedown for the relocated event. He was pretty adament about not changing it to Oshkosh Shakedown.
“Symco in Oshkosh” unfolded Aug. 11-13, and most people who went to the show were stunned by the size of the grounds and how spread out the car show, swap meet and camping sections were. The easiest way to get from the parking lot near the swap meet to the car show was by using one of the trams the site provided.
Part of the show was held at a unique place called Pioneer Airport and that was the hit of the whole event, because those with cars that fit the “old school” criteria dead-on were invited to park their hot rods near hangers filled with antique planes.
Over 450 cars showed up in Oshkosh, but it was a bit different than in the past, as ‘50s fin mobiles, ‘60s compacts and ‘70s muscle cars were allowed to take part in the fun, along with some “billet” hot rods. As attendee Jack Meyer said, it was a very cool event for the first year in a new venue. It was definitely a new kind of Shakedown and people were in agreement that it has the makings of another big hit.