Western Engine Model Exhibition, August 2011

The GoodGuys Car Show attracts a large crowd of hotrodders to the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton each year. The show organizers offered a building for the WEME show to be held as part of the hotrod show this year, bringing in a huge crowd of people who had not seen anything like the models on display. (Click on any photo to view a larger image.)

It's hard to get a good photo showing the crowd, as when it is at its peak I can't take a break to get a photo, but this will give an idea of the venue in front of the Sherline booth.

The fifth edition of this show was moved from July in Vallejo to August in Pleasanton this year. The show was offered an opportunity go be held in conjunction with one of the USA's largest hotrod shows, the GoodGuys Nationals, which attracts a huge crowd of hotrodders from around the nation. The Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton has many acres of grass and pavement to park thousands of hotrods participating in the show, and spectators and rodders are free to wander among them and admire the craftsmanship. The grounds also offer several buildings filled with displays and vendors, and this year the WEME show was housed in one of them. This also made it a 3-day show compared to previous years of Saturday and Sunday only. Judging by the feedback from the Goodguys organization and the crowd at the show it was a resounding success, and plans are already under way to feature the display at next year's show.

The Bay Area Engine Modelers (BAEM) were well represented with their spectacular collection of engines including many miniature American V8's which were run on request. The engines were run almost continually to the delight of the spectators who were drawn in from outside by the sound. In addition, the hot weather made the cool air inside the building an attraction that drew others in. One young couple told me, "We drove 850 miles to see the car show and didn't even know about the little engines. We just came it here because of the air conditioning, but this is by far the best thing we've seen at the show!"

Sherline had a display of their full tool line with demonstrations being given on the lathe and CNC mill by Sherline's factory shop foreman, Karl Rohlin. With this particular crowd, the possibilities offered by CNC seemed to be a big attraction and Karl was kept busy making helical gears and answering questions from 8 to 5 from Friday through Sunday.

If you are into engines from simple to exotic, we suggest you put this show on your schedule for next year. Their web site is www.wemeshow.com.

Photos from the show... (Click on any photo to enlarge it to 800 pixel size.)
	Craig Libuse and Karl Rohlin attended the show this year and Sherline was provided with plenty of space to display our manual and CNC machines as well as area for information on the Joe Martin Foundation for Exceptional Craftsmanship. Shown is the Sherline booth as Karl sets up on Thursday afternoon before the show opened Friday morning. In the second photo Karl shows a young spectator how metal is cut on a Sherline lathe. The family atmosphere of the show brought more young people than visited past shows.
	This year's feature modeler was Lou Chenot seen here with his wife June as they display his 1/6 scale 1932 Duesenberg SJ. Lou is also this years Joe Martin Foundation Metalworking Craftsman of the Decade award winner.
	Clen Tomlinson from England came over to display his 18-cylinder Napier Deltic engine, which we brought up from the Craftsmanship Museum for the weekend. Clen was interviewed by a video crew hired by the GoodGuys organization to document the show.
	Noted engine collector and Joe Martin Foundation board of directors member Paul Knapp brought over 60 engines from his collection to display. At the end of the show 49 of them went home in the Sherline van to be displayed at the Craftsmanship Museum in Carlsbad, CA, bringing to over 200 the number of Paul's engines on display there.
	A large scale (ride-on) 2-6-0 live steam locomotive and tender was on display. Note the plumbing inside the cab.
	Dr. Bob Kradjian (Left) is a member of the BAEM club and has quite a collection of engines to display. Two of the more prolific engine builders in the club are Ken Hurst and Dwight Giles. When the Black Widow broke a distributor shaft on Saturday, they took it back to Dwight's house that night and had it running again on Sunday.
	Ron Bement from the Denver, CO area built a 1/3 scale model V8 with Ardun heads that was very popular with the hotrodders at the show. He also ran the heck out of it, and it certainly did make a glorious noise when revved. A new engine at the show was the 1/3 scale Black Widow V8. Ken Hurst and Dwight Giles (above) were among the developers of the casting and plan set for this engine which ran for the first time only two weeks before the show.
	Powered model boats were also part of the display, ranging from a racy flatbottom to vintage cabin cruisers.
	It was a car show, after all, so here are some of the hotrods spotted on the fairgrounds. 1. A vintage Cadillac hood ornament 2. Fine woodworking craftsmanship is seen on the inside of this vintage panel truck. 3. Four Stromberg carbs top the engine in this 32 Ford roadster built to replicate the hotrod driven by "Kookie" in the 1960's TV show "77 Sunset Strip". The actor who played the part of the cool hotrodder in the show, Ed Byrnes signed the dash. 4. One blower isn't enough? Try two. 5. There were literally thousands of fine hotrods parked everywhere around the fairgrounds.