Saturday 05/30 what may be the longest car parade record might be set. 4700 cars have registered to be in the parade. Part of the Route 66 anniversary. It will be on what is Tulsa’s 11th street which was part of the original R 66. I hope the people have a good time in spite of the fact that it is not a part of the city I would show visitors. There will probably be videos on You Tube at some point.
I had to edit this to put the actual date which is tomorrow. This is Friday which I realized after the coffee woke me up.
There were about 5000 vehicles registered. Some broke down on the way to the staging area and some in the parade were not counted as they did not meet the 1996 or older part. By all reports the participants and spectators all had a good time so call this a successful venture.
This might even increase the 06/05 and 06 Mecum Auction interest in Tulsa.
Local news sites are reporting that some people who did not get to drive in the parade are upset. It seems that many showed up after the posted time to be at the starting point and were denied participation. The parade certifier’s also had criteria about the vehicles that could be counted and that the parade had to be continuous with no large gaps. The city also had a set time that the 5 mile stretch of the street could only be closed . The time to join the parade was even extended by 1 hour and still people showed up later than that. All they had to do was be on time.
That does seem to be an issue for some people. Many years ago, I had a friend who would consistently show-up 1 hour–or more–late for our rendezvous at an event. He always blamed his lateness on issues with his AMC Hornet, but even when he got a new car, he continued to be a.w.o.l.
Update: The organizers of the Route 66 Car Parade has announced that all registered participants will receive their registration fee refunded. Since many people did not get to be in the parade, some because of traffic problems rather than make an issue and cause bad feelings all will be refunded.
I did not make it through the video. I did not go to see the parade because I knew that getting there would be a problem. The fair grounds are not on 11th street and there area is just not set for 5000 extra vehicles to be in the area. Class action suit will go nowhere. The part where it was said that they should have let cars on the 5 mile stretch even if it took till midnight is ridiculous. There are businesses , homes and a major hospital on 11th street. The city closed the street for about as long as they could. I have a friend whose home is 1 block off the parade route and had to drive away from the direction to her job . I do have sympathy for those who did not get drive in the parade I wonder if you are stuck in traffic with kids or eldery people in a hot classic car that may quit or overheat you should just bail out. I still think that the parade was a silly idea and it actually worked better than I thought it would. I know the entry fee refund will not make some people happy and it could have been planned better.
Having grown up in Tulsa, I wondered at the wisdom of creating a major access problem to Hillcrest Hospital at 11th and Utica. I wouldn’t be surprised if even St. John’s Hospital had problems with traffic around it.
Speaking of classic cars, at yesterday’s Cruise Night in my County Seat, the winner was a 1923 Model T. Most of the curb space is always occupied by cars from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, so it was nice to see a reallyold survivor.
