OAK VIEW : Whirligig Maker’s Sales Wind Down

Selling whirligigs isn’t as easy as it used to be for Bill Swan.

Since Swan stopped displaying in front of an antiques store along California 33 in Oak View, it’s been a buyer’s market for his wind-powered novelties.

And advertising hasn’t helped.

“You can’t get much sales just saying, ‘whirligigs for sale,’ ” said Swan, who has posted a sign in his yard. “People say, ‘What the hell is a whirligig?’ ”

Webster’s Dictionary says it’s “a child’s toy that whirls or spins, as a pinwheel,” but Swan and other aficionados of wind toys know that a whirligig is often a figure--most often wooden--that moves mechanically when the wind blows it.

“They need to be on display. People need to see ‘em move and they fall in love with ‘em,” Swan said. At the top of his fence, blowing in the wind, was a line of whirling whirligigs: a cow eagerly milked by a maid, a donkey happily kicking its master, a chicken anxiously pecking a box, ducks wildly waving their wings, and an airplane, its beer-can props spinning and humming.

Those who pass Swan’s house at 403 W. Oak View Ave. can catch a glimpse of about a dozen of his handmade wind contraptions. If they ask, Swan, a retired bulldozer operator, will give them a tour.

About 30 whirligigs are stacked in his workshop. That inventory might have lasted less than six months when he had his consignment space along the highway. But since he had a falling out with the shop owner recently, he’s sold fewer than one a month. Nowhere near his best sales year, 1987, when he sold 89.

“Cows sell the best. Ducks and chickens are second. But people really like those cows,” he said as he thumbed a notebook with a list of sales since he began building whirligigs in 1981. He was inspired to build after he saw a whirligig cow on a neighbor’s roof.

Swan’s colorful whirligigs aren’t fancy, but they are eye-catching. At 81, he said he isn’t as steady with his jigsaw or paintbrush as he used to be. It takes him about two days to build each one, following patterns bought from a mail-order company.

“No two are the same--I always goof up somewhere,” he said.

Swan’s wind-driven machines sell for $15 to $30 each. But prices may drop.

“I sell so few now, I don’t know how much I’ll charge if someone asks me,” he said. “I even give a free stick with a nail in it if they don’t want to buy a full stand.”