Featured Event Coverage Death of the Swap Meet

Yup. When I sold at Pomona, I would set up on Saturday when the gates opened but I would keep my stuff covered until the swap meet began.
I always stayed the nite because it's fun to do and watch the nite crawlers run around looking for deals. Sometimes they'll ask me to show what I had but I always said, "NOPE, I'm busy relaxing. See you in the morning."

 

I rarely go to swap meets and only if they are part of a car show or event and then mostly for entertainment value. I don’t have a lot of space and hate clutter so I only buy what I need usually when it is needed. I don’t believe buying parts and storing them away is keeping the parts in circulation or saving the hobby. When I need something I find it much easier to go online (Market Place, eBay etc.) and find what I need quickly and have it shipped to my front door. I think it saves a lot of time and money even including shipping costs.

Of the swap meets I have gone to I find some of the vendors to have a real attitude. I think the people who complain the most about buying prices too high and selling prices too low are all the same people. Somehow when buying its junk and when selling it’s the last one left in the world.

I sell a few things on eBay and generally price them to sell quickly to get them out of my way. Can’t tell you the number of times I have gotten really low ball offers and a nasty message when I refused to sell. Only to find another of the same part in the potential buyers eBay store at an exorbitant price. I get it that’s the way the world goes around but don’t need the poor mouthing.

I get the entertainment value, seeing things you never seen before, talking to old friends but think swap meets are breathing their last breaths. The internet has made it so much easier to locate and buy parts. I do agree that the swap meets have become more of a flea market selling everything except car parts. Also no new sellers, same sellers often trying to sell the same junk they had the year before. My opinion your mileage may vary and probably does!

 

You come to my house I can fix you up with many totes full of swap meet goodies.

 

Sumter Swaps in FL is pretty good yet...

 

When you go online to buy parts you already know what you are searching for, not a lot of creativity in that. When you go to a swap meet you may bring home stuff you had no idea you needed. Great builds have resulted from this "rash" and "impetuous" action. Perhaps a few divorces as well but they would have happened anyway. It would take both hands and a few toes to count all the projects I have hauled home over the years from meets. I have a funny feeling it aint done.

 

Let's hope not.

 

Like others have said, for me the search for parts is as much of the “hot rodding” experience as the building experience. Love driving and meeting folks. All kinds of great folks out there with their stories. A couple years back, I drove around 3-4 hrs one way to get a vintage car heater for $40-$50 IIRC that I will likely not even use now because of space limitations. Ended up spending over an hour with the seller as he had a fairly large antique store on the side of a 2-lane hwy out in the country. Gave me an education on a ton of turn of the century tools and appliances he had scattered in numerous bldgs. These are the memories that keeps me going.

 

Englishtown Swap meet in NJ used to be a premier swap meet on the east coast, after they closed the drag strip it's a joke now! I don't even go anymore. There is something to be said about buying on line, but I like to see and feel what I'm buying. Not all vendors on line are scrupulous plus the cost of shipping is ridiculous. What I like is I'll go to a swap meet looking for a specific item and come home with 2 or 3 things I wasn't looking for! LOL

 

Swap meets hold the excitement of discovery of that rare/unique piece that can personalize your car build, that you wouldn't normally search for on E-Bay.
I enjoy finding something that is just so cool, that I consider how to incorporate it into my build.
Often times the seller doesn't know what it is he has, and maybe you don't know either, yet you know that piece is just so cool, that you have to have it.
If nothing else, swap meets are good exercise, and get you off of the couch.
Of course they aren't what they used to be, but what is?

 

With all due respect to a lot of the posters here, the OP included, I honestly hear a lot of nonsense bitching on this thread over nothing.

The idea of the swap meet is largely obsolete. I would venture to say that for most of us, we're not attending swap meets with the intention to buy anything so long as we can make a profit on it. Most of us are looking for specific parts for specific cars with a particular project we're working on in mind. And frankly, it sounds miserable scouring rows and rows of vendors in the hopes that they may have a specific part that I've been looking for, for a price I'm willing to pay. That especially becomes the case when I could just go on eBay, the HAMB, or FB Marketplace, find exactly what I'm looking for with a filtered search, speak directly to the seller, and strike a deal from my computer. I think we take for granted what a luxury the internet is when it comes to identifying and locating parts and vehicles for sale.

Sure swap meets can be fun. It's a nice time to walk around a bit, see some cool stuff, talk to people I know, and maybe purchase an item here or there. But when I'm in the thick of a project that I'm trying to push forward, a swap meet is not going to be my first, or even second, choice to shop at. My time is more valuable than that.

 

I used to get there fri night and camp up in the dirt lot by the gate...one time the starter went out on my rv, and was stuck there till closing ... all that junk shit you wonder why they hauled it there was still on the ground when they left....

 

good post... I used to go to pomona swap for the fun... take a car to sell and meet up with az and cal friends...trading cars was always fun to me...dragging some thing home and telling my wife.... this is the one I always wanted...

 

I MAKE MONEY DOING THIS....IF i DIDN'T i WOULDN'T DO IT....OF CORSE i SPEND MORE THAN i MAKE AND WORK EVERY DAY FOR FREE... BUT WHEN THAT BELL RINGS i'M READY FOR ANOTHER ROUND...I can make 150 an hour working on other peoples cars at my shop... fuc that... I'd rather spend all day scraping 100 year old grease off an ol model A for free, thaat way I make a mess out of my yard and garage....A fella get a great feel joy telling his wife...come look what I did....... and make me a sandwich

 

True

 

The one thing about swap meet vs online is, you always find something at a swap meet you had no idea you needed!

 

Man, you guys sure scared off the OP. After my latest swap meet experience last month, I am more motivated to try to attend more again either to buy or sell. I had taken a break from them for several years (like 25 or so), but selling some of my stuff I don't need was almost fun. Main enjoyable part was talking to lots of folks and making some new friends.

 

The OP didn't get scared off. It was a hit and run the way it looks!

 

Very true.
I was at a swap meet and saw some very old metal clad wooden phaeton doors and my buddy challenged me to make a car out of them. That was the start of my Hot Tub. I didn't know I needed them.

P.S. Still happily married to the lovely Ms Frenchtown. She even occsinally drives the Hot Tub.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only that feels this way!!

I'll add to this:

I've sold at some swap meets, get there early to be met by the guys that are picking through your truck bed while you are still driving to your swap spot.

The same guys that offer you pennies for your stuff only to set up on their booth for full retail + $100.

I always chuckle when I walk by their spaces years later and see the same stuff I sold them still sitting there more rusty and dusty with each passing year.

They probably will eventually make their money. But at what cost? years of loading and unloading? more swap meets where you only sell $20 bucks worth of shit? They can have it. At least I'm no longer paying to store it and moving it all the time.

 

My .02 cents, and worth even less than that. Owning my own business means I've worked every Saturday since 1976, so I've always thought Ebay was my main source of good stuff, but that I'd always have to pay Ebay prices, or sometimes much more, to get what I wanted. I remember awesome swaps from the old days, but getting Saturdays off from work to go do car stuff ain't happening. . Death or illness are my only excuses for free weekends. The old Charlotte, or even Gatlinburg swaps were amazing in the 70s, but I don't remember much non car stuff.

 

Yeah, seems we get odd threads like this once in a while, makes me think their trolling motor wouldn't start but they really felt a need to still go fishing!

 

I commented earlier about not likely going to the Jefferson swap this spring.
So now, as I'm reading these responses, I'm giving my last adventure there some thought.
According to their info on their flyer, the fair grounds is 99 acres, and has over 3,100 auto related swap spaces. The swap hours are open from 8am to 4pm this year.
The last time we got there at about 9 am. Probably 1/4 of the vendors were not ready to do business. Depending on the weather (that time it was great!) there are many vacant swap spaces still available (used to be if you didn't preregister for a space, you were out of luck for the spring event).
So, lets say there are 2200 swap spaces occupied (just a number) that are ready to do business an hour after the opening bell. 1/2 of those are large business occupied, or are the guys that rent the space to park on, or only have a few items to sell. Lets say that leaves 1100 spaces where guys came to actually sell stuff. Those are the 1100 spaces where the real stuff is at, but they are scattered across the 99 acres.

We arrive with our wish lists in hand, and the back pack with the tape measure, wheel bolt pattern disc, a few tools, a pen and paper, a few disposable shop rags, and a bottle of water stashed away for each of us. We both had a pocket full of money, enough to cover what we thought should be enough to buy everything on our lists (we have researched what we can buy the items for online including shipping), we were on a mission, and ready for the bargains. Let the walking begin.

If the vendor isn't ready to do business when we walk past, we probably won't ever know what he has. When we get to the loaded up swap space, we do a quick scan, looking for anything on our lists, and scoping out the prices. If there are no items priced or they are way over priced, we usually keep walking. Our swap experience tells up that if the vendor doesn't price his stuff or those prices are really high, he is looking for a sucker and will be hard to deal with. We have too much ground to cover to have to deal with guys like this. If we see he has something on one of our lists not priced, we will probably ask his price before moving on.

We walk the rows of vendors looking. Back in the old days when we had long wish lists, we would go down one side of the row, then back up the other side of the same row. These days, we pretty much scan both sides. Can you imaging how much cool stuff we may be missing, maybe even something on our list, buried some where in the guy's crowded space?

By noon, we have probably covered 2/3 the fairgrounds. We are both wore out and ready to sit for a few minutes, we "enjoy" our $20 hot dog, bag of chips, and bottle of water, (we have probably already consumed the bottle we brought in) just so we can sit a few minutes.

Then we are either off to scan the other 400 vendors, or we may go back to check something we saw earlier. By 2:30, we (OK, maybe just me) are wore out. We start the long walk back to the truck, maybe stopping along the way to collect the things we have paid for that the vendor has set back for us, or maybe stopping to see of that item that caught our eye that wasn't on the list s still there (if we can find the swap space it was in).

Maybe the swap meet wasn't as bad as we thought, just maybe, we are not as committed as we were years ago?

That trip to Jefferson cost me $70 last year and I didn't bring any thing home except less money. It was however, a great day to spend with my son, so that made it worth while. But, I'm not going to make that trip by myself.

 

the firebird swap meet in emmett, idaho this past weekend had more vendors and more buyers than they had in years. there were more show cars and cars for sale. they did have some vendors selling household stuff but mostly car parts. there were more food and beer vendors and more bathrooms. it is always a good time. been going 10 years.

 

IMHO; The op hasn't been on here since he started this thread. I think that he started this just to get everybody to argue & scream about something. This has the flare of a guy that I worked with that would say something to get everyone fighting & arguing about something & then he would back out of the picture & watch what happens from afar. He lived for it! He was a journalist & would write letters to the newspaper editor that would get published & watch the responses fly and snicker about it. Just sayn.

 

I didn't notice any replies to the OP complaining about him profiting from buying and selling old parts? Most were simply noting he's been here a long time, and contributed very little to the HAMB beyond this post, and some for sale posts.
I have no issue with anyone buying or selling anywhere, nor do I care if they use the site for that purpose. But it would be nice if he participated a little also since he obviously buys and sells a lot and might have some useful knowledge to share when people need help.

 

It really is the thrill of the hunt. Of all my many hobbies, swap meets stand alone in actually paying me back financially for having fun. I suppose I'm losing money if you factor for time invested, but the thrill when the swap-meet slot machine pays off is priceless.

It terms of soulless analytics, a time/cost-benefit analysis just doesn't work. Anybody who only sees a ratio of cost vs. time should absolutely be shopping online. It's the right choice for you. You should probably also buy fish at the market rather than go fishing, and coins from a dealer rather than try metal detection.

 

His original plan (still) is purely for his benefit, FLIPPERS ARE NOT GIVERS!

 

Reading stuff like this bugs the crap out of me.
If you are the business owner and you can't figure out a way to get a day or two off work when you want, why are you still running a business?
Close the doors for a day, call in sick, go to the swap meet. If you have been doing your business since 1976 and can't take a Saturday off, its time to make a few changes.