Monroe WA Swap Meet this weekend!!

You know, one of the cool aspects of going to swap-meets is, you never know what treasures you will find there.
As I was walking towards the gate to go home, on the last table I was passing by, I spotted these two cool little glass lenses, for $5.00 each.
The amber one, was the second one of these I have found, so now I have a matched set.

The red lens, was one I had never seen before, and it has a cool swept back streamline, Art Deco feeling to it.
After a bit of soap and water, and a bit of steel wool, they cleaned up very nicely. I was surprised to discover that the red lens is made by Dietz, that really made me smile!

You know, you can walk into any jewelry store, and pay big bucks for diamonds and other jewels that are way over rated, and in my estimation, are common, and not that rare. But you can go to a swap meet, and find cool glass, such as these, that are really fine works of art, from another time period, long ago!

Enjoy from Dennis.

 

Nice weather, lots of people and stuff. I think everyone in the area was trying to sell their Holley carbs and fishing gear. I found nothing interesting except for an early Cad dual quad intake, but I have 3 of those so passed. Left with sore feet and money still in my pocket so all in all it was a great day!

 

Monroe was great this year. Found a bunch of good stuff, saw lots of friends.
It was really hoppin Saturday morning

 

it's that time again! i'll be there driving the 59 bel air sat.. who else is going?

 

I’ll be there, hopefully it stays dry.

 

I'll be there, hawking the usual treasures.

 

Me ! Me !
I'm on my way !

 

Wow !

Anybody going back tomorrow ?

 

^^^ Wow is right! Great crowds! I think I had my best Monroe selling day ever. Still have some cool stuff left, however. I always stick around for Sunday. Even if I just make gas money, I prefer a leisurely afternoon wind-down to a frantic load-up at the end of the day Saturday.

 

Monroe Swap never disappoints, bumped into several guys I rarely see and picked up some junk I didn't know I needed. valve covers and intake to an engine that used to be free, can't say that anymore, a pair of Buick drums that will need work to make them work and another Olds to Chevy bell housing adapter because... I don't know.. redundancy lets you choose the favorite and let the rest go?

 

I got away cheap, $15 for parking was all I spent. Saw some friends, looked at a lot of stuff and saw nothing I was looking for. A good day!

 

Monroe was great again this year, saw lots of old friends and found lots of good deals
Got off to a slow start Friday, but Saturday was really hoppin

 

it's that time again boys and girls! i'm in for Saturday. who else is going?

 

I’ll be there only live 7 miles away so I can’t miss it.

 

I will be there on Saturday as well. Hunting down a a rear panel for a 28/29 model a Tudor. Mines completely toast, paper thin and crunched up.

 

I'll be there, selling and buying.

 

We both know you're not getting out of that booth

 

I'm bringing good stuff, so we can hope. Come on buyers, monopolize my time!

 

I'll be there for awhile on Saturday, depending upon how wet it is. Looking for 1940 Ford Standard hubcaps...

 

I'll be there Saturday, looking for... well let's just say I'll know it when I see it stuff

 

Good thing I ran across this thread again, I would have totally missed it, but it pays to hit the watch this thread button, to keep track of such events, such is the plight of being a 72 year old geezer, that cant remember stuff that should be written large, on a wall right in front of me!

I will be there when the gates open, to search for cool treasures, that will find a place on my desk, or wall, or to be hung, on the old bamboo bomber "Cessna T-50 BOBCAT" fuselage in our front yard!

Hope to see ya all out there!
Thanks from Dennis.

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Anyone go home with some good finds?

 

I found a few things; a pair of Edmunds air cleaners for my AV8 project, and a really straight AA shell that was too cheap to walk a way from and will serve as a backup for the one on my speedster. But mostly I was selling, slow but steady. The rain kept away many of the "casual" shoppers that can turn an OK selling day into a great one. But for an old swap meet lover like me, an OK selling day is still better than not being there.

 

saw a few things that I didn't need but might be nice to have, went back to have another look but thankfully were gone.
in the end I left empty handed, I think that was a first.
all in all, had a good time, saw lots of interesting junk and touched base with a few friends I rarely see.

 

I was there early on Saturday, got a relatively close parking spot. I did take my rain jacket and umbrella, but only as a back up, I left them in the truck, which was an assurance, that it would rain a bit on Saturday, which it did, off and on.

I walked around till 11:00 AM, and then my feet and hips said, Okay, you have seen it all for the most part, its time to head back to Seattle.

In the first 20 minutes of my travels there, I made a couple of purchases, which were too big to carry around in my back pack, which always means, head right back to the truck, dump them off, and head back to see more stuff, now that there was room in the back pack!

I don't bring home big stuff anymore, there just isn't any room here at the house and surrounding yard for anything else, which is fine by me.

How ever I did find a few things, that made the trip out to Monroe worth the time, as some of the things I bought, will be given to others as well as gifts, so that the clutter here doesn't get out of hand!

The pictures that are next, are what I actually bought.
A hand built, heavy metal letter "G", with mounting holes on the back side.
Thank you to my friend @ClarkH
A matched pair of very cool unique wheel covers with the "MOBILE" script.
A nice old "FRESNEL" mast light housing that will get modified to be solar powered with internal LEDS.
A crocheted little elegant bib, that will go to a friend that loves this stuff.
Another cool old lantern that will get modified to be solar powered with colorful internal LEDS.


My best score of the day was this way beyond cool, ceramic bongo player.
The reason that I bought the bongo player is, that I am a huge fan of "Richard Feynman", who was a brilliant physicist, that was the youngest member of the "Manhattan Project".

He loved to play the bongos.
When I saw this cool little piece, it definitely reminded me of him!
$15.00 later, it was mine!
He now sits on top of my piano, looking down at me, as I recline on my old worn out couch!

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The following pictures, are a few things that caught my eye but I didn't buy.

I love old international tractors, and this one had a very cool unique sticker on it that reminded me that my friend @Hitchhiker is relocating to that great building that he bought in Mount Vernon Washington.

I thought the surrounding radiator grill unit with the light that said " STOP" and the badge up top that said "White Super Power", was just a great photographic opportunity.

The lady with the pants tucked into the old school cowboy boots, was just a reminder of my parents who were into a lot of Country & Western things, and pants tucked into cowboy boots was one of them.

The round red globe lantern, was cool, but it was way over priced, and its the type that cant be taken apart to do the modifications that I like,to do.

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All in all, it was a great day, went there with $275.00, came home with $179.00 in my pocket.

Stopped at Take 5 Urban Market on 70th and 8th here in Ballard, and got a "BLATT" and a chocolate Mousse, and two bottle's of "Jarritos" lime soda, and I enjoyed it immensely!

To all that haven't been to Take 5, here is the link to their web site, they recently opened back up in April, after rebuilding after the fire.
Stop by and check them out, their food is amazing!

https://take5urbanmarket.com/

I hope that everybody that attended the swap meet out at Monroe, had a great time and found treasures that now have a place to be cleaned up and enjoyed.
Thanks from Dennis.

 

the mobile hub caps are for rare trailer wheels, the wheels are aluminum and look very much like the early Ford wheels and even had 5 on 5-12" bolt pattern, rare and very collectable

 

Yep, they caught my eye right away, they were a good buy at $45.00 for the pair. The one will clean up nicely, the one that is rusty will take a bit of work, but it will get new red paint for the script, and we will see how the rest of it goes.
Thanks from Dennis.

 

I spent about 4 hrs. there Saturday morning, mainly looking for '40 Ford Standard hub caps, no dice with that. However, picked up another Sun tach that needs conversion while looking through what was left of Jerry Valentines stash; sad that he's no longer able to do the conversions. Think this one will work fine with a TachMatch box. Also grabbed a Sun boat tach and transmitter from another vendor as I was walking out, but this one is just going to be a wall hanger.

But mostly what I got was wet...

 

The MOBILE wheel covers cleaned up pretty well, I hung them on the wall for now.
The rusty one will get some new red paint for the lettering, but I think I will just leave it rusty for now, I did go lightly over the rusty one with steel wool, careful to not to peel off any more of the old weak chrome.
The other one cleaned up very well with just using steel wool, and a little bit of soap and water, and a soft cloth.
Thanks from Dennis.

BEFORE

AFTER

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The older vintage "PERKO" mast light, cleaned up very well, and I got it rigged with Solar Powered, colorful LEDS, and its now mounted over the voodoo, Model "A" radiator grille shell, that is attached to the ladder that is attached to the fuselage.


This is the view of it lit up at night time, this is the view of it through my front window!
And the second YouTube link has some better closeup shots in the little video.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N_NdS-AWy0c
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c5R4UfRxTmg
Not exactly as crisp and bright as the red paint on the non rusty wheel cover, but at least the MOBILE Script is easier to see against the rust and patina. So for now, I will just leave it rusty!

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Well, it was all good in the end. After a disappointing sales day on our rainy Saturday, the sun came out and I had probably my best Monroe Sunday ever.

It really helped when a group of Germans who were apparently on a buying tour came through and bought a bunch of good stuff. Much of it had been hanging around on the tables for a couple years, but they also bought a nice hood ornament I had literally bought 5 minutes earlier while walking back from the office after pre-paying for next year. It gave me a chance to use the dozen or so words I know of German; basically, I can say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and "Unfortunately I have forgotten all my German" with perfect pronunciation. That line is usually good for a laugh.

Then during load-up at the end, the nice 80-odd year old in the booth next to mine called me over and gave me a whole bunch of smalls; mostly junk, but several treasures. "Here, take all this. I'm done, not coming back next year. Too old for this shit." He's done this three years in a row. I really hope I see him again next year. He and his buddies have had those stalls for 40 years!