What has been your best Swap Meet Purchase?

Last January in Turlock actually found a 1934 Chevy complete steering box and column for 40 bucks...just what the article ordered

Louie

 

how about 2 sp tops, 2 cal custom 2bbl scoops, a long eelco 3 carb fuel block and 2 small base badger 4bbl air cleaners, all for a bundle price of $100!

 

My best deal was a 69 Z/28 4-speed console with gauges in nice shape for $60.00.
A buddy of mine was just at the last Englishtown swap and saw a guy selling a bunch of Olds parts. Mostly rusty junk. He had a set of rusty Olds heads he wanted $1000 for and some other stuff including a rear. My buddy checks it and it's a real W-31 aluminum rear for $475. It was dirty and painted crappy black so nobody paid it any mind, in fact another guy looking around commented that it was just an iron rear with a fancy cover (wrong!). Well my friend said since he don't own an Olds he had to think about it a bit and come back. Yes, it was gone. Some lucky bastard bought a few thousand dollar rearend for $475.

 

In 1993 at a swap meet I bought a 1968 Barracuda convertible for $300. and I got him to bring it up to Sacramento for no charge.

 

Restored 51 Cadillac steering wheel for $40

 

Damn! beat that!!

 

At a local NH car show, couple of vendors were set up. Bought a George Pounden magneto for SBC for $35, just because I had never seen one. Found Pounden's phone number in Hemmings and he rebuilt it, essentially a WICO tractor mag adapted to SBC, fiber and brass gears and all. Ran it for several years, great period piece to the Man A Fre I bought at Stafford Springs with gas in the carbs for $150. Of course this was a few years ago. I have fond memories of these parts, as it was one of the only times my bride ever acknowledged that I could actually make serious money selling car parts. I know the guy who has them now, super old school deuce coupe here in New England, and they are in a good home.

 

I got a 1947 Ca. motorcycle lic. plate in great shape for $20 , sold it for $525 .

I had a solid 50 Chevy pickup running project that I had paid $1500 for , on my trailer in the rain at Pomona swap meet 15 plus years ago . As I am headed for the gate I hear a guy yelling heyyyy wait !!! He say's that 50 was his old truck that he always regretted selling and that he'd trade me a nice 1970 SS396 El Camino for it . Follow him back to his spot , sure enough slightly faded red with black stripes , cowl hood , 396 still in it driveable car . I thought he was nuts , I've never unloaded swapped pinks and reloaded a trailer much quicker than that !

 

About 1978 I saw a very rusted out '70 F100 with 360 V8 & 3spd manual trans, at a swap/sale. Guy said it needed a tranny, that it only had 1st & reverse. He was asking $200, I offered $150 he took it. Drove it home about 10 miles in first gear. Replaced the shifter tube and collar - transmission was fixed for about $30. Replaced the valve stem seals, replaced the brakes & drove that pickup for about 3 years and sold it for $400.

 

Nice 1936 ford banjo steering wheel for $20........its on my 36 ford truck......Big Bad John

 

complete hilborn sbc injection system with a moon cover and pump $350 cdn

 

1936 "Koilster" analyzer outfit. Had to have it, still undecided about "restoring" it.

Brian

http://flynbrian48.wordpress.com/

 

I like old test equipment, and the art deco stand is great. I bought this NOS military low voltage tester in the late '70's at a Louisville, KY swap meet. It was built with no expense spared, and is one of my favorite purchases-I paid $12.00 for it. My best recent purchase was a 12V Strongarm portable winch, new, but missing it's control and cables, for $15.00 last spring at local Owensville, OH meet. The winch lists for $450.00, the control was $60.00.

 

29 Ford Roadster body for $700. Took some doing to come up with it, including a trip to the closest ATM in the next town at 3am the morning before the owner returned to his spot, and about two weeks of eating Ramon and walking everywhere I needed to go, but I got it and it'll probably never happen again.

 

I found an aftermarket supercharger for an MG complete with a glass bowl Holley and intake for $75 and later sold it for $652 + shipping on the Bay.

 

Went to Torque Fest in Iowa this year seized a bearing in the 6 volt gen on the old ford, Looked around the swap meet found a guy with 2, one from a flat head the other same as mine. Asking $20 each or 30 for the pair, he had a box of model cars there as well asking $45 for them I bundled them for $60 Gen's and models, got home ok, placed the models for sale hoping to recoup the $60 spent sold them for $285 HOLY SMOKES I would never have thought to turn a profit like that.
Side note after I purchased these I walked back to look around again 10 minutes later the guy packed up and left I guess he just needed to sell a few things he had in his trunk.
Good day and had fun will return again.

 

Racers Swap meet, Ionia Mi last Sunday.

SBC Offenhauser tunnel ram intake, plenums for both single and dual 4 barrels, two nice Holley carbs, and a nice scoop to top it off. $300

The dual plenum has already had an inch or so taken out of the height, which will help make it a little more streetable.

Not sure if it was a steel at $300, but not too bad of a price.

 

My wife meets me for lunch at the local swap meet here. Says she thinks there is a grille like the ones I like over in the antique dishes area. We have lunch and I stroll over there with her. It's a perfect '32 grille and shell attached to a v8 radiator that looks like it has never had water in it.. She says it belonged to her son who left home several years ago and she is tired of it cluttering up her garage. Asking price $50.........selling price $30. She also had one of those mesh bags that grapefruit come in From Florida that had a set of 390 Ford tri-power carbs, left by the same son. Asking price $30...............selling price $20. Wife gets big hug and dinner out at her favorite restraurant. WIN/WIN!!!!

Frank

 

Hilborn Fuel injection with pump and belts for SBC $350

A pair of 1937 Delage tail lights and housings... $25

4 new Weber 48IDAs on a Moon racing manifold for $500

Being able to trade and sell them for more expensive parts... priceless!

 

Solid early take-off 49-51 Merc accessory steering wheel for $5...at Hershey!

 

Pomona Swapmeet last Sunday, I scored a near new Mallory Dual Point dizzy for sbc for $20.

 

15x4 American Magnesiums for 400 last year at the Tri State Swap Meet.

 

The only good score I ever made was, once, I bought a corn dog for two bucks, Usually, I'll only buy the stuff that costs twice its' actual value.

 

Every thing I have ever bought is great but my favorite and life saver is always the cup of coffee.

 

Two premo 32 ford hood sides for $100 for my roadster at dunkirk ny. Unbeliviable!

Lifes to short not to have a deuce roadster............................

 

Ex-wife was a garage sale addict. One Saturday morning she comes back with some knick-knacks, says I should go to the end of our street, this lady is selling all her ex-husband's stuff. There is a '37 LaSalle tranny on the ground, complete with stick and slip joint. She says $25? I say O.K., am thrilled. She says there's some more stuff like that in the shed out back, 'you can have that too, if you'll take it.' There were two more, both '40s sideshifts. I went and got my F100...
When I got back, she said she had this box full of engine parts. I looked inside...There were model airplane engines, all larger sizes: from .15 to .40, about 10 total. I was speechless. She: "$20?" Me: "Yyyyes..." She: "Oh, there's another box of the same things, want them too?" Me: "Another box? Sure." The other box was the bonanza.
There were Super Tigres, some .35 & .40s; a Merco .29 and a .49, some K&B Torpedos, .23, .29, .35, .40. But the real killers were a McCoy .60 rear rotor and a Super Tiger .74!
She said I could have the second box for free, as I had bought the first one.
I made her take another $40.

 

Turlock Swap meet in 1995 was my best. I talked to a nice gent with a Ford pickup, he had metal & porcelain signs on a table, I saw some trannys in the pickup bed. "Cad stick shifts," he said. I asked how much for them, one was complete (sideshifts) and the other missing tail housing. He wanted $50, didn't want to come down. I said "$50 it is,"
and he would hold them 'til we came back. He gave me his card, and said to call him Monday evening, as he had some more parts for these trannys. I called him and met him at his public storage, he and I carried out 2 more completes and 1 that needed some gears! He said he was grateful for me paying "full bore" on the first ones!

 

From Scrap Yards..Ford "N" Chuck w/4.30 gear and 31 spline Detroit Locker and Daytona pinion support, $3.00..Craftman Lathe [atlas] late 70's model, 12" swing with q/c..Vertually no wear, someone took it apart [I do mean apart, zillion pieces] and through it out, $70.00..Judson Supercharger for 40hp VW, $3.00..Roots Blower, about the size for a Crosley, $5.00..Ammco caster/camber gage [magnetic], $3.00...289 Ford Hypo with the factory exhaust manifolds, $8.00...

 

There have been so many that it's hard to pick a "best", but a recent one that comes to mind is the 1950 Oldsmobile three speed transmission, bolted to a '49-'54 Cadillac bell housing and sporting an Eelco floor shift conversion that I bought at Fall Hershey in 2009 for $50.00.

 

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who ya are!