Featured Event Coverage Death of the Swap Meet

I still enjoy going to swap meets quite a bit. The ones in my area still produce a good turnout. Admittedly the content of what people are selling is less meat & potatoes but still worth my time. We’ve had our first one of one the season and I went home with a lot more than I expected, to include hotrod parts that will work for my two projects.

Two weeks until Fitchburg, which is a 4 hour drive, over a bridge and through the woods but well worth my time.

 

I can't compare to the days of yore that some of y'all a talking about, but I've been to 4 swap meets in the last year since I started collecting part for my project. Last weekends local auto swap was easily the most fruitful, but I chalk that up to having more things I've been keeping an eye out for. But there were some good deals there at both last years fall even and this years spring event.

I did go to the Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso last year and for a Friday I thought it had a decent turnout for the swap meet. There were some good deals and a lot of stuff way outside my price range.

The biggest thing I noticed is that it seems buyers dont wants to get there EARLY. Last weekend, I got there at 6:40 and there were only a handful of buyers wandering around and some of the sellers hadnt even set up yet. I was loading up by 8:30 after making a couple laps through all the stalls, and the line was almost out of the parking lot.

 

My son and I used to do a few swap meets every year. Often at least one of us would find something we had on our wish list that we actually brought home.

These days, I don't even have a project, and seldom have a wish list (it may surprise you that the things on my wish list are usually not car parts, LOL). My son still has a project car he has been picking up parts for along the way, but he hasn't turned a wrench on that project for 4 or 5 years. The things on his wish list are usually not car parts either.

We have become "fair weather" swap meet guys. If the weather forecast doesn't say its going to be a decent day, weather wise, we are probably not going. Like a few others, the swap meet has become more of a social event for my son and me. It has become a time to go for an hour and a half ride with conversation, have breakfast together, hang out with other car related friends, and meet up with some guys we only see at those swap meets. We get our exercise in for the day (week?), and we get to comment (and often laugh) to each other on what stuff we have seen there. If we happen to find something on our wish list, or some prize we just have to bring home, that is always a bonus.

Spring Jefferson WI swap meet is just a couple weeks away, we have not even had a discussion concerning it, at this point. His neighbors are dirt track racing (he helps them), and that is opening weekend. I suspect we will be missing Spring Jefferson this year. Its not so much fun to attend alone when you really don't have anything you are looking for, that one would expect to find there.

 

It's easy... walk past them and don't give them your money.

I used to run a small local swap meet and did not allow anything other than car and motorcycle parts. I had to turn people away and kick a few out because what they were selling didn't fit the rules that were clearly posted.

 

As a flipper/ reseller, what does OP care what he's selling? Just resell these widgets instead of those widgets. Old car parts are expensive enough without another person needing to wet their beak and making things more expensive.

As the sort of season opener, Fitchburg swap meet is one i always look forward to after the winter months. Always some interesting stuff, along with the car show and now the last few years, they've been hosting some planes next door to go poke around. Im starting to gather parts for a hopefully budget friendly'ish A V8 roadster, so im hoping to check some things off the list at Fitchburg.

New England Dragway's monthly swap meet is another good one and always has a mix of cool stuff without the usual flea market trinkets.

 

Just went to cherry avenue swap in Fresno and it was GOOD. A couple of years ago made a 4 hour drive to Pomona cause everyone said it was the place to go and it was shite.
I’m a marketplace junky.

 

Just went to our local swap this past weekend that I hadn’t been to for 7 or 8 years. Took a lot of stuff. Some big parts I thought might sell, didn’t, but peddled a lot of smalls. Did ok. Pretty good turnout for buyers on Saturday. I didn’t venture any further than the john, which was 50 feet away from my spot, to see what all was there, but I was told by others that there was some interesting stuff and ok prices. I wasn’t there to buy anything, only to try to lighten my load. Now to get outside and unload my trailer.

 

I'm afraid most of the swap meets have gotten that way, used pots & pants,toys,household goods.

You have omitted the state you reside, some regional swap meets, like the one that Brad host in Georgia ( North East Georgia Swap Meet) he tries to keep the swap meet true to form. I have always had good luck at this swap meet, both buying and selling. HRP

http://negeorgiaswapmeet.com/

 

BTW, the last swap meet I attended in Maggie Valley, North Carolina it was full of house hold odds and ends and car parts, I did score a couple of Griswold cast iron pans for 5 bucks each,took them home sandblasted them,seasoned them and turned a tidy profit.

I also scored a nice 1932 radiator shell, this swap meet has been a good one for the last 30 years but it's time is limited, all the old timers that had lots of vintage parts are gone. HRP

 

Sure, people claim they are doing a service to help keep those "hard to find" parts in circulation, true, but that's just it, money circulates too, and it's almost always UP.
I have no sympathy for FLIPPERS!

 

yep, few auto parts only Swaps. hard to control if operating swap. sellers arrive in dark of morning with stuff covered or in van. last time I sold, or realistically tried to sell, made little after entry cost, etc. have had guys low ball my stuff only to see my stuff for sale in other spaces. Just went to a motorcycle Swap in Sacramento. only bike stuff, and a few car parts. very few non bike/car parts.

 

Facebook Marketplace has become my swapmeet..........its open every weekend and no parking or admission fees. No price gouging on the food and long walks to and from the parking area. Parts are usually displayed for a quick perusal and Prices are shown up front. You can do searches for the particular type of item of interest and you can make offers. If something has been for sale for a long time, that helps you with the size of your offer. Many small items would never be found at a swap meet because of the lack of size.........but there they are on Facebook with a simple search.

I have found lately that I either don't find anything or much of anything that I buy at the swap meet. I didn't even go to the big local swap meet this year.........just wasn't worth the effort and expense to only purchase a few smaller items. Maybe next year I'll go again, but for now and until then, Facebook seems to fill the void.

I'd suggest that the OP modify his business plan and advertise on Facebook to purchase some "garage clean outs" and then look into reselling on Facebook between swap meets.

 

I have found it's a lot easier to buy a part off eBay late at night with a credit card than to dole out my hard-earned cash at a swap meet in the morning.

 

As a part time vendor (usually just selling off collection and excess stuff), I too have been bitching about the degrading of antique auto and hot rod swap meets into (at best) ‘garage sales’. I see so many patrons rolling by with models, dinky toys, the odd garden tool, and tons of shitty repop signs. Many more with their hands in their pockets that are just there for something to do. It seems like there are fewer and fewer guys there to buy stuff for the cars/trucks they are building or upgrading. I take it as a sign of the times.
Building hot rods is dying (read as slowing down to a snails pace). Plain and simple.
I also sell online, including here on the HAMB, and although that increases market reach/size, it has also slowed down dramatically in the past ten years. Post Covid, there was a bit of a bump in the swaps but all avenues have steadily slowed since.
We have one of our bigger ones up here coming up next week. Hotel is booked and have been loading bins already. Didn’t get my end spots, so not taking the two sets of 32 fenders/boards I was hoping to sell this year. Dang it. I am however going to take some ‘garage sale’ shit just to help cover costs.
Man are my fingers sore from crossing them every time I think about covering my overhead and maybe moving some cool shit along.

 

I don't go to car swap meets very often....used to go to all the car ones that were almost local. Lately I've only been when I want to get rid of stuff that is too much of a bother to sell online, and I end up almost, or actually, giving it away at the swap meet. Anything that has enough value to make it worth the effort to ship it, I sell online. Way more money in it that way. Stuff that is worth the hassle of selling locally, is now ending up on fb marketplace, but even that requires that it be worth some money before I'll go to the bother of listing it and dealing with the modern "buyer".

But yeah, this is a tough crowd if you're a flipper

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-unofficial-neighborhood-speed-shop.1323704/

Guy close to me has a home swap meet.
Doesn’t advertise on marketplace but does on his FB page. Sets up a local flea markets and local round track.
Usually has very good prices.
Buys people’s old inventories out. Tools, parts, old cars. Hits the cool estate sales.

 

We just finished the PIR swap meet, a 3 day, 5+ mile event that does not disappoint. It is a must for locals as is the Bolt and the High Performance swap meets just across the bridge in Vancouver, WA. And though it is small, I always find something to buy at the swap meet at Rod Run weekend. After I finish a project I'm a vendor, the other years I'm a consumer. I see old friends, meet some new ones, go on a treasure hunt. Long live the swap meet! Long live hot rodding!

 

What I don't want to ship goes to the swap meet. Always nice to hear "I really want to buy that hood but my buddies and I came to the swap in a Yugo to save on gas and it's hour each way".

 

Think bulk pocket knives, leather belts, wallets and baby Yodas.

 

There have been times I've gone to swap meets where I spent more in gas getting there than actually finding anything I needed or wanted. I must admit when I'm a vendor at meets I do bring some things that aren't auto related that I know will recoup my travel expenses such as boxes of sunglasses, dvds and such. There are some meets I go where the vendors kids sell bottled water and pop out of a cooler and make more money than most.

 

Ebay loaded the gun and marketplace pulled the trigger on most swapmeets. Now swapmeets are just social events where you catch up with all those guys who you know what they are building but don't know their names because you only see them at swapmeets while the same vendors are still trying to sell the same parts in the same stalls for the last 40 years.

 

Been doom and gloom for 20 years with regards to people talking about swap meets - first it was ebay that killed the swap meets, then FB marketplace and insta killed ebay.....now its the hobby dying..... - bottom line, shit changes - the guys from iron trap seem to make plenty of money - they adapted....to the OP, take a page out of their book - buy estates and at auctions, then sell online to those unwilling or unable to go that route - Local fall and spring Ty-rods (stafford Ct) swap meets SUCK now - CSRA in ct chose another route - went down to just spring, allowed set up the day before and are focusing on one big quality meet instead - smart - we'll likely see more small meets go by the wayside and have to travel to the larger meets (Hershey and Carlisle in this neck of the woods)

 

Good reason. Parts are pretty much a thing of the past. I went to a junk yard last year looking for a rear end for a rod I was building. Life had been getting in my way and hadn't been to a junk yard in 8 or 9 years. Place was full of cars but I didn't recognize much of anything that could be taken home given the usual TLC, and hung on a rod. No engines, no trannys, no rear ends, no steering columns, no steering gears, nothing that lent itself to rodding. Sad.

 

Those oldtimers are US now.

Can't like this one enough. I'll go to A LOT of old car swapmeets around here to at least look (and buy if I like it), don't care about how much fuel, time I waste.....because to me it's not wasted.

Can't wait until I have no more work time so I can travel to places like @Bandit Billy is talking about. Just build and swapmeets till I die........but what a way to go.


I still sell here and there when I get a pile of stuff that needs to go. I have an aversion to Fakebook and Instagram.

 

To the few folks who Don’t think thar swap meets are dead- Spring Carlisle is the end of next week. Several thousands of like-minded folks will be there- enjoy!

 

that is the wrong way to look at it. I used to buy at swap meets and sell on ebay. we have many swaps in my area, most of the rest of the country not so much. what I did for the hobby was putting vintage parts where anyone in the country can find them. didn't raise the prices because I got great deals or bought in bulk, I bought a guys entire swap space once. one buy I remember was a bucket of 1940 Chevrolet parts, paid $75.00 and got $700.00 out of that bucket. bunch of miscellaneous nothing in there.

ebay sucks now and vintage car parts don't sell like they used to.

 

I got tired of auto parts swap meets allowing just anyone in to sell toys and furniture/clothing.
I don't very often go anymore.
I have thought of opening my own swap meet and only allowing auto parts and limiting auto parts to certain years like the Model T swap meets do. But finding a place to do it and paying the insurance and use fees are kind of expensive to begin.
My idea is to allow 1900-1975 auto parts only to include classic cars such as Mustangs, Chev SS, etc.
I also though about an auto parts yard sale and to allow a few others to sell at my house but I think my neighbors would whine about it.

 

heres what I see....the guys set up a selling spot early... grab their wagon and flash light,and go buy up all the good stuff.. like valve covers... buy for 5 bucks... then mark them up to 150...buy the time the gates open to the public... the good deals are now gone... the same guy that grinds the fuc out of you posts the stuff...."NO LOW BALLERS"

 

The End of Englishtown's Raceway Park was the end of their annual Spring and Fall SWAP MEETS!
here's the video...
Raceway Park documentary: Unearthed footage reveals secret history of legendary NJ drag racing park - YouTube

 

Based upon the Monroe Michigan Swap Meet this past Sunday, swap meet aren't dead. It was full of automotive parts vendors with even about a dozen in the overflow area.