Event Coverage Death of the Swap Meet

Yes sir I will also attend.
Not looking for anything but always open to everything. Always seem to bump into an acquaintance. Good excuse to stop by the Purple Cow food stand and get a genuine ice cream blackberry shake and a Kosher dog. 65 years in business started by the Dairy Women of Snohomish Co. Proceeds got to local scholarships.
On the never know what deal you may find topic. I spotted a new in the box big block Ford 429 Edelbrock Performer intake sitting under a table. Perfect for my F-250 4x4. After shooting the bull awhile I asked what he would take for it? These are $300 plus new. He said," You seem like a nice guy how about $100?"
Sold!! I limited my speech so as not to tarnish that "nice guy" image.
Yep. Made the trip worthwhile.
Had

 

It's one thing if you're putting in the leg work -- getting the ins to private hoards, picking, researching, pricing... that's an important service that benefits everyone in the hobby... I don't really have any sympathy for people who just flip shit from swap meets. What to you is an underpriced item that you can flip for a buck, is a great deal that a guy that actually needed it missed out on.

Frankly I haven't seen that much good shit at swap meets anyway...

 

I live very close to the Monroe swap meet. For many years (20?) a large group of us have gathered at our two adjoining spots. BBQ and other food and bs-ing, a good time to catch up. The amount of people that show up (at out spots) has dwindled a bunch. We were a group 0f 67-72 Chevy and GMC trucks folks. People got out of the trucks, people have passed, others just stopped showing up. I didnt go this year. I have nothing I want to buy, Ive sold nearly all of my truck and misc automotive parts, plus it was crap weather. I think they may have put up a single pop up and no BBQ. Ill give my buddy a shout later to see how it went.

 

I have been a vendor at Charlotte Auto Fair for over 30 years, but haven't shown a profit in over 10. They have been closing areas inside the speedway the past few years, this fall is all outside in the Green field, I'll not go back to the fall meet so will see how next Spring show is before I stop all together. Started cleaning out the garage & loaded up my trailer & priced my stuff at "give away" prices but still brought a lot back home!

 

I have zero swap meets for US car bits where I am (Austria) so am 95% dependent on the internet or a middleman like the OP, and I'd have loved to be able to see what I buy and speak to the seller before I hand out my hard-earned cash. But hell yea travelling 500 miles is a pain, that I get (the nearest big swap meets we have here are 1200 miles away in Sweden, no way for me).

 

So Iron Trap gets a pass for reselling because they are well known. But Joe Blow is an SOB for reselling

 

My bro sold a 37 truck grille very early at the Cedar Rapids swap last Saturday. An hour later I saw it for sale at the buyer’s stall. Pretty sure he doesn’t have a YouTube channel, but I wouldn’t hold it against him. If he thought he could make money on it, more power to him. I’ve done it myself (with no YouTube involved).

 

Iron trap isn't scalping and price gouging. They clear out the hoards, inventory and price reasonably to distribute stuff you otherwise wouldn't get your hands on. They aren't buying up the good deals at swap meets for a 0 effort buck

 

I think we have all done that over the past 50 years of swap meet vending. Fun part is watching your old part being packed up for the ride home to it's new storage spot. Accepting a reasonable offer on anything and getting rid of it and cash in your pocket to play again is the way to do business.

 

Late to this thread (as usual). I search on "carburetor", and if not mentioned in a thread, I generally do not see the thread.

Really enjoyed reading call the dramatically different cliques.

The one post I enjoyed most was the gentleman suggesting starting a positive thread on swap meets.

I no longer attend swap meets. As another poster mentioned, the legs and especially the knees don't appreciate the walking.

Attended my first swap meet in 1966. Beginning in 1971, started doing lots of different meets, primarily for advertising. Being able to meet a prospective customer, so he/she can form an opinion of me as a vendor is something that CANNOT be done one Ebay. As an example, vended at Hershey every year from 1971 through 1992.

The bigger meets we attended were Hershey, Iola, Lawrence, Pate, the mountain in Arkansas, Sonoma (once was enough!), Chickasha, Springfield (MO). We also attended dozens of club meets, including several club national convention / swap meets.

Some of the enjoyment of these swap meets was making (and renewing) friends at each meet.

From a purely dollars / cents standpoint at the swap meet, not counting advertising and mail order after the meet, the only ones we attended worth attending were Hershey and Iola.

The club meets were the worst, even the national club meets from the dollars / cents criteria.

But the OP posed the question are swap meets dying? I don't know. I do know they changed dramatically from 1966 to 1992.

I think if we are honest, we would see that the reduction in swap meets as well as the reduction in available parts is simply a maturing of the hobby. In the early 1970's, folks that had inherited estates of parts houses, dealerships, etc. had heard of Hershey, but nothing else. During this time, there were some incredible bargains to be found at Hershey. People with no knowledge of the hobby today have Google. I remember about 1972 an estate Cadillac dealership parts department showed up with a flat bed, and a "chicken box" sale - $5 a box. I bought 2 boxes of Cadillac carburetor kits and parts for $10. These were taken back to my shop, where most were inventoried in our "samples" section. We needed original samples in order to reproduce parts. I still have probably half of that buy.

Those days are gone forever, because of the availability of information.

As a vendor, swap meets were WORK!!! Hershey, from Missouri was a 14 day ordeal (3 days to load, 2 days out, 4 days at the swap meet, 2 days home, 3 days to unload and restock shelves). But in addition to the advertising, Hershey was worth the effort.

We priced all our merchandise; and we occasionally would get the "tire kicker" who wanted to "steal" the merchandise (a few actually came back that night, and did). We quit going to shows of more than one day that would not permit us to park in the swap meet with our stuff; and provided their own "security" (what a joke). But the pilferage rate was much lower than what I understand is acceptable in today's retail stores.

All in all, we really enjoyed the swap meets, even some of the club events where we sold absolutely nothing. We met lots of really nice folks. It is truly a great hobby.

Jon

 

Iron Trap buys at swap meets. I've met and talked with them at meets. So don't try and BS me that they don't buy at swap meets and then resell the item. Your way of thinking is pretty ignorant