I think it was pretty good. You cannot gauge it by Sunday's turnout. My friends and I all sold a fair amount of stuff on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is typically slow. It is like that every year. $10 beer was retarded. I made sure to bring my own.. Food, water too. At least they could have had a hottie working in the booth by us, they had a dude.. I would think if the fuel prices were cramping everyone's style then they would make the most of it and stay for Sunday as well. Alot of vendors left at 4 or 5 Saturday and did not come back. there were alot of cool things for sale, like always.
This was the first time for me selling, I did OK it payed for the trip + some and I got some good stuff. Not alot of good deals but I knew it would be like that. Saw reg for $499 on the way home, 10 mil. down the road it was $449, wtf?
BROKE!!!! Replacing he pilot bushing in my black truck. Had a roller pilot in it but never again! Almost lost a muncie because of it. jerry
I gave up selling on Sundays , Friday , Saturday was Ok, but Sunday is really only good if you are selling Tshirts , Wax or junk like that that anyone might buy , same as Big 3 in San diego The serious car guys have already spent their money I will be there next year and bring my own Beers, sodas and snacks Beaulieu
How does one not make the economic connection between high gas prices (as well as everything else including/especially anything made of any metal) and the increased prices by vendors? I don't think it's the vendors that don't understand economic realities. Next year might be just like last year where you might wish you'd bought it the year before when you had the chance.
Best cars I have seen in years! 39 mercs, 34 3 windows 36 3 windows tons and tons of good stuff if you had the cash...
I was a swapper- have been attending the swap meet for over 25 years. Extra spots or not- it was WAYYYYYYY down. And attendance wise - ridiculously down. Usually at 8am on Saturday people are fighting there way down the isles- and this year it looked like central part at 3am- you COULD NOT bump into a person if you tried- and most didn't even slow down to look at what you had for sale. I had my T Touring out there with tons of great parts- and not ONE person asked me a question about that car. They added like 120 spaces-but the empty spots had to number multiple hundreds. I'm not mad about it- the economy SUCKS and ALL events are down across the country. We still made good money- but if it was an item over $100- it wasn't moving, small stuff sold OK. Good to hear the new parts vendor area was packed- we are heading to more events in that area and look forward to doing business with everyone. The thing I really found weird was that the swapmeet was so spotty- usually when the economy is ACTUALLY bad swapmeets are PACKED with people selling their stuff. This shows the people actually have their money and are NOT desperate- just hanging on to their bucks because of all the crap in the press driving the price of food and gas falsely through the roof! I know lots of people doing well building and selling cars and parts so it's not a true depression if that's any good news.
A perfect example of this is, A guy comes up to me that I know from the shows wanting to buy smallblock Chevy engines for rebuilding. Last year I told him they were $100 each. Scrap engines were getting about $180 a ton. He bought none then. He wanted to see if I still had them for that price and got mad when I told him they are going to be $200 each. I get almost $150 each tossing them in the scrap bin, add on the work of stripping the stuff off, transporting them, etc, even $200 each doesn't make much sense, but it does save the parts from the scrapper. I get tired of the guys that think stuff should be priced as it was back "then", whenever that was in their mind. We, as sellers at the swap, just like every other business, need to increase our prices as our expenses increase.. That is just the way it is..
i actually thought the swap had about the same amount of stuff if not more than normal. the quality of stuff seemed to be up as well, it's always been the swap to get the "good stuff" at but there seemed to be more of it and les of the junk that you can get at any pomona/long beach swap. the line to get in a swap vendor space seemed about twice as long early friday am than usual too. i was selling in the swap and it did seem to be a little slow, lots of people in the morning but not many carrying stuff. however i got rid of alot of stuff and got some good deals too, including a real nice 33-34 decklid for 600, a 33 hood for 200, some chrome 40 brakes for 50, and some 33-4 cowl pieces and firewall for 150 that'll save a 3 window i have. i do think the general spectators were way down though, i didn't really get to walk around the roadster and hot rod parking till about 2 on saturday but there was no crowd at all by that time. still a really good show and i'm more than happy with what i bought and sold.
I was selling 32 qnd 36 stuff in the swap area and had a better year than last year by a couple thousand dollars. It seemed a little less crowded, but the bottom line went up. Still had a great time.
i had a good time lots of cool deals i told my self if it dont fit in to my back pack i dont need it . good swap and seeing friends and meeting new ones .billy
It was hot on Saturday. I took my daughter, and we just hung out under the big tree with shade at the Hop Up area for a couple of hours. Met and caught up with a lot of nice folks there. Did a 5 minute walk to the vendor area, and headed home. We had a great time. My favorite part about a show is driving the car there, and driving it home. I wonder why they have this show in the summer time in Pomona/the desert. I would rather do about anything then drive my roadster in Pomona in the summer with the sun scorching me. Roadsters are great, just not in Pomona in the summertime, in a parking lot. Maybe I am just soft. I drove a 4 door classic cruiser family truckster to the show.
Can't say about the swap being down on sellers & buyers but as we were eating our BBQ they put on a lady wearing a roadsters red shirt talked to us & said they had a little over 900 registered roadsters & a couple hundred other cars. She thought over all they had good attendance. Not my figures just repeating what she told us. We did pay $10.00 for a skimpy tri-tip sandwich & sunday went to the hotel & paid $11.00 +tax & tip for a burger. Next time I'll go for a ride up to arrowhead hi-way & give the resturants there my business. All in all a good show & better than most. The hamb boys had awsum chili & cold drinks & good company also. Thanks guys. B-O-B
I was at a show in Maryland, a lot less cars than last year. Although some guy offered me big bucks for my car, didn't take it so I don't know if he was for real.
I scored a ton of stuff this weekend including almost everything I need to get the green roadster back to the way it was. I'm still looking for a right side 25 louver hood panel. Until I find it, A friend has given/loaned me a 20 louver hood that I can use. I also still need a right front fender brace. I did buy a right front fender from HotRodRon, Thanks man. That's the main thing I was looking for to get the roadster back on the road. I picked up a Brookville body for a spec car I'm going build in the new shop. For that car I also scored a very nice original firewall (I may swap that one out for the one in the green car because it's so nice), a pair of Guide headlights, a Vega box, a gas tank, a new Vintique grille and insert (I don't want to send my spare gennie down the road in a spec car), & a brake pedal pad. For the green car I also scored a chopped front valance, a headlight bar, a 2 5/8" SW water temp gauge, and the most bitchin set of Edelbrock valve covers for a 49 - 62 Caddy that I have ever seen. They're still in the original box and have never been on an engine. I had a great time and my camera is still smoking.
Just think how much money they lost on beer sales not once in the two days i was there did i see a line for beer. That was a first. Iwent to the beer stand to buy my dad and me a beer and didn't look at the price they were poured and she said $20.00 ( WHAT!! ) i only order two. LOL so after that we jumped in his 60 caddy went to the store picked up a foam cooler ice a 18 pack and some water $40.00 later and we were good for the day and helped out a few Friends with a ICE COLD BEER. Just think if the Beers where only $7.00 they would have got a lot more of my money.
True, I used to get aggravated because you could not around in the swap meet area and in the exhibit spaces. This year, foot traffic was more fluid. I am sure than vendors can testify to that, regarding sales of course.
Been going since 86 and you could tell the difference this year. Still all in all it was good for a farm boy from Nebraska. Prices for the most part sucked, but thats the LARS. I did score another complete 31 Cad dash for the deuce PU I'm going to build. But as far as the deuce 2 dr. I need, I knew there was no chance I could afford anything at that show.
I thought the crowd numbers were good. The only thing that sucked was they fenced the grass area next to the shiny roadsters. A perfect place to take a power nap. Of course separating the swap meet and preferred parking (old cars/non-shiny roadsters). The space was a welcome relief. Shit, people always complain about the packed folks and can't walk around and check stuff. So, now its a little spread out and more space???? whatever. I'll be back again and again. Thank You LA Roadsters cc. You guys did good, though the line for cars going in could be better, two guys collecting money, instead of one. And someone in the middle to help regulate shit. Ken
I had a great time and wanna thank Limey Steve for the open house at limew works! it was a small turn out but well worth the time to roll over from the fairgrounds,So-Cal was the shit as always,and with out fail I thought the LARcc put on a good event yeah crowds seemed down but the deals were around,a black blown big block 1957 2dr post sold for 19grand there was a killer deal on a touring body with about all ya needed to build it looked like and most the guys swappin I talked to you really could "talk" about the price......worth the drive, it helped arizona gas was about 60cents cheaper than the Cal side of the river.......
Glad you scored on the Duece pieces. Also glad your camera was smok'n. Glad to see a pic of my Ranchero at SoCal in your pics. I've been going the LARS for quite a few yrs. I always enjoy it. Especially the swap area. Ron
The prices where out of control. Some people where trying to pay off there trip with one item. WHAT A RIP!! Also the turn out sucked. I know I went on the last day but man this year sucked!!
Pththhthth, I had some killer prices on stuff and you cheapskates wouldn't buy...... [/sarcasm] Seriously, we had a decent T sedan for $1,200.00 and had an A sport coupe body with almost all the repair panels and a REAL nice pair of doors, complete with garnish moldings for $2,200.00 and we were negotiable on both but only one serious looker. The stuff we did sell I priced below resonable and were still chisled to the point of frustration. All in all it sucked. I will go back to spectating next year.
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