The Big Three Swap Meet in San Diego

Not sure what the deal is but today I got there and they were waving everyone away and they said Emergency Evacuation was underway and the event was canceled for the rest of the weekend!

Too bad. Sounds like weather will be nice Sun and it has let up raining now.

Great shopping yesterday. I missed the pig!

 

We just drove 2 hours from LA for nothing...

 

Did they give you any more info? The guy looked to be sick of answering questions. Sun was just out for a bit also.

 

They are letting people in now..

 

Wow. Drove right in. The are not even taking parking money. Electronic sign says Big 3 canceled today but poeple are flowing in. Sign did not say about Sun.

What a weird deal.

 

I was there yesterday, OK weather, better in the afternoon. But Today ay 5:00 am, I started to drive into the vendors gate and stopped due to a river flowing thru the road way. No way of driving thru the rushing water.Not sure how deep but the water was fast moving and looked deep. I saw things floating in the parking lot. Turned around and drove back to Phoenix. I got calls from other guys I know there and they stated that the fire marshall told everyone to pick there parts and leave the statium. A friend of mine had 6" of water flowing thru his space in the center portion.

 

Someone must have photos!

 

Sounds like I made the right decision by not driving down from Canada to make the meet this year. That would have been a big disappointment after 24 hours of driving to find out it's been cancelled.

Portland swap meet is coming up at the end of March. Maybe I'll make that one! It's only a 16 hour drive from here!

Peter

 

It's usually pretty good but it was really weird this year. Flooded areas that were evacuated. I heard something about a hazmat spill at one of the entrances. We packed up and left this morning.

 

haven't been back to San Diego since 1986, who is " the Big Three"?

 

big 3 car clubs down there.....a great show
http://big3part***change.com/about.html
so is it going on sunday.......if it is, is it worth going or did everyone pull out?
it's about a hour drive from here.

 

I saw her there on Friday.....she waked it like a dog.....funny..

 

Pictures?

 

so.....is it on sunday or should i work on the cars?

 

Any updates

 

this is all i found:
http://www.10news.com/news/27011063/detail.html

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Qualcomm-Stadium-Event-Rained-Out-116978218.html

the last line in the second article:
"A decision for Sunday, penciled to start at 8 a.m. and close at 2 p.m., has yet to be made."

 

Thanks for the update. It's either the big three or the long beach swap that I'm going to today. I went to the big three twice Friday. I'll probably go back to Qualcomm today if I do ill post an update.

 

Thanks for the update, 1Oldtimer.

Long Beach swap meet? I've got to get down to California more often. hobbyjp, How often does Long Beach run?

Peter

 

I'm down at the big 3 its still a go today and still a lot of vendors

 

Normally it goes on Sunday, as well, I hate having to miss it, it's one of the few things I miss about living in North San Diego County (Escondido).

 

long beach swap is a couple of times a month and it's pretty small. i just went after a few years of not going, it's getting like pomona with the toys and other non automotive junk.

damn, i wish someone would have put an update of something on the big 3 website. there's only a few swapmeets i look forward to each year and this was one of them. oh well the roadster show and the model T ones are coming.

 

holy **** what a mess. I woke up at 5:30 to 12 inches of water in my space. never seen anything like it. I walked out to the drain and started pulling trash out of it. cold water to my crotch that early in the cold morning was no fun. by the time it was drained the cops were telling us to evacuate so we had to get out.. Glad I had a good sale day on friday haha.. Well next year I guess. I have pics I will post a couple tomorrow they don't seem to cooperating today.

 

Wow!

Thanks, HarellLA. Looking forward to those pics!

Peter

 

here is three, these were taken about 730 when the water had receded a bit

 

where the cal trans guy in the yellow jacket is, was up to my crotch at 530. I am taller than that guy too..

 

I will have some up soon. It sure rained a lot and the low lying areas of Qualcomm looked like Katrina hit. The flood control overflowed and drainage was clogged and 4ft of water was standing in some areas, although most of the swap was on higher ground. On Saturday they shut it down to the public, so buyers had to sneak in. The low lying area vendors had to either move or leave.

As always, my group had a hell of a time and found some great deals. Since the market was limited, it was a great place to be on the inside.

edit: Special thanks to the guys keeping the drain cleared. I saw you there doing a great job.

 

I feel for you guys. I thought I would head down to escape from the -20 degree Celsius, now it's not looking so bad here compared to being flooded.

I know the organizers said it would run "rain or shine", but are they considering another date? Next year?

From what I gather, Friday was the only day that didn't get washed out.

Peter

 

When we get an inch of rain anywhere in Southern California, we panic. We can't deal with it. We have no idea how to cope with moisture. Qualcomm was built in a valley. Our stadium's parking lot is literally part of the San Diego River, and the soil was already saturated from prior rain this year. A half inch of rain floods the area....it happens. No big deal.

 

that was'ent a cal trans guy with a yellow jacket,That was my buddy Brent from the Aces, he was the guy with the balls to unclog the drain, him and another chic saved the day, some body's boxes of Rod and Custom clogged the drain, the cops and fireman were worthless, saterday the sun was out for periods during the day and they would'ent let the custermers in, Friday was excellent , saterday ****ed, sunday was excellent, I sold two thirds of my stuff, but I priced it resonable, if you get greedy , you are going to take the **** home, I talked to the organizers, the problem is that the fire marshal was riding their ***, he needs to go back to the station and go put out fires, the Qualcommn people need to have one guy to check the drains when it rains. It's called the Big three, because it is put on by the model A , the model T and the Early v-8 club. the swappmeet has been going on for 47 years, 60 % of the vendors stay for Sunday and did well, The Shifters went friday and sunday and bought a ton of ****. We cancelled our anual saterday night party, first time I did'nt bar-be que in 25 years.If you are going next year, show up friday, thats the best day to buy. I'll post the organizers rules so guys dont get confused.

 

sold pretty much everything, bought some great deals and camped out all weekend, our spaces are on high ground so wasn't too bad for us at all