Are the swap meets in your area shrinking?

I've noticed that some of the swaps around here have gotten smaller, but have maintained good quality parts and vendors. There is one large swap meet however that has grown every year and it isn't with good parts. It has grown with the onslaught of knock off t-shirts, cotton socks and artsie fartsie knick-knacks. And then when you do hit a vendor with parts 9 times out of 10 its useless ****. Don't get me wrong, you can still find a few gems but it takes a hell of alot of walking to do it. I only go now to have a few beers with buddies and get away from the house for a day.

grumper

 

I sell on both Ebay and at swap meets. I've been going to swap meets for over 25 years, and yes, both the size of the meets and the quality of the parts you find there are shrinking, but that's to be expected. After all, they only made so many SCOT blowers, flathead Hilborn setups, etc. Combine the ever increasing prices, how many were s****ped when they had very little cash value, and the fact that EVERYONE seems to be in on it these days, and you get the "fifty vultures circling one dying prarie dog" situation at a lot of swap meets. I agree with the posters that mentioned the ease of selling on the internet. The guys that I see wandering around at swap meets declaring that "that damed Ebay is ruinin' everthin" won't pay $100 for the same item I can get at least twice that for on Ebay, so who's at fault for its growing popularity? If they won't buy it when it's lying on the ground in front of them, then they can buy it from pictures and pay shipping besides. I don't just sell--I'm constantly searching for parts for my own use. I still turn up good deals at swap meets, but it's so dog eat dog anymore that the only way I've found to make a trip to a swap meet worth my while is to get up in the middle of the night and be on the grounds as soon as they will let me in. Most good pieces are scooped up in the first hour or two; if you're thinking about moseying onto the grounds around lunchtime, you probably don't need to bother, unless you're just in the mood for a walk or to see friends that you know will be there. Don't count the small meets out, either. I find some of the best deals at them. Gas prices? Buck up, for Christ's sake! The rods most of you have built get substandard gas mileage, but you drive them just the same, don't you? Take an extra guy along, and he'll be happy to chip in for gas. I bought a ten year old S-10 to use as a swap meet runner that gets twice the mileage of my full size truck, so my fuel bill at $3.00 a gallon is now the same as it was at $1.50 a gallon with my other truck. If you want to save LOTS of money, get out of the hobby altogether. I love buying stuff for nothing, like I sometimes manage to do, but if I find a piece that I really want, and the price isn't totally outrageous, I either step up to the plate and pay for it or walk away and put it out of my mind. Remember, at the rate this ****'s going, today's top buck will be tomorrow's deal, so if you've just got to have that rare part, waiting will get you nowhere but more broke than you already are. As some of the guys have already stated, Carlisle can be its own worst enemy. Those at the helm should spend more time trying to find new ways to keep the swap meet growing, rather than busting some vendor's *** for selling bottles of water along with his pile of car parts. I also think they're hurting the hobby with the ever increasing number of shows. Can "Forklifts at Carlisle" be too far off?

 

Flathead Youngin musta been readin my mind as I left the Springfield swap last saturday.

Around 2000-2001, there was a LOT of good stuff, and a LOT of money floating around. Least I ever spent around then was $500, and made lotsa trips to the truck. I got together with a buddy and got a spot around 2001. We were unloading out of the truck to fill the spot, and sold half the stuff at very reasonable prices, right off the truck as we were getting ready to open.

This past weekend, I spent $50 and was out of there in less than 3 hours.

The vendor space prices went up, the admission is now $7 (hell, it was $6 back in the spring of THIS YEAR), the parking is worse, the food prices are bad, gas to get there, and so on.

I'll always go, but the days of find a 67 olds w-30 air cleaner (like i did around 97) for a song ... are probably over.

Its a tradition that I will not be sorry to give up if it keeps going downhill.

 

Real swap meets are shrinking- at least for the good old parts. I usually lose money on swap meets by the time I pay for fuel and food and a hotel, but I go because I have fun- consider it entertainment expenses. And people are tighter than a bikini on Mama C*** any more. I went to the goodguys swap here in the Kansas City area a couple weeks ago and sold about $25.00 of stuff in two days. Most of that was $1.00 items and of course some people wanted me to come down on the price. I only went because I was offered to share a spot with a fellow HAMBer, so I didn't pay for a spot and I guess that makes it sort of OK. Just a bunch of gold chain tire kickers with no idea what they need- besides a swift kick in the... One guy asked if a flathead Ford V8 intake would fit his 235- Chevy that is. My dad did Hershey every year from 1967 to 1999 and used to make $10,000+ for the week if it wasn't too terribly rainy. Now those were the good swap meet days.