Technical Swap meet scores

I didn't pay $400

I'll make it work. Besides, I haven't seen another one in 5 years and regretted not buying THAT one, so I had to have it. I think It will hold up behind the banger I've got.

 

I'm sure, just hearing him say it when I asked hurt. I looked at that awful braze job on a STEEL housing and sighed...you know it wasn't repaired right.

 

I used to buy at swap meets and sell on ebay. my radio flyer wagon has hauled at least $50,000 in ebay sales from swaps. one of my favorites was two milk crates full of 1940 Chevrolet parts from a guy who owned a couple of them over the years. paid $75.00 and sold everything individually and got over $700.00.

I recently got two of these Frantz oil cleaners for $40.00 for the pair, new in the box. sold them for $135.00 each on ebay. I bet I have sold 30-40 of these things over the years, get used ones for 10 and they always get close to 50 on ebay. new ones always go for more.

 

I wasn't too worried about it. There's enough there to repair and hey, it exists. I'm probably going to take it to Richie Willett since not 5 minutes before I scored this he and I were talking about how he had just finished rebuilding one.

 

This was my most recent score, there was also a model a pickup box, a nice T hood, and a T headlight bar with lights. It was under $600 for everything. I sold the box and T hood and made my money back in 2 hours.

 

Best thing I got at a swap meet wasn't even a car part, a model train. Paid $25 knowing it was worth more than that, researched what it was, put it on eBay, it went off to France for $525, I was shocked.

I've sold so much stuff from swaps I can't even keep track of it all anymore, usually about half the money I make from one is the stuff I buy to flip online.

 

6 NOS lenses with NOS chrome trim rings, $20 for all 6. Centralia WA Harvest swap last fall.

 

My thing is I bring something that I found in the trash and sell at Hershey every year. Items have ranged from large Dietz kerosene lamp to a Kennedy machinist box. This year, I'm bringing a free standing small-ish metal locker that someone threw out.

Even if I get $20 for the item I bring, it pays for the gas and the lesson is one man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

You can buy anything at a swap meet.
Greenlee 1818 electric conduit bender, complete with all the shoes for EMT and GRC $175.00 cost new 2k
141 Ridgid 2.5 -4 inch threading die $75.00 cost new $1200.00
17 inch bronze locomotive bell with frame $200.00, My brother wanted it so I gave it to him.

 

A couple years ago I scored a 1955 sbc 4 speed bellhousing for $15 near Chicago.

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Swap meets are.always full of opportunities. While walking the back fields at the Spring AutoFair a month ago, found a strange publication dated 1928. It was a summary of a Congressional committee hearing about planned improvements to the U.S. Capitol. The testimony was given by U.S. Grant III. Included were fold out naps that outlined the existing parks and streets; and plans for what we now know as the Mall. I bought it for $5 and donated to the U.S. Capitol Park Commission. They were blown away that such a historic artifact was in a box of car manuals in Charlotte, N.C. We came home with several valuable finds, but the book we donated will be what we remember the longest.

 

I thought any manual transmission for a 55 chev was a 3 speed? Unless you are talking truck?

 

Depending on the diameter and whether or not it has a hole in the back for a buld, this could be standard equipment on a 67 or 68 Shelby.

 

I've got lots of swap meet stories, but one of my favorites was a yard sale story. I was about 19 and saving money to buy a house. It was summer and I drove by a yard sale and decided to stop. Guy had all the average yard sale junk but a few automotive related things. And a fender. A motorcycle rear fender. I knew it was old because the tail lamp was kerosene. Asked the guy what it came off of. He replied "1916 Henderson". I had never heard of a Henderson motorcycle. It was in good shape, most the paint and pin striping was still on it. I asked what he wanted and he said 20.00. Twenty bucks aint a lot but when your making minimum wage, living in your parents house while going to school and saving to buy a house (I refused to rent, never have and hopefully never will), it was tight. I ended up buying it, I thought it was so neat. Hell, maybe I'd even build a bike around it! I got home and showed my dad, who loves old stuff and always encouraged me to follow my love for old cars. Surprisingly, he got kind of mad, asking why I figured I needed to buy it ,and what I was going to do with it.

I got kind of pissed, and told him I could probably make money on it. He just laughed. I did some research, and it turned out to be a 1915 Henderson rear fender. I put it on ebay. Start bid of 20.00 with no reserve. It ended at $875.00 and went to some guy in Seattle. I STILL remind my dad of that HAHA.

I bought my first house about a year later. My Dad has never questioned me again on buying anything (I think he sometimes think I pay too much for stuff), and my motorcycle buddy said that was probably more like a 2,000.00 fender HAHA!

 

Back in the day, these one-piece rings were under $10 from Honest Hisself or JCWhitney and made of potmetal. Now it seems like they are made of unobtainium and are priced in the hundreds of dollars. But I got this set for my 49 fleetline at the monthly Glendale swap meet (pits included) for $65 and would have paid more.

 

Here is a picture of the Edelbrock RPM Performer that I missed at the Redneck Rumble, for $155..... Bones

 

swapmeet's sunday service ! ... 6;am till noon.

 

I have one like that. Didn't know it was worth that much....

 

Yeah, the great invisible FE. LOL Bones

 

Wait I have those on my 54 merc and were told they were factory , are they not ? Because I’m not a fan of them at all on my car


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I have 2 swapmeet scores which are memorable. They both happened about 15 years ago @ the Pomona swapmeet. First one was an entire fullsize pickup bed of braided steel lines and fittings for 200 bucks. I've probably made more than 2k off it and still have a plastic tote full. The second one was a chilly December night about 1 in the morning. A surfer guy pulls up into the VW section in his split window bus with a little dog in a vest. He throws 4 magnesium 15x6 American D spokes with Goodyear bluestreaks on them on the gound. They are so pristine I want to cry. He's complaining about how he wants to get out of there "fast", to get to Mexico before sunrise. Tells me this is taking too long. Says he'll take $300 for the wheels and tires. Turns out, they are Porsche pattern and have boxes with NOS caps and lugs. Tires still have nubs on them. I couldnt move fast enough. Off to Mexico he and his little dog in a vest go. They couldn't have been at the swapmeet for more than 15 minutes. 2 weeks later, the wheels and tires go for 6k in new hundred dollar bills to a guy who flew to Phoenix from Belgium just to pick them up. Drove away in his tiny rental car full of wheels and tires. I only told a couple people that I had them and word of mouth did the rest. Sometimes the stars just align...

 

??

 

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Either it sold that fast it flew right out of there or it's a case of "hey mister, you want to buy a Edelbrock really cheap?"

 

Or the guy in front of him got it.

 

That manifold has to take a ton of weight off an FE. Lol

 

Pat , you got it! LOL The guy in front of me bought it. That is a pic of where it would be if I had bought it. Bones

 

I picked up a boxful of badges, all with the die cast pins intact, up to about the mid-70's, Australian and American stuff, paid about $10 for it, and sold some of them for up to $50 each. Converted the loot into more car parts!

 

Scored again today. Craigslist, steering column, with wheel, out if an 86 Chevy pickup. $20. With wheel, and a new ignition switch, and a billet dress up kit, and new bearings, and a horn adaptor kit in case I decide to buy a grant steerin wheel.

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Different swap meets
Pomona perfect 27 t roadster turtledeck with lid $50
36 Ford coupe complete front sheet metal,rear fenders and decklid $500

Long beach Auburn gauge panel with 2 5/8 SW gauges $50
15 x 8 palamides wheels $50

Sabers swap meet Denver 18 x 7 no hole Halbrands $800
The stuff still out there,you just need to beat the bushes
Bought 2 Stromberg 81,s today for $150

 

I got there too late, so another HAMBer beat me to this. 21 stud Eddie Meyer heads, plus two jug Edmunds intake with carbs, aluminum flywheel and chrome oil filter for $500.