The Swap Meet is Dead! Long Live the Swap Meet!

Print magazines, hot rod shows and swap meets have all morphed and changed quite a bit over the past few decades, but the really good ones aren’t dead yet! As Mark Twain famously said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”.  The Modesto Model A Ford Club’s Turlock Swap Meet has been going on for well over 50 years now, long-known as a hotbed for rare hot rod parts and a few rust-free classic car deals. You might figure eBay and online marketplaces would have killed off the traditional swap by now, but plenty of old timers still prefer in-person deals with a handshake and cold, hard cash. I myself hadn’t walked the muddy isles of ‘Turdlock’ since well before the pandemic, and it was good to be back and see some old swap meet friends. So what had changed from last time I went? They were charging twice as much money to get in ($20 for admission this year!), and there were only a handful of cars for sale, but the parts and projects deals could still be found if you walked the 7 miles of vendors and kept your eye out. I didn’t see nearly as many Model A bodies and far less flathead parts, but there was still plenty to buy. The fairgrounds had no shortage of people looking for their unobtainium in 2023, so the future still looks pretty bright.

Were you there? What did you buy?