Finally nice out in the Northeast. Time for some yard sales and flea markets. Scored the Craftsman vise for 5 bucks and the 1930s toy car and front signal light for a buck a piece.
Used to love the midwest yard sales. Here in Florida all I find are baby clothes and Plus sized women's clothes. None of that fits me!
You got a great deal on the Tootsietoy Graham- it has about $10-15 in repro parts alone, and they usually bring about $50-75 in that condition.
One of the towns close to me held their annual city wide yard sale weekend last weekend. I picked up a Craftsman sandblaster for 20.00 and a pair of jack stands for 2.00 each that are good enough to hold a chassis up. Lots of bargains to be had but I was short on spending change having transferred the title and bought tags for a rig on Friday.
Years ago I was at a yard sale. I was just out of high school and still lived at home. Anyways, at this yead sale I see an old motorcycle rear fender. I knew it was old as the tail lamp was gas/oil and not electric. It was in very nice original shape, having most the original paint still on it. It was the only non-houshold item there. I asked the seller what it fit and he replied "1915 Henderson". I had never heard of a henderson motorcycle, but thought it was very cool. I asked what he wantedand he replied 20.00. Even 20.00 was a bit of money for me back then, but I bought it and headed home. Once home I showed my Dad, who to my surprise, was not too thrilled over my purchase. He said I should be saving my money, not buying junk like that. I got kinnda pissed and told him it was worth more then I paid. He laughed and said "You didn't even know what it fit, how do you know what it's worth?!" So just to prove him wrong I listed it on Ebay with the sparce information I knew about it. It sold 7 days later for 850.00 and I never let my Dad forget it haha! He's still right about nearly everything else though....
back in the 80s one of our friends in the car club was known for his non-sobriety! So when Ed said something, you immediately thought of a parade of pink elephants. He comes to the garage one day and says there is a dragster chassis in a yard sale up near Manchester. We all scoffed and laughed but he insisted and finally Dick and i went up there. Sure damn enough it was an old well used K-88 chassis with old peeling chrome radius rods. Bought it for $50! So you just never know!!! To this day no idea why it was in a yard sale, we were to excited at the time to ask any intelligent questions other than "how much?".
If you like yard sales hit the "Worlds Longest Yard Sale" on route 127 the first weekend of August. It runs from Michigan to Alabama! I have been two times and both trips were great. There is not a whole bunch of car stuff but what there is can usually be bought right as there are not that many people looking for it. I bought a whole tub full of NOS 40's -50's Chevy small trim pieces, horn rings and buttons dog dish hubcaps and other stuff for 25 bucks. Four milk crates full of Model A parts, some used some repo in the bags plus other old Ford parts for 50 bucks not to mention other misc. stuff along the way. Both times between selling on ebay and setting up at swap meets I paid for the entire trip and put hundreds of extra dollars in my pocket to play with the cars with and had a shit load of fun doing it.
Over 20 years ago I went to a automotive memorabilia swap meet at Pasadena City Collage (CA) and one vendor had a large collection Buffalo Nickel 5-cent pieces from the 1920's and he just wanted face value for them so I snatched them up very quickly. Those were the days of a buyers market and I picked up a few other cool historic items from other vendors for low bucks. I think those days are long gone in California.
I picked up a set of "Deluxe" top bows for my roadster a couple of years ago at a swap. The guy selling said they were his neighbor's who was cleaning out his garage and said " Get whatever you can." He said "What are they worth to you?" "Fifty bucks?" "Oh , he'll be happy as hell, thanks!" I felt a little guilty, but it wore off in time.
Last summer I bought a Consew upholstery sewing machine at a garage sale. The lady had arthritis and could no longer use it. She said she paid $2500 for it. I got it and 2 boxes of thread for $200
I got my first 55 Chevy 2-door post at a yard sale. Wife called and told me "I found the 55 HT you wanted." It had a 350 with BW 4-speed. Nice car. Another time she bought me nearly new S-10 tires and rallys cheap. That's why I keep her!
A few years ago, I bought a house at a yard sale! My wife & I had been looking to move and just hadn't found what we wanted. One weekend we decided to go yard saleing. We stopped at one place and I struck up a conversation with the Owner, who told me they were selling stuff off in anticipation of putting their house up for sale. I told him we might be interested and he took us on a tour of the place. We wound up putting in a purchase offer the next day and having it accepted a day after that.
went to an out of town car show last summer and was early, decided to kill some time and check out a few yard sales. First sale I checked out ,I found some v8 60 hp speed parts . Eddie Meyers heads , isky track cam , two new sets of pistons and rings 30 over and 50 over 3 sets of rods ,1 set were 1940 rods , crankshaft, 3 sets of lifters and locks, nos water pumps and more odds and ends 300.00 for all . Husband passed a few years earlier ,could have got the stuff cheaper ,but felt I was robbing her as it was .
The Jalopy Journal
