Offical PIR/Portland Swap Meet Thread-April 8-11th 2010

i went today to both PIR and the Expo center... walked around both, twice... pulling my daughter in a big radio flier. im f'ing beat.

there were some killer deals on complete non-running cars, but most were sold by 4pm. a 28/29 A roadster body, frame, '59 flatty and a pile of parts went for $1500. '40 ford 2 door for $1900. a totally complete 30/31 tudor body thats actually pretty clean for $900. a good 10 or so late 30s pickup cabs. more 70s motorcycles than you can shake a stick at.

A parts are in slim supply. got a very clean 28/29 closed car windshield frame for $20, nice cowl band for $5, A pickup grill shell for $5. not really any A sheetmetal to speak of.
some cool old tools... i bought a 1960s Sears 2 stage, 220v compressor for $25 from a guy who was already packing up to go home. seems like quite a few sellers were only there for today.

didnt meet any HAMBers... just got quizzical looks from anyone i asked. talked to plenty of nice folks, though.

if'n i were to only go to one, it would be the Expo. think im gonna hit it up again oate sunday and try to pick up something fun.

 

I just got off the phone with a pal of mine that's up there now.. He said he ran across a booth with a guy selling alot of nice Y-Block parts.. Any chance anyone here knows who he is and if he got rid of it all?

 

man, what a hoot. SO much walking-so much to see. we were there from 9-3 and i feel like we didn't see half of what was there. got myself some good quality spider caps for the newport, a badass Thermos brand mid-50's cooler and a hay that says "team chrysler" haha. tons o fun.

 

I was there fri/sat and bought little stuff. 49-50-51 ford shop manual,shifter knob,a new blinker switch, great weather cheap entertainment.

 

Saw some stuff. Bought some of it. Saw that low motion dude and forgot to say hi. I was way to into his friends swamp cooler. Overall good day , no jacklopes

 

I left here at 3 am and started the 480 mile round trip... got there at 7 Am. Only did the expo site, had a great time, the weather was awesome (for portland)was out by 3 and home by 630. Im beat and sore as hell lol. My pops found a set of rims and I picked up a 318 exhaust manifold for my dodge.

 

I spent more on parking and admission than I did on parts.No joke.$17 vs $12.Here I am walking around with $1200 and I buy a shift knob and a wiper motor.No 30-31 Coupe stuff.Big surprise.At least I didnt have to drive far like some of you..

 

makes me glad I couldn't go....

 

Some of what I saw at the EXPO Swap Meet Friday and Saturday...Z

 

Spent all day Friday and most of Saturday walking around the Expo. Never made it to the race track. Got some cool headers for my roadster project, and a very nice 1927 license plate for same. Also picked up some small parts and tools. Had dinner at the nearby Hooters. All in all, a good trip.

 

Bought a deadstock Rayon Texaco jacket. Nice set of 50 Mercury trim rings for $40 dollars (going to be a gift) bought some Nomad stuff I needed, retracter and cable , cargo area stainless steel hardware kit, liftgate repair kit, and the door to roof rubber sealing channels. My buddy made the score of the day Vintage chain sticthed P.V.R.A. 1960 Champion car coat, with a early roadster style NHRA patch on one other side. Lucky dude !

 

i was looking for 30-31 A Coupe stuff, too.... come to think of it, are you the guy looking for an A roof? (naw, i dont have one... i'm looking for one, too).

i was dead surprised how little model A stuff was there. anyone I asked that was local said to talk to a guy named Matt that had a grip on the Model A parts here in Portland. He's the same guy I got half the stuff I have now from. He claims to have a lot of A sheetmetal (roofs, quarters, etc), but hasn't had time to come through with it all.

Tomorrow heading to the Expo center around 10AM to see if'n i can find a cheap 60s mini bike, some 289 stuff and/or some other crap i don't need from people who are packing up to go home.

 

yep good times! fo sho! I too saw alot of y block stuff. lots of 20's and 30's stuff. too much 70's chevy gmc pu stuff. I almost bought a new front bumper for my customline. But I held back and decided to put it to some door seals and window vent window seals. I really wanted this 54 mercury bumper. AT LEAST IT DIDN'T RAIN!

 

Okay! maybe not on saturday!

 

This trip broke my cherry. (ain't never been there before)
Folks told me that this thing was huge..."WOW" I had NO idea that it was THIS BIG!!!! I barely got to scratch the surface, and I only did the Expo.

Yea, me too. I though (for some weird reason) that there was supposed to be a HAMB booth somewhere, selling 'T's , decals and such. even asked at the information booth about it. All I got waz a

You should be in good shape there. I saw ALOT of them. Some were rough for $100, and I saw a bunch that were in quite nice condition for $200.

 

Were you that guy with all the steering wheels on your nuts?

 

I really really want to go, didn't go last year due to sick kids. Previous two years the Y-block stuff I found was very little and over priced. Now you say there's lots of Y-block stuff....and I again have two sick kids.

 

That would be me! I'm happy to announce that I have most of a roof on the way,from Chicago.

I know a guy who gets stuff from "Matt"..I hear he ran across an old guys estate,but it's that FUCKING MARTY CHARACTER who has been gobbling up any and all coupe parts around here for a few years now.Then he puts them on EBAY and gets astonishing prices from morons the world over.

 

I talked to a couple of Hambers at my booth.
Bought some stuff too. A 50's trike, 56 buick shop manual, old Portland Lemans car club plaque. Guy I got it from said he took it off a chopped and channeled custom 32 ford at an old guys house who wanted to sell it and a 57 chevy to him cheap. Or he was going to crush the cars within a week. He could not raise the 500.00 dollars he wanted for 10 days. By the time he got there with the money the wife already had them sent to be crushed. That was the story anyway. Like 4 years ago he said. Was looking at a nailhead 322 tri power with carbs and scoops. But all the bolt holes were stripped out in the manifold. Carbs did'nt seem to line up with the holes either. Really wanted it, but passed on it .

 

gongrats on the roof parts! for a car that was in such high production, damn, they're hard to find. did you get them from the guy on Fordbarn, outside chicago?

marty is a trip... he trolls through all the farms in Oregon, scooping up all the coupe stuff. really nice guy in person, but damn he pisses me off. he was at the swap meet on Friday scoping out an A roadster body... which I'm sure will be on eBay or Fordbarn next week.

Matt is a super cool guy... have been to his place, hung out with him, got literally tons of stuff from him. he bought a few huge barns absolutely packed with A stuff. he knows what every last thing is worth, but he's willing to deal. he's been hard to get a hold of, lately...


i've been kicking myself all day for passing on a couple deals there... 'specially the A roadster + flatty for $1500. there was a '68 Dart that was dirt cheap, too. i looked at it for a while... went back a few hours later to give the guy and offer and it had sold. BSA that i wish i bought.
really, if i could, i'd have bought no less than 15 cars that were there. man, they'd look awesome in my front yard

 

are ya talking about the harley servi-car, without an engine? at the track at PIR? if so, i wanted that thing, too...

want, want, want. damn i want a lot of stuff.

 

i went looking for 63 impala parts. the only thing i bought was a shop manual, and a 60's tonka truck!

looking for after swapmeet deals if you got 63 impala/belair parts

 

DADDYLAMA-I think I may be just a bit jealous that I have to work at a job rather than scrounge the countryside and basically get paid to do it.
Im debating going back tomorrow,early-ish,to check on a few things that are bugging me...Overall,I think Ill pass next year.Too overwhelming for a simpleton like myself.

 

think Marty is retired... that'd give lots of time to troll through the hills looking for stuff that should be (and is if you can find it) relatively affordable... then sell it on eBay or forums to people who have jobs and don't have the time to go troll through the hills to try to find stuff that hasn't yet been found and put on eBay.

i'll look for more HAMBers tomorrow...
if ya see a bushy bearded balding dude in his 30s, pulling a little girl in a radio flier, probably wearing some kinda chopper/harley t-shirt, and likely swilling coffee... that'd be me. name's Dan.

next time i'm not paying the fifteen dollars for parking and having to walk forever... just gonna park at work (widmer brewing) and take the yellow line. stops right there at the entrance to the expo center.

 

My brother , myself and my big black Lab walked the race track on Friday morning and I scored a 1966 Pontiac Tri Power for $800 . It was complete with carbs, linkage and air cleaners!!! My Brother found a 4 bolt 454 complete with crank, pan, pistons rods for $250. Then we paid $5 to get our haul back to the RV and left the dog to protect the goods in the RV and headed up to the exhibition center. By the time we were half way though it, my feet were barking loud but we trudged on and saw all of the Expo center and bought a disc brake set up for my Brothers BB 1967 Chevelle. We headed back to the RV and cooked up a couple steaks and all the trimmings, had some COLD Corona beer and called it a night. Then today we got up at 7:00 AM, walked around the track and found a neon sign for $50, a 1950 Chevy steering column and gear box in perfect shape for $10 and a couple other things. My Dog was pulling me around today until I gave him a job and that was to walk himself. He took the job on pretty serious and didn't let other dogs interrupt his job and he then just walked right beside us. The dog even scored a couple sausages, a couple dog biscuits and free water during his trek. Fun was had by all and we all felt good about our deals!! So two days we walked the track 2 1/2 times and the exhibition center once.
I wish I had a bunch of cash as there were killer deals everywhere. There were some killer deals on a bunch of cars there also! The weather was perfect!! What more can I say!! I'm going to bed now ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....................................

I think the better deals were at the track as usual!!

 

I noticed alot of tonka trucks, mini bikes. Lots of good deals to be had! I bought a shift knob from MCcustoms. really cool shift knob! Anyone see that Schwinn that was selling for like 2,000? super nice!!!!

 

There are always killer deals at Portland the year that I don't go. I did spend the day hauling pieces from the two trucks I bought Thursday home though. Glad I didn't take the 71 to Portland as it acted up all the way up and all the way back from where I bought those trucks.

 

are talking about the girls Lil Chic' Stingray ? $2195.00

 

I was laughing at the 2000 schwinn... my dad was a bicycle mechanic for 30 years, he stood there and asked that if he gave 2 grans does he get the original chain, seat, and pedals. The owner just stared lmao. So did anyone get any pics of the turquoise and white 53/54 chevy 210 with the 56 bel air trim???

 

JMHO, but every year the same random thoughts occurs - why are two of the largest swap meets in the Northwest too early in the year on the same days miles apart?
1. No way to see it all.
2. The weather in early April is always a crapshoot, rain more often than sun, so both can be drowned out with two days of rain.
3. There's no sorting - why not something like Carlisle does it? Maybe, one for pre-'49/street rods and another for post-'49/muscle cars, maybe a third for imports. The way they are spread out now, doesn't matter how diligent you've looked, you'll always see/hear someone say, "Whattaya mean, there were no Y-blocks, A-coupes, Stude, Packard, nailheads, whatever? I saw two booths with tons of that stuff."
4. Just the logistics of getting there, parking, shuttle, entry, especially if bringing a cart or wagon. Then the time to reverse it all to get out, then do it all over at the other site duplicates cost and effort which could be spent looking and buying.

thnx, jack vines