I attended a swap meet in Connecticut this past Sunday. Admission was $10, and the place was packed. Every vendor space was taken, lots of junk (lawn mowers, ATV parts, Harley junk), but some gems. Picked up a set of NOS tailgate hinges, and a set of nice windshield hinges for my 33 Ford truck. All for $25. Had a lot of laughs too hanging out with my brother all day. Good times.
That's a trip you say that , I've never seen and heard so many : Japanese , Kiwi , Aussie and Norwegian accents as I did at Long beach Sunday . To me , it seemed like they were everywhere . I figured the exchange rates must be heading in their favor as the dollar weakens .
The big problem with swap meets these days, especially, is that if it the swap is NOT just on Sat and/or Sun, and is also Wed/Thurs/and/or Friday, MOST people actually work for a living - I sure as hell do. I do not have the luxury of being able to hit the swap Wed - Fri, so when I do attend on a Sat, most of the parts are gone, most of the vendors have already packed up, and all that's left is shit. Chickasha is famous for that crap. So, unless the meet is ONLY a weekend long, I don't bother. Chickasha is only 60 miles for me, I certainly won't go farther away for the same asspain. 38zephyr, you bet they are here in droves, since they have HUGE buying power with the truly shitty US dollar exchange rate (great for them to buy, great for us to sell to them)
I love swap meets! I will always buy something (old car mags are my standby purchase). They are like a travelling old car yard. Old car wreckers (as we call them down here) are non existent so it's ebay or swap meets or forums like this for anyone around these parts who wants something for their old car.
What I've found around me is this: Used to be, that the swaps were just full of guys trying to clean out their garages, or just selling their stuff to finance other projects. Today, with a lot of guys out of work, guys are going to these things to make $$$$ on the game. Prices are high, and the stuff for sale can be real crap, just trying to see if someone will pay for it. Lots more chainsaws, sinks, birdhouses, drum sets, you name it. This year I saw the most dry-rotted set of tires I've ever seen, shined up with armorall, with some dude trying to sell 'em. I'm thinking to myself, "Umm, who is gonna buy those?!?" I still go, but it's definitely diffferent now. Just my $0.02. Pete
Admission to swap meet at Thompson for Saturday was $85 for a pickup and two guys. Bought a couple of expensive clutches cheap, and sold all my large heavy stuff cheap, because the other guys treated me right. The only one ripping folks off was the promoter...if they do a one day pass at $50 or so, I'll be back,if not it's Lebanon for next year.
I like to go to as many swap meets as I can, Long Beach is good, but Pomona is the bomb diggidity, better food and lots more car crap. I really like to rummage in the emblems boxes looking for some cool shit to weld on to my 64 Falcon lol
Retiredblue- This past weekend was the first time I had been at the Long Beach swap and you are right, Much smaller. But I will go back for sure. Now Pomona on the other hand. It has to be the Grand Daddy of all swap meets! Good luck with those emblem boxes! If I see someones shoes hanging out of one of them I will know its you! ha ha!
Believe it or not Swap Meets are starting to pick back up. This past weekend in Long Beach was a little slow for sellers because of both the weather, the fact that it was the first weekend and not the usual 2nd weekend (there is also a LB on Thanksgiving weekend, 2 this month), and several of the manufacturers were still at SEMA. But all in all the LB Swap is up this year all around (sellers, buyers,cars) we even had 3 sellouts. None of the swaps are what they were before e-bay and the internet, but they are far from extinction. And never discount the social aspect of a swap meet - if you only look at it from the perspective of buying and selling you're missing a big part of the experience. Oh, and thanks for coming out to Long Beach!
I remember 20+ years ago guys would fly out to the West Coast swap meets buy stuff and bring it back home to sell off to cover the trip and make a few bucks. Does anyone still do stuff like that? I've always wanted to see the LA Roadster show and Swap Meet, and a few other large ones around the country.
Well I understand how the economy works but a lot of swap meets here in Texas need the Chinese junk not allowed in the gate. I went to legraves field swap meet and that crap was in every other spot. Keep that shit on e flee not with vintage tin. I save my coins to go its always a good time to see my old friends and get some new goodies. We have been to pate swap meet for 40 years in a row and have watched the prices change with trends from billet bling to rusty rides ! My problem is parts hoarding not really I am just collecting !!
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