What has been your best Swap Meet Purchase?

Got an mint original 1926-7 T closed car windsield complete with hinge and glass. Still had the original black paint along with some additional shelf ware. Still had the original Ford parts tag wired to it from the michigan factory.

 

brand new drop axle set up with steering box for $245

 

I'd have to stop and think, I've picked up so many cheap things.. a few weeks ago at the flea market I bought a model kit off one guy for $8, an AMT 28 Model A tudor in the box - never even knew they made one - and the model car guy offered me $20 for it. So I sold it and went and got myself breakfast.

I suppose the best ever was at one car show I bought a brass model train for $25 that ended up selling for $525 on eBay. Just like the car parts it was something I had a bit of a clue it was worth more than the asking price, but I had to look it up when I got home to figure out what it was.

At the Nats this year a guy sold me two so-so A grilles, a pair of supposedly Nova bucket seats and an Olds dash for $50, he didn't want to take it home and I figured it was a fair deal because everyone wants like $100 just for one scroungy grille shell.

 

Beauty rings on my avitar project, 4 for $5 at swap meet. Confirmed rebuilt 1CM merc flathead found in farmer's shed for $100. Front half of 1926 T touring for $20 from swap meet. 29 chev truck cab below for $3 with remains of fourdoor 29 Chev car thrown in at an auction.

 

Wrecking yard crawl last Saturday got me these beauties for 25 bucks. How 'bout those original casting straight-drop Fentons? I couldn't wait to leave, figured old John would have second thoughts on the price! Pulled out of a rusted out '53 Chevy schoolbus.

 

Rebuilt Stromberg 97 with an original Hellings & Stellings air cleaner...$100

 

(? Year) Rambler side mirror for $10, that fit right on the cadillac.
Entire chrome cadillac back bumper for my O/T D.D. = $60
$2 Taillights for the 53'

More, but i cant remember.

 

25 cent box of old condoms

 

I've found parts for a better value, but I was jazzed to find a freshly rechromed cheap heater control for my '56 210 HT at the Puyallup swapmeet. I wasn't necessarily looking for one, but knew it be a long time before I ever saw another. I would have paid quite a bit to find a good core then have it rechromed, so I felt like a got a good deal at $100.

Wasn't at a swapmeet, but on another occasion, some friends and I were visiting with a guy who mentioned he somehow,sometime,somewhere had acquired a pair of inner fenders for a '56. Just so happens I needed the passenger side one. Went to his storage area and found an excellent used set. Askin' price? $10 for the pair. I may have given myself tennis elbow getting my wallet out so fast.

Scott/Gotta56forme

 

Garage sale, Omaha, NE about 20 years ago, J-2 intake and carbs, the tag was marked 2 50 (with the space). I asked the lady what was the price. She looked at the tag and said $2.50 for that rusty thing,(yes two dollars an fifty cents) I cleaned it and painted it, fixed the linkage and sold it at a Iowa swap meet for $500.00, nice profit

 

4 new 15X7 bare steel gennies for 60 bucks at Kalamazoo

 

A 2 1/2 gal. Moon tank with early style stands and a 3 wing spinner cap for $30 about 5 or so years ago at the LA Roadsters Show & Swap.

Lee

 

Purchased a S.W. Cresent gauge for $125 on EBay on Fri Morning. Went to a swapmeet on Sat. and was able to purchase another just like it for $3.00.

 

i got a really nice Fenton 2 carb manifold with good carbs on it for a 235. paid $200. and felt good.

 

Hot Dog and a Coke for $1.50! No kidding!

 

My Neville Fat Man steering wheel from the swap meet in Kentucky 2009 for my Center Door. $170

 

I got an NOS front fender for a '41-'46 Chev1 1/2 Ton truck for $50 a couple of ytears ago at Carlisle.

 

Found a Kwikway "FN" Boreing bar with the tooling "suitcase" not missing a single piece at turlock last year ......works great
my father calls them "the Cadillac of boreing bars"
Ive been keeping an eye out for one for 15 years

Final price ....$290.00.............they retail for bout 6500.00 new

 

32 ford grill shell winth Pines winterfront. $150

 

-unsplit 32 ford front wishbones nos for $50
-32 heavy axle for $20 the guy told me it was a model a axle hahahha
-26-27 ford roadster windshield frame top and bottom for $20

 

The 5.00 lakes headers that I bought at the Dallas swap meet in 1973 or 4 that my buddies all told me were way out of style and not what i wanted to run.


I've bought a lot of other stuff over the years but those probably have the best story behind them.

 

1955 331 caddy 2-4 setup complete $25. Sold later that day for big profit. It paid for a new Brookville trunk lid for my A coupe. I like swap meets got to get up early for the deals.

 

32 Ford 25 louver hood for 100.00 bucks a few years back. But I still have it and it is not going anywhere.

 

Nice score ... I presume you've seen the one that sold on ebay a few days ago for $10.5K. If you were the guy who sold it, you'd be a swap meet god!

 

I've been looking for a Chevy pattern WC T-5, and picked one up at the end of the season swap meet at Lebanon Valley for $75.00. It came with the cockeyed F body bell housing, so I removed it and sold the bell for $110.00. Nothing like a free transmission; since it's from an '88, it's got a mechanical speedometer hookup too.

 

ill add some more

2x 32 heavy axles $15 each

olds edelbrock 4x2 bare intake $150

sw gauge panel (the old style with curved glass gauges like in the chris craft boats) $90

sw holleywood with some wings gauges for $90

 

complete under dash a/c setup-brand new-+ polished Sanden compressor w/brackets(still works great) for my 55.
$35. + $2 for a coke.
(got ripped off, it didn't have a new condenser which I found for $15.)

 

Not all that high $$ but I picked up a set of 36 Studebaker headlights couple months back at Chickasha. Beautiful convex lenses and long torpedo shape. Maybe from a Dictator? This is the start of our 34 coupe project. No other parts yet but ya gotta start somewhere......

 

About 8 years ago I was at the local swap meet and bought a box of old car magazines without looking through the box. Later at home I went through the stuff and found a mint condition program from a 1967 car show. In that program was a picture of a custom 53 Ford convertible, a car I owned in the 70's. I sold it in 1977, and that picture prompted me to look for it again. In January 2008 the car was located and is now undergoing a major restoration to its earlier customized status. I always thought it was fate that I bought that box of stuff at the swap meet and found that pic. I have posted a thread on the 53 if you want to see the car.

 

In 1995 i bought 348 six single barrel intake with carbs and linkage for $25.00 at a yard sale...