low ball dicks that can't pay a fair price or a few bucks for a nos trim peice haggle bitch complain thats tooo high ... thats all money i got ........ then walk accross the aisle and buy huge coffee and breakfast sandwich for a total of 7 bucks then come back and ask again for a better price .. also the pukes that bring stuff to show offf that aint for sale ... my buddy will not be here til noon he knows his prices on his stuff. ... oh i don't want to buy it just want to know everything about it cuz i have one like it going to take my meds and settle down
Guy next to me at meet has been selling taillights from 50's and 60's cars all weekend for 5-10 bucks a pair. His Son is 10 and Dad goes to look at a tranny and leaves him in charge. Old guy comes up after awhile and asks who is selling the stuff next to me. Joe jumps up and says he is. He wants a pair of tail light lenses from a 58 Ford. He says how much and Joe says 10 dollars. The guy says I'll give ya 6 bucks. Joe says I can go eight The guy says 7 and Joe says OK. Then Joe says that'll be 14 for the pair and the guy pays him. Dad has sold lots of lenses, but none were for more than 10 a pair. I told his Dad later that he needs to leave more often.
Often husbands and wives selling together don't get their stories / lies straight. I was looking at an antique punch bowl set for my wife and the lady told me it was their wedding present 30 years ago. I walked around and thought about it for an hour and she was gone when I came back. I asked again about the set and her husband told me he pieced it together in the last year from several yard sales. There used to be an old man at our local swap that would bark out all day long "half off the marked price on everything". This went on for years. He doubled the price then tried to make you think it was a bargain.
I have sold at swaps a few times - Always lots of fun. A similar story - a guy a few spots down had a one-off custom billet motorcycle rear wheel for sale for like a thousand bucks.... People stopped all weekend long making really dumb offers. Finally on Sunday I watched him pick up a hammer and smash the wheel to bits while a guy looked on in horror. He then shouted to him "THERE! NOW IT'S WORTH $50 BUCKS!" I bought all the trim and complete interior from a '64 T-Bird for $100. I used the buckets and sold everything else for like a grand. While I was loading up the parts some guy was looking at some 390 parts and asked how much... The guy told him and his response was "I don't have THAT kind of money," His reply was "Well, then what kind of money DO you have?" HA HA! I bought a '69 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II Cale Yarborough for $7500 firm from a big time vendor. I sold it later that summer for $13,000 and could have made a lot more. Some people just don't know or care - I miss doing it but often ended up spending too much money on bad beer and carnival food.
I think I've seen oldpl8s' "half off" guy at the Long Beach and Pasadena CC flea markets ... he's got about 20+ tables worth of household junk and his pitch is that he's selling it for a "poor old widow woman" or "old spinster sisters". He must know every elderly woman in Los Angeles.....
at a meet once,I had a wwII drone engine,a sweet one I might add.Anyway this hot shit hotshot kept picking it up and looking it over,tossing it back down onto the trailer,I sat and watched this prick for several times as he came around again and again doing the same shit....well I'd had enough of his shit and luckily he never broke any fins of the motor or I would have beat his ass with it and the wooden prop.He interupted me as I was dealing with a friendly customer and said "that you old motor?" I told him "yep its mine and its 475.00" "I can see that" he said"I'll go 350.00 " I said "even at 475.00 I'm not gonna sell it to ya now,because of the way that you've tossed it around while looking at it""besides you have pissed me off,It's my shit till you pay for it,go practice safe sex"he goes "what is that?"to which I replied"Go fuck yourself" and all the other customers and vendors around started laughing and pointing so he stomped off mad and mumbling some shit that you could not hear over the snickers ,laughs and jeers.I later sold the motor to a collecter for 475.00 no problem.
My dad owned a tranny shop. He always said "If you can't make money on you friends and relatives, who can you make money on? He was honest as the day is long and did a lot of work at cost to help people that needed help. He paid $100.00 in 1961 for a 54 Plymouth and sold it to me for $150.00. He could have given me my first ride but wanted me to earn it and show me how business is done. I never forgot that lesson and applied it for 31 years as a small business owner. Never feel guilty about making a profit.
these stories are killing me!! the best deal i ever got was at the james dean run in 2009, there is a guy who sets up there every year, tables full of everything, parts, tools, toys, etc. i dug through it and found a 1955 merc accessory steering wheel, actually in pretty decent shape, cracks but very repairable, i asked, he said "oh, i dunno, give me $15 for it? i dropped my wallit twice and knocked over one of his displays to get it before the other guys standing there, ha! this year missed out on a pair of super if not nos 1951 lincoln tail lights, lens and housing, real nice, i was waiting on the guy to set them down so i could buy them, dealer said give me $25? the lucky buyer said $20 and walked away with them! pissed me off all weekend.
I've been selling at swap meets for at least 25 years and I've seen just about everything. I'm willing to help a guy out with a low price when he needs and deserves it. What burns me is when a guy offers me a low price and tells me how much he needs the part and how he can't afford to pay most peoples asking price so I make him a deal only to walk by and see him at a space selling the same part for more that I had it priced. Then there was the time when my buddy was selling a nice second gen camaro and let a young guy talk him way down saying that it would be his first car and he only had so much money on him and how he loved the car and so on and so on. Then we find out he was the son of a dealer who buys and resells muscle cars and it was on their website for about 3 grand more than my buddy was asking for it. Now If I personally know a guy that wants a part I have and I know he needs it I'll sell anything to him cheap or even give it to him for a future favor.
SOME GREAT STORIES HERE! Lots of good laughs. I haven't sold at a swap for a while, but I was sharing a space with a few friends once. I walked around looking to see what I could find for my truck. Came acroos a full set of AR Torque Thrusts with nearly new tires. Bought 'em for $700 thinking I had some wheels for my truck. Rolled them 50 feet to our space. The friend watching the space askes what to do if someone wants to buy them. I told him a $750. I came back later and he had sold them to some guys that were shipping them back to the Netherlands. I made $50 and I can't complain about not having a set of nice wheels on my truck. I run around looking for deals anywhere and everywhere I go these days. Thrift store, yard sales, swaps, wherever. I sell stuff all day long on eBay. It's what is helping me get through college at the moment. Thrift store finds - HD Script Tear Drop mirrors - Paid $18 Sold $50 HD Rear Brake Master Cylincer - Paid $15 Sold $90 I even told the guy that owns the store what I did with them. He told me he didn't care what I did with them after I paid him for them. I'm a regular customer now. I almost paid for my gas from my trip to Wyoming earlier this year just from the stuff I picked up at a couple thrift stores while there. I still have stuff left over. Profit is awesome! It usually goes back into more stuff to buy to re-sell besides the college bills.
We have attended a lot of car shows over the years. I guess that's what former racers do when they retire. Anyway, at the shows a guy can walk up to five or ten miles in a day trying to see everything. To eliminate the aches and pains on this old body I started building unique handicap scooters with a car theme to get me around the shows. With these scooters I can make it from one end of a show to the other in a matter of a few minutes. We where at the Charlotte Auto Fair and I was making the rounds with my little scooter, and came upon a sprint car frame with the front axle and torsion bars for $200. The frame had been hit on the left side and a tube was bent. Other than that it was in good condition. As I looked the frame over closer I noticed that it looked like a Lightning frame and it didn't have very much time on it. I thought at the time that It could have been from the World of outlaws and was one of the frames that got bent in a foll over. A lot of times they don't fix em. A lot of times they sell the bent frame to the little guys for almost nothing. So I called my buddy Pappy who was at the other end of the show at our space. Pappy like myself was an old time Super Modified racer, driver, and former car builder. I called him about the frame because he had talked about building a sprinter for the street like some are doing on the West coast. He said he would check it out later on in the day. So I continued making the rounds visiting guys that we see twice a year at Spring and Fall events. About an hour of two later I made my way back over near the sprint car frame and I notice that the sign has been crossed out and it has a $50.00 on it. I head back up the other end towards out spot and to tell Pappy about the price drop. I pull up in my scooter and Pappy is telling a bull shit story of the highest order. The thing about Pappy, he can back up all his claims with documentation, but there's nothing like a good bull shit story. Pappy get finished and I describe to him all the details about the sprint car frame. He gets on the Hemi scooter and heads up the other end to check it out. About an hour later He pull in and I ask "did you buy the sprint car". He looks me in the eye and said " I couldn't find the fucken thing"! He gets off the scooter and as I'm getting on it I give him the eye roll. You know the kind we give when where making fun, or insulting someone without saying a word. As I'm driving off at all of 3 MPH he's yelling at me " don't roll your fucken eyes at me!. You know the kind of things good friend say to each other. Anyway I'm head down the other end to find the sprint car frame and this time I intend on taking down the row letters and space number. As I pull up to the frame I notice the sign had FREE written on it. I get back on the phone and call Pappy. He gets in his truck and pulls out into the crowd in the middle of the show and heads up the other end to where I'm guarding the frame. Pappy pulls in and we load up the frame. Pappy makes his way back to out spot at the other end of the show, and I head to the choke'n puke for a delicious five star meal. Ya, right" About three hours later I'm headed up the main drag dodging pedestrians. I was making my way back the other end towards my spot and as I look up from the maze people I notice Pappy coming in my direction with the sprint car frame still as we had loaded it onto the truck. He pulls up along side me and I notice he has a stranger in the passenger seat. I ask " what's up" Pappy said " I just sold my Lightning frame to this gentleman for $350. He doesn't need the front end so Ill use it on my T Bucket". I say " are you going to be alright selling it for only $350. "Ya, Ill be OK" he said. Pappy heads down past where I had just came from. I make my way back to my spot and crash for the afternoon in my beach chair. A short time later Pappy makes it back and ask where he delivered the Sprint car frame to. Your going to love this! He delivered it three (3) spots from where we originally picked it up for free. That was one great weekend. Back then we had a gang of old timers and we all hung out together, and on Saturday night we made our way to a favorite restaurant and had one great meal. In typical Pappy form he picked up the tab for everyone. I hope you enjoyed the story, Johnny Sweet
At Portland Or. a couple of years ago a friend was tired of walking around and said he would watch my booth for a few if I wanted to walk around. Sweet! when I got back I asked if he sold anything, he said " yes the old toy car in the box" Cool what did you get for "20 bucks he said" dammed if a sucker didn't take the tag off of it and tell the guy watching the booth I had 20 bucks on it. THAT WAS THE PRICE FROM 25 YEARS AGO WRITTEN IN BLACK MAGIC MARKER ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE ORIGINAL BOX! I told my good? buddy you just cost me about 40 bucks! good thing I only paid $30 for it. To this day I would like to find the sucker that took of my price tag and pulled that crap! It was probably someone that already had looked at it and recognized I wasn't there!
Done swap meets for years both selling and buying. Selling a couple years ago at Tri State in Denver, lotsa Ford engine stuff. This 12-13 year old kid comes up w/ his dad, starts fondling a SBF Weiand Stealth I've got at $100. After a couple of minutes I ask the kid if he knows what it fits and what he wants it for. He tells me it fits 302 Ford and he wants it for the Mustang he got when his grandpa died. Dad doesn't say anything, just nods. I ask him what year Mustang and he tells me it's an 85. I pulled the manifold off of a customer car and it had been sitting around for a couple of years so I let the kid have it for a buck. Coupla mouth closed, ears open old boys watch the whole thing go down. About an hour later the old boys come back with a beer, a hot dog, and a book on vintage midgets, set the stuff on my table. One of them says, hope my grandkids run into guys like you, then they walk off, leave the stuff on the table. Thought that was pretty cool.
For years I sold parts at swappmeets for a living, I useally bought from my hoarder buddies and would make a big pile and they would give me a whole sale price, they knew I would keep some stuff for my self, and other stuff I would sell to help cover my cost of fuel, swappmeet space, food, wear and tear on my truck and I had to make a living to support my family. I never got greedy and always sold stuff for 30% less than the going rate. I was always fair and built up a clientel over the years. If I figured the hours it took to achieve this , I was'ent even making minimen wage. My buddies would let me store stuff in their yards and in exchange, they would get first pick and a good deal on anything they needed. My philosofie was to always leave a little room for the next guy , so he could get a good deal on a part for his project or turn around and make a little profit for him self. Over the years I fortunate to make many friends and had the satisfaction to see many cars get built with the bodies and parts I sold, and in this way , I figuered I helped promote the hobby in my small way. It´s a tough life, for years I never got to spend a weekend with my family. With the aparence of E-bay, swappmeet promotors charging an arm and a leg for a vendor spot, and city and county code enforment not letting you store parts in your back yard, the swappmeet is a event that will eventualy die out, so enjoy it while you can. I feel the best part aboat a swappmeet is the social aspect and the chalenge of finding a good part for your car. Nowdays I just sell at the big three and the L.A Roadster show, and When I get a call, I try to locate parts for my friends, so try not to be so hard on swappmeet vendors, they are just trying to put food on the table like all of us.
For years while attending different swap meets we always had a group and in all we had around five or six spots all in a row. One of my buddy's made a professional looking sing that said" Don't tell us your hardship story, or that your almost out of money. This place isn't for you. Instead you should be at home making sure your family is being fed". It kept the sob story's down to a minimum and we didn't have to deal with the ass holes. Parts will bring a market value, and if some are to high then don't purchase them. At the bigger events in the East we have seen the same stuff in the same spots year after year with an outrageous price posted on them. I always got a kick out of my buddy Pappy. He would walk by a guys spot that had the same stuff priced in the stratosphere for the last five years and yell into him. " Hay ass hole, your fucken shit is getting worn out being hauled all over creation in that piece of crap you call a trailer. Id like to be there after your gone and your wife throws all your fucken shit in the dump". Ya, I know obnoxiously said, but Pappy was Pappy, being an ex Navy Seal he had a habit of saying what he felt like. Today he's retired and sailing around the Atlantic in his sail boat. He will be back next year some time.
I was heavy into vintage VW's a few years back, and never missed the Sacramento bug-in and swap. There was a guy that was allways buying and reselling parts and everyone knew this. I walked up to one of the regulars spots and this guy was trying his best to get him down to $325.00 on a westy roof rack he wanted $350.00 for. This was before they repoped them and they were a hot comodity, after a heated exchange he told him it was 350.00 FIRM, the guy walked away mumbling. After the guy left i let him know i was interested, he says, $300.00 and it's yours, i hate that guy
Had a chance to attend the GNRS this last Jan. While there we went to a swap meet in Long Beach. Being from W. Oregon it was a treat to look thru all the low rider/so. cal stuff. Found a fella selling tachs and other gauges. He had a nice Moon Eyes tach that I was able to talk him down to $40 on. Seemed like a good deal to me. But when I got it home and hooked up it doesn't work. Now, ya gotta be from Oregon to understand an Oregonian's view of Californians. But I gotta tell ya that ole Californian plum screwed this ole Oregonian.
A year or so ago, I was set up and one of the things I was selling was a SBC tri-carb set up. I had found a nicer set up, so this one had to go. Two guys walked up side by side. One guy asked what I had to have for it. The second guy made an offer, and I said "sure". He handed me cash, picked it up, and walked away. The first guy just stood there and said, "I would have given you the whole amount." I thought the two guys were together the way it went down. I felt sort of crummy about it, but the first guy should have said something!
Sounds like it was an easy and of course unintentional mistake. The second guy was wrong butting in with his offer. It also was easy for the first guy to say "I would have given you the full amount". Maybe he would have and maybe he wouldn't have
Went to a swap meet last year and there was a guy liquidating MAC tools from his sales truck. Prices were good and I purchases a few tools and decided to stay and keep purchasing. A regular vendor comes by (craftsman tools) and starts telling me to stop picking up things because he's going to make an offer on the whole lot....I look at the guy and about to tell him to f-off but before I got the first word off, the seller tells the guy to get lost... I was glad to keep buying from this guy and we both made out!
I used to have a sign I set up at swap meets it read"If you don't like my price,bring in your wife,girlfriend or sister,Then we'll Dicker"A self appointed prick official at a meet said he liked the sign and would let me keep it on display.I told him thank you ,however it would have stayed no matter what he said .
There was a well-known bottom-feeder like that around here, usually up around Sacramento, long red hair and always wore blue coveralls, and would be hanging over the side of your truck snooping as you pulled in- "here comes Red again..." So I had just bought a new black Powerstroke, less than a month old, and here comes this dickweed, and I hear the zipper of his coveralls hit the side of my new truck Slammed on the brakes, which made his head hit the cab got out and ran my 6'2", 250lbs around the truck at him, "get the F#*K off my truck, A$$HOLE!!" Bet that carp is still runnin', and about 100 people laughed their butts off- guess I wasn't the only one sick of him
I used to go to the Conroe swap meet when i lived in that area back in the 80's and 90's. There was an older guy named "Lip" I think he could have been the same guy. He and I swapped parts all the time. I would set in his spot with him and watch people ask if this or that would fit some particular car. He would always reply yes and sometimes get a sale on it. Once they walked away he would tell me what the part actually fit.
i sold rocks at the englishtown flea market sold a few dozen cases i mean dozens of rocks - guess it helps they came with a free ice cold beer
My dad once bought a prewar hood for a citroen at Hershey for 100 bucks,Go for 500 here ,It was the one with the flaps for a traction.........My biggest score was the body for the car Im slowly putting together,3 days of walking and found on third day.....Also have a mint 29 sedan windsheild frame picked it up for 30 bucks...
The Jalopy Journal
