Has the SWAP gone out of the Swap Meet????

I remember having my car/truck full of parts before going to a swap meet to buy stuff.

I'd take items to trade off to guys that had parts I was looking for.

That doesn't seem to happen like it use to. Now it seems like the only thing guys want to trade for are Benjamins!

What say you all?

 

I was at Pomona last year and bought an old clock. I was walking around with it and saw some old Delco cabinets I liked. The guy says "I sure like that clock" and we ended up trading. I think it's still alive but for the younger crowd it may be out-of-the-box thinking.

 

I'd trade but most people don't usually have what I want.

Cash is a universal bartering tool.

 

I started out buying this '41 Ford, (in boxes) and this '39 ford pickups....


Then found this '40 Sedan DeLuxe at the Portland swap meet...


and SWAPPED it straight across for the '41 Pickup after I had bolted it loosely together...



Then turned around and SWAPPED both the '39 Pickup, and '40 Deluxe...



for my daily driver '41 Fordor.



I see more now than ever, people don't have the cash they used to, so SWAPPING appears to be coming back.

 

I think Ebay has taken it's toll! Plus you have the hamb classifieds, which makes it too easy to shop instead of walk a ton of isles of parts you don't want!!

Plus you have to remember that the swap meets are usually a good range of 30 years or so of cars/parts, now that we're getting so far away from the 40s 50s and 60s those parts are very thin!!! Mostly what I see now are 70s 80s and 90s crap!

 

I think it's a multipart problem for a lot of people... well, for myself at least.

First, I don't have a lot of car parts in general. Most of what I do have, I plan on using when I put my truck back together. So I don't really have anything to offer in trade.

Second, since I don't have a lot of stuff, it's not worth my time and money paying vendor fees to set up a table. So I don't bring what I do have to swaps. Also, parking is usually a bit of a hike, so leaving stuff in my car results in multiple trips back and forth the grounds for a part that may or may not get traded.

Third, I need the room in my car/trailer to bring home stuff I plan on finding/buying. If it's full of parts that I can't get rid of, then I'm stuck with no room.

Fourth, since the economy has been so poor lately, most vendors don't seem to want to trade. They want their cash, and to empty out their spot.

I find that most of my trades that happen at swap meets have been pre-arranged. I'm bringing a part specifically for another person, and he's bringing a part for me. Though it sure would be nice if more swappers were open for actually swapping. Just my opinion based on my experience. I'd be interested in hearing about more trades that take place though. You can get some neat stuff that way.

 

as one of the younger crowd ill be the first to agree with this, its a shame really. i think the economy has a little to do with it...cant pay the rent with the 8ba heads......

 

We usually like to take a load to each meet. Gives us a place to setup and sell and a central location for hauling our finds back. I find I can usually make a better deal selling the stuff I don't want and paying cash for what I do. That being said, I would definitely trade any of my junk for new treasures.

 

interesting stuff, i was thing that the other day when walking around, i dont see any swapping and its called a swap meet, every once in a while you will see a sign "wanted"....i'm sure if there were more of those signs more swapping would happen

 

Depends who your landlord is

 

I usualy have junk so its hard to trade

 

Part of the problem is that vendors have to generate cash to cover the cost of attending and you can't do that swapping parts. Gasoline, meals, and lodging are expensive, and the folks that supply those things don't want to swap for old car parts. They want money, and lots of it.

Bob

 

touche' .....id move into that place

 

Times, they are a changin

 

I'm not as old as some of you farts around here, but I have never heard of people actually bringing stuff to swap meets to swap.

 

I don't know where the origins of the term "swap meet" comes from, but I'm certain nobody has ever meant it to be a place to exclusively swap products.

Ebay, and the internet, has changed we find & buy parts forever. But there is good & bad in it too. Bad because some popular item's prices have gone way UP. And good, because we are able to find those rare items we would never find searching swap meets in a lifetime!

But believe me, I have found my share of rare items for cheap at swaps. I'm a swap meet junkie!

 

God you are a youngin' aren't you???

 

I do not want to haul around a pair of heads or a fender all day hoping someone will trade with me. Just to take it all back home.

I sell all my unwanted parts on craigslist and newspapers locally and take the cash from those sells to the swap meet and buy new/old stuff.

I understand your post and back in the day before the internet and weekly papers im sure it was the best way to trade

Its a wash either way you look at it.

MrC.

 

True. The guy I bought my first house from held the mortgage on it, and was heavily into '40s/'50s Fords. More than once, I traded him parts I'd picked up at swap meets in lieu of cash for my monthly payment. Everyone was happy.

 

Boeing Bomber your my hero.

 

I've been going to swap meets for over 35 years (granted the early ones were as a kid with my Dad), and I have never seen a guy walking around with parts offering to trade them for stuff at another guy's stall. Maybe in the beginning days of the hobby they did that at small swap meets, but your arms would now be twice as long if you walked around all day trying to find a trade at some of the larger meets.

Antiquated term. Not saying the basic idea is wrong, just saying I've never seen it happen.

 

Plus, it's so "dog eat dog" when scouring swap meets for parts these days that I can't see people taking the time to dicker over a parts for parts swap. It's not like forty years ago, when a lot of the stuff that's snapped up in the first hour of a swap meet today laid there for the entire morning and afternoon without finding a buyer. I've been to several swap meets this year that had so many guys swarming around each truck as it pulled into its space that it made me think of fifty hungry vultures all waiting for one groundhog to die.

 

went to my first swap with my buddy and his pop around 1975 when I was 15. so that's 36 years of swap meets. never swapped anything but lies.

 

... now that you bring this up I have never seen anyone run at a rod run either.

 

I remember when cars used to run at Rod Runs. Gymkhanas, poker runs, and slow drags.

 

I can't think of ever "swapping" parts at a meet before. When I take stuff, it's to sell. With that said, 3 weeks ago I actually did a swap right after the meet for a part I had there for sale. I traded a 32 Tudor door for a 32 frame.

 

Exactly, but I,m always open for a trade, maybe a sign would help. I also stopped calling them Swap Meets, now they are Parts Meets.
I walked Carlisle a month ago for 6+ hours and did not find one part to buy for my '51. I could have bought a ton of stuff for 1970's and up cars.

 

seems most of the folks I run acrossed are just like me....more parts than cash, so I trade alot!

 

Same here!

B.T.W.: I like your terminology "Parts Meets". But when you're not able to buy or trade I prefer to call them "Bullshit Outtings"! Because you end up doing more standing around bullshitting than you do buying.

 

You still see a lot of trading here on the HAMB...

I swapped a '59 Triumph TR3 for a '39 ford Standard several years ago... and a swapped a couple frames last year...