Event Coverage Is it just me or was LARS slow?

I sold at the swap this year and Saturday was slow. Friday seemed good and I sold well but it was just other sellers and show participants and I didn't expect much. Actually Saturday wasn't much busier than Friday.
I did hear one of the club members mention at the BBQ that they only had about 550 roadsters Saturday and almost twice that many the year before. But then 2014 was the 50th.
I guess we are all getting older and some dying off. Might be my last one too. Maybe I'll feel different next year.
I took this photo of "Tim with a T" Saturday midday and look only one lookielou in the background. You are shoulder to shoulder midday at Turlock January.

Gary

 

I thought it was slow. It has been a few years since I was there. I remember more roadsters and a lot better stuff in the swap. I did not see anything that even tempted me. I used to see outlandish stuff for sale. Kinmonts, Winter fronts, rare speed stuff, barn finds. I did get to talk to Isky and Candy Clark so the trip was worthwhile. I did not go back on Sunday.

 

A number of guys have mentioned the heat being a big factor.

 

You know Tim I don't think the heat was it. It was only in the mid 90s and that is pretty normal. I hate to think this stuff is warning but it might be.
Gary

 

I think I floated the idea of taking a year off. Everyone would miss it for sure!

 

Seemed down to me.

 

I think the age thing is a big part of the problem. We were at the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green this weekend and they might as well rename it the Gray Top Nationals! As I am nearly 62, I was made to feel as though I was the "kid".
The hobby may be taking a turn towards the "older crowd", but I think there is still hope. We just have to make sure that our children and grand children are a part of and an important part of what we do with our "toys"!
Just my $.02, KK

 

I am old and it was F***ing Hot, so I went home at 11 Saturday. I'm certain that I was not the only one.

 

Maybe time to return it to a Sunday only event like the good old days.

 

I have been selling in the swap meet at LARS for 9 years and this was the least amount of people I've seen on Saturday. It was so hot on Friday that we did not even set-up; just walked around a bit then stayed out of the sun. We set up Friday night after sunset and only sold Saturday, then left Saturday night. It was pretty hot Saturday and that combined with the smaller buying crowd we decided it wasn't worth staying for Sunday.

Still had a good time.

 

It's so weird how events can be 'hit or miss' at times. Unfortunately, California is stuck in a drought with constant hot weather. That is most likely a contributing factor. I was at Back To The 50's in St. Paul, Minnesota this past weekend. It was absolutely packed with hot rods and people. Not sure of the official count yet, but it was very close, if not over 12,000 cars and at least 100,000 people each day, probably 200,000 on Saturday alone. The gates opened at 6:00am and by 7:00am the 100 achers of the fairgrounds was about full. Saturday the entire grounds was stuffed with cars. It was a good mix of ages from teens up to 90's. It was hot and very humid...but it's BTT50's....so you go for it.

LARS is legendary, I'm sure the count will be up next year.

 

I didn't sell anything over $20, barely made back my entry fee. Same with my buddy next to me who usually does $1000 plus barely did $200. Swap meet was twice as big with 1/3 the buyers. overall attendance including roadsters, specialty parking and roadsters were WAY down. Great show none the less.

 

I did not travel down from Nor Cal, like some other car nuts I know. part was because it would be hard to top the 50th anniversary last year. part was because I try to rotate years between going to this show/swap one year and go to the Grand National Roadster Show the next - held at the Fair-Plex too. helps keep both events special, and save some bucks too.

 

Back to the 50's is a time warp.....they say there were some cars from the early 60's there!

 

A spectator can not get in on Friday or can they? There is not enough time to shop with only one day.
I've missed the last two years because it's a three + hour drive to get there.

 

BttF count was down a couple thousand from 2 years ago, but the weather forecasters were all screwed up, telling how terrible the weather was going to be and the rain ended by 9:00 am Saturday.
Did you notice there was very little cruising compared to other years? During the day Saturday, you could walk down the middle of almost any street. Swap meet on Sunday didn't seem as choked with lookylou's as in the past. Only thing I bought was a pair of snowshoes. Got lots of laughs as I carried them out. LOL

 

Seemed slow on Friday as far as people in the swap meet area, still had good sales. Saterday didn't seem to have the usual crowd but I had a good day, buying and selling.

 

Same here, we unloaded my cars and set up my buddies awning on his rig and we were spent. We hid in the AC after that, we cruised around in the evening and didn't fully set up until Sat. Morning. We left Sat. Evening, it was a ghost town, just needed some tumbleweeds cruising through....

 

I did see some Kinmonts on a table there for 10k if I remember correctly

 

It seems to me that there was more new shiny parts there, but still well worth the trip. I was walking in the swap all day, lucky I invested in one of those sunblock shirts.....it was way hot but I didn't get burned.

Still one of the shows/swaps I look forward to every year and I'm sad on Monday that's it's over.

 

Some people that I talk to say that the swap has gotten to big to walk , and that most of the stuff is overpriced . That might do it .

 

There were some deals to be had, one of my buddies picked up a set of big & little American 200 S's (Daisies) with vintage tires for $300.00. I thought that was well bought. I had to limit my visit to Sunday only due to a prior commitment, but I almost everything I wanted to accomplish done, so it was a successful trip.

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It was way to hot for this old guy !! I left 15 min after Tony!!

 

Saw a guy walking around with a V8 60 tube axle over his shoulder. Pat Ganahl said he paid $700 for it. Last year you could have bought a chrome one there for half that. Maybe two years ago. I have trouble keeping track of time lately.
Gary

 

You'd better skip going to Herhsey then, if you're not into walking!

 

My personal take is......Every year I park and hit the swap on Saturday right away. Because of the usual over priced crap, the fact I rarely find anything reasonably priced (probly because the vendors empty each other out on Friday) this year I skipped the swap completely and looked at the cars. I was glad i did as CARS are my passion and I usually get too tired from walking the swap to walk all the cars. My friends who still hit the swap said it was all the same over priced crap and I didn't miss anything. It's a changing of the guard in some sense as 20-30 yrs ago you could build a car in your backyard from swap meet gems and save money. Nowadays it's a good way to go broke. It's WAY cheaper to buy a car close to what you want and tweak it to your taste. Interior shops, painters, chromers, and swap meet vendors have lost their minds on what they charge.

 

Several factors have reduced the crowds at LARS. The change of the lay out to be more spread out makes the crowed seem smaller, plus the general admission folk enter on the opposite side of the fairgrounds, many of them never make it as far as the swapmeet.

In previous years, you could pay for whole weekend at the specialty parking entrance, get a sticker on your headlight and a wristband and come and go as you pleased all weekend. This year, no headlight sticker, no wrist band, and they charged you admission every time you entered.

Also this year, the heat kept many away, and sent many home early.

As for swapmeet deals, you just gotta look a bit harder. I did pretty well, picked up some 15"x6" torquethrust style wheels, '40 deluxe steering wheel, early Vette steering wheel, Nardi steering wheel, Deuce Tudor chrome windshield frame, Wieand wcv 327 dual quad intake all at very reasonable prices.

 

I sold very little on Friday and Saturday the heavy selling only latest about 3 hours then the heat was too much I think. Lots of people looking but not buying. By 3PM Saturday the place was dead....I left. I didn't even bother going back Sunday.

I think the LA Roadsters could do a better job of organizing this event. For one, I was in the second row to get in and by the time I rolled in, a number of people were just taking yellow caution tape and marking off 10 and 15 spaces...even though they only paid for one or two (saving spaces for their buddies)....anyways, people told me a lot of those spaces stayed empty all weekend. They need to have assigned spaces like in Turlock or an early registration process.

There seems to be a lot of preferential treatment for certain people, certain cars were let in early and got to park up front, even though other people had waited in line for 3 days....

I still had a good time.... I was right next to "The Goners" car club from So. Central LA...those guys were keeping me entertained.

 

Walked the swap meet twice Friday and three times Saterday. I'm from the Midwest and the temps didn't seem bad to me. In fact , I enjoyed it. Was nice not to have the humidity.