good way to take a positive side to it!
why would you want to ignore Bonnewagon like that???
ENGLISHTOWN SWAP MEET
- Thread starter TURNA
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why would you want to ignore Bonnewagon like that???
What really annoys me are the guys on bikes riding around from table to table cutting you off then blocking everything
Hey! I resemble that remark! But if I'm on a mission to find something special I will abstain and hold my nose while I paw through tons of peoples crap. Turna- the guy that wants me to go with him once actually bought a 20" bike for $5 just so he wouldn't have to walk all day. At the end he gave it to some kid. I've been doing E-town for many years and it has always been feast or famine. Some years we leave with nothing and others we are loaded up like the Beverly Hillbillies. Yes, the Pokemon vendors can be a pain but all in all I have found lots of rare treasures and needed parts. One year it rained and I walked around shouting "Who has Pontiac parts?" A guy pulled back a tarp and there was a functional '74 GTO hood scoop. I bought it and modified it to fit my '77 TA. And I love dickering over price, I got a chain saw for $7 and a Q-jet for $3.
A few swap meets I use to go to all the time seemed to have suffered the same fate others mentioned. Back in the 80’s I would go to the swap meet/car shows that had plenty of good part vendors as well as memoriabilia like manuals, brochures, etc. Enjoyed spending an afternoon and getting a deal now and then.
When I moved to AZ, Tucson had the indoor and outdoor swap meets that were really good. They still might be going on but I have not been to them in over 15 years. I could get the car magazines I liked a few days before they were in the stores, comics for my nephew, and some car toys I liked. There were decent items with plenty of vendors. Then with Ebay and such getting bigger around 97-98, the good vendors headed online. Within a few months the tables were now loaded with cheap sunglasses, plastic containers, “as seen on tv” type junk was taking over. Eventually less and less vendors were displaying and it was not worth the trip.
I do remember one of the vendors I was friendly with just decided going on Ebay was easier. He did not have to cart his stuff all over, packing and unpacking, setting up. He just felt it was better for him running his business from home and becoming a mail shipping setup. He did go to few car shows, but never to the weekly local swap meet.
When I moved to AZ, Tucson had the indoor and outdoor swap meets that were really good. They still might be going on but I have not been to them in over 15 years. I could get the car magazines I liked a few days before they were in the stores, comics for my nephew, and some car toys I liked. There were decent items with plenty of vendors. Then with Ebay and such getting bigger around 97-98, the good vendors headed online. Within a few months the tables were now loaded with cheap sunglasses, plastic containers, “as seen on tv” type junk was taking over. Eventually less and less vendors were displaying and it was not worth the trip.
I do remember one of the vendors I was friendly with just decided going on Ebay was easier. He did not have to cart his stuff all over, packing and unpacking, setting up. He just felt it was better for him running his business from home and becoming a mail shipping setup. He did go to few car shows, but never to the weekly local swap meet.
That's the key.
The 90's brought about the internet and while it has helped a lot in finding parts it also killed the fun of the search at swap meets and running around on Thursdays mornings searching for the new issue of The Car Buyers Market paper.
Add to that, what was $10-$20 hard to find parts became $100-$150 "rare" common parts that a couple dozen guys list with several on hand. Even non usable junk parts are worth more on Ebay.
I love when I see 10 pages on Ebay with the same type of part listed as rare, hard to find, etc! Same thing with other items like diecast cars. Love the “rare” posting and the box will say 1 of 12,000. Plus there might be 100 other auctions with a similar die-cast.
I use to joke that the only deals people got on Ebay was when I was selling something! They got a great deal on a low bidded auction! lol Seriously the best thing I did when I sold a few things years ago was having a reserve on them. A few times there were problems with Ebay being unaccessible when a few of my auctions ended and it was a disaster. Really lowball wins. Luckily it was not big ticket items and eventually Ebay had put in safe guards to prevent it. This was 20 years ago and thankfully it happened to me early on. So I never put anything up without a reserve and contrary to all the bs of reserve auctions back then, I sold almost everything the first time. Again that was a long time ago and so much has changed since then.
Almost forgot to add, everything fits everything listed in Ebay motors. Never knew a Nissan fender fits all of our cars.
Ebay is great for a lot of things. But nothing beats holding the part in your own hands and evaluating it. Not to mention dickering over the price face to face. And many car parts are pretty heavy so the shipping cost can ruin the deal fast. I guess each has it's own place and I use them both. Perhaps smaller swap meets are benefiting from the larger meets dysfunction. The Belmont swap meet is a lot better than it used to be. I for one would rather shop locally then go all the way into Jersey.
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