[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Denton Farm Park has shower houses.
And camping spots with power/water , and primative camping spots.
When the leaves are on the trees , most all those are shaded.

They have a Tweetsie Railroad type train that encircles most of the place.
It's a great venue and I hope they put the Hornets Nest out of business in Charlotte
Greedy MoFo's
But they would need to conduct an Auto Only event.

About 15-20 minutes southwest of Asheboro down Hwy 49 towards Charlotte.

[VCho455]

I love the PDX swap meet. It's the top social event of my year! Plus I get to find parts and tools.

This year's haul was 1-1/2 Pontiac Qjets for 10 bucks! A 1982 Trans Am steering wheel, 5 cans of carb cleaner, 3 top end gasket sets for my 401 with a timing chain thrown in to boot, an SK tubing wrench set, a barely used Cornwall die grinder, a driver quality set of 64 GTO taillights with the gas door for $10, and a pair of the good casting LT1 heads with an intake for $225.

The crazy days of the muscle car boom are over. There are almost no $500 cars out in fields and barns waiting to be parted out. Now those cars are $5000 or more dollars and after 50 plus years there are very few nice parts left on them.

Swap meets are going back to the days of car enthusiasts looking for salvageable parts for their restoration. The folks who are in it to make easy money are going to have to find something else to do.

Don't listen to Vidan he's still cranky about the 1/2 Qjet! 🙂

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by VCho455

… This year's haul was 1-1/2 Pontiac Qjets for 10 bucks! …

this needs explanation!
(please)

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

The only swap meet I go to on a regular basis is the Daytona Turkey Run every November. It's not particularly good for Pontiacs, but it is where I found a NOS Delco-Remy white-dot HEI Ignition Module for $25 that I installed over a year ago and is working perfectly vs. aftermarket (yes, even modern ACDelco) offerings that were malfunctioning after six months on average.

I think there is one Pontiac tent at Daytona Turkey Run Swap meet, and it never really has anything interesting or good. Seen a couple cylinder head sets and common carbs, but that's it. It's a gold mine for Chebby boys, though.

Sometimes our biggest weakness is that we are into a niche BOP engine family where it's harder to find parts for, but that makes the hunt all the more exhilarating. I just wish there were more big Pontiac events in Florida where I'd have better chances of running into parts.

[VCho455]

In

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

this needs explanation!
(please)

Here's the half Pontiac Qjet. Pontiac top, unknown chevy/Buick center with stripped inlet threads, and unknown base plate. Basically a parts carb.

[BOB VIDAN]

VCho455 , why do I have to negotiate all the "deals" YOU get?

[VCho455]

Bob your better at negotiations than I am.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by VCho455

Here's the half Pontiac Qjet. Pontiac top, unknown chevy/Buick center with stripped inlet threads, and unknown base plate. Basically a parts carb.

interesting - and good catch
I would have seen the sideways fuel inlet, and moved on...

Airhorn: is that a 1967 or 1968 Pontiac casting?
fuel bowl: chevrolet
throttle body: buick

I found another "frakenstein" Quadrajet there (but honestly, very few haven't been through a rebuilder by now);
After getting home, I opened it up to investigate and found that it had:
a 1967 airhorn and fuel bowl;
a 1968 throttlebody.

Like yours, mine had the tag missing - but as far as I was able to deduce, it was likely a 7027272;
Mine had obviously been through a rebuilder, with the fuel filter inlet threads heli-coiled, and the float pivot repaired.
That fuel inlet heli-coil alone justified the purchase.

I have since swapped a 1967 throttlebody, and added other incidental missing pieces.

[ta6point6]

I love swap meets being a reseller to bad there are only 2 good ones here in CO. I do the same thing I do at the junkyard at swap meets. I look for parts that I think other people will pay for on ebay or marketplace. This year I found square body tach gauge cluster, pontiac vac gauge, square body hubcaps, trans am taillights, some more metrinch tools, a couple alpine stereos and a few misc emblems. After I sell these parts I have cash in my pocket to buy the things I need for my projects. Not to mention I am saving parts from the crusher and helping others in finding the parts they need. Swap meets are a resellers treasure chest I am surprised more people do not do this

[John Milner]

I enjoy swap meets. I have been going to them nearly my whole life. I don't set up to sell much. I do occasionally, though. I make several a year and almost always come home with something.

Some of the items I have bought at swap meets in the past couple of years:

Original 1969 GTO Judge Spoiler: $75
18 Spline Hemi 4 speed complete with 440 bellhousing and pistol grip shifter: $800
1968 #16 heads: $250
1969 #62 heads: $200
1965 bare tripower intake: $100

A few items that I barely missed as they sold before I could buy:

1970 YZ 400 complete with carb and exhaust manifolds: $750
1969 WH 4 bolt Ram Air IV block: $680

There are deals to be had at swap meets and you can't find them unless you go look.

[burd]

One year at Norwalk, AN Aum SD frame was on the skid for 75 k.
I dug out 75$ and passed it to the guy. Lmao.

[unruhjonny]

I'm revisiting this thread today because I am considering my early year plans;
There is a late February swap meet in Lethbridge (about a two hour drive south of me), and then this meet in April.

Because I am re-reading this, I wanted to reply to a couple posts:

Originally Posted by Lemans64

...
Race track was where we got most of our deals, BUT you had to dig, look for shiny stuff. And take boots cuz your gonna get wet.
...
Not sure why some vendors go, they spend days loading absolute junk that any sane person would deposit at scrap bin unload it at swap meet then do it all over again. ...

Amen.

Originally Posted by bdk1976

I have attended both the expo and PIR meets for close to 20 years now (including this past Thursday (PIR) and Friday (expo)).
...
It (expo meet) is clearly in a death spiral and has been circling the drain for a while now - getting substantially smaller and more irrelevant every year.
...

(a belated) Thank you for your take on this.

Originally Posted by bdk1976

The entry fees and parking seem steep now, but that seems mostly due to the falling value of the USD than price gouging by the event hosts IMO - I'm sure the city of portland and/or other related 'entities' are taking a decent cut of the proceeds as well.

I doubt it has anything to do with the value of the dollar;
It probably has to do with projected attendance numbers, and the organizers wanting to remain profitable.
The irony is that they would likely boost attendance numbers if they lowered gate and parking fees - on the merit's of people going back, or word getting out of it being cheaper to attend.

Originally Posted by bdk1976

I call BS on the claim all expo vendor stalls are 'booked up'. I saw an ad on craigslist last week that said indoor spaces still available at the expo center - looked to be from the organizers, not second hand stall sales ...

I agree one-hundred-percent.
I was being bold faced lied to.
I said my bit there after estimates of the observed open booth spaces to juxtipose against observations.

[burd]

1 and a half months, first swap of 2026.

If you don’t go, you won’t find anything.

[71GP76TA]

I haven't been to a swap meet in a couple years. Most everything around here has been picked over. The last few I attended around here (central California) were filled with junk and went home empty handed. Nothing worse that going to a swap meet and buying junk you don't need just to be buying something.

[burd]

I feel that way abut Norwalk, last couple times, I found nothing, I always find stuff here in the D.

[Ben M.]

I miss swap meets. But honestly, I haven't bought a single thing from one in 18 years because every time I go everything is either garbage you can get from Alibaba or "not for sale"

I think the environment and car culture has shifted, you can buy parts from collectors and dealers online at any time of the day without having to wait for a swap meet. And whether your swap meet is any good depends on the culture of the folks who attend - if it's just a bunch of locals who want to enjoy each others company and make some bucks, that's one thing. If it's all grumpy guys who just want to make a buck, the "give me your money and stop bugging me!" guys, and dudes who go to salvage yards on weekends to break the tail light lenses and steal the bulbs via their pockets to resell, that's just not any fun.

I do enjoy going for the people watching. Watching young kids run around and old fogies on scooters who refuse to let anyone pass by them argue with each other makes for good entertainment! At least out here in NorCal there's a huge crowd to justify my $50 entrance, parking, and snacks fees.

[GOAT8U2]

Poncho- Mike
He posts the meet kept his and others $1200 for an event that never happened in a years time frame of them making up excuses why they couldn't refund him asap. Really sad, you might wanna find the other vendors and team up to give them hell in any way deemed fit.

[unruhjonny]

/\ small correction;
the $1200 was his money;
He said that others had similar experiences.

[poncho-mike]

Yes, the $1200 was my money. I used to get six spaces, others would go and get their spaces through me. I did this for years because it was the only way to keep friends together. Most of the time I only used two spaces. Other vendors I know asked Autofair for their money back citing personal difficulties, and were refunded. I let mine roll because I could afford it. In the end, the Hornets Nest said there was a clause in the agreement that if the event was cancelled for reasons beyond their control, they would not refund the money. I said I'd never go back, and I've held to that. I also won't attend their event at North Wilkesboro.

I plan on downsizing starting in summer 2026, so I might have to rethink my position. It will be tough to accept going back after getting screwed.

[GOAT8U2]

Unruhjonny, you might've read my post too quickly...

"He posts the meet kept his and others $1200"