[jamesq]

I went to the Pate swap meet in Ft Worth yesterday. I hadn't been in about five years due to moving out of the area. About 3 out of 4 "vendor" spaces have been bought up as parking and camper spaces!

This means that I have to walk 3-4 times farther to see the real vendors. This is a big (3000 spaces) meet and used to be a good place to see many parts and cars in a relatively small space. Now that it is at the Nascar track, it seems space is unlimited. I don't think I will return.

The lack of Pontiac stuff available has sadly not changed...

Side rant - the only folks making real money are the scooter rental vendors!
I spend a lot of time dodging folks on scooters who are oblivious to walking folks.

I guess the internet is truly the best source for parts now...

James Q

[1965gp]

Not surprised- I thought about going but got tied up. Hate the people that use scooters that don’t need them.

[jamesq]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

Not surprised- I thought about going but got tied up. Hate the people that use scooters that don’t need them.

I agree with this 100%! I know the hobby is older and there are some who really need the scooters, but it's the folks that should be walking that bug me.

I would like to know the money made by the scooter folks at $80/day!

James Q

[RocktimusPryme]

I made a thread a few years ago about the same topic and mostly got skewered by people who like riding at the swap meets.

I get that hot rods are for everyone, and the scooters allow some people who need them to enjoy the swap. Great. I love it.

What I don’t love is that for every one person who really needs one there are 10 who are just fat and lazy. I am also fat and lazy. If I can put my big boy pants on and walk around so can they.

[mysticmissle]

we went to Carlisle last week. there is a lot of stuff in this area still. I always bring my father in law he is almost 80. He rarely buys anything, but he loves to poke around and try to find things for his old fords, Model T and an A. As long as he feels like walking, im going to go.
I like finding the odd stuff too. There's not a lot of gold out there anymore but it is amazing what surfaces occasionally and its always worth the time. The scooter rentals are definitely making money, and the internet is invaluable for finding much needed items, but there are no bargains in my opinion. Everyone knows what they have, and that's fine, because it least its buyable.

[burd]

Parts have run out, most swap guys won’t deal at all now, it’s not like it used to be, then you see the guys trying to sell tables full of hot wheels, or the new crappy tool guys,
I go because it beats sitting around the old folks home doing puzzles.

I’ll start it,

THINGS YOU HATE TO SEE AT SWAP MEETS

Tables of die cast cars
Used speed parts no one will buy
New tool vendors
Lady selling purses
Insurance company with a booth set up

[Stuart]

People have been complaining about the amount of non-car related items for sale at swap meets for as long as I can remember - it's nothing new.

You can't always tell just by looking at someone if they need a scooter or not.

[bdk1976]

Swap meets around here seem to have entered a death spiral. There are at least three annual swaps within an hour of where I live that have ceased to exist within the past few years. Seeing half of the spots at the Portland Expo Center empty this year doesn't provide a lot of optimism moving forward, either.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by Stuart

You can't always tell just by looking at someone if they need a scooter or not.

I agree 100%, I can walk, and stand for short distances, but by dedicating most of my life to twisting wrenches, I have a lot of ailments that aren't obvious, as does my wife. To the casual bystander I might appear fully functional, but it goes downhill as I walk, and stand. By the time I walk around a Walmart, my knees, and back are getting aggravated quickly. I could never cover Norwalk for more than an hour without severe discomfort. I'm not fat, and lazy, but I know my limitations.

If Norwalk bans carts, as they talked about last year, I might be staying home. I might act like I'm 17, but in reality I'm 70, with lots of back, and leg ailments.

Don't judge the book by the cover.

My wife and I at Norwalk:

[jamesq]

I get the scooter issue and that ship sailed when someone realized how much money could be made. I still don't like dodging them.

I guess my main issue is with the swap meet organizers who allow folks to purchase spaces for parking and campers. This is what makes the Pate meet very hard to cover on foot. Again, money must drive this decision.

The only other large meet I have been able to attend is the Fall Moultrie Ga meet.
They have a much larger car corral and similar # of swap spaces in about 1/3 of the space Pate uses. Much easier on my old legs!

James Q

[72projectbird]

I guess I'm young enough where swap meets were never a thing I participated in. It was always people looking to find gold for pennies on the dollar, but in reality it was sellers trying to offload crap that they couldn't sell anywhere else.

I guess I just have always known what I want, and buy it. No need to stroll around and look for something I dont know if I need. Even if a seller actually had something I was looking for, how much am I really saving? Dealing with crowds of people, morons on scooters/carts who dont need them, getting sunburned, for what? To save a few bucks?

Yeah, I'll take the internet 100% of the time.

[Stuart]

I still like going to swap meets, even though I already have too much junk already. The first big swap of the year here is next weekend; I'm going with a couple buddies, and for the most part it's window shopping and hanging out for us - we just like to look for neat stuff, even if it's not anything we need for our own cars. I may buy an odd wrench or an old car magazine, but that's usually all I bring home.

[carbking]

After I read this thread, I re-watched a video my Dad took of Hershey in 1987.

We attended Hershey from 1972 through 1991. The first year, we leased two spaces, and drove in and out each day. The folks at Hershey didn't like that, and we had too much valuable (at least to me) stuff to leave unattended.

Beginning in 1974, we leased 4 spaces. We leased a tent and portable toilet on three of them, and parked the motor home in the 4th. We lived in the swap meet and guarded our merchandise at night. Didn't do the best job, because we still had losses out the the tent!

The video shows that in 1987, at least half of the spaces were contained campers of "professional vendors" also guarding their stuff.

As we now have too much business (NOT a complaint!) to spend the 15 days it took to vend at Hershey, no longer go. In fact, haven't been to a swap meet even as a buyer in probably 15 years, so cannot comment on current conditions.

In the years 1972~1991, scooters were not a problem. There were a few private ones, but the meet organizers required medical documentation in advance, and charged for a special permit. I had a good friend, younger than I, that needed one due to a very bad back.

The video is very interesting, but the file is almost a gigabyte, so will not be posting.

Jon

[FirebirdHank]

I've been in the hobby for over 40 years. Back in the 80s if you needed a part for your old car about the only way to find one was to go to swap meets. The big meets up here in Wisconsin were/are Jefferson and Iola. I was a regular at the spring /fall Jefferson and at Iola. I also did some smaller meets. Then the internet came along and I found that I could shop the net and find what I needed when I needed it. I think it has been about 20 years since I have gone to Jefferson. I started going to Iola again but not to walk for miles to find parts. I take my '69 Firebird which gets me onto the "show field". The entry fee is the same as two daily admissions and gets you two wrist bands and free parking. I go first to the car corral to see what is for sale. Then I stop at a friends swap space and spend a couple of hours catching up with him. Then I make my way back to the car catching some food along the way. There is usually a lot of good conversations on the show field and always many interesting cars. The day has to include some deep fried cheese curds and a trip through the big money show cars and then the hour and a half trip back home. It is now a social event that I look forward to and there is a swap meet going on in the back-ground. Times change. And, now my wife is willing to go along with me if she isn't busy with something else.

[jamesq]

I understand the professional vendors getting extra spots and see no problem with buying the show space for parking.

The problem is the buying of swap meet vendor spaces for no other reason than for good parking and bringing no parts to sell.

Unlike in some other areas, we have no swap meets in north Louisiana I am aware of.
I have to drive about 4 hrs to the DFW area for any swap meets.

I guess the old days are no more and I will get used to it.

James Q

['ol Pinion head]

Pate was a phenomenal swapper in the 80's & 90's when it was down near Cresson next to the Pate museum. Attended for a year, then worked it for 17 years. Through the 90's it was not uncommon for me to jog 10-12 miles on a Thursday combing the rows. The last few years before it moved up to the Speedway, it was right under 90 acres. Very similar size to Spring Carlisle.

Once Pate moved up to the Speedway, it was pretty much ruined. Set up the first 3 years, & it wasn't just the Internet taking off, or folks not bringing out parts, it was just the poor layout @ the Speeway that made it FUBAR. Since thise first few years & moving to the parking lots, I've been less than a half dozen times, makes next to no sense to spend weeks getting parts together & parts tubs organized. As far as parking on spaces & campers, have no issue with it. Scooters everywhere impeding foot traffic is something else.

[burd]

I’d like to get an Amigo for the swaps, place for your coffee, parts, and you can sit and cruise around. Maybe paint it a put bird decals on it,

[61-63]

Did you look at the car corral? I haven't been to Pate in ten or twelve years but remember the car coral always having some neat cars at what I thought were reasonable prices.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by burd

I’d like to get an Amigo for the swaps, place for your coffee, parts, and you can sit and cruise around. Maybe paint it a put bird decals on it,

My '69 Mini trail takes up similar room. Rode it for years at several regional auto swappers that would allow. At the old Pate, not from 10 till 5, was warned more than once by one of big deputy sheriffs on horseback

[jamesq]

Originally Posted by 61-63

Did you look at the car corral? I haven't been to Pate in ten or twelve years but remember the car coral always having some neat cars at what I thought were reasonable prices.

The weather was very iffy the whole weekend so the car corral never really filled up. There was a 1957 Safari Transcontinental in a swap meet space, but it was sold and gone before I could look at it!

James Q