8/19/2005 By Tom Wilson

Recently, your Auto-Phile returned from a six-hour foray through the VMCCA (Veteran Motor Car Club of America) swap meet at Fowlerville, Michigan. I did not find exactly what I wanted - hard-to-find hubcaps, door handles, and a temperature gauge for the current project car - but did pick up a few other really useful or interesting items, all at astonishingly reasonable prices. Readers who have prowled the automotive swap meets will be familiar with the territory: unpredictable weather yielding an unpredictable turnout of both venders AND shoppers, heavy crowds or sparse turnout and long walks from parking areas. But, no doubt some of you have never been to a swap meet. It would be useful to readers in both categories to consider the different factors that may or may not contribute to a productive swap-meet experience:

There are different categories of swap meets. These range from small to the absolutely monstrous. In the small category you may find local ones, often "Startup" ones that have not had a long run to develop a returning clientele of vendors and shoppers, good publicity connections, and a reliable "grapevine," or word-of-mouth reputation. These events may be sponsored by local communities, such as the chamber of commerce or community-based organizations like men's clubs or the fire department. Or, possibly they may be started by regional groups of car clubs. In this case, parts vendors will be selling primarily items that will help with auto repairs and restoration of the focus brand of that club, such as Chevrolet or Ford. You may already be finding one of these in your own little hometown, usually only once a year. Beware, though – these meets may be here this year and not here next year! This depends on the strength and determination of their sponsors.

Next, we find many well-established swap meets organized on a generic and/or regional basis, providing spaces for anywhere from 40 or 50 to as many as 100 or perhaps even more vendors. Such meets are usually publicized in daily newspapers, and or may be listed in the classified section of popular antique-car publications, such as Cars & Parts, Old Cars Weekly, or Hemming’s Motor News. In some cases, the sponsors may even purchase display ads in these pubs and the many others that proliferate today in the current old-auto frenzy!

These meets tend to attract a healthy variety of parts for a variety of types of cars. Examples in Michigan include the meets at Hickory Corner's "Red Barn" location, The Reavie "Nostalgia Production" events at St. Ignace, Utica's "Carnival of cars," and a few others. Some may cater especially to truck or fire truck restorations, foreign brands, custom or hot rod type vehicle owners, or even motorcycles fans, and have little to offer the old-car buff working on a piece of “vintage iron.” But often those meets dedicated to a particular brand or corporate automotive group will have a few items for other types of cars, so these may still be good events for you to attend.

But the largest swap meets of all, for the most part, are held outside of Michigan, most only about a day’s drive from our beloved Water Wonderland.

The king of them all is the overwhelming AACA (Antique Automobile Club of America) "Hershey Fall Meet," in Pennsylvania. There you will find thousands of vendors from all over the nation, and some half-dozen miles (yes, MILES) of aisle-walking to do, that is if you want to do it ALL!

You can check out parts vendors of every manner of size, age of parts, and sophistication, as well as insurance and tire companies, tents for popular magazines, and so forth. Other such titanic meets include those at Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Iola, Wisconsin; Homestead and Zephyr Hills in Florida; and perhaps some others in the central plains states, as well as in California- ones that the Auto-Phile has never visited.

It behooves you to know that some swap meets are GOOD swap meets and some are “NOT SO HOT” swap meets! How can this be? I will provide two contrasting examples: At Fowlerville, probably 80%, maybe more, of the vendors were selling usable used parts, new old stock parts, vital restoration services, or perhaps reproduction parts, which are new parts produced to the specifications and standards (hopefully) of the original parts used to build the car when it was new. Some of these vendors had a smattering of non-auto things, for example the very sturdy used hand truck I bought at Fowlerville for only $10.00, or perhaps a kiddy pedal car. It actually adds interest and variety to your swap-meet browsing to spot something like this mixed in with the vendor’s other offerings.

By contrast, a visit to the big swap meet at the Kruse auction grounds in Indiana in September of 2004 revealed that in an immense field of 200 or so (we did not count) vendors, we only found FOUR vendors that were selling used or new old stock parts for restoring cars! I was looking for new-old-stock brake parts, and found only one vendor selling these parts. The rest of the so-called vendors were selling imported tools, car cleaning supplies, insurance, household knickknacks, non-auto-related antiques, arts & crafts items, junk food & drinks, etc., all things you could probably buy right in your own home town, or at the nearest K or Wal Mart! It was a long drive for a disappointing result!

While many swap meets also sponsor a car show, (or, conversely, were started by the car show sponsors), some are mainly parts swap-meets only, and that is what we are focusing on here. I hope this column proves useful for persons currently working on either an old-car “fixup” or an extensive restoration, but particularly for those who are embarking on their first project, and have not prowled the swap meets yet. It is just a lot of fun, and a great way to spend a weekend afternoon and meet other persons that are interested in this hobby, in an informal setting.

The smaller meets can be very hard to find. They may not be publicized in the media at
all. Some are virtually informal. The best connection is via either local auto clubs that you
might find out about at a local “cruise night” or by joining a brand-specific car club that
has either informal local gatherings or ones that are publicized only in the club’s
newsletters. The most popular clubs are ones associated with Ford, Chevrolet, and Chrysler
“Mopar” products. Check the internet for that brand. – A Google search for clubs and
sources might do the trick, or try to link up with other owners of your brand, or “marque”
and ask about local club meetings and informal get-togethers. You may turn up some
surprising sources!

Also, a good idea is to make up some personal “business cards” for your hobby interest.
You can make them up on your computer and print them on pre-perforated sheets that you
can buy at the office supply, or just write up your content and have them printed at most
local office supply stores. Include your name, your interest area (Ford, AMC, pickup
trucks, auto emblem collection, etc.), address, phone number, and if you have them, E-
mail address or website. You can even put an emblem or picture of your favorite car on the card
with your computer or have the print shop do this.

Here are some local listings found in our Auto-Phile calendar that are potentially good sources of parts in Michigan:

Sterling Heights: Eastside “A” Annual Swap meet;
Monroe: Chevy Club of America, Swap meet & car corral,
Mendon: Annual O. C. Dustoff Show, swap, car corral

Then there are the regional meets. Michigan has some most excellent choices in this category, namely:

Hickory Corners, Red-Barn meets, (many shows throughout the summer)
Monroe College Fall Car Shows, (small swap meet)
Midland Antique Festivals, (SEPARATE antiques and craft show for the wife/girlfriend!)
Fowlerville Fairgrounds swap meet, G.L Reg. VMCCA Swap Meet & car sale
Coldwater 4H Fairgrounds show, Coldwater Chamber. of Commerce. Huge car show, a large swap meet, and as well, a car corral.

For the folks new to this hobby and new to the car meets, a “car corral” is a specially set aside area, usually fenced in where meet attendees may bring vintage cars, and sometime trucks and motorcycles, that they wish to sell. Owners pay a small fee for the space, and post cards on the vehicles with price, owner phone numbers, location, features and problems of the car, spare parts that might be included in the deal, and perhaps pictures and info on other cars the seller has available at home. The Car Corral is our favorite part of the meet, and I never miss the chance to browse through one of these “used cars lots from the past!”

Check the the Auto-Phile Calendar in one of our spring issues, April and May for the swap meets that might be in your area. Even if you don’t have a project car yet, you just might find one there!