The alarm goes off and I struggle to come out of the fog of sleep. It's early and the day before was a filled with hard traveling. My fiancé' is up and ready to go. I smile. When it comes to a swap meet he becomes like the Energizer Bunny. His Passion for these old rusty car parts has always amazed me. This hobby of his has proven to show his great appreciation for the vintage car and the components that make up each masterpiece. He knows the parts of each car that interests him and knows their value. He knows a good deal when he sees it. It always amazes me how much knowledge he has stored in that brain of his concerning what looks like to me, rusty clumps of metal. I see how each car is a like a huge puzzle and here, at the swap meet is where one finds the pieces for the puzzle in mind. You can find duplicates, after markets, or search harder for the original authentic pieces.

            We’ve traveled many miles to attend this event (all of our vacations seem to center around attending a swap meet along the way). As we arrive I look around and wonder where do these people come from? The local fair grounds are full of rusty metal lumps and boxes. There’s the man that knows his parts and knows the value of it, peddling them in the market of swap meets that he knows so well. Then there’s the guy who has held onto a few car parts for years dreaming of building his dream car. Finally his wife has demanded to clean out the garage and he resorts to bringing them to the local swap meet to get a few dollars out of what’s left of his dream.

            I am amazed at the dedication these people have toward this kind of “shopping”. It matters not if it’s cold and snowing or hot and raining, they are still there (and we are too!) buying and selling these precious possessions.

            As we walk up and down each aisle and ask the price of this or that we hear over and over, “well I can get $$ for it on eBay”.  This brings up the other most successful avenue of finding needed car parts. And like the local swap meet it has its benefits and faults. Anyone with a PC can sell their parts online easily. This gives the buyer a much larger range of market and ultimately, the entire world is his limit of finding needed parts. The down fall of this system however is one doesn’t get to view the parts personally. It only takes getting burned badly a time or two and eBay doesn’t look as enticing. Walking around at the swap meet as my fiancé looks with a trained eye, I listen. I hear many sad stories of receiving parts via eBay and it not being what it was advertised as. Caution must be taken to prevent such errors being made and protect oneself from such “burnings”. Even with that said, eBay is still the most used and most successful manner of finding the car parts you are in search for. However, should a swap meet be advertised in your area, it would definitely benefit you to attend. Many connections can be made with different companies and peddlers that show up at these unique events.