Generally swap meets provide the same services as one another and all are well managed these days. You can find car parts, motorbike parts, truck parts, books and periodicals, tools, cars for sale, car badges, gardening tools, hand made soaps and many other things.
Getting ready to go to a swap usually involves some travel, and some people drive hundreds of miles to get to a swap. Wild horses would not keep them away.
Why do people follow the swaps
When you think about it, it is a very exciting time, getting the car ready and loading all those “for sale" parts up. Then travelling with a couple of other cars in convoy all adds to the excitement.
Usually there are a number of friends, sometimes in classic car clubs who get together, pool all of their parts and book a site to do some selling and haggling.
It’s always interesting to get around and see what other people have for sale, especially if you are looking for some rare spares. Depending on the size of the swap you may have a good chance of finding what you want.
These stall holders usually bring their swags and camp on their site, which all adds to the experience. A lot of them put up a small tent, fold out the table and chairs and make a real day out of it. People come along whom you have not seen since last year, making it a real social get together.
Swap Tips
Get yourself a nice deep bag with a zipped top which has a nice shoulder strap. This will allow you to add parts to your bag and let your shoulder do the carrying. Also your hands will be free to pick up other goodies to check them over. If you don’t have a bag, after buying a couple of things your hands are full and you are cornered.
Instead of walking everywhere and standing all day long, you can take a nice light folding chair with you. I tell you what it is nice to sit down for a while after doing a few kilometres.
When you see some people you know at a stall or standing about you can fold out your chair and take the load off your feet.
It’s surprising who you will see walking past while you are sitting down.
Some people bring a small trolley and pull it around. However, this can be a nuisance sometimes when you get into the really thick traffic. People tend to run into them.
Of course you can use the allocated parts pick up truck, but it is sometimes hard to get when you want it as well. If your vendor and you are both local he may agree to drop off parts at your house.
Be Early
If you can get out to the swap early, (5AM) you will get a nice close park and get around the sites quickly. Also this gives you a chance to see where certain sites are. For example who has (Holden parts) and who has (Ford parts) or Jaguar etc.
Then later on when the foot traffic is really thick you will know where you want to go. You never just go straight around all sites, as when you meet people you stop and talk and before you know it 3 or 4 hours have gone and you are only half way around if that.
Toowoomba Swap
A two day event to be held on Friday 1 st and Saturday 2 nd February 2008 at the Toowoomba Showgrounds with 2000 exhibitors and around 20000 guests.
At previous Toowoomba meets and after about seven hours of walking, standing, and straining my eyes I still did not see all of the stalls. I just do not know what I missed.
The area of the Toowoomba swap is really big and it is easy to miss sites.
Rockhampton Swap
A one day event to be held on Saturday 5 th August 2007 at the Rockhampton Show Grounds with up to 850 exhibitors and growing.
The Rockhampton
(Rocky) swap is also growing into a very large sized swap and you can easily miss seeing sites there as well. While not as big as Toowoomba it is still big enough for you to lose yourself.
Bendigo Swap
A two day swap meet to be held on the 17 th and 18 th November 2007 at the Prince of Wales Showgrounds Holmes Road, BENDIGO with over 1500 reserved sites.
The Bendigo swap is also a very large event.
You can check out their details on my Bendigo Swap page.
http://www.classic-car-restorer-and-trader.com/bendigo-swap-meet.htmlPreparation of the body and legs
There comes a time when you have simply just had enough. It’s like a marathon really, you should train for a month or so and get a couple of really good nights sleep in before you go.
Do some power walking for a month or so before hand to get those legs in good working order.
Swap Attractions
Whatever it is about swap meets, it seems to draw people in and you just have to get out there to see what is happening.
Further details are at my swap page
http://www.classic-car-restorer-and-trader.com/swap-meets.html See you at the swap
Cheers
Bob Welcome
Classic Car Trim Pty Ltd
98 Livingstone St
North Rockhampton Qld 4701
Telephone within Australia 07 49265721
From outside Australia +61 7 49265721
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