My brother and I grew up at the show when it was at the Bloomington Fairgrounds back in the day. Great memories.

I didn't hear about Derek hauling his "collection" down there. He must have been busy with Cale's new car.

Is Iola worth going to? Went for a few years in the early 2k.

Then CL exploded and I was finding everything I needed there but that and FB have about played out for me with all the scammers.

I will likely haul a load down next spring to the Lincoln 1 day swapmeet. On good weather years it has more car parts per stall than any other meet Ive been to

Saw Gary at a local show a few weeks ago, handing out flyers for his 2024 schedule. He has added a show/swap Saturday June 15 at the Racine WI County fairgrounds.

www.madisonclassics.com

I bet some of you guys have spotted and bought some great (rare) parts over the years.

I spent a weekend at Iola about 20 years ago. Didn't sell enough to pay for the fuel and almost nothing for '67 Chevelle parts, no NOS. I did score a nice Chevy dealership clock to justify the trip. No reason to go back...

Used to be a really good Swap for years down in Mass at the Great Woods Center.
After the Wu-flu hit, they never had another- the group that organized it went completely off the radar.

I still miss the old Amherst, NH swap.
The New England Dragway Swap took off as the new default when the owner of Amherst sold the property.

For you So. Cal guys:

What is Pomona like these days?

We would arrive in CA Thursday, shop the Pick-A-Parts. Rarely any 1st Gen Camaros to pick, but plenty of '60s Chevelle, Nova, full-size. Arrive at the swap Sunday by 0500a, walk around with a flashlight. Bought armloads of stuff; 66-67 Chevelle 4-speed consoles, 67-69 Camaro doors, trim, air cleaners, you name it. Recall buying a '69 Camaro BB 4-speed shifter with rods and mount for $40.

We had a colleague there that would ship it all to WI for us.

Pics from the early '80s.

Well, I saw this thread start on Sunday after I returned from Pomona... was going to eventually chime in, but I may as well now since the question has been asked directly...

I've been going to Pomona for nearly twenty years now and I too, initially bought a space so I wouldn't have to haul any finds out to the parking lot and so I could lay out enough stuff to recoup the cost of admission.

It's never been "amazing" IMHO, and I often lament that I missed the heydays but I have at least, on every trip, found something that has made it worthwhile in terms of a rare, valuable, or needed part...

It is big, but really, only about 15% of any of the sellers, their spaces, or their stuff would interest us... there's lots of toys and hotwheels, and I don't mean redlines or collectable stuff, I mean the new stuff that you can get at target straight out of those cardboard boxes with the purple stripe that likely fell of a truck on their way into the target back off loading room... There's tons of kitsch too, not cool old stuff but dolls and man cave signs and that kind of stuff. There's lots of yardsale stuff and tools, oh my gosh... every fellow who buys a storage unit of tools brings them out here. And lawn equipment... never mind the little red wagons that are ubiquitous. But to be fair, I've sold some wagons there too; people will buy any wagon to help get that third member out of the lot...

Everyone once in a while there's the family or kids of someone who's left this world and left their collection to be spread to the wind; sometime those spots are good, sometimes not, but always interesting. That's happening more and more now, sadly.

This past weekend, there was a guy who had, junk was the only way to describe it, in his truck and he didn't seem to value it too much as he lowered his tailgate and reversed into his spot then with a sudden brake let everything slide out. I was impressed that he kept it all in his spot actually and went over to investigate when I heard the crash... I wondered if he ever cleaned it up when I left on Sunday.

The kids came with me this weekend and they often have fun, but with full sun and the heat it can get tiresome for them, who knows what adventures of Boss Baby they're missing on that dang tv...

Then there's the guys that are just there to cook and hang out, nothing wrong with that but those spaces don't have any interest to me but then again, every once in a while, the aromas coming off their BBQ's make me pause, some could certainly be paid chefs.

And the place is full of people that quote what the last thing that sort of looks like what you're asking about sold on eBay for last year. The prices that most people are asking for are crazy too... everyone quotes the internets for what their part is worth, and it gets quite tiresome if not annoying... This reminds me of an episode of Pickers from maybe a decade ago when the guys found and old blue kiddie stroller with beads on the front, you remember, anyway, they "valued" it at something crazy and wouldn't you believe it, for the last ten years you can find that same stroller at Pomona for the same $200 at any number of sellers' spaces?!

Finally, the tough guys walking three abreast down the isles just looking for you to look at them sideways is quite off putting, especially at a family event.

But the anticipation of the weeks leading up to each meet is what keeps me going; I'm so excited the week before, thinking this will be the one! It's like holding that PowerBall ticket two days before the draw!

Cheers Friends!
Anthony

Pulling a wagon up and down those hills was no thrill either. Once was enough.