Stencils

[Mike K]

I think that the car restoration scene has changed radically since the 1980's . These days a whole new younger generation are rebuilding the types of cars that most of us can remember being new in the showrooms - stuff made in the 1970's for example . Try buying a XB Falcon coupe these days , $30K or more for a decent one , or a HK Monaro , our generation just didn't see it coming , the fact that these cars are now worth a lot more than genuine vintage cars . This may be one of the reasons why the earlier parts are not showing up at swap meets. To me, an old car is a 1925 Chev , not a 1979 Holden but young people are restoring 1979 Holdens now and Holden parts are being reproduced by RARE SPARES - and the prices of the repro Holden parts are incredibly high . The market is driven by demand , the oldies like us are falling off the perch and the swap meet market is driven by younger guys who don't want slow old bangers from the pre 1960's .

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I think that the car restoration scene has changed radically since the 1980's . These days a whole new younger generation are rebuilding the types of cars that most of us can remember being ........

...found at the local tip!

I ran my cars in the late 80's and 90's from serviceable parts scrounged from cars dumped at the local tip. In fact, my current supply of auto electrical parts are still from those days (headlights, coils, globes, relays, fuses, etc..). But it was also possible to get an inexhaustible supply of batteries, brakes, tyres and even fuel. Sounds Cheap Charlie, I know, but why spend $50 (in 1980's dollars!) on a battery when there's cars full of them about to be buried.

Nowadays, safety ( ) prevents anyone from spending an hour at the tip and filling the trailer with recovered parts, parts in years gone by that would have wound up at Swap Meets. If older vehicle parts are not turning up at Swap Meets, I don't think that it's the changing market, I think that the sources are drying up for the "bloke on the street". Someone today is not going to buy an EJ Holden for $8,000 and part out the old red engine for $100 and gearbox for $50. When "back in the day" you could spend an hour at the tip and fill the trailer with 2 engines, 3 gearboxes, a diff, a carburettor, a bench seat, 2 steering wheels, and an old Victa lawn mower and head off to the Swap and make $500 (been there, done that).

We might be again heading for another mining boom, but it won't be minerals, it will be the tons of valuable vintage car parts buried in landfill.

[Mike K]

I don't think rubbish tips have much to do with swap meets . In Melbourne or Sydney for example , the population is very concentrated and council rubbish tips are not in everyone's backyard . People looking for parts usually went to car wreckers to buy used car parts because tips were usually too far away for the average bloke and full of other garbage.

Yes , in a rural town, the local tip would be easier to scrounge from, and a good source of spares. But who is going to drive hundreds of miles to get there ? Not me.

I must be older than Tony because EH Holdens were brand new when I was a kid .

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I don't think rubbish tips have much to do with swap meets .Yes , in a rural town, the local tip would be easier to scrounge from, and a good source of spares. But who is going to drive hundreds of miles to get there ?

Yah don't know what you're missing!

Tip Find.

[Keith Webb]

I was fortunate to find this mint condition CMP toolbox at a Sunday market recently, so there are still lots of things out there to be discovered. The other things at the stall were just the usual household rubbish people take to places like that.

[Mike K]

The CMP tool box is quite a find

Years ago I bought three Chev cab 11/12 parts books at a Sunday market.

[Jim White]

Funny how that complaint is universal half a world away !
I complain all the time how swap meets or flea markets that are supposed to
Be vintage auto related have an ample supply of snowmobile parts and bundles of tube socks ! Beer can wind chimes? Used cell phone chargers? Cheers from Canada mates.