Sun staff
Although it may look a bit like organized piles of junk, the swap meet at Pumpkin Run Nationals is a place for car enthusiasts to find exactly what they are looking for.
“It’s like a flea market for car parts,” Joe Herrera, co-organizer of the swap meet. “You can find some really rare items.”
Herrera said when people refurbish antique cars it may take two cars to put together one good car. He said many people will sell the parts they don’t need, knowing that someone else may need them.
“The parts that are left, someone may need those and swap those,” Herrera said.
Hugh Woodward, a vendor at the swap meet, said he has been involved in restoring antique cars for more than 45 years.
Woodward said sometimes car owners can buy parts new when they are piecing together their car, but often times they can’t.
“Some cars you can’t buy anything new,” he said. “It’s very likely that you will need parts.”
Woodward said collecting car parts to sell can be a lengthy process, or a quick one depending on the vendor.
“It can take years of buying cars and parting out cars,” Woodward said.
He said other vendors buy parts right before a swap meet and sell them at the meet.
Ross Baker, also selling parts at the swap meet, said you see a lot of the same vendors and customers at the swap meet.
“Most people come back year after year,” Baker said.
The vendors and Herrera said that finding parts at a swap meet takes some work, and customers often spend time going from one vendor to another picking through parts looking for a specific part.
“It’s a little bit like panning for gold,” Herrera said. “You have to do some hunting to find that rare part. It’s kind of fun.”
Many of the Pumpkin Run participants said they enjoy the swap meet each year.
“Another man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” Baker said.
Herrera said they had 315 spots in the swap area for vendors this year.
“We have been doing this for a long time,” Herrera said. “We get vendors by both word of mouth and people who are just grandfathered in.”
Herrera said they mail applications to vendors in the year before the event. He said they get a wide variety of vendors, which is nice.
“You could have millionaire selling their parts in a swap area for fun, there are car collectors, a wide variety of people you meet,” Herrera said. “It’s almost like a family thing they have been coming around so long.”
For more information about Pumpkin Run Nationals, visit their website at www.pumpkinrunnationals.com.