Pomona Swap Meet

[camaronut]

Since I'm use to Carlisle swap meets, what is the deal with Pomona?
Is it true the gates open around 4am???  People walking around with flashlights - and its closed at 2pm?  Its just one day??? 
That's kinda early for me - don't see the logic in it, but being from the east-coast - we just don't see things like the folks on the left coast do...

[mgreenz]

Gates open at 5 am. Photo of the mustang was taken on the way in just after 5 and yes it’s all over by 2pm.
I was told that there isn’t much old car stuff any more and I can confirm that’s true. Lots of new and non auto relate items but still a great day out. The car show runs concurrently with the swap meet and it was really good. Plenty of tail gating, music and guys and girls enjoying the day with their friends and their rides.
A few car show pics are attached.

[z28z11]

Wow - Speaking of seeing things, I thought the 4 X 4 Mustangs only resided in the South (before you get offended by that, I live there).

Not so sure about living in the South anymore, some 15" of snow in the last two weeks. In the teens tonight, wind chill around 7 degrees -

Pomona is likely warmer -

Steve

[bertfam]

Pomona is NOTHING like it used to be. Mostly nick-nacks and "artsy" crap. Very little parts anymore. The reason? Ebay! Pomona (and most other swap meets) sellers quickly figured out that it was MUCH easier to sell on ebay than to continually drag their parts around to the various swap meets, unpack and set everything up, hopefully sell something, then break everything down, pack it all back up again and drive home. So if you're planning on going to Pomona, be prepared for almost nothing in the way of parts.

I haven't been for several years now, but the LONG BEACH SWAP MEET is (well. at least it WAS) usually better. More parts, less crap!

Ed

[GMAD_Van Nuys]

I only went to the Pomona swap meet once years ago as a friend was looking for a water pump pulley for his 1968 Z28.  We didn't find the pulley, but I remember seeing some sellers who had a pile of rusty stuff!

[BULLITT65]

I moved down to So Cal about 10 years ago from the Bay Area. I have been to the Portland swap meet, Turlock, Pleasanton, and Hershey PA. I had heard Pomona was a big deal. While it was a good size, I was disappointed with so few parts, or signs ( I collect original gas/oil signs) , and the few vendors that did have car stuff wanted double what the going rates were. Those same vendors probably still have the same parts, just dragging them back and forth. I have heard Long Beach is good, but that is a ways for me.

[GMAD_Van Nuys]

I've been to the Long Beach swap meet a few times as I worked close to the event, but didn't find a lot of stuff of interest for sale.

[mgreenz]

Wow - Speaking of seeing things, I thought the 4 X 4 Mustangs only resided in the South

Apparently one escaped! That was my first ever sighting and it did rev up my anticipation for the swap meet. We were visiting SoCal in December and happened to be in the Pomona area when the swap meet was on so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Spent the whole day there, watched most of the cars leave the show and did come out of there with 67 Camaro parts!

[crossboss]

I haven't been to Pomona in years. Always found it too crowded, parking is a nightmare, and most of all no real deals anymore. Been to Carlisle, a whole much better. People watching was an experience at Carlisle: It looked like a Beverly Hillbillies convention. LOL. The advantage to Pomona, the cars and parts are rust free, and better weather!

[cook_dw]

I am gonna bet with the increase on eBay costs, government requiring knowledge of money transactions through PayPal etc that swap meets might start to see an upswing in deals and overall cash transactions in the future. At least that is my hope.  Especially for the one coming in Nashville in 2 weeks.  Last year was closed due to the bug.  I would expect Craigslist to start seeing more traffic as well but maybe not.  People become lazy with technology so who knows.

[camaroboy68ss]

Never been to Pomona, but Portland is similar of needing to be there early. I have had a booth there for years selling some parts and to also get early access into to the swap to score stuff, plus side of Portland is its 3 days long.

[MO]

I've been to Pomona many times in the past and thought it was great place to find and sell stuff. I can see that with the internet now, all events as this are at a disadvantage and a dwindling breed. It's too bad because it is nice to get out and talk to people, and see, feel and discover what you're looking for. Last I heard, Pasadena still has a good swap meet.

[crossboss]

The Long Beach swap meet was always better for high performance items. I was there when it first started way back in the 1980s--it had only two small rows of parts! Now, its grown into a monster of a swap meet.

[David K]

I moved to San Diego 5 years ago, and while living in Virginia, I was a regular at Spring and Fall Carlisle for 30 years. I scored some great rare parts because “I’m tired of dragging it around” or the person didn’t know how much is was really worth. The real difference is you can get pretty much everything to rebuild your entire car..including tools, lifts, tires, sheet metal, wiring, etc in 1place. Basically it’s Classic industries east. Lots of used parts too, so you can negotiate.
 Pomona is great for VW Enthusiasts.

[69 SS 350 X-55]

Not hijacking Pomona, last time I went to Charlotte Autofair was 2001, took Thursday and Friday and left Saturday early for the same reasons . Lots of new stuff, 40.00 t shirts,didn't buy anything in 3 days. Extremely disappointed, very little left  of what used to be a good show.  Cold n windy , less than 10 first gen Camaros on the track. All the vendor spaces inside and out full of stuff. Just nothing I was looking for. This sums it up, took an original GM 68 SS Camaro hood week 22 dated to sell,trade and couldn't get any interest in it. Good luck to all on your projects.