Hi Dude's another great Northern swap meet.
Me and my two finely tuned athletic
mates from Cumbria, arrived at the Oakwood School Sheffield about 10-15am to
find it in full swing in fact it was so much in swing it was nearly over??? The
car park was full to capacity and people were already taking their spoils back
to hide in their cars. We found the last space left in the car park. Then
rushed excitedly to the swap meet entrance to see if anything was left for us to
buy. We saw hoards more, happy and noticeably smug looking Swapper's rushing past
us to the car park to also quickly hide their spoils, before the guys they had
just bought them off had second thoughts and wanted them back I guess.
I am a Truckophile and I have finally come out this 52 Ford does it for me!
There were slicks being quickly carried by, inner wings, doors, dashes and stuffed carrier bags a plenty. Gary McCormack was so pleased with his early bargains he whistled passed us without even a sideways glance "Hi Gary" I said "I cant wait to get these home and on the car" was all that was on his mind ;>).... The bustle was electric or so it seemed to me as we approached the swap meet entrance.
For sale outside at a reasonable price £3.5K I think Terr cant remember now
Derr ;>) If you can remember let me know so I don't look a twat for to long
eh!
As we approached the swap meet entrance I spied a very dodgy looking bunch of people eyeing up parts for sale from the back of a large cargo wagon which was set up outside the entrance. I tried to sneak past these very shifty looking customers but I then realised they were members of the uk-hotrods e-mail group ;>)...
Dusty, Paul J and Phil were their names, Paul J and Phil were just off to unload an engine and Dusty was just making sure he hadn't missed anything. They were stood by each other and as they are all members of the uk-hotrods e-mail group I thought they knew each other, but they had never been introduced. So I did the honors. Hey guys this is Dusty, and Dusty this is Pete and Phil who's Pete? ... errrrr sorry not Pete but Phil no sorry Paul Terrrrrrr its ma age ya know! Dusty Told me he is selling his great A sedan body in case I knew anyone who may want it, but wouldn't let on what he intended to replace it with though *hum?* My two finely tuned athletic mates could see I would be a long time shooting the breeze with the guys, so they scooted off into the school hall were the main of the swap meet was without me. I wasn't to far behind them as it happens but they thought they may be missing something and left me all on me ownsome ;>(
Wild B er T er A er Bucket coupe er highboy er pickup what ever it was it was
groovy and had braved the rain to be at the swap meet.
Update the Groovy Brown Rod is Model A Phaeton, running a Pinto, beam front,
Tina rear and some wild rust like paint? Rod is actually owned by a
Rodders Wife and she uses it for work every day *respect*
Also in the car park wuz
this proper neat Tear drop caravan with hi tec solar panel. Great running boards
on the outside for little Johnny to play with his toy cars on aswell which was
vision ;>).
Steve Marley was helping on the door, so I ended up cracking with him about the Euronats which sounds just so fantastic I have just gotta get there. I only have to convince my misses that it is something she wants to do more than anything else aswell ;>) If you intend to go I suggest you get in touch with Steve as soon as poss as there is limited chalets in Denmark.... but don't forget to save one for me eh just in case please..!
I eventually made it into the Hall and had soon bought a shiny fuel filter and some shiny shox mounts from Geordie Paul's http://www.duksville.co.uk and had the crack with Johnny Best who was serving me, he is gonna resurrect his owld Hemi powered Coupe ya know, its gonna be the bizz and its gonna be for sale and its gonna be expensive.... Hey as it should be eh!!! Nice one! ..
The Hall was rammed and most traders seemed to be doing well. I spied some neat new indicators with 21watt bulbs which should fit in my rear ones to make em more visible than my 3watt ones, so I bought them an all. I eventually made it to Trev's Reality Hot Rods www.reality-hotrods.co.uk and bought some more shiny goodies. I was gonna introduce myself to Trev as we have swapped e-mails in the past and he is getting me a kickdown linkage for my 4AOD, but he was mega busy and was always in demand.. I met me owd mate Gaz O'Connor and Barclay the dude who has bought Gaz's beauty 48 Chevy truck of him. What a nice guy he was and he looked wide eyed at it all and he was very much looking forward to enjoying his truck next season.
My phone starting ringing and it was Pete Dempster, who I had arranged to meet for the first time. He arrived with his arms full of cast ally bits from Karma Kustoms www.karmakustoms.co.uk what classy gear they make. He had a cast ally diff housing and some carb tops which looked very sexy indeed for his new project a modified T... Pete Dempsey owns the Cool English 32 Sedan (Rat Rod---- Barn Find) that was croozin the Nats this year in case you don't know. I am currently doing a feature on Pete and his gritty looking Sedan it is gonna be a great read and should be finished and on this web site soon....ish!!
It was great to finally meet Pete after all the E-mails we had swapped over the last few months. What a cool character he was and so enthusiastic about our hobby which you find infectious as you talk you him. It's a real buzz to meet all these cool characters from within our obsession/hobby and I feel privileged to be able to do so. I guess cus we are all into the same thing we don't have to explain ourselves, we just get straight into what we are up to and things just flow.... I really enjoyed the time spent with Pete but Man I had been at the swap meet ages and hadn't even looked round it yet ;>) I would of rather have just said, sod it all and gone to the pub with Pete and a few of the guys for the crack but that was not why I or anyone else was there. We were there to find that all important something that we didn't know yet what it was or even if we needed it, but once found we now could not do without it and if we can get it for next to nowt that would make it even more worthwhile eh! What we like!!
Five and a half Grand for the coupe and £4,200 for the 48 Chevy Pick up Man
that pick up would just do me a treat but I am afraid I is looking in the sweet
shop with no brass in me pocket at the mo ;>( ......... One day.... One
day *sigh*
I eventually made it to the outside part of the swap meet and was greeted by Pudzz who I had gone to the swap meet with and he had bought a massive roll cage for the back of a truck by the look of it. How ya getting that home ya Nutter I said. He said it was such a bargain he would get it home one way or another. He relayed the story to me. He saw it and asked the guy how much? "£10" was the reply "I'll give ya a fiver" Pudzz says "err ok" and the deal was struck "oh and how about throwing in that isolator switch" stunned by his cheek the guy said "ok"..... All the time a guy stood behind Pudzz was ready to pounce if Pudzz had at all stood back to think about the deal.. ;>)
Pudzz did get the roll cage in the Car how? by hacksawing it in half that's how. It was now about 11-30am and the crowds were noticeably less than they were when we first arrived and the bustle had gone. I met a couple of guys from up my way in Cumbria Steve Enright (Rodder of the year) and his side kick Listey, they had a couple of 400ci complete engines for sale and were virtually giving them away but they had no takers???? Man you wait till you want one and I bet they will be a fortune and rare as Hell or that's how it usually happens to me! I nearly bought em for stock they were so cheap.
I was slowly starting to
get a look round now and I found my way to Ian Mocketts stand, his pop chassis
and ifs was very impressive. I was told about his ifs some time ago by frank
Ogden he recommended it to me for my 34 when I wanted some last winter. Though I
now intend to sell my 34 next year, I am still very tempted by the set up Ian
has designed and built so I may take the plunge and finally get some and fit it
to mine over this winter.... then again, who knows *hum?*....
As they say talk of the devil and who should I see but Frank himself and his partners in crime Phil Mallas and Louis Turner They said that they been having some good sales and it had been well worthwhile them going which was great to hear. Then we all starting enthusing about the Euronats which we all hope to do in July which should be a Hoot.
Groovy well finished Pop was not expensive at £4,950
I had arranged to meet anyone from the uk-hotrods e-mail group who wanted to at 1pm and to be honest by 12pm it was all almost over. My two Athlete mates were ready for the off, but said they would wait with me till 1pm so I could meet my e-mail buddies. So another look in the hall was the order of the day and I spent most of the time talking to Danny Stephens, who had his Tri Chevy goodies on display for the first time. Danny and Leo whoops! sorry Adam Sayers have started a new venture catering for the Tri Chevy owner and early signs seem like they have hit on a winner with Slim Dan sourcing the gear in the Us of A and Adam doing the big sell over here, should be a breeze for Adam after his stint at the helm of the NSRA. Just to finish of the day's purchases my slim mate Bakey bartered with one of the guys on the reality stand to become the proud owner of a braided dress up kit for the rover motor in his Pop hey it don't start but it will look cool eh Bakey ;>)
I am not a great Woody lover though this one looks great and well constructed!
At 1pm I went outside to see the expected massive gang of uk-hotrod members and was shocked to see how many were assembled there ;>0 but it turned out to be the guys cleaning up after everyone and in fact no fugger was there at all Boo Hoo...
Anyhow I had met
plenty throughout the morning and my mate Pudzz wanted to get his bisected Roll cage
home so he could try it in his Roundy Roundy Hot Rod Racer back in sunny
Cumbria. So it was agreed to hit the road jack and boogie on home......... Like
ya do..............Well all in all a great Swap meet I did enjoy this one seemed
to have a lot of atmosphere that it lacked last year.
seeya all next year Holmsey!