Cuda Junction Blog

While wandering around the Turlock Swap Meet, we saw flyers for a Hot August Nights Swap Meet to be held in Tahoe.   Really?   My first thought was the former HAN swap meet promoter, who moved it to Sacramento, had moved the location closer to HAN.

Other folks speculated that there were other things underway, but there was a fair amount of speculation.

Darlene fired off an email to the source, John Sweeney, who operates the Reno Swap Meet, now held for one day at Arco Arena in Sacramento, the Saturday before the Western Pacific Events Reno Swap Meet.

John answered the email promptly that of course he is still holding the event in Sacramento.  He is catering to private venders and not so much the corporate entities.  Reports from attendees is that this event has been very well run and continues to get bigger.  With all the challenges with the business license situation at the HAN swap meet, reduced attendance, and the fair amount of empty booths at Reno, we have been considering attending this swap meet.  The allure of a one day, no drama show is comoelling.

So, back to the new event in Tahoe.  In doing a bit of research, it would seem that Western Pacific, who operates the Reno HAN swap meet, is adding a swap in Tahoe the weekend before the Reno swap.

Supposedly, a letter is going to come out to previous years vendors outlining what is happening with the county and the business license for people selling used items (like used car parts).   I am thinking the promoters are offering this alternative swap meet in California, which will not require the business license, in attempt to lure vendors down to the venue.

I wonder if it will catch on in Tahoe (and the promoters can suss out the business license situation) or will people continue to migrate to the Sacramento event.

We have been told for years that we need to attend, as there is a fair amount of MoPar stuff.  We came once a few years back, the weather was cold, miserable, rainy and muddy.   We walked and walked and walked, found a few stray MoPar pieces here and there, just not worth plowing through the thousands of Ford and Chevy parts for the few things we got. 

But we came, we saw, we left. 

Since then, we have be berated by regular attendees that said we must have just caught this on and off year, and that we needed to give it another go.

Well, Turlock Swap Meet January 2010 was the second try.

We had good intentions of leaving Klamath Falls at around 8:00.  As life would have it, we didn’t leave until a bit later than that.  Then Mrs. CJ had to make a few pit stops and we were further delayed.  Hitting Sacramento traffic between 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm is typically going to be something you would rather not encounter, and this Friday at around 3:15 pm is no exception.  SLOW, SLOW, SLOW.  Anyway, we picked our way through and on to Turlock!

We got to the Stansislaus (or something like that) County Fairgrounds around 5:00 pm.   That gave us an hour to mad dash around the swap meet to spot something, anything, before dark.  Going into the swap meet, I told Mrs. CJ that we were not:

A) Buying anything heavy

B) Buying any bell housings

C) Buying any 4 speeds

We have plenty of that.  Really.

OK, 10 minutes into my disertation about what was off the buy list, I came across a bell housing.  So much for my stinkin’ rules on buying, the price was right.  Mrs. CJ rolled her eyes.

There are lights, but everything was pretty much shutting down, and we decided to go check in at the Turlock Inn for the night.  (Pizza Guys make some good pizza!)

We set out around 6:30 am to get a spot in line for the 7:00 am start.  For some reason, there are only a couple entry points, all with long lines and we could not find a place to park near the show.   I started to break out in a brief panic that I now had my truck around the site, long lines were forming, the gates were going to open soon, there was no parking and I was not in a line.  Mrs.  CJ dropped me off near a gate and took the truck back to the hotel.   (She rocks)  I got in shortly after the gates opened and the hunt began.

There was more MoPar stuff than our previous visit.  Nice surprise.  However, $475 for ‘Cuda doors.   Heck, I have given away better doors.   A piece of a beat 70 Challenger grille for $150.   OK.  That sort of thing was common, where the prices were high enough that I couldn’t make an offer. 

The show is small enough that if you move along, you can walk it in one day.  But for a MoPar guy, you really have to do the slow walk and dig amongst a bunch of stuff to find that one prize part you may need.   From my perspective, it is really a swap for people into the pre-60 parts, there seems to be a ton of that vintage stuff.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

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The controversy began before the Hot August Nights Swap Meet did.

Some history:

Last year, the promoter of the event changed.  The former promoter began a one day swap meet in Sacramento the weekend before the Reno swap meet.   Although we skipped last year (mainly due to this change, we wanted to miss the inaugaral growing pains), reports from those that attended were positive.

Fast forward to this year.  Months before the event, the registration packet for the Hot August Nights swap meep arrived, nothing unusual there.  Later, another letter came in stating that if vendors were selling certain items, a temporary vendor work permit would be required.  If this work permit was not obtained, that vendor would not be permitted on the grounds.  This would require a visit to a Waschoe County government office, fingerprinting and background check.  The work permit costs $65, and is good for 5 years. 

A call to the promoter, Western Pacific events, more specifically Bob Davies, were positive.  He stated that the county had not firmed up the requirements for the work permit yet and the county was not going to enforce the work permit requirement this year.  So, we went forward with attending the event.

We arrived on the set up day, Wednesday, to no lines and no issue with getting in without the work permit.  At the check in booth, no one even mentioned the work permit until I brought it up and I was assured that there was no concerns.

We came in Thursday morning bright and early to discover that there was a bunch of empty booths.   This is typically well attended by vendors with few empty booths.  I thought maybe since this promoter is cracking down on the “flea market” aspect of this event and enforcing the auto related only, this kept some of the vendor space vacant. 

Wandering around and chatting with other vendors and attendees, I heard some common concerns.  The vast majority stated that they were not going to continue attending the Reno Hot August Nights swap meet if the work permit was required.  Not only does Waschoe County receive tax revenue from the vendors, sales were slow, attendance at the event was down, and most felt although it is not a significant sum, this is just one more way to get into our pockets.  Others were against the work permit on principal.   This event is the only selling many vendors do in Waschoe County and it seems a bit frivilous to require a work permit for a once a year event. 

On Friday morning, a young lady with a clip board and a master list of vendors came through and wanted to see my work permit.   I advised Ms. Clip Board that I did not have one and was told by the promoter that one would not be required.   She asked who the owner of the space was and I told her.  She asked if he had a work permit and I again said no.   I stated that we did not want to make a special trip to Reno to get fingerprinted and the background check done.  She said that Waschoe County left the office open extended hours to accomodate vendors and the Davies’ (the promoters) had that information.  I told Ms. Clip Board that if they had that information, they did not pass it along to the vendors.  She made a mark by Tom’s name and I asked her what was going to happen.  Ms. Clip Board said this was a survey and she did not know what course of action would be taken.  We politely argued a bit more, I stated that we might not attend next year, opting for the Sacramento swap meet if this was an ongoing issue and she went on her way.   We were in the first row she visited, and word of this “survey” spread quickly.

As Ms. Clip Board made her rounds, the rumors started swirling amongst the vendors.  Would someone come through later and issue citations?  Would citations arrive in the mail?  Was this indeed just an information gathering survey?  Unlikely, in my estimation.  I cannot imagine a county entity sending someone out if there was not a revenue generating motive. 

Being one who likes to go to the source, I marched up to the information booth at the swap meet.  There I asked what the results of the “survey” were going to be.  I got a fair amount of blank stares and people looking at each other.  After an awkward moment, a woman said “I don’t know.”  We discussed that they had been fighting the county on this work permit to no avail.   I stated that we didn’t have a problem with the background check, we are not worried about getting our fingerprints taken (mine are already on file due to history in law enforcement work), it just seemed to be another revenue generator for the county when revenues were down for the vendors.  I was preaching to the choir here, this was not the promoters idea, it was Waschoe County, so I stated that we may just have to skip this event next year and go to the Sacramento show.  I turned off and marched back to the booth.

Later,  we noticed it.  Vendors were packing up their wares and bugging out.   By Friday night, about half the booths were empty, despite having one more day, a typically lucrative day, to sell.

Will this be the death nell of the Hot August Nights Swap Meet?  I think so.  With a well attended one day swap meet without the logistical hassles only 100 miles and one week earlier, I suspect a good portion of the vendors will move to that event.  With a shortage of vendors, there will be little reason to spend $8 to attend the swap meet for Hot August Nights.

Really, it is a shame too.  With the promoter enforcing the automotive only aspect, which I feel is a good move, and doing what it takes to make this event a well-oiled machine for the vendors, this could be a top notch event.  But, in typical government fashion, they will mire this event with bureaucracy and screw up a good thing.

 

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Hi all!

We have been packing the trailer today, getting ready to blast off for Hot August Nights 2009 in Reno, Nevada.  This should be an interesting year, hopefully the state of our great country will not deter people from coming out to this event.

If you are a car person and have not been to HAN, GO!  It is a great event, Reno/Sparks basically turns into a giant car show.   Check out there website here:  http://www.hotaugustnights.net/

There are the “sanctioned” events, but there are a ton of unofficial break out events as well.  There is a cool little Mopar show in the A&W parking lot that attracts some top notch cars.

Of course, we are in the swap meet area again this year, in our usual spots A25 - 27, the A row is the one along the brick wall.  Stop by and tell Darlene you read this blog and she will probably give you at hat or a screaming deal on some parts.

The beginning.

I spotted this car, a 1968 Dart, in a field by our local U-Pull-It yard.  68 Dart, white body, phoney aluminum Centerline wheels, monster tach mounted to the bottom of the dash. Left front fender, door, bumper, were all wiped off of it.  Eyed this car for a year before beating on the door of the trailer it sat behind.  Wrong time of year to beat on the door, a bad winter here in Oregon, 2 feet of snow on the car, 3 on the ground.  I was met with a happy face at the door of the trailer.  NOTE:  70 Chevelle with 454 emblems on a real cowl hood 20 feet from the Dart.  The lady at the door says that the Dart does not belong to her, but a male friend of hers does own it.  She also says the Chevelle belongs to a neighbor and people have been shot at for looking at it uninvited.  Come to find out, the Chevelle is definately not for sale (not that I would keep a GM anyway) but the Dart was for sale if the guy’s son wanted to part with it.

The guy calls me a week later, says the kid wants $500 for the Dart.  I said I am game at this point, can I go look at it without getting shot at?  A week or so later, I checked out the Dart, only a foot of snow left on the ground, about 6 inches on the car.  Called the guy back and agreed to buy it.  In my initial up close inspection, I found that it was a real V-8 car, minus motor and trans.  It was all there (including the green interior).  A few phone calls later between me and the guy, the dad/owner, then I finally heard the real story on the car.

Dad had purchased the Dart for the son (obviously a dumb high school kid) the kid blew up the original 273 immediately.  Dad builds him a 318 to replace the 273.  The kids drives the Dart for 6 more months, graduates high school, and moves to Chico, CA for college.  While on a late night kid fest with his buddies, loses control of the car in some sort of cornering manuver and wipes off the aforementioned parts off of it.  Dad, still back in Oregon, is pissed off about it.  Dad goes and retrieves the Dart from Chico, back to Oregon, jerks the fresh 318 and auto trans out of it, and stashes the Dart at the aforementioned trailer ladies house.

More to follow…¼/p>

Whew, another Portland Swap Meet is behind me.

For some reason, and I have heard a few versions of this story, two separate swap meets run in virtually adjacent facilities on the same weekend.

Portland International Raceway (aka race track) holds a swap from Thursday - Sunday.

The Portland Expo Center has a swap starting Friday, running through Sunday.

For your convenience, there are buses running Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but they are school buses, so you are going to ride a buck board with a universal joint that is about to quit.

Anyway, back to the story….

Of course, it rained.  And rained.  20% chance of rain on Friday, it rained, blew and hailed.  Lots of fog, breeze and cold on Saturday, which relented to SUN on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

Booths were down from previous years.  Almost half of the A building at the Expo was empty.  There were scattered booths here and there that did not show up or did not get sold.  On the racetrack side there was a shortage of booths filled, but dang, that side stinks.  The booths are set up on the the drag strip and the road course.  Because it is Portland, there are some areas that you just cannot set up because of mud.    But the booths are too spread out, you have to backtrack to see everything because of the road course (they say it is spread over 6 miles, I believe it) and slop through the mud.   The regular swappers come prepared, they brought straw, mats, cardboard, all sorts of stuff.   But there were some people selling Mopar stuff, I scored some pieces I needed and met some good folks.

The business to be in on racetrack side for set up day is towing company.   Brave RV drivers ventured out in the wet grass with all sorts of momentum when coming off the pavement, but when they went to turn around to get parked, that is when the trouble started.

Back to the Expo side.  This swap is all paved, so you just have to deal with the rain and cold.  Friends and I call this show committee the swap meet nazis, because they have rules, they stick to them and they are serious about this.  Don’t ask the wife about the year she had to move a set of wheels and tires about 2″ (yes, inches) to comply with the swap meet nazis, unless you are prepared for a fair amount of adult language.   They also told you what you could sell in what building.  Some areas allow hats and tees sales, some don’t and the swap meet nazis are serious about this too.  But this year, there were newer cars parked in booths which in previous years would have been towed.  Clothing sold all over the place.  Lots of loosening of the rules.  Well, except for beer sales, which shut down 2 hours before the show closes, that one is still very serious.  I don’t know if this Expo side swap is feeling some pain from the other, because on the racetrack, anything goes.

Time will tell.

Anyway…..

I bought a space on the Expo side to sell a car, which I sold before the show, so I just planned to stash parts there that I bought at the show.   The people next to us were happy we said they could infringe on our booth, and put their stuff in it.   No problem works out for everyone, they put parts for sale in the front, we stashed treasures in the back of the booth. 

Here is where it gets interesting……

On Sunday, I planned on cruising around, looking for crumbs, and then hauling everything I had accumulated all weekend to parts pick up and bugging out for home.  So, we are standing in a booth, talking to a great fellow MoPar fan, Jon from Battle Ground, WA, when my wife says “That looks like the decklid you bought Friday.”  (At an all breed show, it is unusual to see a MoPar orange deck lid with a luggage rack, so we suspected it was ours)  I went over to talk to him (fortunately, I know him a bit too).   The guy toting my decklid and an interior piece I bought knew where he bought them, and it wasn’t out of our booth.  He said he would take me to it, the wife took off for our booth.   On our way to the booth where he bought my parts, the wife called to say the people at the next spot that were sharing our booth had left, there were strange vehicles in the spaces around and all our treasures were gone.   With the buyer of my parts, I showed up at the “sellers” booth, who said some guy came by said these parts were abandoned, the neighboring booths said the booth owners had left the parts behind and did he want these parts to sell/use.   Later we found out the guy that took our parts had stalked them for awhile early in the AM, assumed that a pile of parts in the back of booth along the bushes had been abandoned or forgotten (?), took them, and gave them to his relative that was into MoPar.  Fortunately, the recipient gave the buyer of our deck lid and interior piece his money back, gave what was left of our parts back.  We lost several things, but the thief and the guy selling our stuff, who seemed to be a very decent guy, claimed they did not take/sell anything else.  Maybe so.   Who knows how they were sitting out there with our neighbor/watchdog gone for the show.

After all these years of doing this sort of thing at swap meets, leaving the booth unattended, trusting the neighbors and fellow swappers, this is the first time I have had a problem.  Fortunately, the loss/lesson was not a very expensive one, but something we will take away.

Before a lot more damage was done, we got it handled, and no punches were thrown. 

So, if you “find” a B body shifter and box, an A body gas cap, some Snap-On sockets, and a Z bar, give me a holler.

Fun in the sun in Las Vegas!

We have attended this event every year since the beginning. 

The first year was terrible.  Period.  We set up our swap meet space three times because no one knew what was going on.  Lots of people with clipboards.  The wind was blowing about 130 mph (that might be a slight exaggeration), we had wind burn and were freezing.  Because we were freezing, we did not put on sun block, so we got a healthy dose of sunburn too.   The event staff was setting up vendors tents and barracades as we were setting up for the show.  Not a single food vendor in the house.  You couldn’t buy a bottle of water until Saturday.   If we would have been smart, we would have gone out, bought some coolers and a grill and set up shop.  What a mess.

However, this show has come a long way from humble beginnings. 

Nowadays, a few years later, you do not have to wait in line for tickets you already purchased.  There isn’t a 3 hour wait for participants to get in the door.  It is possibly the most well attended Mopar event on the west coast. 

Some suggestions to make your Mopars At The Strip experience better.

It can be hot or cold, the wind can pick up and make it feel really cold.  You don’t have to haul your coat around all day, but have it in the car in case you want it.  Speaking of wind, even if you don’t wear sunglasses and a hat, if the wind kicks up, you may want both.

Wear comfortable shoes, because there is a lot to see and do.  Just hiking up the grandstand to get a top perch to watch drag racing will cause you to skip your workout. 

There are plenty of bathrooms under the grandstands.  The scattered port-a-pottys are OK on Friday and early Saturday, but by Sunday, you will want to avoid these.

Be careful walking in the vendor areas, someone got hit by a car last year near our swap meet booth.   Watch out for wacky ladies in Neons! 

CudaJunction will be in the swap meet area, we’ll have a trailer that has CudaJunction logos, big surprise there.  Come by and shoot the breeze with Tom, Darlene, Dave and Kenny!  Bring beer!  =)

All in all, this is a wonderful event.  The after show party at the Cannery is awesome, a must do.  The drag racing features top notch cars.  The show area is the best you will see on the west coast.Â

Hi all!

After some prodding from folks, we’ve decided to take the plunge and try blogging.  Of course the vast majority of this will be MoPar stuff.  We’re going to take input about what you want to “hear” about, so feel free to comment about what you want to the content to be.

Most folks we meet at shows want to talk about one of the projects, the 1968 Dart with the 360 Magnum motor in it and just how Tom pulled that off.  What a fun car. Or the 1969 Road Runner, which was a running/driving car, but since a previous owner didn’t do it justice, it has become a complete restoration project, 2+ years in the making so far.  

As soon as I figure out how to post pictures, I will.

 

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We will be adding updates and comments and items of interest here as time goes on.