Cuda Junction Blog

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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