Yesterday, I went to the VW swap meet held by the Old City Oil Drippers up in Schwenksville, PA.
There were three highlights of the day:
1) I laid out the parts I had for sale, including a pair of rear five lug drum brakes. During the closing announcements and raffle, some dude approached me and asked me: "How much for the brakes?" "Ten bucks," I said. He offered two then I explained to him that I would just give him the dang things, but I could really use the money for my LeMons budget. He insisted on two dollars and I stuck to ten for the pair. He upped his offer to three but I would not have it. His friend chimed in: "How about five plus whatever he is offering?" I agreed and the cheapskate exclaimed: "What the hell am I going to do with those drums?!" We went over to my crap heap and made the exchange. We talked a bit about air cooled engines and how to make them perform on a budget. Cool guys. The one was messing with me, but he stuck to the bargain.
2) A couple of men had a couple of engines in the back of their van. They had one complete and unmolested 1300 from a '62 that ran when they pulled it and a 1500 parts SP long block (a bit more than a long block though). The owner said $250 for the pair. I told him that I would think about it. I left it for maybe two hours and tried to peddle my crap heap. I returned and offered $125 for the 1300 and $75 for the 1500. "That's uhhhh...." said one. The other mumbled: "Seventy-five and uhhh.... is..."
The gears turned and made awful grinding sounds.
"Two hundred," I said. They agreed so I drove my car and trailer around and they loaded it up. We fumbled a fist tap thing and I went back to my heap with my spoils.
Meanwhile...
3) "The vultures descended!" said some dude who had heretofore been teetering on the verge of vulturehood. Half of my crap was gone! Windows, hub caps, whatever. What got my goat (what a goofy expression) was that my NEW plastic storage bins, bungees, and ratcheting straps were gone! WTH?! I would understand thinking that I just dumped the junk there if it had been just the junk, but bins, bungees, and straps too? It should have been obvious that I was not dumping. On top of that, the parking lot was small and I was within view.
I started making my rounds telling people about what had happened and how the parts were not a big deal, but I really needed those straps to return home. I told the right person; he had a pretty good idea whodunit and, unbeknownst to me at the time, he called the perpetrator out on it. While I was spreading the word, my crap heap mysteriously returned to its former glory.
It was a tiring but worthwhile day. I thank the dude who helped me get my stuff back and those who gave me good advice and good deals.
