Carlisle observation

-
G

Gib Warnick

'65 Valiant signet
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
Messages
1,248
Reaction score
269
Location
Mt Airy, MD
I was disappointed by # of venders in swap meet area
As you walked down the aisles- probably only 1/4 of the spaces were sellers- most were people just camping over or parking their rigs- few real venders
Walked a lot past non sellers spaces
 
Hey Gib - at the Nationals in August every space is for vending - no overnight camping.
 
Gib Warnick said:
I was disappointed by # of venders in swap meet area
As you walked down the aisles- probably only 1/4 of the spaces were sellers- most were people just camping over or parking their rigs- few real venders
Walked a lot past non sellers spaces
Click to expand...

Yea what he said
 
The flea market was not sold out, so all the venders that wanted to be there, were there. A lot of venders have multiple spots and multiple vehicles and have to park them somewhere. I was very happy with the flea market except for the heat. The ONLY thing that would make this show better would be if it was in the spring or fall so you could walk all day.
 
my wife and i got to the fairgrounds about 12:30 p.m. on sat. and stayed till 6:00 p.m. we walked up and down all the vendor isles and i got pretty tired. there were way over a 100 vendors and there selling literally thousands and thousands of parts. i bought a 68 barracuda header panel with two grill inserts for $125 and two isles over found another one without the grills for $75. there were so many vendors with so many parts that we were not able to really look at all the stuff. and the prices for any kind of part seemed to be more reasonable this year than in years past. i wanted to see the cars in the display field so we headed up to the field at around 3:30 p.m. i was pretty happy with carlisle this year.
 
They had a crash last year at the autocross so the all of the straight sections were removed this year. It really slowed it down and took the fun out of it. Then a Durango took out four sections of fence Friday night so next year should be even slower. The rest of the show was very good. Those Hellcats got a real work out going up and down the hill in the back.
 
I've gone for at least the last 10 years, I thought this year had a lot more parts then the last few years.
 
I've been going every year (except 3 years) since 1993. Yes, there used to be more NOS parts, but realize we are talking about a finite amount of parts. Maybe the amount of vendors has decreased slightly but in my opinion that's due to more internet sales. Still, it's the best all Mopar show in the world. The Mopar Nationals has the drag racing top honor, but has about 1/4 the vendors that Carlisle has. Also, more show cars in Carlisle.
 
The Better 1/2 and i walked Friday and Saturday for a total of 17 hours and might have covered 3/4 of the show. We didn't get op on the hill where the trucks and jeeps were.
It was our first time so I can't judge on the Vendor turn out but the show was great. We will go back again for sure. The A Body section was smaller than I expected and the Barracudas seemed to account for over 1/2.
 
I have been every year but 2 and the vendor turnout was about average. I like the comment that there were "well over 100 vendors". There are well over 100 vendors in each aisle at Carlile. I lucked into 28 army surplus rebuilt 727 transmissions on the way up there and sold all of them but 3 I kept for my own cars. One of the officials up there said that the Friday turnout was the best that they have ever had. Still the best Mopar show in the country as far as I'm concerned and I have been to hundreds of them over the last 40 years. I love the nationals too and have only missed a couple of them since the beginning. The number of vendors at that show has seemed to be on the decline for a few years now.
 
There are well over 1000 vendors at Carlisle --- yeah 100 vendors in each of the more than 16 aisles (Rows A thru P -- that's 16) plus the manufacturers midway.
Mopar Nationals has only about 300 vendors now -- rows A thru T but only 25 - 30 per aisle....
If you didn't see it all -- you walked crooked, tired easily, or ran out of money!!!!!!!
Make sure you get to spots H107 - H108 right by the bathrooms for the best MOPAR spread in all of Carlisle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See you at the Nats at S10 - S12 ------- now you won't miss out.....
Particularly for the people who need REAR 10" x 1 3/4" BRAKE DRUMS and N.O.S.
++ Asbestos ++ Brake Shoes!!!!! Idler Arms & Pitman Arms and much more!!!!!!!!
 
Gib Warnick said:
I was disappointed by # of venders in swap meet area
As you walked down the aisles- probably only 1/4 of the spaces were sellers- most were people just camping over or parking their rigs- few real venders
Walked a lot past non sellers spaces
Click to expand...

That's funny, I was disappointed by the number of people BUYING...Lots of window shopping!

A couple of observations from the vendor perspective:
1. EVERYONE wants to haggle...I got offered $4 for a $5 part...Really?
2. Please stop low balling prices on Friday morning...I was able to get my asking price on many items later in the day.
3. The flow of prospective buyers ended around 2 pm BOTH Friday and Saturday. This is consistent with last year.
4. If I say "Make an Offer" it is probably because I want it gone!
5. 1963 Plymouth Valiant parts DO NOT sell well, lol.
6. I don't sell on Sunday anymore, just pack it all up.

Fortunately, there are places like FABO and the free For Sale ads.

burg
 
I will be going for my first time ever next year. Unfortunately, I will likely not be buying as I have pretty much done that for my current build (please Greg get it done!). For me it will be the experience. There will always be things that 'are not good enough' from what I have now, but we'll see. I will really enjoy seeing those folks I have bought stuff from on FABO, and maybe showing them their part on my car.
Dennis
 
I sold about 2/3 of the parts that I brought. I had prices marked on everything and only a couple of people handed me the amount that I had marked on the part. I had some low ball offers and in some cases I just said OK and took their offer. I needed to come home with a much lighter load so I was giving out some good deals.
 
Here is the problem that I have notice. I can get better deals on parts on line than at Carlisle. Now that is just one part of the show. It's still fun to go and see the show cars and for sale cars. I only live an hour and a half away, so it's not a big deal for me to zip up north. However once again I have had much better luck on the computer than the swap meat.
 
it was my 2nd trip and my biggest regret is the fact you cant see all the SHOW cars becauseby the time you get from one end to the next most have came and left. the vendors id have to agree that unless it is Bulky to ship why bother when you can sell it from your key board in the A/C
 
the car hobby and the " swap meet" buying syndrone!????? I call it. just part of the culture. part worth $100. he priced it at $60. offer the guy $20, he might just take it!? LOL
walk your feet off, you might just find the part you need around the corner for $1 less!????
selling a car. ( as my farmer missou1r neighbor says, NEVER pay what a guy wants, always offer less!).... LOL......no matter if the car is worth $10,000 and he asks $1000, offer him $400, ya might get it for $450 !!????? LOL and he might haul it home for you and add a tank of gas for good measure!??????
vendors from Ks, Mo, Ia Mn etc ( that used to go every year),, will say... why travel 12-15 hrs. to Nats, buy swap spots, motel, gas, sit in the heat for 3 days, haggle, get insulted, get a few things stolen, broken in transit, etc....WHEN he could sit home in the air conditioning, and get fair price from home?????
and vendors back East..... why travel to NATS WHEN Carlisle COMES FIRST...... MORE AND BETER OF EVERYTHING.... more cars, people, parts, money.????
 
I went up on Wednesday and left on Sunday. I thought there were some great deals to be had and was buying the whole time - until money ran short. I think I spent just south of 10k. So why not haggle? Worst case is it is a no go and you pay up - if you want it...

One thing I did notice is that buying 4-speed stuff, shifters aside, was/is a no go there. Brewers and Passon had the market locked up and were paying premium prices.
 
yes haggle is part of it..... 66 Merc, original faded red, white buckets, 390 console auto, all original, no rust, drive it deal. he says, I know you are a Mopar guy, BUT... you know anyone that might want it . $300.
I had a good buddy that was a Ford nut, but he said hey, its almost a Ford. he travels the 15 mi to see it, makes the guy an offer of $200. the guy takes it feeling like $300 was pretty darn cheap. I knew that the seller a $100 was like a bunch to him..... my bud drives it home. I felt bad for the seller. ( the guy never called me again with anything for sale he found)....
back South where I was raised, I have seen someone have a whatever, priced plenty cheap, guy comes to look and makes a counteroffer. the seller just tells him to get in his car and don't come back!!! LOL
years back at the Nats, I never had any NOS, BUT that year I had a pair of NOS 70 cuda headlight bezels, in the box, MINT. no one repoped them and good used ones were non existant. I priced them at $300 FIRM> I had maybe 1000 people look at them, 300 made me an "offer", good buddy that had several 70 cuda hemi cars, he wanted them but hated to think of paying $300 for the pair!!!! ( he could afford them no doubt).. they sat at my spot thru 11 o clock Sum a m, till I started to pack up for the 12 hour drive back to Mo. guy comes up and pays the $300, 5 minutes later my buddy runs up wanting them!!!! LOL said sorry, I told you 3 days ago to buy them... he says, I know!!!!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top