VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1941 parts for sale at Flint Anniversary Meet

I have a post in the Parts For Sale section of our chat site that I need feedback on. If you have ever purchased parts at swap meets or Anniversary Meets please give me some advice. Thanks, Mike

P.S. Charlie, please list your advice in numeric order using a top ten format. I can hardly wait to read your suggestions!!!

Mike,
I have to go to a civic meeting. I'll get back to you upon return.
Charlie

Mike:
I have had good luck finding and buying everything from fenders to door handles and tools to round out the trucks tool kits.

I usually go with a list of parts wanted including approximate prices expected, my master parts catalog and one or two Chevy parts catalogs from one of the suppliers I typically use. I carry all this in a ruck sack large enough for all but the largest and heaviest parts.

My best experience has been at Hershey, but Pate and Chickasha have also been worthwhile. I have found that most vendors typically will haggle with the prices, which I consider part of the fun.

I prefer to see prices on individual items, clearly marked and like items grouped together. It makes for quick scanning as I walk by, especially at larger events where there can be miles of treasure to inspect. I have limited results finding stuff I was searching for in the one price for any piece bins that some vendors use for miscellaneous stuff.

The one VCCA regional meet and swap meet I went too was good, but only had about a couple dozen vendors. I imagine the Anniversary meet will have consideably more vendors.

Note: This may be long. My apologies to those with relatively slow computers, whatever the reason.

Mike,
I finally got out of that meeting at 3:30.

I'm not real sure of what you are asking me but, nonetheless, here goes:

(This is in the order of importance with 1 being the least.)

1. Don't bring a whole lot of mechanical parts. Too heavy and don't sell well. Do offer to carry heavy parts to the buyers vehicle or motel room. Bring your Radio Flyer. Sometimes they'll tip you. More profit!

2. Make sure mechanical parts are new or, if rare, in top shape. And, have some bags for the buyer to carry off his purchases in (people from Tennessee will rather have a tow sack, so bring a few of those along, also. Charge extra for them).

3. Make sure that any NOSR parts are in their box and identifiable by for what they fit. Tell folks that the NOSR stuff is even better than the original. It's not but they may be from Tennessee. You know.

4. Make sure any mechanical parts are NOS, if possible. They are worth a lot more. If they're in the original box, that is a big plus, too. The box may make good viewing in the buyers displace case at home. Note: Folk from Tennessee don't care about this display feature 'cause their curio cabinet is probably spelled "Kelvinator."

5. Bring no rusty parts unless it is a rare item. If you do bring rusty stuff, point out that the rust, no matter its amount or depth, is just "surface rust" and that it will clean up with just a little soap and water. Guarantee it or their money back. He'll be too embarrassed to bring it back. He won't but she will. You know. So, beware.

6. Restorable accessories always sell well. Especially 1941 Fender Markers! If you're not sure about the years of an accessory, ask the potential buyer what year car they got. "Yep, that's it. Sir, you got a good eye and fantastic memory right there. Yesiree, you hit the nail right on the head. That there fender marker is sure 'nuff for a rare" light up" one for a 1938. It'll look real good and be very helpful in a-negotiating those hills back home in Tennessee. You can't be too careful seeing that that right front fender and tar don't get too close to those decorative white-painted tars and boulders folks place along edge of their property lines (note: It helps to speak their language. Try.)"

7. Be willing to haggle. My motto is to buy high and sell low. Yes, that's right.
Naw, just kidding. Anyway, name a price that is about twenty percent above what you'll be willing to take. That way you can look like the buyer has "stolen" it from you and then, after he has gone on, smile like a mule eatin briars.

8. Be prepared to make change. It is the vendors responsibility to make change, so have plenty of ones, fives, tens and twenties. Remember that folks attending the 100th anniversary meet will have sold an heirloom or two (or, if from Tennessee, maybe a pig or some extra jars of "shine") and thus are well heeled. They won't have anything less than a hundred dollar bill. Count on it.

9. Don't ever say to a potential customer, "I got more than that in it!" It makes absolutely no difference to the potential buyer what you have in it. Sounds ridiculous. Stick to your guns and let him walk off. Let him get a good way on down the lane. It may be a bluff, you see. If he doesn't turn back, then run after him with the part and say, "you know, I believe I'll take your offer after all. I need to lighten the load anyway." Works every time. And the "lighten the load" bit saves you face.

10. Neat accessories sell well. All except 1938 stuff. The dealers couldn't give that stuff away and so, unlike 1941 accessories, there is plenty of them out there. Leave 'um home. 1938 drivers tend to be real tight fisted anyway. Some of them even drive bottom-of-the-line business coupes. Imagine that!

11. Most important, don't even bother getting up out of your lawn chair if a fellow comes by with his wife and he looks like he has to ask permission to ask the price of something. The sale just ani't a-gonna happen. Trust me. (I'm not dissin women folk here but just an observation gained over 40 plus years of vending. Women folk tend to be much more sane and cost conscious than men folk. Especially when it comes to old car accessories. When we spot a rare accessory, they sense us a-salivating like Pavlov's dog upon hearing a bell ring and that our brains (like Elvis) have "left the building" Yep!) They try to steer back into reality. Do too!

Hope this helps and good luck.
Charlie

BTW: In the "Parts For Sale" forum DIZ gave you some sound advice. You should take it.

BTW2: I got most of what I know from watching DIZ operate over the years. Grin.

BTW3: The above stuff was tongue in cheek. Please take no offense. DIZ and I have always been fair vendors. I'm sure Mike will be also.

I have never had but one part brought to me. It was in the late 70s and at Hershey. It was a NOS "in the box" accessory hood ornament. It was the one with a blue glass in the top. I think for 1946. Guy brought it back and told me that someone had told him that it was a Pontiac hood ornament. I gave the guy his money back right away and with no problem. I soon sold it to someone else. Soon after that the first fellow came back and said he had found out it was indeed the right hood ornament. I told him it was gone. He couldn't believe it. He was right disappointed. Yep. Was too.

Hi charlie, thanks for the compliments, you and I have been selling parts for a lot of years, and go back a long ways. But nobodys perfect, as my wife of 50 years pointed out to me, and had to correct my post to mike, and as you know is doing the selling while im out doing the buying, most buyers like to start EARLY to find the goodies so to speak, also heavy parts are hard to carry for both seller and buyer. Clean parts are more apt to sell so take some time to make them look good, by the pm business slows down and by suppertime there is no really no one out looking or buying, they are usually getting ready for supper and other things, we usually start cocktail hour by 5pm after we have covered our parts, thats when you and i have had some of our best conversations, those were good old days right. Wish we had some of them back. I might have gone to flint with a ton of parts but when i made inquirys about the size of the spaces, and if i could park my motorhome on my space, I got 1 answer, that didnt tell me anything i already didnt know, but did not answer my questions. so be it. Always nice to help out. Dennis

Thanks all for the advice. Still haven't decided whether it would be better to be there at say 7:30 to 10:30 mornings or 6 to 9 evenings. I know I will not be there all day. I'm not the sit around on a hot day type, and I do not have that much to sell? Mike

My thoughts on selling stuff is to be there early in the AM. That's when folks look to gobble up the "good stuff".
And then be there in the early evening also...That is when the folks that passed up your stuff in the AM have second thoughts and say "Darn I should have bought that figamajig when I saw it this morning"...I wonder if it is still there?...ED

Ed,
It's been my experience that the thinamagig will not be there when you go back. There should be a Murphy Law suitable to this phenomena. "The more desirable the item you pass over, no matter the cost, the more likely it will disappear before your return."

Here are some tips to consider as you're out buying stuff for that old Chevrolet:

a. Rarity of the item.
b. Your really and truly need for it.
c. Its condition
d. Offering about 75% of the reasonable asking price.
e. Don't ever ask a vendor, "Will you take (such and such) for it?" without the intention of buying the item if the vendor says yes. It happens.
f. Have plenty of change and, if you can, give the vendor the right amount. The vendor will appreciate it.
g. If you are considering on buying an item, either hold it or keep your hand on it. Generally, if you don't then anyone interested can make an offer or buy the part.
h. If someone else is negotiating over price with the vendor, stay out of it until they have completed their haggling. Then you can make your offer to buy.
i. The best way to buy is to say to the vendor, "I will give you (name the amount) for it. That way the vendor knows he doesn't have to haggle further and, if if the offer is close, a deal maker.
j. Don't waste your time on an item that is obviously a show-off piece and that the vendor has no intention of parting with at a reasonable price.
k. You may want to invite your wife to come along with you to the flea market. Sometimes they are willing to carry the purchases and give you good advice about whether you need the item or health insurance. She'll bring a sense of reality along so that you don't get carried away about the priorities in life. After all they have the checkbook. Right?
l. Forget item "b" above. You can't have too many of something.
m. MOST IMPORTANT, Get it the first time by, chances are real good that it won't be there when you come back. Been there, done that more times than I can remember.
o. Another Most important. At big flea markets, write down the space number of the vendor so you can find him again if you change your mind. The part won't be there but it will help in confirming that fact without a desperate search.
p. Buy your wife an expensive present and give it to her just before you go out to the flea market. Diamonds work best. You'll see.

That's about all I can think of right now. Hope it helps.
Charlie

BTW: If you buy something from Mike B, give him all big bills and tell hem to keep the change. He's a great guy.

Charlie...One other thing that's good to know.
If you are looking for a item at a flea market that you need real bad and you don't want to buy it new because of the cost Then here is a secret tip.
Everyone knows that if you want to find a good deal on something at a flea market all you have to do is go buy it new the day before the flea market....then walla! two of them at the flea market for 1/2 the price you paid the day before.
Soo.. go buy one new but don't unwrap or unpackage it and keep the receipt...Next day buy one at the flea market for 1/2 the price and than take the new one back.....ED

Ed,
Maybe that works for you but it sure doesn't work for me. The last part of your suggestion is the rub. Finding the part after you have bought one works only if you have installed the new one you bought the day before and and in some way render it non-refundable. Grin.
Charlie

BTW: I thought of something else to add the the list.

n. Don't mess with the vendor's mind. If you act like a jerk and/or microscopically inspect an item and look it to death and then say you'll be back, he may just tuck the part away and then tell you its been sold when you come back. Its easy to just roll something around to the next flea market. As a vendor, I've done that many times over the years.