Anybody else do the Portland swap meet?

orygun · Apr 12, 2015

Just got home from another long, but fairly profitable weekend at the Portland Expo swap meet. The weather was fair to good most of the time... I saw one guy walking around with a sweatshirt that said "I buy old guns" and talked to a lady that had known John Noveske personally.

It got me wondering, how many other NWFA members were there?

spectra · Apr 12, 2015

I used to go my BIL has not missed it in the past 20 yrs rain or shine. He is a die hard car nut and sells and buys so it is a good weekend for him. Would have liked to have went but I am not one for crowds anymore.

billyinfinity · Apr 14, 2015

The wife and I went. Good time, lots to see. I was looking for some old Willys parts for my truck but didn't see anything really. No shortage of Ford and Chevy stuff, that's for sure

MarlinNut · Apr 14, 2015

I got called into work and ended up working the entire weekend. I collect vintage trail bikes, Tote Gotes, Toole Troopers, Cushmans and such, but missed this one completely. Maybe next year.

billyinfinity · Apr 14, 2015

MarlinNut said:
I got called into work and ended up working the entire weekend. I collect vintage trail bikes, Tote Gotes, Toole Troopers, Cushmans and such, but missed this one completely. Maybe next year.

Not to salt the wound, but there was no shortage of those. I'm pretty sure that every single outdoor booth at the expo had a trail bike or tote gote for sale. I even joked with my wife that we should buy them all up and start a tote gote gang.

mkwerx · Apr 15, 2015

I towed a barn-find Model A out of there for the owner of one of the shops we service. All the body panels were intact, all the glass was intact, the canvas roof was missing and one of the wooden cross members was cracked, but otherwise it was a hell of a good start to a hotrod project. Shop owner plans to put a BMW V8 under the hood to set it apart from the typical Chevy or Ford powered hotrod Model A's.

Lots of cool old cars and bikes out on the PIR track portion of the meet.

Mikej · Apr 15, 2015

MarlinNut said:
I got called into work and ended up working the entire weekend. I collect vintage trail bikes, Tote Gotes, Toole Troopers, Cushmans and such, but missed this one completely. Maybe next year.

The original Tote Gote.....Growing up in the Salt Lake Valley they were the preferred tool for the deer hunter. Blazer was another that was around. My dad was a depression era kid, he built his own from scratch in the late '50s-'60s. I've got some pics here I may post up later.

MarlinNut · Apr 15, 2015

I hated to miss it, but I'm saving up for a Marlin 1895CB, .45-70, 26" of octagon barreled goodness. I recently found a nice one, but didn't have the cash. That won't happen again. I want to make it a family heirloom.

01rednavigator · Apr 15, 2015

I went with my dad to help him out. He sells old auto parts on eBay, he goes to all the swap meets every year around Oregon and Washington to get inventory.

teflon6string · Apr 16, 2015

I'd have liked to attend this one for either of a couple reasons, though I was tied up and didn't make it this year.

I love automotive stuff and would've been happy to just wander and goggle at everything there.

But auto related stuff aside, I'm also hoping to find a regular old fashioned swap meet in the Portland area. You know... with all the various collectibles and junk people like to buy, sell and trade. Like a huge@ss garage sale.

I've looked a few up online, but sadly ended up at some joints resembling pretty much any downtown store/stall in Tijuana. Nothing against that spin, at all, but I'm hoping more for a generic flea market sort of thing like the weekly Kobey's Swap Meet or Spring Valley Swap Meet, both in San Diego County.

Anyone know if there's something like that in/around Portland? Thanks in advance for useful leads!

Redcap · Apr 16, 2015

Last time I went to the Portland Swap Meet, I missed out on a '67 Buick Riviera. Clean, straight body with no bad cancer. Interior sucked, but still had the console in decent shape. Swapped-in 455. Ran good, could have driven it home. And it was cheap.

Already had let one of my buddies borrow the cash I had brought to buy a '33 Plymouth coupe.

Mikej · Apr 17, 2015

teflon97239 said:
I'd have liked to attend this one for either of a couple reasons, though I was tied up and didn't make it this year.

I love automotive stuff and would've been happy to just wander and goggle at everything there.

But auto related stuff aside, I'm also hoping to find a regular old fashioned swap meet in the Portland area. You know... with all the various collectibles and junk people like to buy, sell and trade. Like a huge@ss garage sale.

I've looked a few up online, but sadly ended up at some joints resembling pretty much any downtown store/stall in Tijuana. Nothing against that spin, at all, but I'm hoping more for a generic flea market sort of thing like the weekly Kobey's Swap Meet or Spring Valley Swap Meet, both in San Diego County.

Anyone know if there's something like that in/around Portland? Thanks in advance for useful leads!

Don't know if it's what you're looking for but the flea market and the Oregon Steam-up in Brooks each year has a lot of "Stuff". That's the last weekend in July/first weekend in August. All the old engines and such is the big draw for me, 'course I do like looking at "Stuff" too.

notazombie · Apr 18, 2015

I've gone every year for the past 25 years or so. This wasn't a great year. Not sure if it was the weather, economy, or what. Judging by the amount of cars in the Portland Meadows lot and size of the crowds at both venues, it looked like attendance was down probably 20-25%.

orygun · Apr 18, 2015

notazombie said:
I've gone every year for the past 25 years or so. This wasn't a great year. Not sure if it was the weather, economy, or what. Judging by the amount of cars in the Portland Meadows lot and size of the crowds at both venues, it looked like attendance was down probably 20-25%.

Being an outside vendor we usually find a vehicle to drive in and out, so I never see the parking lots, but I believe attendance numbers were down. The swap meet committee said they were way up, but we knew they were full of it.
We did alright, better than some years. I did sell my truck to a guy that saw it there on Sunday and that really helped the pocketbook!