The car corral again saw a lot of attention this year.

The hunt was over - we found our missing part!

All in all, we seem to be facing a different environment nowadays for this event. After all, there was no eBay and no Craig’s List when the Swap Meet started, just Hemmings and The Tradin’ Times if you needed a part for an old car. For those not living in our area, now eBay and other online sites are full of used British car parts…just point and click and listen for the doorbell. No need to drive to Chicago.

So those who thought to have detected a drop off in Swap popularity are correct. The course ahead is not clear: there are no more British sportscars being distributed into American hands so that pond is shrinking. And, in my opinion, most British sportscars currently on the road are already in good condition and are not lacking tail light lenses and the like. And we have all seen the articles lamenting the aging and shrinking of the traditional hobby car community, and here it is in person. “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

There is a thought of expanding this venue to cover other types of sportscars; to that end, the Alfa Romeo club was invited in this year along with the Corvair club. The Miata club attended last year but didn’t come back and the Fiero club said “Maybe next year”. We’ll see if they come back. And there are other local clubs that can be approached.

This event has always been successful in large part due to the volunteer effort of club members who help set up, clean up, and take tickets in between. It has become as much a social event as a fundraiser for CMGC and has merit in that context, too. My thanks to all members who contributed their time and energy to help make it happen.

So there is the recap on this year’s Swap Meet with some history and points to ponder thrown in.

~~ ~~ Jim Evans