I'll have a larger update later with a lot more pictures but for now I'll just let you know the deals I scored over the weekend.
I went to a swap meet over the weekend at the Ballpark in Arlington to see if I could find some good deals on stuff. I didn't really need anything per se but I'm always on the look out for good deals.
Deal #1: I saw a lot of classic license plate "dealers" there. They had boxes of plates from every single state from the 1920s up to now. Being "dealers" they wanted exhorbitant prices for their plates. I saw a set of 1967 Texas plates at one "dealer" that were completely rusted away for $50. Restored plates were going for $150 and rough but structurally sound plates were in the range of $75-$100. What really sucks is that these "dealers" will go around the swap meet and find people who have just a few plates for sale and throw out a low ball price to buy all of them. They then take them back to their stand and jack the price up. Well I only brought $40 and I didn't even want to pay $40 for them.
So at this point I'm thinking I'll just get the state issued plates for classic cars instead. Well, I get to the outskirts of the swap meet and as I'm walking past this camper van I notice a smattering of old plates on the ground, maybe 6 pair. I walk up to them and one pair is from 1967 so I take a closer look. The are pretty dingy but they are structurally sound. There is some surface rust up at the top but everything looked good. From what I had seen all day these plates would be "worth" $75-$100. I went up to the old guy and asked him what he wanted for the plates. He said $20/pair. Awesome. Well I went and grabbed the 67s which looked a bit dingier than the others and offered him $15, he agreed.
What a steal.
Deal #2: As most of you know I'm working on reinforcing my shock towers. Well one of the piece of reinforcement plates is supposed to sit inside the the shock tower and weld to both the inner shock tower and the frame rail. It is a pretty complex-ly shaped piece of metal. Not really difficult, all you do is make a template with some cardboard and them cut out the steel. But it is time consuming, loud, and dirty. Plus you'll have to make alterations in order for it to fit just right.
Well at one stand there was a guy selling precut and bent reinforcement plates for 67-70 cars. Now sellers online will sell their "kits" which include all the reinforcements plates in the range of $250-300. All I wanted were the plates that go inside the shock towers though that I just described. Lucky for me he was selling those plates in pairs separately. He said he wanted $25 for the pair. I thought it was a good price, but by the time I actually found him (I had been by there once earlier and no one was around) I had spend all but $16 of my $40. I told him I had $16 I could give him and he was thinking really hard. I then asked if he'd just sell me one which he didn't want to do. As he was thinking my friend threw out and offer of 2 pair for $30. A few seconds later he agreed and I had my plates
. Now all I have to do is weld them in today.
Moral of the story is that swap meets are awesome.
And in case anyone is wondering, in Texas at least if car is over 25 years I believe it can be registered as a classic. This means no yearly inspection and a $50 fee to register it for 5 years. Technically mileage is limited but there are no rigorous checks to ensure you are within the limit. To register it you either can buy the classic plates from the state or you can buy old plates from the year your car is made. The latter is what I did.