Cuda Junction Blog

After years of these events bumping up against each other, the worst has happened.  The events are the same weekend.

What to do…..

We love both.  Portland for the buyer opportunities, but we got a sweet offer to share and sell in a space with another long term Mopar vendor.

Mopars at the Strip - we have gone every single year.   Last year was terrible to sell in the swap meet, and we had another vendor trying to steal our stuff while we were packing up and not watching carefully.   We caught them loading our stuff, reported it to MATS, and no one seemed to care.  “You need to watch your spaces.”  Yeah, we know, we caught them, thanks dude for not doing a thing about these guys (who were other swap meet vendors who bailed quickly after getting busted and we grabbed our stuff back).   Makes me think the whole thing has gone down hill, maybe to never to return to its previous glory. 

Walking in Portland rain and goose crap for 5 days.  But it did snow in Vegas last year.

Vegas, flash, races, show, whatever.  Portland, well oiled machine and a true swap where people are looking to buy and sell.  As a business that attends a show to buy and sell cars and parts…..

Decisions, decisions.

Lots of chatter lately about NHRA drag racing on ESPN2 taking a back seat to golf, tennis, whatever.

Do these categories really bring more eyeballs that drag racing?  I find that REALLY hard to believe.

Oh, the woes of the Hot August Nights Swap Meet.

The tales of the background check have been well chronicaled.

I hate this promoter makes a big claim of “auto related only” but so many booths were selling jewelry, home decor metal stuff, beer signs, all sorts of crap that has nothing to do with a true swap meet.

The swap meet was telling, booths were down, attendance was down, and allowing the trinket vendors to sell is just an indication of where this event is going.  Down the toilet.

There were plenty of rumors that this was the last year for the swap meet.  The swap meet stunk, tbe car corral was a ghost town from its former self.   Even locals did not roll out their cars because of the mismanagement of this event.

As a vendor that bought numerous spaces again this year, I probably will not be going so deep if this still exists next year.  I love the love we get for bringing true swap meet stuff, but could someone at least buy some hats to support our investment?  Thanks….

We are at ‘cudajunction on Facebook.

We are going to give stuff away, offer special deals, the whole hemispherical!Â

We had a lousy attitude heading down here, thinking that the state of the economy would be effecting swap meet attendees and buyers.  Last year was bad, how could this year be much better?

We were pleasantly surprised that people were out, spending money and having a good time.

I don’t know how the car corral did, it seemed that there was not much activity out there, many cars went back out on the rigs they came in on.

Still a problem, long areas of vacant spots, vendors vehicles filling spots, and flea market crap.   No serious swap meet vendor wants to walk passed numerous booths filled with tow vehicles, fishing poles, neon beer sign people, empty spots, metal decorative foo-foo signs, jewelry peddlers, blue goo and sham wow guys.   Those vendors need to be relegated to their own area, not amongst the auto swappers.  I understand that the promoter is trying to find anyone to fill spots, and the swap meet, period.  But as a shopper, I do not want to walk through all that crap to find what I am looking for. 

Promoter, take a page out of the Portland Swap Meet play book and designate areas for trinket and BS vendors, do not make car part vendors wander through all that crap.  It would make the swap meet a much stronger event.  They do not call it Hot August Nights for nothing, and people do not want to wander through row after row polluted with crap.  If they want to wander through the trinket vendors, fine, but they do want to wander through a bunch of crap to potentially find their items.

OK, OK, with all the fuss about the Hot August Nights Swap Meet, we decided to try the Sacramento “Reno Swap Meet” on August 1st, 2010.

We rolled into Arco Arena about 5:30pm on Saturday evening.  We were met with a polite young lady who helped us with our entry and we were advised to go around the corner and “be patient.”  Oh, this is not going to be good.  We drive up to ridiculously long lines of parked vehicles, folks out wandering around, and it is hot out, so tempers are a bit short.  We sat there until after 8:00pm waiting to get in.  I did get to pay $2 for a can of Pepsi.  (Did these people take a page from the early Mopars At The Strip playbook?)  It was not the way to start a show. 

The interesting part of this swap is that you can have your spaces all down a line parking space style, or you can have them in two row blocks, which made for a sort of Tetris thing going on.   Neat idea, which does not work because people are squabbling, rearranging, trying to work things out.  Your swap spaces go in rows, not blocks, which is typical of most swap meets and would end that BS/confusion.

The following morning is no better.  Vendors can get in at 5am, so we are there just before 5.  LONG lines of people waiting to get in.  No signs or information directing anyone anywhere.  In another lane, vehicles are whipping right in, passing the long, non-moving lines.   Mrs. CJ watched this as the line we were stuck in did not move at all before she popped a gasket and marched up to see what the hell was going on.   The non-moving line was for people that did not buy in the day before, poor bastards. but we had sat through that hell last night, we wanted in.  So she started directing traffic to get us in the show to get our booth ready. 

That early start time may seem like a good idea, but it is still frickin’ dark that early.  We stumbled around the booth before the light finally came up and we could really get going. 

And although this was our first year, I had heard that concessions were an issue here and this year was no exception.  At about 11:30am, the one concession on our end of the show had warm bottled water and Diet Pepsi to drink and that was it.  And about a 30 minute wait in line for the priviledge for paying up for that.   An older gentleman stumbled into our booth, sweating and pale, fortunately I could give him some cold bottled water before he had medical problems. 

We sold a few things, some MoPar people came through the booth and were happy to see some D-C-P parts, a few were kind enough to at least buy a hat to support our attendance even if we did not have parts they needed. 

It was alot of crap for a one day show, that is for sure.

The drama continues with the Hot August Nights Swap Meet.

Tom received a call last night from one of the promoters of the event held at the Livestock Events Center in conjunction with Hot August Nights.   This person stated that the business license requirement for those selling used items (such as used car parts) had been waived for the swap meet this year, not sure what future holds. 

There are still spaces available, would we like to attend?

This sounds like scrambling to put a show together to us.   I suspect the swap meet is going to look sparse this year, which of course will disappoint those that come looking for what they want and need.  Who wants to pay admission to walk past a bunch of trinket vendors?  You can get that downtown. 

Hopefully they will try to group the swap together if the showing is going to be thin.  Last year, you had to walk past many unoccupied spots to get from space to space.   Not only does this not afford much shade, it sucks to walk around a half empty parking lot.

Part of me wants to support the swap, it has been good to us.  But another part thinks someone is behind the demise of this event, and it is a shame that it has come to this.

After last year, we had kicked around possibly not attending this year.  The website was thin on information for months, there were concerns amongst the MoPar community whether the event was even going to be held.   We wrestled a bit with the decision.   We keep holding out hope that this show will reach its potential, and maybe this would be the year. 

But the Pawn Star guys were scheduled to be there, love that show!  So we went.

Aspects of the show went back to its humble beginnings.

On set up day, the bathrooms were locked, the maintenance people from the Strip at Las Vegas were painting the floors.  Really?  Hundreds of people are here setting up for a show and a handful of porta-potties are utilized instead of using the regular restrooms.   I understand this probably is not the promoters problem, but if I were in charge of this event, those bathrooms would have been open.  

Fortunately, we brought our own food and drinks again because I did not see any food vendors ready to go on set up day.

The issue of RVs and generators in the swap meet still looms.   We were supposed to be in the swap meet next to a RV with a big generator and many gas cans, which is typically not a good sign for those on the exhaust side.   The gentleman in charge of the swap meet took pity on us and moved us down a few spaces away from the RV.  We appreciated that because that guys generator ran all weekend. 

The general consensus was that everything was down this year acrossed the board.   Attendance was down, entries were down, vendors were down.  Everyone we talked to in the Manufacturer’s Midway said sales were down again this year.   Some people that had cars in the sale corral did not get one call.  We heard nothing sold at the auction again this year. 

Being in the swap meet, we are accustomed to doing some negotiating, comes with the territory.   But something unusual happened this year.   Low offers, really low.  Half price offers, even some 30% of asking price offers on our parts.   A little bit insulting, to be sure.   We know you can “buy it on ebay” - and be my guest.   We drag the stuff there so you can touch it, see what you are paying for, and not pay shipping.    Guess these offers come with the state of the economy.  We’ll take it home rather than give it away, thanks.

As usual, the show cars were top notch.    The survivor tent had some very nice cars and there were some real beauties in the show.   That part of the show never disappoints. 

A few other items:  There was some hype about an announcement that was going to “turn the Mopar world on its ear” and other such grand standing.   Turns out this huge annoucement was about the 2011 Mopars at the Strip giveaway car.   So profound, I cannot remember what it is now.   The 1967 Imperial from Pawn Stars was there, but we never saw any of the Pawn Star stars at the show.   Somebody said that Rick was there for a few minutes, but that was it.   Rats, I wanted my picture taken with Chumlee.

Some other positives:  No ridiculous, clueless people with clipboards, we got in and out quickly (some previous years have had insufferable lines).  and no one got hit by a car that we heard about. 

Still plenty of speculation in the MoPar community on whether this show will be around next year.   After these past couple rough years, I can understand that this event may be on thin ice.   To command the kind of prices that are charged for entries, spaces and admission, this show it going to have to step up if it expects to reach top notch status.Â

We owe you folks a few blogs on our recent experiences, here is one.

We set out from Klamath Falls to head south for Las Vegas and Mopars at the Strip.  No problem, run this route every year since the show started.

Not this year.

Just after we crossed into the state of Nevada, we saw a significant law enforcement presence, all having the big rigs pulled over.   Does not happen every day, but we figured they must be doing some big hauler enforcement operation.   We were very shortly followed for a bit by one of Nevada’s finest and quickly determined that we were the next to be in their cross hairs.   Hey, we have a Dodge 2500 pickup, an enclosed trailer, we have been warned that we were going to get popped for a drug dog test running around these parts eventually.   Perhaps today is our lucky day to have the drug dog check us out.  I hope the dog likes car parts, because that is what we have.

The fine officer saunters up to our vehicle and asks how we are doing.   Well, we were fine until a few minutes ago,  but we’ll still be fine after you have the dog search us.  Mr. NHP:  “What’s in the trailer?”  Us:  “Car parts.”  Mr. NHP:  “Where ya headed?”  Us:  “Las Vegas for a car show.”  Next question.  “Have you ever been pulled over for a commercial vehicle infraction?”  HUH?  Um, no.  **cue panic setting in**  

Mr. NHP:  Can I see your license, insurance card, log book, medical card, fire extinguisher, safety triangles, trip permit, partridge in a pear tree…..

Us:  Um, huh?  We don’t have all that. 

Mr. NHP:  Step out of the pickup sir. 

Us.  **Oh shit**

Turns out, since Mr. NHP determines that our 2002 Dodge 2500 is 8,800 pounds (not on its best day) and the trailer is 7,000 pounds (OK, that could happen), that we are over the 10,000 pounds total weight and we are a commercial vehicle.  We have the audicity to badge the trailer with our website, apparently a telltale sign we are a commercial vehicle.  Mr. NHP wants to see the VIN on the trailer, OK, no problem.  No breakaway device, another issue. 

Mr. NHP rattles off a laundry list of things we are out of compliance on.  Fabulous.  Of course he is quoting the price of the tickets were are about to receive.  Even better.

Mr. NHP started off a bit harsh, but came back with just a medical card infraction.  God bless him.  But he told us to get a trip permit (about $40 - $50), a log book (about $3 at any truck stop), and to get a medical card to dismiss the citation.   Mr. NHP then said that the state of Nevada was going broke and wanted commercial vehicles to help with the government coffers.  Great.

We went to a truck stop we knew and Darlene started cruising the store for log books.   She couldn’t find them, so she asked one of the staff.  The lady said “I’ve been off for a few days, but you are the third person to ask me for a log book today.  Tell me what is going on!”  So Darlene told her what happened, she looked at our set-up sitting at the fuel pumps and laughed.   So, we bought a log book.

Mr. NHP gave us a print out of how to get a trip permit.  Darlene called the number and it seems you cannot get a trip permit in person, you have to buy it in advance.  But there is no nechanism outside of the state of Nevada to buy it in advance except to use an outside vendor.  Really?  This makes perfect sense to me, NOT. 

The real deal on the trip permit is that the vendor of NV trip permits is going to charge you about $40 to get it, plus 15 cents a mile for every mile you travel in Nevada.   So, in our case, we were going to go about 950 miles, plus their fees, and we were looking at about $175 for this trip permit.   So much for the $40 - $50 that Mr. NHP quoted on how much this was going to cost.  The trip permit vendor was not even sure how one could be issued one, she did not know how to get one to someone that didn’t have a DOT number (which is something Mr. NHP mentioned that we were supposed to have.) 

We were trying to be on the up and up, but I guess the right answer is that you are taking your junk for a ride.

While wandering around the Turlock Swap Meet, we saw flyers for a Hot August Nights Swap Meet to be held in Tahoe.   Really?   My first thought was the former HAN swap meet promoter, who moved it to Sacramento, had moved the location closer to HAN.

Other folks speculated that there were other things underway, but there was a fair amount of speculation.

Darlene fired off an email to the source, John Sweeney, who operates the Reno Swap Meet, now held for one day at Arco Arena in Sacramento, the Saturday before the Western Pacific Events Reno Swap Meet.

John answered the email promptly that of course he is still holding the event in Sacramento.  He is catering to private venders and not so much the corporate entities.  Reports from attendees is that this event has been very well run and continues to get bigger.  With all the challenges with the business license situation at the HAN swap meet, reduced attendance, and the fair amount of empty booths at Reno, we have been considering attending this swap meet.  The allure of a one day, no drama show is compelling.

So, back to the new event in Tahoe.  In doing a bit of research, it would seem that Western Pacific, who operates the Reno HAN swap meet, is adding a swap in Tahoe the weekend before the Reno swap.

Supposedly, a letter is going to come out to previous years vendors outlining what is happening with the county and the business license for people selling used items (like used car parts).   I am thinking the promoters are offering this alternative swap meet in California, which will not require the business license, in attempt to lure vendors down to the venue.

I wonder if it will catch on in Tahoe (and the promoters can suss out the business license situation) or will people continue to migrate to the Sacramento event.