Didn't leave empty-handed.

March 17 marketed the 23rd annual All British Car Swap Meet & Autojumble: the weather was brisk but clear with some 58 vendors occupying 80 spaces in hopes of selling their wares to the 466 shoppers that prowled the aisles between 8am and 2pm.

Some older members commented that the crowd seemed down this year, and they are correct: at its peak, this event drew over 900 shoppers in 2002, and peak vendor count was 91 occupying 120 spaces in 2011. So what’s going on?

A little history. When this event was first proposed to (then) club management it was rejected as not being a worthwhile club sponsored event. Having seen the success of the combined Buick-Olds-Pontiac swap meet it seemed like a sure winner to me. So I rented the DuPage County Fairgrounds site myself and licked my own stamps to spread the word to likely buyers & sellers. With an initial attendance of 31 vendors in 32 spaces with 550 shoppers, the event was an immediate winner and $1,530 was turned over to the club. This event has never lost club money and has, in fact, contributed about $55,000 to the club treasury over the years.

Small vendors and large enjoyed the buying crowd.

Shopper gaining entry to the three buildings 0f British parts.

Our Swap Meet quickly gained in popularity with increasing counts of vendors and shoppers for many years. We began to attract “big name” vendors such as Little British Car Co and Triple-C Accessories. Also, powder coaters, polish guys, tool vendors and more. In 2000, we expanded into the third building and continued to see popularity improve over the next 14 years. With the current configuration, vendor space capacity is about 103 (it was a real challenge to make room for 120 in 2011!). But things started to change in about 2015.

Regalia donated by Moss Motors were plentiful.

John Twist of University Motors was one of the many recognizable vendors on-site.

The Swap Meet lost our traditional 3rd Sunday in February date in 2014 and we have bounced around on the Fairgrounds calendar since then, possibly losing some customers due to new dates. Some popular vendors such as Little British Car Co and Triple-C have exited the business and no longer attend. Some of our repeat vendors have moved away and some have passed away. We have had significant site rental increases, some of which we have passed on to our customers.

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