I made my first venture up to Iola, WI for the annual swap meet and car show.

I had heard from countless people it was the best in the midwest. All I can say is..overrated... Granted, I went up on Sunday, the last day of the 4 day event, but considering I attend the Jefferson spring and fall swap meets car shows every year, theres no doubt that Jefferson is much, much better.

Usually on the last day you still have at least 3/4 of the vendors, but at Iola, less than 1/4 was still there when I was there on Sunday morning, and those remaining vendors were busy packing up.

To the organizers, all I can say is this...dont advertise the event as 4 days if most of your sellers are gone by day 3. Since the drive was 2 hrs away, it really felt like a waste of time for the Mrs and I.

While they may have a fair amount of spaces, practically every vendor I saw took up 2-3 spaces for just their trailer and car. Again, make them put their cars/trailers somewhere else so that the spaces are truly items for sale.

Sorry to rant... I was just excited to finally go, and thoroughly let down once there... Needless to say, I wont attend again, and if I do, it will be on the Friday or Saturday only...never on a Sunday...

Wow that's a bummer, my friend always makes this out to be such and awesome event. I know he packed up and left Saturday night. You are right though, these types of events suck on the last day.

I don't know if you have ever been to the Turkey Run in Daytona Beach but it is the same way. Officially starts on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and runs through Sunday. From Weds-Saturday the place is just nuts, on Sunday you might as well not even bother as the place is a ghost town...

I looked up you're friend's space numbers while I was there, and he had packed up already.

Was that on Saturday or Sunday. I do know that he packed up sometime on Saturday as they headed back home on Sunday. When I spoke with him on Saturday he did say that sales were a bit slow this year and foot traffic did not seem as high as in the past. The bulk of his sales took place early Thursday and Friday mornings.

However, for him, sales do not matter on bit. He does this because he enjoys it and that's the bottom line. The reality is he goes more to buy and shop than to sell and his collection of stuff can verify that.

I was hoping you guys could have met him, he is as we call him, the Pontiac Wizard. This guy trully knows Pontiacs inside and out. He is one of these guys who can back up his endless stories of all the Pontiacs he has owned over the years with photo albums FULL of pics of every single one of them. He can tell you when he bought each one, where he bought them and who he sold them to. He is a history book full of Pontiac info!

Oh yeah, he is also very familiar with Corvettes as well. He currently owns 7 of them two of which are in his living room. LOL

Oh yeah, on top of all that he is the greatest friend anyone could ever have!

I was out there on Sunday as well. While it seemed that more of the vendors were packing up early this year, there were still a lot of them there. Jeffersen is a little bigger (and lot flatter) but for me it's another 1-1/2 hours away. But then that's the trade-off for "free admission Sunday."

Yeah, I admit I was glad Iola was free on Sunday, but then again, if I would have paid the $8 for the Mrs and I, I would have been even more disappointed.

I think its just a good rule of thumb, never go on the last day.

What I always find interesting is that some of these events run on Thursdays and Fridays when a good deal of working people are busy working and cant make it on those days. That means you have to be there on that Saturday, because Sundays arent worth the effort.

Then again, its always hard to be a pontiac person looking for parts at these events as its like trying to find a needle in a haystack. If I was restoring a mustang or camaro, the parts are everywhere, especially the mustang parts. But ask someone about pontiac parts and they look at you like you have the plague.

When I did find someone who had pontiac parts, he was almost a bit sarcastic in talking to me when I started asking about specific parts (he had a 69 himself and kept saying... I dont have that on my own car, I dont have that on my own car, over and over again..)

Oh well, next up will be Jefferson in September.. and for me, thats only 45 minutes away vs 2 hrs for Iola.

I am going to create a thread like I did last year for the Daytona Turkey Run. Last year I asked if anyone was looking for anything specific and I would be happy to look as I walked the entire field at least 5 times with our group of Pontiac friends. With a group like ours Pontiac stuff is spotted quickly. In fact, last year I found flawless burlwood console/dash pieces etc. I posted on here and asked if anyone was interested and no one responded. I found a non-a/c burlwood dash bezel w/ radio bezel for $25, they were flawless. Again noone on here responded so I bought it and sold at the show the next day for $75.

So if anyone is reading this and you have something specific you are looking for, please send me a PM and I will be more than happy to have my friends help me search. We spend EVERY hour there from Tues-Sun as we are all in the club that helps run the event...

At the Daytona Spring show this past March I found two 8-bolt timing chain covers. They were in excellent shape for $15 each and I passed on them. Decided 20 mins later I wanted them and they were gone. So this stuff is out there, just have to ready to jump on it and know pricing etc.

There's always Elkhorn in 3-weeks. Never been there myself, don't know how big it is.

Ive been to Elkhorn, and it was ok, but not as big as Jefferson. Its in between Iola and Jefferson for size of vendors, but it sometimes varies with the weather. When I went there last time it rained the night before, morning of, and it was a swamp with huge ponds and the only way through it was to wade through several inches of water to look at stuff. Most swap meets are like that...if it rains the nigh before, better wear junk shoes. ....nothing ticks off the Mrs more than having to slog through muck...

Just a comment on the offers to look for other parts for the forumites, I think thats great! I trust you guys are probably more knowing then most when it comes to quality, numbers, etc.. So Ill kick you a shopping list sometime soon.

Definately, more than happy to help. I usually take my camera and laptop, so I would even be able to e-mail pics to be sure of quality etc...

I went to Iola this year after not going for about 5 years. i was disappointed too. I never saw so much non-automotive stuff at a car related swap meet. If I was looking for a vintage milking machine I would have had several to choose from (along with the milk cans to go with it) however the transmission I needed was nowhere to be seen. Yes, Jefferson is the place to find what you need, and the prices are closer to reality. You will see some of the same cars for sale in the coral area at Jefferson for a lot less than they were asking at Iola.

That's too bad about Iola. In the past, it was difficult to get through all the booths in one day. Sad it it's turned into a flee market.