The annual Turlock Swap Meet is coming up soon...sooner than I thought! (My, how time flies!)

The dates are: January 26th/27th. For those who don't know, this is one of the largest if not the largest swap meet on the West Coast. Folks come from all over the country to buy and sell at Turlock. Mike, JD and I all met up there last year and spent the better part of the day perusing the incredible array of cars and parts for sale, and at this poiint, Mike and I are planning to do it again. Who else wants in? Here are the details:

http://www.turlockswapmeet.com/

Now, the reason I included Thumper in the thread title is this: Bud is on my case about Thumper and wants it gone. I can't blame him, it's been at his place way longer than I originally told him. I'm going over there today to load it up on the trailer and haul it to my work where my boss is allowing me store it short-term in the storage building we have recently (almost) completed there. I'll leave it on the trailer and just back the whole thing into a bay and then on the weekend of the Turlock meet I'll haul it down to Mike's where it will take up its new residence in a location where (hopefully) more members can have access to it and we can begin to make progress on it once again.

We're still sketchy on the details at this point...I can bring it down Sat. during the day and then we can unload it and plan on hitting Turlock on Sunday, or I can come down early on Sat. morning and we can leave Thumper on the trailer and go straight to the meet and unload it after the meet, or even the next day, Won't really need much help unloading but we might at least be able to get together and oogle the thing and discuss plans. Could even find some parts for it at Turlock...

So post up if you're interested...

 

I am really interested Dan. Are you planning to cut over to I5 and go down to Mike's or come the Vallejo?

Dan, please keep track of your gas costs for hauling Thumper down. We should either reimburse you or figure a way to split it out.

The swap meet sounds great. Do we need anything for Thumper from it?

Thanks Dan for planning this. Let me and others know how we can help.

 

Works for me.

In regards to your email, I'd suggest posting up on "fordbarn.com" in all the forsale sections for transport. It's routinely done, so it won't be frowned upon or deleted.

 

I'm planning to go I-5 on the way down. 29 is too tough a haul between Middletown and Calistoga when hauling a load that heavy.

I have a potential plan for covering gas costs...let you know more later.

We can always use more stuff for Thumper, I'll be going over it during the next couple of weeks to re-familiarize myself with the beast and formulate a plan for what we still need to do and what parts are still needed.

Gave you the swapmeet bug back at Goodguys, huh, Karl?

Okay Mike, we'll see...

 

Hey Dan,
Post it in all 4 of the swap meet sections.

 

So, Thumper is now taking up residence in one of our storage units. I'll see if I can get the tranny/T-case in place and then work on the steering.

What a PITA it was though... Why is it that the simplest jobs always get so complicated? First off, somebody got the bright idea to use the deck of the trailer to store about a ton of scrap wood, so I had to offload that. Then I find one of the tires is flat, and of course the bead is off the rim so I can't just air it up. I took the flat off and went to get the spare, only to find that the tire shop had swapped rims with me and gave me one that wouldn't fit. The bolt pattern was correct but the drums have pilot studs which the rim was not drilled for, so I had to knock the stud off with a hammer only to find that the center hole on the rim was too small to fit over the hub. So after a little torch and grinder work, I finally had the spare in place and headed over to Bud's.

And of course, I didn't have any tools with me and forgot the combo to his shop so I had a bit of a fight when it came to pulling cotter pins on my chain hooks to swap things around. My wimpy little winch just barely had enough grunt to haul the beast up onto the trailer, but it made it. I did find that the wheels I had on there are too wide to go between the fenders of the trailer so I didn't get the truck on as far as I would have liked, but just barely made it work...at least, enough to get it over to my work. Good thing I wasn't going far or I'd have had to change the rear tires on Thumper, and without a jack.

Then, trying to maneuver the trailer into a storage unit while trying to dodge all the crap and stakes and things in the way was fun, especially with the light beginning to fade. But it's done now and I can get Bud off my back...whew!

 

You know Dan, that sounds exactly like the way things go here too.

You're not alone!

 

Well I thought it was this weekend, I might be able to make it next weekend either Saturday or Sunday works. My lady and I were planning on making it one of the days. She likes to look for old figurines and antiques.

I will keep my eye on this thread to see who and when.

Thanks Dan

 

Wow, it's JD...talk about a blast from the past!

What, you put away the boat for the winter so now you have time to play with us again...?

Anyway, hope you can indeed make it. It was fun last year, and I think we can count on at least a couple more people for this year...

 

I'd like to go out there for a bit but I have a problem keeping the green stuff inside my wallet. It's also a bit of a zoo these days........it's gotten so big I can't believe it. Always a fun time though and I need a carb for my 460. I'll keep checking the thread to see if ya'll are gonna be coming down.

 

Oh, we'll be there...I'd suggest you meet up with us but leave your cash at home, or maybe just bring enough for that carb...

Last year the three of us who went didn't buy much but had a blast just looking at all the cool stuff and strolling down Memory Lane (though Mike did find some gears he was looking for) and then we met up with Clint for lunch. I'll be on a tight budget myself but drooling is still free...

 

I hear ya Dan......I'm a professional when it comes to parts drooling. If I don't source a carb between now and then I'll head on out with you guys. Hell, might just do it anyways. I got 80 bucks credit at pick-n-pull so I'm hopin to come up with a carb for ol blue prior to the swap meet. I'm always up for lunch though!

 

Cool, we'll count you in then...!

 

Dan, it looks like we'll be going on Saturday. I'll PM you next week once I know for sure. Jag

 

Breech, did you get my PM about the carb?

Dan...IIRC, you bought an intake and lugged it around all day

JD bought a few things too...seemed he lugged his stuff as well...

Me, I bought a spider gear cluster that I kept in my pocket, and an axle over my shoulder...

I think I spent the less, and had less work hauling it around.

PS...Clint came by as well when we we're grubbing down (Thanks again JD!)...

Then I got drunk later that night after selling a pickup bed to a guy...

Then next morning Dan hung my back door while I drank beer and watched...
Oh, made Dan sleep in the trailer that night, but he's become a good-guy since, and we let him the front door in every once in a while when he stops by!

Ah...a glorious weekend it was!