SDVSA Swap Meet Does It Again

SDVSA
SWAP MEET DOES IT AGAIN

[By Gene Bellegarde]

What do you think of when the term "early bird" is spoken? Do you see the classical worm sticking his head out of an apple? How about that early bird swooping down to the grass on a lawn still covered with the morning dew?

Well, this well attended swap meet has earned the reputation of an early bird event. As hard as I tried to be there at the advertised time of 7:00 am, I did not achieve my goal, and who else but Bud Hartwell was sitting in his gorgeous baby blue 1800ES when I finally did pull up? Bud had a hatch full of goodies, of which I myself could not resist. A nice new set of chromed K&N million mile cleanable air filters for my to-be-restored 'someday' '65 544 sedan, a nice shop manual for B 18 powered autos thru the 140 series, and new side marker rubbers for those E-ES/142 side markers. All this trading, with only 2 members present.

Before long we had Goran with his 'always improving' 1800S, fresh with the mandatory fresh 'ding' for his 'fresh' paint job, an Orange County trio of Dave Hunt, Greg Blake, and his girlfriend Marsha in Greg's '82 240 sedan, and sure enough, our cheerful leader Russ and wife Debbie in their rice delivery Toyota sedan. Not far behind were Mark and Diane Jankowski in a Subaru Outback variant (watch out for re-birth of that killer 544!) This was the cozy line-up for awhile, and I fired up the Barbie and singed up some garlic bread and cooked up hot links and marinated chicken legs. The weather was typical San Diego, and being on the bay it was chilly as is the norm. I eventually warmed up around the Barbie and surrendered my

Flagstaff West Coast Meet sweatshirt to a cool member of the fairer gender.

The famous VSA 'Red Cooler' was there, well stocked with drinks for all, we proceeded to Bench Race at full speed.

A conversation with Marsha, Greg's friend found that she is a true Volvo lover, and is restoring an old 444 up in the eastern hills of Orange City .She is looking for a pristine trunk mat if anyone is so fortunate, and I will be able to help her out with those rare trunk lid badges that she needs. She really knows her old Volvos, and it is a pleasure to hear her speak of them.

Greg himself had a stack of Volvo Cross-reference Parts Guides for sale, I think everyone there ended up with one! After awhile we attracted some 240 iron, Clay in an '83 and Brian in also an '83, both Turbos. One of these was even the rare 'flathood' homolugated course racer. Not long thereafter Randy Blum arrived, on a Univega, yes a 10 speed racing bike. Just about at 'closing time', Alan Miller pulled up in his red '63 544.

The time was approaching 2 am, and just as the last of us were preparing to leave, we were approached by 2 ladies that drove all the way down in a rental car, hoping to find those gems for a '68 122 wagon, and an 1800, year unspecified. The 122 owner was Melissa, and I didn't talk long enough with her friend to catch a name. I do know that they found parts and contacts for more, the trip south being a successful one.

Not wanting to rub it in for those of you that didn't/couldn't make it, I won't mention that re-built engine and stand that sold for $300 or the 1800 grille surround for an early Jensen P1800 for $100 bucks. I'll just say that good deals were plentiful, and good friends were everywhere.