Back to the Bricks: Swap meet brings out seekers of old car parts

Scott Atkinson | By Scott Atkinson |
on August 15, 2013 at 2:50 PM, updated August 15, 2013 at 2:52 PM

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, MI -- Back to the Bricks doesn't just bring old cars into town--it brings car parts as well.

Car lovers gathered at the second day of the Back to the Bricks Swap Meet Aug. 15 to wander around looking at old car parts and car-themed gear they could take home after a brief haggle over the price.

Milling around with other car fans at Kirkridge Presbyterian Church in Grand Blanc Township, Bob Scholar surveyed old hubcaps laying on the grass.

"It's what I've happen to have a lot of lying around," said Scholar, 61, of Grand Blanc. "I've got so many extra parts from the three '55 Chevys I have."

Dave Lewis, 38, of Mt. Morris, said he has been going to swap meets with his dad for about ten years. They run a car storage facility and Lewis works as a mechanic during the week, but almost every weekend they're out selling what they call "car trinkets."

On a long table they had dozens of small plastic bins filled with everything from bolts and electric switches to fuzzy dice. 

"This is mainly just a weekend thing," he said. They got started when friend who had a lot of spare parts approached them, knowing they frequented swap meets, and they struck a deal to work together.

"My dad's been going to swap meets for years and years," he said. "It's a weekend hobby kind of thing. I dig the cars and the people."

It wasn't all car parts, though. Pat Chervus, 61, of Grand Blanc, was selling lots of things, but what seemed to draw the most eyes were her cans of Harley Davidson beer.

The famous motorcycle company only canned their own brew for a few years, she said, but people like to keep the unopened cans as collectors items. her oldest can dated back to 1988.

She pointed out they're best left unopened at this point.

"I don't think it'll taste too good," she said. "I've had a can break before. It smelled like a skunk."

Robert Atkinson had several boxes of car parts lying on the ground. The 70-year-old Davison man said he enjoys being out and meeting with people and buying boxes of old junk he sifts through, looking for something good to sell.

One bin was full of old radiator caps. To someone who doesn't know cars well, it might seem odd to sell a radiator cap, but Atkinson explained that when someone parks their car at a show like Back to the Bricks and pops the hood, having the proper radiator cap shows they're legit.

He said there's also an ecological component to what he does.

"I like to it to make at least one more cycle before this stuff goes to the scrap heap or the landfill," he said.

He points out it's not really about money--he "sometimes" breaks even, he said--but it's more about the fun.

"I don't talk people into buying anything. Either they want it or they don't, and we haggle about the price, which is kind of fun. It's just fun," he said.