JEFFERSON — A love of vintage cars delivered loads of humans together on Saturday morning, continuing a tradition that has been rolling for over four decades.
Dave and Shirley Payne coordinate the display that attracts more than 500 people to the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds to search for antique parts and grasp out with fellow vehicle lovers.
The swap meet is an annual fundraiser for the Western Reserve Chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America that has been happening at the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds for over two decades and at different vicinity places for many years before that, Dave Payne stated.
Dave Payne said the hobby of antique automobiles has slowed over the years. “There are three or four change meets that have closed up in the last year or so,” he said. The Saturday occasion drew people from northeastern Ohio and surrounding regions; however, it is down from bringing in as many as 1 two hundred people a decade or so in the past. He said young humans don’t appear as interested in vintage vehicles, and the cars may be fee-prohibitive. Payne stated the price of automobiles is losing to get more yo,uthful human beings involved. Payne said approximately 26 members in the membership covering Ashtabula, Lake, and Geauga counties.
The Ashtabula County Fairgrounds Exhibition Building was full of tables covering car elements and the diffusion of gadgets linked to motors. “We have 54 areas inside and eight or ten outside,” Payne said. “It’s been perfect,” he said of the group from places like Columbia Station. Mike Apelons and Rocco Bevelacqua drove an hour and 10 minutes to search for parts and revel in the agency of other antique car fanatics.
“Just checking a few things out,” Apelons said.
Bevelacqua said you see distinct human beings and special components at every display. Payne started the club for $1 three hundred to $2,000 a year and used it for different membership occasions during the year.
Many people start the hobby with their parents and are hooked. “It all ends in my father. We did this together,” stated Mick Szabo of Ashtabula. He becomes a seller and has a good day. “The sales are pretty proper. It has been consistent all morning,” Szabo stated.
Szabo stated he started as a 12-year-old artist following his father around and now owns Studebakers, a Hudson, and a Willys. He indicated he vehicles regularly at some stage in the summer: “One month, it’s this vehicle; subsequent, it’s that vehicle. It would help if you got them some exercising,” Szabo said. Ashtabula resident Ken Hope had an automobile elements shop on West Avenue till it closed in the 1980s. He has elements from the store and gadgets he has picked up at other switch meets.
Jim Dolney of Painesville has a 1931 Roadster he is constructing from scratch from switch meets and components that had been “damaged beyond repair.” “I am retired. I am inside the garage from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” Dolney stated. “I’ve been building this one for three years,” he said. Scott Brown, of North Kingsville, is likewise passing along his love of vehicles to his 5-12 months-old son Aiden.
