Charlotte AutoFair photo review

Thursday's heavy rains mainly made for a muddy 20+ mile jaunt through untold hundreds of vendor rows. I managed to see more this year than last, between 80-85%. If vendors actually stayed until dusk as advertised, we might have been able to finish. By 4:30pm most started packing up for day however.

Not much in the way of procars, as anticipated. Taking time to speak with some vendors did turn a few up however. (More on that below.) I'll mix interesting/neon/rare/funny items seen into emergency related stuff. Vendors with Cadillac parts multiplied sixfold from last year but there were still less than 30...

'63 Cadillac headlight buckets and boomerangs. Friend picked these up.



Sireno R5R, incorrect front lens (which was now plastic), $225. Offered $50 for rear Cats Eye lens for my R5R, didn't think vendor would take it. He didn't.





My '59 Superior had this Unity combined square spot/mirror. Superior also used them in '60 and I did see a pair mounted on a '58 Memphian Oldsmobile. Mount didn't appear Cadillac so I hesitatingly set it back down. Returned on way out and it was gone.



'51-'53. Hinges worked smoothly, too much pitting to use as-is.





Darren I almost texted you about this. Begrudgingly put this unbuilt Johan back down @ $75 because it was early in the day.



No mount and still $200.

Fair price for a double bubble @ $350, even though bubble had a small crack. Can was nice.



Think this Federal 28H was marked $85.






A hot rodder's grail!

'54 Eldoardo skirts.



Called Nick Yassan on these '58 Fleetwood Series 60 Special skirts. If he didn't already have a pair I was going to snap these up for him. For $350 one can't go wrong given rarity and condition.



Awesome older vendor also had these '57 Eldorado rear bumper ends. Wonderful chat ensued that resulted in an invitation to stop and visit if I'm ever in his area. He has a '62 hearse - no idea what coach builder - and hundreds of more Caddy parts. He's definitely on my radar now.



$300 asking price on this 174 with a plastic dome. Nice uncut skirt.




Absolutely loved this '59 Nomad. This one still had its factory 348.

Same vendor, location, and price as last year. He hasn't figured out that our economy hasn't recovered yet.






New reproduction (left) and original (right) Chevy dome lights side by side. Superior used them in coaches.






Obviously not NOS as claimed but very very nice. Cut skirt and demountable.



One vendor I never did locate had three sirens and three beacons, all 6v. No clue what those were.

Seeing a great sign vendor display immediately gave me a strong hunch from deep within. Quality of his merchandise was in top percentile and he definitely had a good collecting eye over the years. I carefully scoured everything certain that I was going to find a funeral piece, spending considerable more time at this one stand than anywhere else. After finishing, vendor had completed other transactions and asked if there was anything specific I was looking for. I told him and he just laughed. Puzzled, a friend and I just looked at each other. Vendor goes on to say that frequently sellers will say that they just sold something when they never did or maybe it was sold long ago. This time he actually had a prewar neon clock with funeral home advertising screen printed on it that sold on Thursday, the day before! Through all that rain, horrid turn out, and only a couple sales all day - that clock was one. Figures. Literally a day late. Not even a day late and a dollar short.




Always check hand written boards and/or 35mm pics of vehicles for sale. If someone is Cadillac heavy, it is worth asking about professional cars. After reading 30 such boards found one guy in SC that has a '68 Crown Sovereign Royale endloader that he'd sell. Totally worth taking time to ask nicely.

Another SC attendee flagged me down. Didn't recognize the guy and his son but remember our conversation from last year about his '52 Flxible. Relayed if he can forward data plate info that we can supply its history through Keith and Tom.

Onto a few of the items I grabbed.

Starting to harvest ideas how this unbuilt will look completed as a proper '59 Futura Duplex.



Most of these are spares going into my traded/sale pile.



Collecting Cadillac diecast as well, found all these. Turns out 5-6 are duplicates so PM if there's anything you like. So few '49 Sedanette models are made that I consider that one good fortune. HW Elite 1/43 Ecto is also a spare and available.



Shoot a PM with an offer if you'd like this prewar porcelain stretched sign. It is nice. Haven't even polished it yet. Single sided, wall mount application. Couldn't leave it there but don't need it either.



A friend's 10 year old son wants a casket badly. No idea why other than saying he wants something that his friends don't have. I told him if his parents would allow him that I'd find one. They did. Needed to be full size, low price, and unused. Well.....I found one for him that hit those parameters. Glad I drove a vehicle large enough to haul it home.

That mirror-spot with good chrome for under $100 certainly made someone happy. There's probably still a little money that could be made on that Federal 174, not so much on the 17, although prices continue to go up on all the Federal bubble lights. Quite frankly, I'm surprised to see 174's in excellent condition anywhere near $300 anymore. I guess there's still a few out there.

I would have picked up those Grover air horns too, if the price was right. People were always asking me where to get a deal on those.

I love it....... and the other stuff.....Thanks for posting!

Atti as always thanks for the post,soon our weather will allow for the outside hunts until then you-go-guy.