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VIDEO: Hunting for bargains at Cruise-In swap meet

First year event is held same day as show

Chaz Purdon and daughter Miranda awakened earlier than usual to make a trip in from Maple Ridge to Aldergrove to see what was on sale at the Good Times Cruise-In swap meet.

"We got up, probably about quarter after 6," said Chaz, but the trip took longer than expected.

"I got stuck in some major traffic on the freeway to get here."

Father and daughter, both in Chrysler-positive "Mopar Madness" t-shirts, said they weren't looking for anything specific.

"We've got a wide variety of different cars [that we're] looking for parts," Chaz explained.

Miranda, also a car fan, was acting as her father's spotter.

"I'm not looking for anything particular," Miranda said.

"Just hoping to keep an eye out for what he's looking for."

Vendor Ron Fleming and his son Dave had an even earlier start.

"We were lined up at 4:30, and we got in about 6," Ron, a Brookswood resident, told the Langley Advance Times

Over 45 years of hot rodding, he has amassed a considerable supply of car parts.

"I had a chop 49 'Merc for 25 years." Ron said.

"I've now got a 1953 Chevy pickup as a chop hot rod. A lot of these parts are [from those projects], but there's lots of other stuff in between. 45 year collection here, I gotta get rid of it."

He estimates he's been going to swap meets in B.C, for "30, 40 years," and also in Oregon for about 30, and enjoys the social part, the chatting with other car fans.

"The car bunch of people are a great bunch of guys."

This year, for the first time, the swap meet was held on the same day as the car show.

Based in the Aldergrove Community Centre Parking Lot, it was a change that show organizers said would give swap meet participants greater visibility and traffic.

Cruise-In's swap meet and car corral started in 2003, a replacement for a chili cook-off that used to be held at the airport, but became too labour intensive as Cruise-In grew.

Until this year, it was always held after Saturday’s big car show, seen as an event where people could sell parts, car-related products, even sell entire vehicles.

Like  Cruise-In, all money generated by the swap meet goes to the main charities of choice, as well as other causes.