On Friday, February 27, we took a drive down to San Diego to have a look at the Big 3 Parts Exchange, an annual swap meet in San Diego, California. It’s called Big 3 because it is run by three clubs: the Antique Auto Club of America, the Horseless Carriage Club of America, and the Early Ford V8 Club of America. That makes it sound like it’s all about a bunch of Model A parts, but it’s really much more. We saw plenty of hot rods, but also musclecars, cool trucks, and lots of the 4×4 and sand-dune stuff that’s popular in San Diego.
The Big 3 meet is huge, but a little tough to get around since the lot where it’s held curves around Qualcomm Stadium and there are few aisles logically set up in a straight line. Both the Pomona and Long Beach Swap Meets are easier to walk. The Big 3 probably has about as many parts vendors as Pomona, but fewer cars for sale. On the Friday we went, there were even fewer cars for sale than Long Beach usually has.
But it was a cool day with lots of great gearhead sights, anyway. See our gallery of 110 photos here.
