Well,
I'm sorry to say that what you saw is more of a reallity than an anomaly.
Having been to most of the major swap meets of late and seeing for myself, the parts (good parts) are not only expensive, but hard to find as well. You can thank the rising prices of the finished car, the rising costs of restoration, and especially the rising awareness of what the parts can be worth (thanks mainly to the internet and especially ebay) .
Parts vendors are typically asking "ebay" prices for most of the better items. Not too many sellers who haven't discovered the internet for a selling tool (myself included) it costs less to buy and sell considering you can do it from your living room, no travel costs, no vaccation days spent going to far away swap meets, no overpriced swap meet space rentals, no food, no expenses other than listing fees and only the personal time to list, box and ship the parts you've sold. Hard to beat that as a seller.
As a buyer it's the same deal, conveineint. Especially if you consider the time and travel expense of searching for the parts you need at various shows (but it is fun to go anyway
)
it's usually cheaper to buy online even at the seemingly inflated prices found on auction sites like ebay
.
