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Automotive swap meet comes to town

By Jay Polk - bio | email

MOULTRIE, GA (WALB) – If your friends and family think you spend too much time in the garage with that old car...there's one place in south Georgia you need to be this weekend.

Like Roger Henry.  He was like many young men growing up. For them the garage was a popular place.

"I've been a mechanic all my life," he said.

He even remembers his first car: "a '50 Ford".

Over the years, he turned his love for cars into more than just a hobby. Now he does it for a living.

"I stated doing car sales about 10 years ago," he said.

For the people gathered here in Moultrie this weekend. Classic cars are more than just a way to get from place to place. They're a passion, a way of life.

And this weekend, at Spence Field, people who are passionate about their cars have company...a lot of company. Thousands of people form all over the nation have converged here.

Jerry Kelley, the director of the swap meet said, "there's vendors from all over the country, California all over the North."

There are all kinds of cars here, from old to not so old. From American classics, to the kind of cars that you probably don't think of as classics. And if you already have that dream machine in your garage, there are other things here as well. Like these classic looking neon signs.

"A lot of these car people really like to decorate their garages around their car. So they put the '40s and '50s atmosphere in their garages," Kelley said.

This is the 34th year for the swap meet. After a few years, it had gotten so big that it had to move from it's original location.

"We started out in Nashville, GA. We were over there for 16 years before we moved," Kelley said.

The great interest in this event, shows the interest in cars. What does Kelley think is responsible for this love for classic cars?

"Most of these people, I believe, relate to what they would have liked to have had as teenagers, he said.

After all, whether you're young or old, is there anything more classic than a classic car?

According to Roger Henry, "not to me."

This weekend there are thousands at Spence Field who would agree.

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