Over the last several days the state of California has been hit hard by a series of cold rainstorms coming off the pacific – covering the mountains with snow and bringing chaos to the usually sun-drenched freeways of Los Angeles. Fortunately, the weather cleared up yesterday morning just in time for a gathering of Datsun and other old school Japanese car fans in Eagle Rock.

One draw of the event would be the selection of vintage cars in the car show…

…but the main highlight was the swap meet. While swap meets have been going on for ages among the hot rod and domestic crowd in SoCal, the same can’t be said for the Japanese car community. It was pretty refreshing to see people out there selling things like hop up parts for L-series motors and old school JDM wheels.

What better vehicle to bring to a swap meet than a Datsun 620? There’s just something cool about one of these trucks sitting on slot mags.

Need a project car? This 510 wagon was up for sale for a reasonable sounding $1500.

The event was open not just to Datsuns, but to vintage Japanese cars of all types. This black Celica liftback looked pretty tasty.

The Mazda crowd was also out there with a small selection of rotary parts up for grabs.

The swap meet itself wasn’t huge, but it was well stocked. Everything from those hard to find original stock parts…

…to modern performance parts. Hmmm, are those some SR components I spy?

There were also tons of cool sets of wheels and tires up for sale. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the swap meet at the JCCA New Year Meeting in Tokyo.

This 240Z looked clean and mild on the outside with retro four-spoke mags.

But under the hood? Good old LS1 power. This thing sounded pretty burly when it pulled out!

All of the sidestreets around the Eagle Rock Recreation Center were filled with cool old cars. Do you remember this Cressida from the spotlight I did a while back?

This little Datsun 210 sedan is definitely something out of the norm. Very cool.

Clean and mean 70-chassis Supra. These cars are well on their way into the “classic” realm.

Wonder what the story with this 510 is? Looks like a pretty straight car to be so hacked up.

Another very clean Datsun 620 on late model truck wheels.

This immaculate ’72 Honda CT70 trail bike was sitting in the bed.

In this day of Craigslist and huge forums, getting parts for your project has never been easier. Still, there’s something special about holding the parts in your hand and wheeling and dealing face to face. It was very nice to see the SoCal community coming together for an event like this.

That will do it for part one. I’ll be back soon with a little more of this old school fun.

Stay tuned!

-Mike Garrett