Jaime Gonzalez started selling parts at the Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show when he was a teenager in the mid-80s. Now, you can find…{"id":8393,"date":"2016-02-19T13:33:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T21:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/?p=8393"},"modified":"2019-05-16T14:39:23","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T21:39:23","slug":"working-on-a-1930s-1940s-gm-or-chevy-come-see-jaime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/19\/working-on-a-1930s-1940s-gm-or-chevy-come-see-jaime\/","title":{"rendered":"Working on a 1930s-1940s GM or Chevy? Come See Jaime!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaime Gonzalez started\u00a0selling parts at the Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show when he was a teenager in the mid-80s. Now, you can find him at every show on<\/span> Road 27, Space 51<\/a><\/strong>. Jaime tells us he “got bit by the bug of the swap meet” in high school…\u00a0funnily enough, after\u00a0getting his first Volkswagen. And although he got started with VWs, he now focuses on original and hard to find 1930s-1940s GM and Chevy parts and accessories.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Sometimes I wish I had stuck with Volkswagen. They’re beautiful cars. \u00a0In high school, a friend of mine named Art Cordova and I loaded up my dad’s work van with VW parts. We filled it to the top and brought it to Pomona. We sold a lot of VW! That was before the internet. It was all word of mouth back then.”<\/h4>\n

So why the change to GM and Chevy? And why specifically the 1930s and 1940s? Jaime says he just loves “the style, especially the Art Deco lines, of those cars from the ’30s and ’40s.” We have to agree. There’s really nothing like American cars from that era. With Harley J. Earl in charge of styling, what would you expect? Earl took over as GM’s chief stylist in 1927 and continued until his retirement in 1959. He really was an artist when it came to cars, and he first incorporated the streamlined Art Deco style with the 1934 Chevy Deluxe. When\u00a0the United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, civilian car manufacturing stopped and all GM factories were devoted to the war effort. Car production resumed in 1946, and so did the pre-war styling. GM and Chevy’s\u00a0first “all-new” passenger cars weren’t released until the 1949 model year. That means there’s essentially two (abbreviated) decades of classic Art Deco inspired GM and Chevy cars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Family<\/a>

Family and friends, ready to sell. From left, Alex Soto, Jaime Gonzalez, “Tito”, and Jaime’s son, Diego.<\/p><\/div>\n

We asked Jaime if there’s a particular model or year from that era trending right now, and he tells us that “1941-1948 Chevy Convertibles have been really hot. Not a lot of parts are being re-made for those cars so you really have to hunt them down.” (Jaime happens to own a\u00a01948 Chevy Fleetmaster Convertible. He says “it was<\/em> running, but now it’s a project!”)<\/span><\/p>\n

Jaime\u00a0<\/span>gets his parts “from across the country, from some other local shows and swap meets, from websites, or from individuals in the hobby,” and Jaime has a good selection\u00a0of parts on offer: headlights, lenses, mirrors, hubcaps, gauges, radios, trim pieces, brackets, mounts, and the list goes on!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jaime's<\/a>

Jaime’s case, filled with original and hard to find GM\/Chevy parts and accessories.<\/p><\/div>\n

“When it comes to cars, California sets the trends for the world. \u00a0Like Paris for fashion, it’s Los Angeles for cars.”<\/h4>\n

Of course, the Pomona Swap Meet has always been about classic cars and the people who love them. Jaime is no different. “In the 80s and 90s, we used to hang out and cruise Hollywood Boulevard and Whittier Boulevard,” he says. “There was a place in El Monte called The Lot that we would go to. Now we go to dinner with family and friends after every show, or we hang out in my garage. It’s always whatever the family wants!”<\/span><\/p>\n

Jaime continues, “I really enjoy talking to people, especially people from outside of the U.S. It’s great just hanging out and meeting people” in the car scene. Yep, Jaime is definitely our kind of guy.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re working on a GM or Chevy from the 1930s or 1940s, make sure you stop by and say hi to Jaime at the next Pomona Swap Meet. He’ll be in his usual spot:\u00a0<\/span>Road 27, Space 51<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scroll down for a few more pictures of some of the parts Jaime had on sale at a recent Pomona Swap Meet… and to get\u00a0all<\/em> the latest Pomona Swap Meet news<\/a><\/strong>, sign up to have\u00a0our newsletter delivered to your e-mail inbox before each of our events!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jaime<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t