Well, sort of. You certainly light up our cars. Albrico is the featured vendor in this issue of the Pomona Swap Meet Newsletter. Albrico, owned, founded and operated by Al Schioppi, is one of our valued long time vendors. For over 25 years Al has been at the swap meet featuring some unique, hard to get items for seasoned automobiles.

He has over 80,000 items in stock. In some instances, if you can’t find it here, you can’t find it at all. He features items mainly for autos from the late 1920’s to the 1970’s. Good used lenses, lamp assemblies, lamp bezels and lamp housings for both interior and exterior lights. He also has a good supply of new old stock and new reproduction lamps, lenses and bezels. He carries door handles, window cranks, emblems, script, headlamp doors, dash instruments, gauges, speedometers, clocks, horn buttons, horn rings, power accessory switches and many other hard to find items for seasoned vehicles.

Most businesses start with someone recognizing a need in the marketplace and filling that need. Al’s business really started when his dad passed away and left him an El Camino that needed fixing up. To obtain parts Al visited several auto wrecking yards in search of many items that were tough to find. When he completed the project he found that he had a lot of extra pieces left over. He decided to take them to the Pomona Swap Meet and sold them all in one day.

This was his “aha” moment. He started scouring wrecking yards from San Diego, CA to Shasta, CA to Phoenix, AZ. The wrecking yard owners were glad to see him because he bought in volume, and bought parts for older autos. His primary focus was on lighting and lighting fixtures.

Most of his time is spent on the road looking for those parts that you will need as you fix up and rebuild your car. During one of his trips, he was disappointed when the wrecking yard vendor told him that someone had “beat him to all the good parts” and bought them all. He asked the owner if he could just look around anyway for something that might have been missed. He spent the next five days at the wrecking yard and hauled away 30 large boxes of great parts dating from the 1930’s through 1970. That kind of success comes from knowing your market and your customers. Certainly Al understands both.

Currently, Al is working on placing his huge inventory online so he can better serve his customers in addition to selling at the swap meet. You can meet Al and see firsthand his extensive inventory at the December 6th Pomona Swap Meet on Road 16, Spaces 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and Road 17, Spaces 58, 60, 62, and 64.

Al can also be reached at:

Phone/FAX (805) 482-9792, cell phone (805) 444-6020

ALBRICO AUTO AND TRUCK PARTS

PO BOX 3179, CAMARILLO CA 93011