Ernest Ruiz – aka "Big Ernie"

Actually, Ernest Ruiz, the founder and president of the Pachuco Bombs Car Club sells the real things. Like many of the vendors at the Pomona Swap, Meet Ernest got into the parts business because of his love for vintage automobiles. Like the rest of us he never really gets finished with his restoration project. He has been working on his 1939 Chevrolet for several years. His goal was to use only original equipment on his build. In order to get the parts for his car, he found that in many cases it was cheaper to buy an entire scrap car and piece it out. Obviously that left him with a lot of spare parts. With all the parts Ernest decided to get into the parts selling business. For a while he used the White Sheets newspaper and other sales channels. He had been coming to the Pomona Swap Meet for a few years looking for parts and felt the venue would fit his sales effort perfectly. For a while he would come out on Saturday and wait in line to sign up for an open vendor space. Ernie quickly realized that pre-reserving spaces was the only way to go, so he and his partner Ernie Hidalgo, signed on four years ago and have been on Road 26, Spaces 38 and 40 ever since.

Ernie sells late ’30’s and early 40’s Chevy original parts right off the vehicles he parts out. He doesn’t clean them up or modify them in any way. He feels that in this manner he can give the buyer the best price and that the buyer can finish them in any way they like.

Ernie Hidalgo - aka "wino41" displaying his 1938 Chevy Grill for sale

Ernie Hidalgo, “Big” Ernie’s partner, on the other hand, offers cleaned polished and in some cases painted or plated original Chevy parts. So the buyer has a choice. Keep in mind these are rare vintage parts.

Business has been good for both of these Chevy guys that they decided to bring in another Chevy original parts dealer, Louie Gonzalez into their parts selling operation at the Pomona Swap Meet.

The Pomona Swap Meet is happy to have Ernie Ruiz, Ernie Hidalgo and Louie Gonzalez as valued vendors.

When I told Ernest that we appreciated his participation, he said he was glad to have a venue like the meet where hundreds of people can see what he has to offer at spectacular prices.

If you have a special need for late 30’s or early 40’s original Chevy parts (shiny or not), give Ernie a call at (626) 367-2214 or stop by his spaces Road 26, Spaces 38 and 40 at the March 7th Pomona Swap Meet. Or simply stop by to talk shop with the guys, they would love to meet you. Don’t forget to ask Ernie about his car club, Pachuco Bombs either… maybe you would like to join?

Map of Vendor Spaces (307KB PDF)