I travel to a bunch of events every year, and one of the first things I always hit up is the swap meet. Sometimes it’s just a few vendors, and other times it’s a humongous parcel of acreage. Either way, you stand about as much chance of finding something you want as winning the lottery. In 15 years of combing swap meets, I’ve only found something I was looking for once. I bought it, then ironically, lost it. After safely squirrelling it away in my garage, I couldn't find it come time to use it!
The key to swap meet success is to have so many project cars going at once that your odds of finding what you need is increased. Yeah, that’s not an affordable reality for a lot of people, but having a bunch of friends all with different projects is kinda the same thing. Next time you go to the swap meet, go in mass and help each other!