I made the three hour drive to Dallas many times over the course of many years and the Greater Southwest Guitar Show which started in 1978 was one of my main destinations in the DFW area.
The initial show was based in a few hotel rooms, hosted by four individuals and then on to the Wintergarden Ballroom shortly there after. My fondest memories of the GSWG were in the later 1980s at the Dallas Convention Center. I met George Gruhn the first time at the 1988 GSWG. That was the general time frame when the Japanese buyers were coming over to the GSWG en masse with US dollars in hand buying up all of the primo vintage Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, and Martin examples. Those are the four US vintage brands that the Japanese buyers wanted at that time and they were scooping them up with abandon.
I saw many 58, 59, and to a lesser degree 60 Gibson burst going for anywhere from $3K up to $6K depending on condition and originality, and most were being purchased by Japanese buyers. It was an extremely interesting time and it was quite telling that Japanese buyers were doing the lions' share of buying.
I always wondered where those Japanese buyers found that magic crystal ball they seemed to have possessed. They seemed to generally be way ahead of the vintage curve compared to US buyers.