First machine, seeking advice on Westinghouse WC-60

[skreien]

Hey everyone,

I've been searching for about a month now for a Coke vending machine for my basement rec room.  I wanted one that was smaller in size, had at least two selections, and could vend bottles or cans, so I've been looking for a Westinghouse WC-60 or WC-78 in unrestored-but-good condition.  I like the 60's looking Select-O-Matic knob on them and I think my kids will think it's neat to drop in a dime and get a drink.  I found a WC-60 about 40 minutes south of me so I'm going to look at it on Thursday.  It seems to be in good shape from what I can see in the fairly low res pictures that were posted, but I'm going to take a trip and inspect it before I make an offer.  The only thing he disclosed over the phone is that it has a little bit of surface rust on one side, and although the compressor runs and gets cold it doesn't get as cold as it used to so he's thinking it might need a freon boost.  He also said that it's the original compressor so he thinks it's a bit loud.  Besides the obvious checks of making sure it vends/gets cold/coin mech works/no obvious missing parts, what should I look for?  And should I be worried about the cooling system in it?

Also, from what I've read, the going rate is $300-$400, but if it needs a shot of freon and has some surface rust probaby $300 or less.  Is that about right for the cost?

Thanks for sharing your experiences with me!

[darrelcraig]

Welcome to the board.  Make sure you read up on the Westinghouse vend motors on this site.  You can't find replacement vend motors if yours doesn't work.  I have a wc-60-md and a wc-102-md.  They're pretty awesome machines and are fun to tinker with.

[jholmgren]

Welcome!

I like the select-o-matic myself and will probably pick one up some day.  The last decent one I saw was a MONSTER...over 7 feet tall, too big to lug into the house.

A word of warning - unless you are (or know) someone with the ability to troubleshoot/fix a refrigeration system, I would pass on any machine that "needs a shot of Freon".  They are hermetically sealed systems, if they are low on Freon, they have a leak somewhere.  Freon doesn't "wear out".

Jim

[Tomahawk27]

Like others have said, a lot of the Westinghouse machines have had their vend motors go on them and as a result, won't vend. Does it have a coin mechanism? That's another common problem.

Kind of hard to say what the value would be without seeing any pictures. I paid $150 for a 102-MD but it did need some work done (currently in the process). If the vend motor doesn't work, I have come up with a way to manually vend the cans/bottles so there are ways around that problem.

Overall, the best thing to do is take a look at it and maybe post some pictures. Do you have a link to the listing?

[skreien]

The seller said that everything works on it, it just seemed slow to cool.  Or maybe that's just his impression.  I'm not sure how to judge whether it's cooling properly or not except by temperature.

Here's the link to the post:http://toledo.craigslist.org/atq/3328913444.html

[Tomahawk27]

I wouldn't consider myself an expert by any means compared to most of the guys on here but this is what I saw:

The marquee, selection area, and chrome all seem to be in pretty good condition.

It looks like there is some rust near the upper hinge but that was the only spot I could see any. Not to say there isn't more elsewhere but 1 area isn't bad for 3 photos. The front door/access panel has either been replaced on painted over, it doesn't match the rest of the machine. The rest of the body seems faded.

Basically, I think it comes down to, would you be happy with the machine as is? If not, can you restore it or willing to spend more to have someone else do it? It hard to tell with the photos being a bit further away but it didn't look like there were too many gouges, scratches, dings, etc. so a restoration might be a little easier

[skreien]

As long as the machine is in good working order, no parts missing, and looks good (barring the obvious normal wear for its age) then I'd be happy with it.  I'm not looking for a restoration project.  Some day when the kids are on their own and the machine is 20 years older I might restore it.  Right now I can't afford to.   

I'm not sure what would be a fair price for the machine in it's current state.  I was hoping for some advice there too.

[Kilroy]

in it's current state, offer  $225,

[skreien]

He said he's turned down $250 multiple times in the past before he wanted to sell it, so I'll probably start at $250 then.  Otherwise I think I'd just tick him off.  Thanks!

BTW, meant to ask this before, but anyone have any idea how rare the WC-60 model is?  This is the first one I've seen, and I've been watching ebay and craigslist for about 5 weeks now.

[Kilroy]

They are rare in "yes, they do not pop up to often, not rare as in I can retire when I resell this machine"