Markito's vendo "56a" restoration project

O.k., so I finally got to see the squaretop machine that the guy I know had in his garage and he did indeed sell it to me for $50. But the bad news is it isn't as cool or pristine as I thought it would be.

But I look forward to fixing it up and giving it a new paint job (probabbly at the same time as my V-56B gets painted at Maaco.

I will post some photos and go into further detail below.Sorry the pics aren't that great. I forgot to bring my camera to his garage, but at least I had my camera phone to give you an idea of the machine.

Here is a wide shot of the odd old bird:

Now here's the really strange thing: it is a generic, non-brand machine.

Even the removable sign is just "wood grain". You know I'll be replacing that sign with a light up soon.

Now here's the really weird thing. The woodgrain that the ENTIRE machine is covered in, is not decal, it is just the metal! That's right, the metal itself is woodgrain style. Not paint or decal as far as I can tell.

These things might not be so uncommon for those who have seen a lot of machines, but for me as a relative newbie, I have never seen this.

In this photo you can see the woodgrain. The bright white patches are just do to the sun. It is solid woodgrain:

Here is a shot inside the coin door:

I assume it is the V-56A.
I'd like to replace the metal bottle door with a glass one. Are they interchangable within the V-56 family?

Here is a close up of the front:

Since the woodgrain isn't a decal to be stripped off, I assume it will be much easier to have painted since i won't be removing stuff.

Should I just sand the entire thing so that it will be more textured so that the Maaco paint job will stick to it?

Or...

Since it doesn't have any paint or decals on it, should I just wipe it clean and not sand it (except for any rust spots) since it is just metal and Maaco should just prime it and paint it without me sanding?

Please help a newbie brother out.

Thanks all.

Just think, a few weeks ago I was whining because I had no machines and now by the end of the week I will have two 56's and one Pepsi 77 in my garage!

[loman4ec]

Kito, That is a Vendo 56A. The red Vendo 56 that I keep posting pictures of started out as an all woodgrain machine. They were used in offices and other places where the machine didn't need to be flashy to attract customers. This is how mine started out. Yes you should sand the entire machine. You don't need to sand it down to metal but paint needs something to adhere to and shiny paint is not rough enough for the paint to stick to. It will just flake off.

Josh, thanks so much for your input.
Wow, I just figured that yours was always red. It looks so perfect in your pics.
Do you know if the V-56B glass doors are interchangable?

[loman4ec]

Yes the doors are. I forgot to post the pic of mine before. I have heard of people cutting the metal insides out of the solid ones and putting in glass. The only drawback is that you would need to find the pieces to hold the glass in. But today is your lucky day. I have the parts to hold the glass in and I might even have a nice set of glass that I will give to you if you want to try it. I will ask you to pay shipping but that will be under $10. Let me know if you want to try it.
Josh

[MoonDawg]

Hey Kito......Josh just made your machine look good   '>

Josh, I'd love to!

P.M.'ing you now! '>

Hi all, here is a question I've never asked yet...

How do you remove the rusty old rivets that hold on the machine ID tags, etc?

Thanks in advance.

[loman4ec]

I drill them out and replace them with screws.

Thanks, hadn't thought of that.