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[firemun]

Since Elvis and a Cav 51 was worthy of a thread…how about this one for topic. Interesting history of the machines we own.

I own two that I know at least some history of, a Cav 51, (not the one Elvis used… at least I don’t think so) and a Westinghouse WD-20.

Here is the Cav 51’s story.

I grew up, literally, in a country store in Southwest VA, about 15 miles for Mount Airy, NC (Read Mayberry for you Andy Griffith fans).  The store had a WD -20 in it that I remembered and a few years ago, I began wanting to find one for nostalgic reasons. (I found the original one from the store last year...but that is a different story) Not having a clue where to look for one, I searched the net etc. and finally decided I would settle for any Coke Machine.  Driving along near where I grew up on a visit to home about 4 years ago, I spotted a Cav 51 on the side of the road at a yard sale.  It was rusty and in rough shape from setting on a dirt floor for years, and reeked of diesel fuel but my desire for a machine overrode my good sense and I paid the man a $100.00 dollars and loaded it up.

As you might guess from my ID, I used to be/ sorta still am a fireman. Skip ahead to June 2004, the volunteer department that I started out in asked me to be the keynote speaker at a dedication of a their new firehouse.  (Evidently they were proud of me and what I have done since leaving years ago as I was ahead of the local politicians and officials on the list of potential speakers).  Not wanting the day to be about me, but about the dept., I asked for copies of the old scrap books and began to put together a presentation of the history of the department.  In going through the scrap book, one of the newspaper clippings contained 3 photographs.  In the photograph on the bottom, on the left hand side, a Coke machine is visible.  The clipping looks better than the scan and I am certain it is a Cav 51…which gets me to thinking about the one I bought off the side of the road.  In such a small community, I doubted there were 2 Cav 51’s.

I went back to the location of the yard sale and spoke to the man I bought the machine off of.  While he could not say for sure it was the one from the fire department, he did say the building it was in had a pile of old fire hose, nozzles, old turnout gear, helmets and boots.  In court this would be circumstantial, however,  I am pretty sure I have the Cav 51 that was place in the fire department when the department started in 1967…certainly significant to me as the participation in the department shaped the course of my life.

As a side note, the building vacated by the dept. in June as they moved to the new one, had a square top Cav from the late 60’s, which they recently donated to me…have not gone back to visit and pick it up yet.

Great story!

Hopefully the firehouse Cavalier they promised you isn't this firehouse cavalier that just sold on eBay today:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....IT&rd=1

Then again, the one on eBay is from a firehouse in Erie, PA.

Fwew!

By the way, are you making fun of my Elvis C-51 thread? '>

[firemun]

No, not making fun of the Elvis thread, thought it was pretty cool, as mentioned that was what prompted my story...  having to ID a machine from news paper clipping.  

I now live about 30 miles from the guy who sold the Elvis water and and a chance to view the styrofoam cup a few weeks ago on Ebay...who by the way is now trying to sell the braces he had on his teeth the night he sipped a little water from the cup Elvis drank from. And we wonder why folks pay crazy prices for machines??

I think this is a great idea for a thread as well.
I always ask the personal history of a mchine when I buy it.
Hopefully folks will add their stories here. Mine aren't very exciting, but I will add them later today.
Thanks.

here's mine

My Vendo 90 was my grandfathers.  He was a mechanic in Brownfield Texas.  He bought the machine new in 1964 and was in his shop till he passed.  As a kid I worked for him during the summers and it was too cool to get isce cold cokes out of the machine during our many daily breaks.  After he passed my aunt gave me the machine and it is now in my house for my kids to enjoy.  Kinda boring but it made an addict out of me!!  Justin

[DanV]

My machine was bought off a guy who said it was in his dad's barber shop in the 70's (it's a cavalier 64). It had the name Terry  on the side in big letters . His dad was retired. As I was getting it out in my van, an old guy helped me load it along with the seller. I didn't stop to chat because there  was a cold miserable rain , I just thanked the two guys. The kids affectionately called the machine "Terry" ever since i brought it home. About a month later , my son ,who was with me when I bought it, said he recognized an old guy after  church as the guy who helped me load the machine. He said,  " Hey Terry,' and the old guy turned around. Turns out Terry was the retired  barber after all.::