What's collectable. what's not.

[davethebirdman]

Hi Guys

I am new to the hobby of soda machines. I've had a vendo 39 for some years now and I am fairly switched on to Jukes.

Could anyone assist with what's top of the range and what can be picked up for a song. I understand the difference between 50's roundtops and 60's square tops and like most air towards the 50's machines. However, within the 50's batch what is considered most desirable and what is considered run of the mill. Is Pepsi more sought after than Coke-Cola??

I hear mention of double dot but I'm not sure I know what that means.

Please feel free to treat me as a complete idiot.

Dave

[firemun]

I am sort of new also...but here is what I have figured out:

The most collectible machines have one or more common features.  The priority of the feature is subjective.  

1. Size -  most folks have limited floor space and do not like sliding around a machine that weighs as much as a small car, so little machines like the Vendo 44 rank high on list.

2. Variety - Machines that offer more than one flavor are more sought after than single flavor machines.

3. Looks - While it is in the "eye of the beholder" big boxy machines that look like rail cars don't usually get much love.  A machine with smooth lines and chrome goes better than a plain utilitarian machine.

4. Nostalgia – People want what they remember or things from their own time.

Jeff Walter's Book is available from several sites listed within; it has great photos and nice little notes about each machine and notes the machines relative rarity and comments about how collectible each one is. I recommend highly.

Double dot refers to the "Pepsi Cola" logo. The older logos contained a colon ":" i.e. the double dot. Later it was changed to just a "." single dot.

Hope this helps.
jeff

[sodaworks]

81's, 44's, 72's and 39's are the most popular. I also like the jukes. I have a seeburg C, seeburg R and a rockola. Terry

[Eric]

And don't forget soda dispensers, candy machines, older gumball machines, gas pumps...

It's all good....

Eric

[loman4ec]

I am looking for an unrestored seeburg C if anyone knows where one is.

[davethebirdman]

Hi Chaps.

Thanks for the above. I am looking for the smaller chest type machine in the Pepsi Livery. There is one on ebay at the moment. $900.00 start price with a Buy it now $3,000.00.

I have asked him whether he is willing to ship to the UK. He is going off to make a few enquires.

What would be a good price for the machine and what would be over priced?? What sort of questions should I be asking him??

I have almost convinced my wife (God Bless her) that a new soda machine is a neccesity. However, as I don't have a gamesroom the machine would have to be displayed about the house so it would have to be in presentable condition. (She's a bit of a perfectionist , that's why she chose me). What sort of effort goes into restoring some of the sorryer sights seen on Ebay? I have cosmetically restored a couple of jukes but all that requires is a strip down send the bits off to be re-chomed and a good laminator to get the sides re-done. With plenty of repro parts its fairly easy. How difficult is it to restore a machine and where do you source your workers, if like me you ain't too good with a hammer.

Again plse feel free to treat me as an idiot and abuse me if required.

Thanks

Dave (from a cold and very wet London Town)