VMC RC 81

[MCarter]

Guys,

What do you think this RC 81 will go for ?   Ebay # 190314054133

1st bid is at $4,500.

Larry did you see the popperettes beside the 81? He up in your neck of the woods

[Kilroy]

My gut feeling is his reserve is over 11,000 but  the bidding won't hit that high.
C'mon Mega millions, Daddy needs a new pair of shoes and a RC 81 

[SIGNGUY]

I know the seller.. really great guy... He does nice restorations as well... it'll go high but not sure how high? Going to buy my lottery ticket right now!!!

[Cokemachinesandmore]

I saw the machine before, it was restored.  It was a nice clean machine. He had an offer for over 10k and didn't accept it. 

[Seven181]

I am guessing it gets up to about 10k or so. Nice machine!


Brian

[loman4ec]

Its nice but I have to say that if I had the disposable income I would not spend it on a RC-81. Its a cool machine but I have to say that nothing other than a victor cooler grill is worth spending over 10K for. I don't mean to offend anyone but that is just my opinion. Especially since it looks like the the coin mech is just a nice original and not replated and not a change giving mech.

[RC kid]

For some there is always the one machine they will spend any amount to get. For others it is the thrill of the chase for the machine and the deal that comes with it.

For some it is finding that rare machine in someone's barn or old store and getting it at an affordable price. And for some it is the trip to Barrett Jackson.

I am in the latter category. When one starts to spend that kind of cash I start thinking about land or a down payment on a really nice house.

Personally I think he should of taken the 10k offer when it came up. But you never know, someone out there may have the money as well as the desire to spend it on this rare machine.

I do wish I had an RC 81. And if I did, it wouldn't be for sale.

[Kilroy]

I'm with TCK, there are machines I'd love to have, both pop and jukeboxes, i know i'll never get an opportunity  to own, but one can dream.

[SIGNGUY]

I agree with the RC Kid, The thrill of the chase is most of the fun, If I did win the lottery, sure I'd have fun, but how long.. if I wanted a machine, i'd just go buy it, put a bid in for 15k and see what happens? or contact the seller on something i wanted.. pretty soon i'd have this great collection and nothing else to hunt for... It would be fun I'm sure for a while. but there is something to be said about the "HUNT"!

[loman4ec]

I agree totally with the hunt. Back when I was in florida and then Tennessee I loved it when people would answer an ad and say they have an old pop machine in their barn and they don't know what it is. I would love driving over wondering what I was going to find. That was the biggest thrill for me.

[Sodak Bob]

The hunt is 99% of the fun. Don't get me wrong, I wish I had that kind of extra cash - but I think we all dream of finding an RC 81 in some old shop, shed, or barn.  Nice popperettes too...

[Larry]

He's the guy that painted my Stoners.  They're painted RC yellow, as he calls it.  I never saw his machine, just the Popperettes.

Personally, for ten grand I would own a Williams Ten Strike plus a NOS Family Guy pinball and still have enough to take my family out for dinner for a week. 

That's too much for any soda machine.  I don't care how rare it is..........unless it's a 1940's Mills 400.  You can have it for three quarter of that price.......only $7,500.00.

[collecture]

I agree Larry - I think my wife would put her foot down if I started spending $10,000 on a soda machine. It won't keep my beer and sodas any colder than the $1500 V-81A and non-collectors don't know the difference. I'd get the same 'cool' comments when someone comes over and sees the machines.
IF I were to find a RC 81 or Victor Kooler Grill for under $4000, I would buy it simply because I know I could double or 10x my money and that is probably what I would do.
Then again - if I won the lottery....

[Cokemachinesandmore]

I own a vmc 7up that is a 9.5 mint original. didnt pay half as much as what he wants for the royal crown. If it was a mint unrestored rc mayyyyyyyyybe.  I personally wouldn't pay that for a restored one.

[RC kid]

I feel the same as many of you. I find myself lucky to own an RC 110 that I believe is a 8.5 original mint. But it isn't an 81. it took some time to run across and I would never sell it. But had I found a nice Cavalier c-72 or Vendo 81 I would probably be just as happy.

I also keep a little money stashed so I can buy an RC 81 for $4,000 so as to resale it later for twice that. But unfortunately I only have luck finding c-51s and coca cola 110's.

I also believe that many of the real enthusiast have been pushed out of the market due to the high prices seen in recent years, the last year excluded. I have noticed over the last year some of these more common machines are becoming affordable for the average guy who has a family and mortgage. Heck, I bought a table top 27 with a common cabinet base for way to much prior to the market melt down and now I am finding them everywhere at extremely fair prices.

[MoonDawg]

         Oh if we could just turn back the time. I once found this unrestored RC 81
for $500 and was thrilled to sell it 3 weeks later for $5500.   

[RC kid]

Well, your one of the fortunate ones. You can at least say you once owned an RC 81.

Nice Pepsi 81 also. Did you sell it too?

[collecture]

         Oh if we could just turn back the time. I once found this unrestored RC 81
for $500 and was thrilled to sell it 3 weeks later for $5500.  

Don't worry Glen!
I think there are still some out there in that dollar range. Just a few years ago, there was that guy in Atlanta that put one up on eBay and he had no idea of it's value and put his phone number in the auction. If I remember correctly - someone here had him talked into selling it for $1000 or so, but he couldn't end the auction until he got home that evening. By that time (after being inundated with calls), somebody clued him in on the value and he relisted with a $10,000 price tag and he did end up selling it for close to that amount.
It'll happen again - just got to catch it before it reaches greedbay!

[RC kid]

   I agree with the opinion you have of Greed Bay. But one thing has happened since the creation of the online auction, less of the classic items are being hauled off to the dump. And with the market adjusting as it is, many of the more common coke machines can now be had for prices simular to what I was paying in the early 1990's. I bought five machines in the last year. three C-51s, a really nice, mint VMC-27, and a really nice vendo 110 Self Serve. And I have very little in them. All thanks to Craigslist, except the Pepsi 27, a had a local guy use this sight to find out a fair price for it and then he called me and gave me a better deal.
  And like many here, I buy on Greed buy the parts I can not find anywhere else.

  Remember the saying, it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Fortunately, or Unfortunately, depending on how you see it, with Ebay people have a better chance at finding that guy who is willing to pay the extra dollar for a classic piece of Americana. 

[MoonDawg]

Nice Pepsi 81 also. Did you sell it too?

            The Pepsi was not mine, it came in here for repair. It fell on it's face during
the 1994 Northridge earthquake ............like many other machines did that morning.

            The seller of the RC told me she had an old Coke machine painted "yeller".
When I got to her house I found that sometime in it's past, someone had buffed the
red letters clean off and she could not even see the embossed letters.

[mrsoda]

This is way i sold my victor kooler grill, people said i was crazy for spending 35000.00 on it, which i was, but when an offer of 55000.00 came in from a very rich collector i took it, i dont think any one would ever buy it for that much again.