What a waste!

[COREY]

Got out this morning and drove the back roads in the county next to mine and saw this lonely Vendo 39 sitting on the front porch of an old brick building. This town is so small that if you blinked you would miss it. Hasn't even got a traffic signal and looks like a scene from the movie "Fried Green Tomatos". Anyway, I drove back and forth until I saw the owner out back and asked if he would be interested in selling it. He said that he had owned it since 1981 and didn't want to get rid of it. I don't know about anyone else, but it iratates me to see something like this sit around for years and years and eventually rust and rot away. It's kind of like seeing an old vintage car in a field somewhere and the owner will not sell it for anything and you go back way later and it is ruined. I know I sound like I am whinning, but it is sad to see a classic go to waste!

[MoonDawg]

        If he really wants to keep it he should move it to a less tempting location.   

        Put the word out and it could be sitting on your doorstep tomorrow morning 

[Eric]

Missouri is full of vintage cars and trucks that have rotted to the ground... and it is sad...
maybe wait a few months, drive back and get to know the owner... ask him why he bought it,
what does he intend to ever do with it.... get him to thinking about it... Just don't be the guy
who gets him to think about it then he sells it to the next guy who stops and ask about it....
Happened to me I stalked....er... stopped by a older gentleman's gas station about once a year and asked
about the 2 tokheim 300 gas pumps he had, that he wasn't using.... was never gonna sell them...
4 months later.... he sold them.... hang in there!

[vendo39]

Yep that happens a lot with cars I see.  

I’ve generally found two types of people in those situations. One, if the place is full of junk and it looks like the owner has never sold anything in his life; you’re probably not going to be the first guy to talk him out of something. Make a low offer and leave.

The second type of person might have something he never hauled away or sold because the object has/had some sort of sentimental or utility value.  With those guys, you have a chance.  Not on the spot but if you seem sincere in your interest for their stuff and leave your name, number and offer a fair value, you might get a call back in awhile.  I’ve been able to purchase lot of things I wanted that way.  Even today I got a call about a garage full of porcelain signs I noticed about three weeks ago that weren’t for sale but they have been thinking about my offer

[halehouse]

Did he offer up any reason as to why he wouldn't sell it? Did the conversation go any further?

[COREY]

Well, I live in Tennessee and he came across as a typical hardnose, backwoods, reckneck(present company excluded) that really didn't want to be bothered. The conversation lasted about 2 minutes. I get that a lot around here for some reason and it's not only strangers. I am good friends with the sherriff here in our county and his dad owned an old side of the road store for years until it closed back in the late eighties. I used to walk there as a kid. He still has an old round top Coke and Dr Pepper machine inside the store that he says he doesn't want to sell right now. I have been asking him to sell them for about 10+ years now, but I haven't given up yet. Maybe one day he will.

[mygoose101]

I think it's kinda neat where it is. I would love to be driving around and see a 39 on a porch, or any round corner machine. If it were in his backyard, you wouldn't have seen it. 39 aren't worth much these days so why not have it out for all to enjoy.

[BrianB]

Time will tell. Maybe with the times being harder for people he might bite one of these days.

I live in So. Indiana and there are people like that here too. On the way home from work there is an old lady that lives next to the highway at a pretty major intersection. You have to slow down and pay attention. Well, she falls into the category of "junk collector" or at the very least, her deceased husband was. On one side of the road there are the remenants of an embossed Royal Crown Cooler and on the other there is at least one confirmed machine just sitting in the field next to her place.

She refuses to sell anything and is a little bit rude about it. Maybe because she get's asked a lot. I don't know. But I do agree that it's sad to see something "perishable" rot away and contribute to the ever growing numbers of attrition.....

[wampdawg]

Time will tell. Maybe with the times being harder for people he might bite one of these days.

I live in So. Indiana and there are people like that here too. On the way home from work there is an old lady that lives next to the highway at a pretty major intersection. You have to slow down and pay attention. Well, she falls into the category of "junk collector" or at the very least, her deceased husband was. On one side of the road there are the remenants of an embossed Royal Crown Cooler and on the other there is at least one confirmed machine just sitting in the field next to her place.

She refuses to sell anything and is a little bit rude about it. Maybe because she get's asked a lot. I don't know. But I do agree that it's sad to see something "perishable" rot away and contribute to the ever growing numbers of attrition.....

Maybe you should go and clean up the roadside by her house in the middle of the night. 

[oscar]

Call the city on her as a unsafe condition. After she gets the notice give her a call an offer to clean up her property. Or just do what Wampdog said to do.

[RC kid]

I agree that these old machines and signs bring back an old nostalgic feeling when they are seen in their natural habitat, outside. But as they sit outside over the decades they have a tendency to rust away. So, i would prefer to see it bought and stored inside until the time that it's value was such that someone could justify restoring it.

[Eric]

I don't mind if the machine is gutted or damaged.. I had a 39 that was wasted and I sat it in my backyard
beside my shed... a man stopped and wanted to know if I'd take $40 dollars for it I said $50... the hinges
where worth that... so he paid me.. but it was just a rough gutted shell...
but that one looks complete.... shame....


I miss that shell

[SIGNGUY]

And there is something to be said about decoration value...  how many old cars do you see sitting in yards with flowers growing out of them (at least up here we do).. but those people are using it as Lawn decor, and I guess there is nothing really wrong with that? and a Vendo 39, heck they made 80,000 of them... it if where an RC 81, yeah, maybe a different story.. but if if she enjoys it sitting out front as a "Decoration" then I guess it is being "used" for what it's intended purpose is? ,, and maybe you could just by the parts off it.. drum, coin mech,, and it will still display the same?  just some thoughts on the other side of the coin.

[Creighton]

Well I guess I fall in the guilty catagory. Have a WE-6 that sets outside the front door. For those with a SMC calender see Dec. Water pump is long gone, beltline rust and someone poked some nasty holes through the embossing on one side.

It still has a function. The UPS and USPS drivers know to put packages in there.
Creighton

[oscar]

I have a WE10 that sits in front of my brothers body shop. It's junk but It's there to attract interest. It doesn't look good but with all the other antique cars setting around it fits right in.