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vendo81d
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« on: January 20, 2014, 11:26:09 am » |
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I bought my first vintage Coca-Cola machine, a Vendo 81B, from Leigh Godbey in 1992. Prior to that, I had collected 6 ½ ounce Coke bottles and I had a 1935 Madge Evans tray that had belonged to my grandmother. At one time, my grandmother had owned a small grocery store in Marion, Illinois and, if my memory serves me correctly, it had a Cavalier 72 near the front door. I became interested in owning my own Coke machine after visiting the Schmidt Museum in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. A co-worker told me about Leigh Godbey’s store in Danville, Illinois and that led to the purchase of my Vendo 81B. My next purchase was a Cavalier 72 from St. Louis Slot Machine Company. It was followed by a Vendo 39 I picked up at an IGA store in Bethalto, Illinois. Between auctions and the Chicagoland show, I bought more than a dozen more machines and I still have all of them, except one. This is the story of that one machine.
On April 11, 2010, I attended the dealer preview at the Chicagoland Show. In the parking lot, two dealers had Vendo 123s for sale (commonly referred to as Vendo Juniors). With the exception of a Vendo 23 Deluxe, all of the machines I owned at the time were upright vendors. The Vendo 123 was the one chest type that I really liked because it was small and had a lot of neat embossing. Both machines were missing parts which was a concern for me because I had always tried to buy complete machines. I had learned from buying a 1965 GTO when I was in college how hard it can be to find replacement parts. One machine was priced at $900 and the other one was $575. Rod Heuerman of Fun-Tronics was selling the cheaper machine. I believe the more expensive machine was missing the entire basket, while Rod’s did have the upper half. Rod told me that he thought that Alan Huffman of Antique Vending in Granite Falls, North Carolina was making a replacement basket. Rod went on to say that he was going to be visiting Alan in a couple of months and that if I didn’t buy the machine he would probably take it to North Carolina and sell it to Alan. I decided I didn’t want to lose the machine, so I bought it for $575.
I brought the machine home and kept it in my garage while I concentrated on finishing my current project, a Vendo 56 (February 2014 picture in Fun-Tronics calendar). I messed around a little with the 123 and determined that it was also missing the coin box and some parts from the coin mechanism. In 2011, my wife and I were trying to decide where to go on vacation. I read about Alan Huffman’s museum and decided that I would like to see it. I also read how he claimed to have every model of Coke machine made and could make any part needed to restore a machine. We then decided to go to North Carolina on our vacation. My plan was to get the parts I needed and restore the machine myself.
We met Alan at his shop on November 9, 2011. My first impression of Alan was that he was a real blowhard. I was impressed with the machines in the museum, but there definitely wasn’t one of every model of Coke machine. I did see a Coke Junior, but not the coin-op version. It was also very cramped in the museum. I was impressed to see a Vendo 81C (the only one I have seen in person), a Coke VMC 88, and two Vendo Decappers. Since Alan didn’t have a Vendo 123, I still didn’t know exactly what parts I was missing. Alan told me that he could probably get a guy in South Carolina to buy my machine, but I really didn’t want to get rid of it. The embossing was just too cool. Next, Alan made a pitch to restore the machine for me. I had never trusted anyone else to restore my machines and I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust Alan. He seemed to be more hype than substance and I was concerned with how disorganized his shop was. There were unfinished projects all over the place. I relented based on a number of factors: I was currently having trouble getting someone to do my paint and bodywork, the 123 was originally a wet vendor and needed to be converted to a dry vendor which I had never done before, Rod Heuerman had spoken highly of Alan, and Alan was willing to put everything in writing. Alan said that the upper half of the basket from my machine was all he needed to make a new basket. I suggested to Alan that since he was going to have to make a new basket, he should make it adjustable so that it could vend more than just 6 ½ ounce bottles. Alan said “Yeah, yeah that’s a great idea!” We specified that the new basket would be made out of stainless steel, the wheels would be replaced with rubber non-scratch wheels, the handles on the screens would be polished or painted silver, and the feet would be painted red. We decided the feet should be red based on a poster published by Steve Ebner. While silver feet were used on the Standards and Masters, it appeared that the Juniors had red feet. When I got back to Illinois, I checked my photographs I took at the Schmidt Museum and confirmed that their Vendo 123 had red feet. Alan quoted a price of $3000 for the restoration. At first he acted like I didn’t need to leave a deposit and then he asked for one. Since I still wasn’t sure I believed Alan’s hype, I left the smallest deposit I could, which was $1000. Alan said he could get the machine done in six weeks. I told Alan that if he had the machine done by March 1, 2012 that would be fast enough for me. All of these details were put in a contract that we both signed on November 9, 2011. Other stipulations of the contract included returning my original top basket half, wheels, and refrigeration system (I wasn’t sure why Alan felt he had to replace the original working compressor).
On November 21, 2011, I sent Alan a letter to see if he was interested in some Cavalier 96 parts that I had. I had bought the machine just for the refrigeration unit and I didn’t need the rest. The machine was missing a lot of parts, but it did have a solid cabinet, main door, and bottle door. Toward the end of January 2012, I called Alan to let him know that I would be coming to North Carolina to pick up my machine in early March and I would bring the Cavalier 96 parts. I thought calling him over a month in advance would give him ample warning to get the machine completed before I arrived. When I got to Alan’s shop in March 2012, we unloaded the Cavalier 96 parts and some other miscellaneous extra parts I had. We agreed on a price of $200, which would be deducted from my balance for the Vendo 123 restoration. The only problem was Alan was nowhere near being done with my machine. The body was still at the painter across the street. All I could do was look at it through a garage door window. Next, Alan took me down to Wallace Manufacturing in Hickory to show me the progress on my basket. What I saw was a flat piece of galvanized steel with holes cut in it. Alan took the piece back to his shop and tried placing in it his Westinghouse Junior and it didn’t fit. I objected to the use of galvanized steel and Alan talked about powder coating it. I got my contract out and pointed out where it specified that stainless steel was to be used. Basically, my trip was a waste of time and Alan never bothered to tell me not to come. Because my machine wasn’t done on time, Alan did promise to ship my machine at his expense when it was done, a promise he would forget about later.
Rod Heuerman told me that he was going to be going to Alan’s in June 2012 and he could bring my machine back for me. Rod asked how much I owed on the machine and I told him $1800. Apparently, Alan owed Rod money and Rod was hoping to work out a deal where I paid him instead of Alan so he wouldn’t have trouble with the check clearing. Unfortunately, Rod returned empty handed because my machine still wasn’t done. Rod told me how frustrating the trip was because instead of getting work done, he and Alan had to run errands like going to Wal-Mart to get tampons for Alan’s girlfriend and her daughter.
In the coming months, I made several calls to Alan and was usually told that “I’ll call you right back” and he never did. Finally, I got fed up and filed a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General in North Carolina in January 2013. In March 2013, I was forwarded Alan’s response to my complaint. Alan’s response was mostly fiction. He claimed that I had tried to get other companies to make the basket for me and that I came to him because I knew that he was working on a basket that would vend 8 and 12 ounce bottles. He claimed that at the time I brought my machine to him his company was one of the few restorers with a basket pattern. The only pattern that Alan had was the top basket half that came from my machine. He had never even dreamed of making an adjustable basket until I suggested it. He also claimed that Fun-Tronics had told me that they were going to make baskets. Alan acted like he was already in the process of making a prototype basket when I visited him and that I then requested a stainless version. He said that he would finish the galvanized version in April 2013 and then make my stainless basket. Included in Alan’s response were some black and white pictures. I had been after Alan for months to send me pictures and he never did, so these were the first pictures I had seen and I didn’t like what I saw. The feet were painted silver and the lettering was uneven and sloppy. I sent a rebuttal to Alan’s response and he never responded to it. In May 2013, the Attorney General’s office said they couldn’t do anything else and my next step would be to take Alan to small claims court.
The next time I talked to Alan on the telephone he rambled on about how the Discovery Channel had come to town and had filmed him working on a basket for a Vendo 59 (159). I really wasn’t interested. I wish Alan would have just finished my project instead of starting a new one.
I kept trying to get Alan to finish my machine. In August 2013, I sent him multiple text messages asking for pictures to see the progress on my machine. Finally, I decided I was going to just go to North Carolina and pick up my machine and finish it myself. I called Alan and told him that I would be coming the first week of October 2013 to get my machine. He said I couldn’t come then because that was during the Wizard of Oz festival and no one would be around. I called Rod Heuerman and he said I should just show up because if Alan knew I was coming he would find a way to disappear before I got there. So, my wife and I made a surprise visit on September 23, 2013. We found Alan by the loading dock and I told him that I was there to pick up my machine. Alan was very confrontational and said I owed him money. I told him if anything he owed me money for the Cavalier 96 parts. Alan said I could pick up my machine if I paid him the full restoration amount, in CASH, even though he hadn’t completed the work. Even that wasn’t really true, because parts of my machine were scattered all over and I would have to trust Alan to ship them to me. I told my wife to call the police. Instead of waiting for the police to come, Alan insisted that I leave his premises. When I wouldn’t leave, Alan called the police and said he needed help getting trespassers to leave his building. He then turned on his alarm system and I finally left his building. I really wanted the police to see the rotten job Alan was doing on my machine. It appeared that nothing had been done since Alan sent pictures to the Attorney General’s office in March. The lettering looked terrible, the feet were still silver, and the handles on the screens were red instead of silver. By contrast, the Vendo 59 that Alan was doing for himself looked very nice and had a nice paint job. Next, we all started walking towards the police station next door to Alan’s shop. Alan wanted to lock his gate to keep us from returning. I stood in front of the gate until Alan gave me a little push. I had my fist clenched and was ready to clock him when I decided Alan would probably file assault charges and I would be toast on his home turf. At the police station we discussed the matter with Officer Hicks of the Granite Falls Police Department. Officer Hicks listened to (and videotaped) my complaint and told me that he couldn’t do anything because it was a civil matter. It turns out that he wasn’t entirely correct. North Carolina does have a statute 14-104 where you can have someone charged with a misdemeanor if they take money to perform a service and either don’t do it or don’t do it on time. Finally, I made a proposal to Alan. I told him that even if he finished the machine, I wouldn’t be happy with it because he wasn’t doing it right. Therefore, I proposed selling him the machine for what I had in it $1775 ($575 original purchase price, $1000 deposit, and $200 for Cavalier 96 parts). Payment was to be made by valid cashier’s check. If this was agreeable, I wanted it in writing with Officer Hicks as our witness. Alan said that was fine with him, but he didn’t have the money then. Officer Hicks asked Alan when he could come up with the money and Alan said October 28, 2013. I wrote up our agreement and Officer Hicks witnessed it.
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