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Hmmmmm........

Hopefully it's not the coffin your wife had waiting for you, when you brought yet something else home?

hmmm... I know... but I won't ruin the suprise for all the other guessers..

Nice Score Brian!

  Is this something that will be brought to Michigan    :smile:.

   Ok I have no idea   :glare:.

   So what is it i can stand it..

Hard to tell actual size, but looks like rounded corners on the left side.
Was going to say an RC-81, but it doesn't appear to have a protruding coin door; however, I'll stick with RC81 as my guess!

that's easy.  A dolly and a trailer!

Took a little road trip today one state over to the Land of Lincoln, otherwise known as Illinois. I worked later than usual last night and prior to leaving work I checked my emails and then hopped onto "Craig's Helper", a Craigslist search engine, and typed in the keywords "Pop Machine". Absolutely nothing local here in Indiana, just the normal late 70's machines.......

I kept scrolling and found a listing in Champaign, IL. It was titled "Old Pepsi Pop Machine". I click on the ad link and what pops up? A VMC-81 PEPSI!!!! :biggrin: So I grab the phone and dial the digits as fast as I can and a few rings later get a guy on the other end. I asked him if the pop machine was still available and he answered kind of incredulously, "Yeah, it's available, I JUST listed it yesterday"

He gave me a brief history on the machine. It's been in his possesion, in his garage for 30 years. He was working a construction job in Springfield, IL and the business owner was going to throw the machine away and he saved it. He had every intention of restoring, just never got around to it and now felt like it was a good time to sell.

Now came the pivotal part, the price! I asked him how much he wanted for it. A deep breath/sigh followed by the words that we all cringe at "Welp, have you looked at these things and what they go for on on EBay?" I thought for sure that I was done for. He informed me that guys were getting in upwards of $5000 for a totally restored one. I waited for him to finish and when he was done he sort of paused and then said, if you came to my house right now with $600 cash I'd sell it to you!

Needless to say I told him that I would give him a call back in about a half an hour to let him know either way. I contacted the Admiral (my wife!) and she gave me command authorization to seek out and obtain the machine, she ROCKS! So, I called the owner back and let him know that I would take the machine and we be out to pick it up tomorrow (today). I then asked him a very simple question. I told him I wasn't trying to be rude but that if he did get an offer of some astronomical amount and decided to take it over our deal that he at least give me a courtesy call so that I didn't make the 6 hour round trip in vain. He promised me that we had a deal and that the machine would be ready to be picked up around 4pm.

I showed up at around 3:50pm and he and a buddy were there to help me load it. I was better than expected!! Almost no rust to speak of and any visible rust is only very superficial surface/flash rust. The louvers are completely intact with no dents or breaks. It still has the original side decals, the bottle door glass, all panes, are intact. All of the bottle shelves are there and there is no corrosion to speak of inside or around the evaporator. A very solid machine! As you can see in the pictures it is missing the Coin Door and everything on it and behind it to include the following:

#1 - Large Coin Door
#2 - Coin Mech & Vending Handle
#3 - All (3) bezels, Coin Entry, Coin Return & Bottle Opener
#4 - Bottle opener
#5 - Cap Catcher
#6 - Coin Box
#7 - Coin Chute ("Duck Bill")
#8 - "Sold Out" Flag

Although not a 100% complete machine, It is very solid and the parts that are missing are obtainable.

While I was loading the machine I was trying to accomplish a few things at once. Load the machine, beat the impending rain and get out of there before he changed his mind! He kept mentioning that he "couldn't believe that he was letting it go". All that did was make me tie knots faster than I did in Boot Camp! As I was saying my goodbye's, he got 2 phone calls, both about the machine!

After a handshake and the requisite burn-out/flaming tire tracks in the driveway, I was out like trout! About an hour out of Champaign, I was talking with Signguy about a Popperette issue and I kept getting this weird number beeping in on my phone. Turns out it was the guy I just bought the machine from! I was trying to figure out what he could possibly want. Did I forget something? Was he mad at me? Did he want the machine back?

So, I called him back. He just wanted to let me know that he had just gotten a call from a lady who said that her father-in-law restores machines professionally and wanted to buy it from him. When she found out that it was already gone and how much it went for she freaked out and told him that she would have given $1200 for it!! He then let me know that he thought that he sold it to me for too cheap.

All I could muster was a "Sorry?" He said all was good and he felt ok about selling it to me and knew that it was going to a good home! Here are a few pic's of my $600 VMC-81 Pepsi! I'm totally STOKED!!! :laugh:

A few more!

SO are you bringing it to The Michigan Show  :oh:   
Just joking  Great score Brian and a great story

Well I was sort of close!
Congrats Brian!
I have been looking to get the other flavors of 81's, but none seem to pop up around me. I always get outbid on the ones far away since I have to figure in shipping.
Oh BTW - I have a coin mech for you!  :biggrin:

Great Story Brian,
When we where talking earlier and you told me what you got and for what price, I did actually fall a little out of my chair, it's unbeleivable.. and then to have the guy call and say he sold it too cheap.. sorry buddy, his fault for not doing his homework! I would not feel bad at all.. Looks like a nice clean machine.. should be a semi easy restore, once all the parts are acquired!  sure have been alot of Pepsi 81's popping up lately... maybe a few more 7ups and RC's are to follow...

I was going to guess a Leopluradon but that doesn't look big enough! :laugh: 8) :biggrin:

:happydrinkers: Excellent score Brian!!! :happydrinkers:

At that price, even a Coke guy like me would have jumped on that--of course, I would have had to hide it from the War Department and her entire family!  That's what you get when you marry into a Coca Cola family.

I would not feel all that bad about the seller letting it go too cheap.  He was happy with the deal when he made it and thats just the way it goes sometimes.

I have been trying to find a used S-10 or Ford Ranger for my high school driver and I can't tell you how many times in the last two weeks that I have gotten rooked out of a truck that I was going to see only to be told by the seller that he just sold it.  I have appointments to see two tomorrow so hopefully I can get one of them!

Anyway nice machine--can't wait to see it restored.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

you know it is the same old story after an item sells the next buyer would have paid a lot more for it, ya ya ya they only say that cause it is sold and they can't get it for any price. I paid $800 for the last one I got and he was happy with it.

Great find Brian. That was close to my neck of the woods. Are you going to restore it?

Thanks all.

Yeah, I guess I don't feel bad in the true sense. If you had of seen this guy's face when I was loading it. It was actually kind of cool. He wasn't sad but you could tell that because he had owned it for so long that he was having a difficult time with it. I felt for him.

Rod,

Yes, I plan on restoring it back to it's former glory! When I first started collecting I was a 'Pepsi-guy". partially because my wife at the time was a Pepsi-Super Freak. They also appealed to me because Pepsi wasn't as common as Coca-Cola. Don't get me wrong, I love Coke stuff too but I'm equal opportunity when it comes to soda pop machines! :biggrin:

That's exactly what I thought when reading the story. It's easy to say "I would have paid.." after the item is gone.
Nice score. Fun story.

 Great Find !!!  Brian  :happydrinkers:

                 It'll look Great Like The Rest of your Stuff .

Congrats! Great story and buy... You too are turning to the dark side! I think I prefer Pepsi now. more of a challege to find...
well... except for you! :happydrinkers:

Like I said earlier on the other topic...great buy!!  I wouldn't feel bad...that guy with the $800 DP VMC-81 told me he thinks he could have got more for his as well and maybe shouldn't have sold so cheap.  He was happy with $800, so be happy!

I used to be a big Pepsi drinker, but never could find Pepsi machines...that's why everything I had before moving to Texas was Coke.  Texas is full of Dr Pepper, so I now have some of those as well.  I love the Pepsi blue, and have always wanted a Pepsi machine or two, just haven't come across anything near me.  Someday I'll have a nice, blue Pepsi machine to call my own!

I'm in the same boat Greg and Tim, I grew up in a Coke Family, Grandfather owned bottling plants from the 30's- 90's and my collection is primarily Coke.. but after restoring a VMC 88 for a client, I loved the color combo and now I have acquired a Pepsi 81 for myself as well, but am torn on where and how to display it with all my coke stuff? i'm sure I'll find a way...

Great find!!