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After lots of searching and most deals being a pretty good distance away, I finally came across a 'desirable' machine...a Vendo-44, only a few towns over.  Emailed the seller, and I am headed up this Saturday to pick it up.  Looks to be totally original, and it is in great shape.  Cooling works fine, vending works fine.  I'm going to give it a good cleaning and see where it goes from there.  So, how'd I do, $1250 for it:

More pics....

Few more...

I would say Congrats to a nice looking first roundtop!  I don't think the price is too bad, myself...let's see what the experts think!

I agree, congrats!  :happydrinkers: Nice looking original, I think the price is fine...

Looks like it's been run without a drip pan for a while, and you may wish to check for the usual rust issues in the bottom of the cabinet... try looking above the condensor area for pin holes in the base of the cabinet...

Chris

I think you did great! Good looking clean original. What's up with the duct tape in the liner?

I think you did fine--I'll give you $1255 for it!  :biggrin:

I keep looking for one of those but the ones that come up around here must be made of gold based on the asking prices!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

I remember when you couldn't touch one for  under $2500, so yeah, I think you did  good

Being the fact that you really don't need to repaint it, I think you did great.. I'd still tear take it apart, clean out problem areas, but you'll have a real nice original to work with and at a good fair price. Congrats!

The tape is there to keep the door sealed tight, sounds like it'll need an adjustment.  The seller had the machine in his office for the last 20 years or so, using it the whole time. 

looks like the tape is covering the interior portion of the sold out flag mechanism....

I can't find one for less than $3000 in my area...I would have jumped at that. Don't forget to post the pictures as you go along.

I think you did great!
I paid $100 more for mine - Very clean inside (pics after cleaning); however, the front door is pretty bashed in and bowed out. First machine that I could turn all four feet by hand as soon as I got it home!
Congrats on the machine. Also, I submitted a nice PDF scan of the VMC-44 manual to the Downloads section a while back. Check it out!

Already printed out the manual, thanks for posting it Collecture.

On another note, the seller has 185 6.5oz bottles and 8 crates along with it for sale, he wants $50 for it all.  Is that a decent deal, I really have no idea

I think you did great hard to find one that nice for $1250. where I am.  Good Luck!

       You will need them. They work better than the new 8 oz bottles and you can fill 10 of them with one 2 liter bottle of Coke.

Thats what I do for my 44,, I also fill them with rootbeer and orange pop for the kids.. they love soda out of a bottle in the summer time... cheaper too as I buy a 2 liter of generic Orange pop for .99 cents...

What are you guys using for caps?...

you can get the caps from a home brew beer  store

There are many places online selling bottle caps and cappers.  When I used to brew beer, I used Williams Brewing, www.williamsbrewing.com.

Are the bottles old?... they may be worth more just to display beside the cooler.... you might have a crate
of 1915 bottles sitting there....

Went and picked up the machine today, in the pouring rain.  The seller was a great guy, he said that as of yesterday he had over 40 emails for the machine, and a ton of higher offers.  I was the first one to email him and he wanted to keep his word and sell it for the price in the ad.  There are still some good people out there, but it sure does make you wonder when people were offering over $2k for it. 

I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet, I'm going to wait the 24 hours and see.  Everything is original on the machine, and for the most part everything is there.  Two missing parts are the water collector at the front of the compressor, and the latch for the main door.  I'm going to have to see what that part was originally, does anyone have those two pieces?  I'm going to take a look when I get done playing around.  The coin mech needs a little cleaning, but with a little bit of effort it will work and vend.

A few rust holes in the back, and a couple on the side, pretty small.  I want to keep the machine pretty much in its original shape, the paint is all pretty good.  What's the best way to attack those holes? 

I'll get some pics up soon.

Rod and janet at Funtronics have both pieces... and anything else you need for a 44...

Chris

About how long does it last?

Kids with access to rootbeer and orange pop, not long.. but I know what your saying..  :biggrin:
I've never had enough bottles more than a couple of weeks, but when I fill them, I get everything ready, I fill like 3 bottles, close the 2 liter, and cap those three quick to make sure they keep the carbonation.. When I open them if they last that long in 2-3 weeks later, stil nice fizz when opened.. I only do about 24-30 bottles at a time... as it's easy and fast to do.

        My refrigeration guy told me to chill the bottles and the 2 liter container before transfer. This keeps the carbonation loss at a minimum..

Another way to transfer the soda to minimize carbonation loss would be to use a racking cane, a bottle filler and some food grade siphon tubing which is what you would use when bottling beer.  See pictures below.  The racking cane is designed to siphone the liquid from the bottom of the container and the bottle filler has a spring loaded end that you press against the bottom of the bottle that you are filling so the bottle also fills from the bottom.  You would be able to avoid the disruption of the soda caused by pouring.  Have not tried it yet but I think it would work well.  Keeping everything cold is also a good idea.

And get a bottle cleaning jet to keep your bottles clean!  All of these items should be available at any store selling brewing supplies.  Or you can order online at www.homebrewers.com

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Do you sanitize the coke bottles before filling?

I would suggest immediate rinsing after use and sanitizing with bleach water then rinsing with bottle jet before filling.  Running them through the dishwasher on high heat will clean them well also but the bleach water rinse is the best way to sanitize to be safe.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Glad this thread turned to this, I picked up the bottles today and they are definitely going to need a good cleaning.  I think I'm going to let them soak in the pot sink for a while, then go from there.  There is a mouse in one bottle, that one might not make it back to the rotation.

Maybe you should fill it and cap it, then complain to Coca Cola you got a mouse in one of your sodas....  :biggrin:

Prolly a good idea. I'd go through the rest of my life wondering  if the bottle I just opened was "the one that had a mose carcass"  :(

Best way to clean those would be to fill the laundry tub/utility sink with water and add a few ounces of bleach.  Submerge as many bottles as you can get in there and let them soak for a day.  That will loosen up any stuff in the bottle.  Then get yourself a bottle jet and jet them out with hot water.  Check all the rims for chips in the glass as they may not seal tightly with a new crown.

After the soaking, I would run them througn the dishwasher on high heat.  You can stand them on end on the spikes on the bottom and top shelf in some dishwashers.  Just remember to let them cool before you take them out of the DW because they will be HOT!

That is how I clean my bottles for brewing beer.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

Congrats and what a good price.

It sounds as though you were lucky the seller was an honest person willing to keep his word on his first deal, even if others offered him more.

Good luck

Well, I finished up rewiring the machine today, and plugged it in for the first time, the 50 year old wires would disintegrate in your hand if you touched them.  I replaced the compressor fan motor due to the other one barely turning by hand.  The two fans fired up fine, but I didn't hear or feel the compressor start, so I was a little nervous.  All the machines I have come across you can tell the compressor is on.  I stopped the compressor fan, and sure enough the compressor was running, quieter than I have ever heard.  Thermostat kicked in without issue, and its running at a nice 38deg right now.  The vending works great as well, takes a dime or two nickels and vends the bottles without a problem.  So, overall pretty good for the age, being completely original.  The door rubber needs to be replaced, along with a main door handle, so a Fun-Tronics order is coming tomorrow.

I talked to the sellers wife yesterday, and she was saying how he really liked that I appreciated the machine and knew something about it.  She also said that's why he didn't sell it to the other bidders, even though they offered >$2k. 

sounds like a good deal all around tkaz...

tkaz--my offer of $1,255 still stands!  :tounge:

Great job on bringing this machine back to it's former glory!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking: