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Normally, I don't watch this show due to Rick's:

1. Vendo 39 hocus-pocus into a Cavalier 72
2. Horrid treatment of a prominent member of this community over a transaction

but...the other night in the trailer for the upcoming episode was a Vendo 27.  So, I wanted to watch

Sorry in advance if this has been discussed, but I just saw the episode.  The guy brings in a Coke VMC 27 (which are non-embossed) with a pipe stand.  One of the split doors was missing and apparently most of the guts.  He charges the guy $5800 to restore it and then proudly tells him the machine is worth $7800 now.  SAY WHAT?!?!?

Yea, I saw that episode the other night.. I think $7800 is a high quote for its value.. At least for around my area...

Wonder if that was a staged restoration... didn't someone here say that the show bought 2 27s from them?

        I about choked at the $5800.00 restoration estimate--- double the national average. The $7800.00 value was just an insult to viewers intelligence.

Yeah - Signguy

Interesting you should say that, Glen.  When the wife and I were watching and Rick was going through his song and dance of "so many hours for this, so many hours for that, etc", I told her it would be about $3,000 to restore it, depending on parts.  Then, Rick barfs out the $5,800 price tag.  I said some words we don't let the kids say and then my wife promptly says, "Well, I guess you and the Coke-heads (her endearing, yet playful, nickname for us on this forum) will be talking about this one."

I watched and "WTF" was the first thing that came to mind....

My wife (saw on a website) a short version of WTF to say in front of the kids. Now we just say WHUCK!
Cracks us up every time it is said.

Yep,
That was me.. the show producers bought two of them from me, I sold them together as parts needed to be interchanged to make one unit.
So talk about HOLLYWOOD..The one that they used, they actually spray painted and then rubbed the paint and scuffed it up to look old and used.. the reason I can tell is that one had a broken hinge, and there are three dents on it that are in the same exact spots as the one I sold him..
I'm sure they used the doors and drum off the other one as this one was missing them. 

Pretty funny... and 5800 for the restoration... I guess I should have charged him more!!!

Rick said "we were able to get all the parts we needed from our boneyard."  What a tool.  When he dropped the $5800 on the "customer" for the restoration, the guy gave a made-up-for-TV wince and then said okay.  Man, this show has ZERO credibility.

What do you mean? America is his bone-yard!

HAHA!  There was also a recent show were the American Pickers guys bought a 57 Chevy for Rick to restore for the Pawn Stars guy (it was a gift for the Old Man).  The American Pickers guys were rummaging around Rick's boneyard and asked if we would float them a Vendo 39 as a finders fee.  Mind you, this wasn't a restored one or even a working original.  It was one from the lot he has with all the crap sitting on it (he calls it the boneyard).  The ones out in the yard are in various needs of repair.  Rick was charging the Pawn Stars $70k to restore the Chevy and gave the Pickers guys a flat-out NO to a machine that was sitting outside.  Business is business, but the 39s they were looking at were a couple hundred at best.  Again, what a tool.

This show and Rick are both a total Tool....I would love to see a restoration  program where they actually go through the process and not wave a magic wand. I watch ONLY because I like seeing the old items coming in. The rest of the Apple Dumpling gang make me sick.

Hey, with the prices that he charges the people, and the Bul !%@$e that goes on with the show... he should legally change his name to RICK JAIL

 :happydrinkers:

x 2

If they did a show that actually did show the restoration process somewhat like "Overhaulin" but a little more exciting I bet it would do very well.

He charges high  prices, but I wonder how much does his customers for being on the show and for having their stuff restored.  I sure they don't do it for free,   if they do then they are just dumb a$$es...without them he doesn't have a show.

I watched and I thought that was your machine John .  your right you should have charged a little more.

I was in Las Vegas about 3 weeks ago, and stopped at Rick's.  Interesting enough many of the machines, or pieces that customers had "restored" were all sitting in the show room.  With the exception of a few pieces;  ALL FOR SALE!

I met many people from the crew including Rick himself.  They were very nice, friendly, and showed us around the entire shop. 

I have to admit I have read several posts on this site bashing his craftsmanship, high prices,  etc.  I know they turned the 39 into the 72 BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Remember people this show is built for television, and it based on ratings!  Do you believe everything you see on T.V.?? 

Most of the pieces were pretty nice, I didn't like the Jacobs 26 with the converted Pepsi Theme ( Sorry Pepsi Guys)

A couple of things I noticed lacking detail was the vending stacks, and lift gates.  The kick plates, and a few other small details.
 At the volume they restore I imagine those small details probably aren't a concern.

What is the standard for a restoration?  Shouldn't it be what ever somebody wants to do their machine?   

Now as far as personal experiences I cannot say, but we had a very nice visit, and found the quality was pretty good.

Slapshot,

Glad you had a nice visit with Rick.

Here it comes........BUT,

It would be an understatment to say that all of these new reality shows, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, American Restorations, etc. have given "the hobby" a shot in the arm and has definitely bolstered our ranks as well as demand and prices commanded for machines and parts.

With all of that said, here's what I view as the crux of the problem. With guys like this parading around on a national stage touting their non-industry standard "restorations", crappy work ethic (staged or real), and completely outrageous prices, it does nothing but hurt the hobby and the trade. Sure, folks that restore for a living might be able to charge more "because Rick does" but does that really help anybody other than the restorer?

What people see and perceive to be true is REALITY, real or false. That's the problem.

IMHO that only leads us down a slippery slide of higher prices with lower quality. As people realize that the standard has been lowered and they don't care because they don't know how it should "really" look, that's when we all lose.

High quality of work, good work ethic with great customer service, I'll pay for that any day!

Nicely said Brian.

If I was paying $3000 for a restoration the quality should be better than pretty good.
I quit watching the show... haven't seen it in months... I'd rather watch Rod, John and
others here post images of what they are working on and the different stages they are in.
I learn more.

I will second that Brian and agree with you Eric

That what make a Restoration the detail , if your skipping on that what are you not seeing that was not done  ( Maybe no insulation in the the machine  :oops: can say any more :oh:. )
 you have to pay attention to the detail.  at least  that what I think.

       I agree, and while on that subject.....there are at least 5 things on this older restoration that bother me. Anyone else notice them?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Restored-Cavalier-CS-72-A-Coke-Machine-/130578987490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e671d39e2   (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Restored-Cavalier-CS-72-A-Coke-Machine-/130578987490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e671d39e2)

Leaving the pricing out of it with these shows, the stuff they come across and display or talk about is pretty cool. My kids actually set the dvr to record Pickers, Pawn Stars, Ricks, and a new show called Junkies.. My 13 year old son took it upon himself to rip into one of my gumball machines and he is going to restore it. He dismantled the whole machine, dismantled the base, cleaned it and painted it already. One gumball machine is already disassembled waiting for a new globe and lock. The key broke, so I have to drill the other lock out for him. When he is done with these, he is already eyeing my U-select it machine.

Oh where to begin??
the pinstripping
the electrical
too many decals and incorrect decals
the gasket and breakerstrip
the light up "Have A Coke" looks crooked

Yes  The god awful pinstripping  the wiring cover going into the machine  ( White paint on it , should have been replaced) no line cover plate (sorry cant think of the name)  the evaporator
painted black, the wiring on the compressor (OMG  what a mess , paint ,tape)  The rust on the bottle door .
Ok what else am I missing

The 'Ice Cold' at the bottom of the bottle door looks crooked as well

that face plate isn't going anywhere being screwed/bolted on

I like this game. Its like a where's waldo of coke machines :) The "Have a coke" decals on the bottle gares should only be on the top few not on all of them, Yes the Ice cold below the bottle door is VERY crooked, Original wiring with overspray on it, Original discolored breaker strips, Compressor overload/wire cover falling off, Rust showing through the compressor deck's spray paint job. Who would use that many decals on a machine. That is hideous looking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just cause Ricks show is on TV, one can't then have a "get out of jail" card as an excuse that "you can't believe what you see on TV".

If that were the case, then EVERY show from the news, to documentary shows are fake, and can spew ANY false things about anyone, or anything, and can't be liable for it, cause hey "ITS ON TV" so it's not real!

Rick seems like a nice guy on TV.... so am I to assume that he's not because he's on TV, and one cant believe what they see on TV?

He should have known better as a person who likes old things, that what he did with the 39 changing into a 72, well, that goes against MANY morals or beliefs that I have as a person that my parents raised to be a decent guy.

He's not a very nice guy. The show has made him arrogant and big headed. I have been told this many times before but I sold him a 3 door victor (The one he turned into a cooler grill and he didn't contact me for several weeks and when I got angry when he finally called me his answer was something like this " DO you have any idea who I am"? What a jerk!

I know a lot of people on the site rip on carl coates, but i have  seen his restorations at the chicagoland show.  they look pretty damn good, and compared to rick dales work, its on a whole different level. john (sign guy ) also have seen his work also outstanding

I hope he enjoys the ride... What a privilege it would be to be where he's at.
And it's because of viewers that watch his show that he's there now.
Hope he doesn't hurt too many people on this journey and burn too many bridges.
This won't last for him... but hopefully it'll last long enough to maybe put his kid through
a great college and he can save up for a nice retirement as I'm sure in that line he
doesn't have a pension or company match 401k.
Like I said before... haven't watched in a while.. and when I did it was to look at the stuff in
the background... he just didn't keep my interest and I have projects of my own... And there
are several here that do better work.

Did they put the "Have a Coke" lettering on all the selection "forks" on a Cavalier stack?  My grandad had a CSS-64 in his machine shops and I thought that label was only on th etopp few so other Coke products could be loaded on those shelves.  I was young at this time, so I could be totally wrong.  I do know is I would give every machien I have for the one from his shop.  Sadly, both are gone now.

He screwed me on a deal too.  I have it set to DVR so I can watch when I want to.

I watch for pure entertainment.  He does get some neat stuff through the doors.  Cant deny that.

I'm not to impressed with the restorations.  Seems for the amount charged the final product would be nicer.  He's riding the TV wave right now.  Saw somewhere else they just moved into a new place.  Guess TV is paying off right now.

 

       For $5800.00 he could have at least chrome plated those 2 front doors.

Just for clarification; it a Vendorlator/VMC 27.
Vendo didn't produce the Model 27...

OOPS!!  Good catch, Jim.

Just as a side note.....

I was watching one of the very, very few as in only show that I currently try to keep up on, Top Shot, last night and they had a promo for this weeks installment of Rick's show. It started with him mentioning something about restoring/finding the "Holy Grail of Coke machines". So I'm thinking maybe the dude lucked into a Victor Kooler Grill.....Not quite. It turned out to be what looked like a Coca-Cola branded True N-416 1 Door Cooler. Pretty uncommon but definitely not the "Holy Grail".

I guess it's like throwing the title of "Rare" on everything. Maybe it's a subjective term, maybe it's not! :glare:

Here's what really bugs me.  Now that people  are watching the show, they ask if Rick's Restoration are why I got into this hobby 12 years ago.

I tell them that the show has only been on for 2 seasons.  I never want my restorations ever compared to his stuff.  Eever!!!!

Before the show aired, Curtis and I talked about whether it would be good for the hobby.  We thought it may be good for those people who made there living on restorations because it would raise  the awareness of the general population.  Now after 2 seasons, I am not sure. Now, I can not even sit through an episode.

Brian

As stupid as the show is... I can honestly say this is the BUSIEST I have have ever been with restorations of customer machines or just plain orders ... I would like to think it's because of the quality of my restorations  :biggrin: :smile:, but I would contribute a bit of it to all the recent shows highlighting this stuff that we all konw and love! 

I just watched this episode tonight. There was a Vietnam era fighter pilot's helmet that a guy supposedly paid $1,800 to have restored. $1,800!

I think shows like Pickers and Restoration (which me and the kids love over here) have a double sided affect.

As a restorer and seller you should be able to ride the wave they are creating in nostalgia and get some good money for
your items.  Just make sure you have a good stock pile of stuff to restore.

Because the downside will be that all those bits you were picking up for next to nothing a few years ago are now going
to demand a much higher price and ultimately cut into your profit.