SMC Discussion Areas

The price of a VMC pepsi 81 just went up!! Watching the new Pawn Stars and he just paid $3000 for a VMC Pepsi 81... If you've been looking for one, good luck!

Was It a legit $3000.00 machine?

From what I could tell, it looked legit.

Body - Outside was in decent shape except for being painted red, vent louvers looked ok & no visible rust through (from what could be seen). The Coin Mech was there as well as the correct VMC debossed Coin Entry Bezel.

Interior - The interior shots of the machine showed that the vending stack was there and appeared to be complete as well as a full set of shelves with sliders. I thought I saw the top shelf slider might have been missing, might be wrong though. Overall, it was pretty clean inside considering it's age and other machines that I have seen.

Refrigeration - Was there and looked normal but you know how that goes!

So, I thought that it was a very nice looking, VERY restorable VMC 81 Pepsi. Was it worth $3000? For them in "their" market, considering that after the restoration they'll be asking probably around $8K-9K for it, I'd say it was. IMHO (for what it's worth!) thought that it would be worth around $2000-$2800 in it's presented condition.

From what I've seen lately on the Pepsi's seems like 2500-2800 has been the going rate.. so they are not that far off... I have one in my shop from a customer to restore and he paid $3200 for it in a private sale... so they are all over the board..

It just needs a shot of freon!! I think it was worth $3000 on a good day, but they are buying to resell, so everyone is going to think that they can get more then that.

I'm with Brian on this one I thought it was a pretty fair price. If you can find one you can expect to pay 2500-3000.

Jared

But that is his buying price and they say on that show time and time again, we need to sell at a profit!! How much profit is in there as it sits paying $3000!

Also, the popularity will boom on that machine now that it has been on that show and the price will go up again.  The good part, they should all come out of the basements and be more on the market now!

Resto Rick I am sure will get compensated by History Channel for restoring the machine, they will make an entire episode out of it, Rick Dale sells it for a tidy profit, and everyone is happy. 

      We know there will be an RC 81 featured in upcomming episodes,
maybe this Pepsi 81 is leading us into  a series?

But that red Pepsi machine was " Rare " though . Rick looked at it an said he never seen a red Pepsi machine and it looks like its never been painted before . That's why they paid 3 k for it  :tounge:o

I kind of doubt it being original. However, I did not see holes where a coke sign was put over the embossing.  Most of the red ones I've seen (only pics) have had signs screwd over the embossing.  Mine was red. It had holes near the logo.

I still think he gave a fairly real price for it.  But in reality he probably didn't give that for it. A friend of mine bought a coffee grinder Rick restored. The tv price was not near the store price on it. The show is all a set up.  Made to drive ratings. 

I'm just glad to know the value of mine might have gone up a little!

       We will all agree that market value is $3000 for an unrestored Pepsi 81.

       Does that mean I can take this machine to the pawn shop and they will buy it from me for $3K?  Ya' right!

That was sort of my point, if a pawn shop can pay $3k, what must the retail resale be to make a profit?

Figure a Good professional restoration to run 3800-4000, so puts your cost at 7k... sell for over that to make any money..
last restored pepsi I sold I got 8200 for it.. so not much in profit , but  a profit none the less.

Agreed John, but I am sure Resto Rick gets paid by History to do restore, not pawnshop guys

We'll then if thats the case.. they are cheap...and won't pay much.... they wanted me to restore machines for Rick's show and would only pay 3000 per machine and they wanted turn around time of about 3 weeks ... I told them to buzz off...

You called it!! it was American Restoration and fixed up!! worth a lot $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$   :biggrin:

>>they wanted me to restore machines for Rick's show

That is funny. Did you get a reason why they weren't using Rick by any chance?
Seeing's how its his show and all :-)
Creighton

       Interesting.......

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/picture-of-my-RED-Pepsi-VMC-81-Vendorlator-Vendo-/330842518985?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d07c035c9  (http://www.ebay.com/itm/picture-of-my-RED-Pepsi-VMC-81-Vendorlator-Vendo-/330842518985?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d07c035c9)

Very much so.

The show producers called and asked if I would be interested in taking on some of the overflow.. as they wanted him to focus on alot of the unusual stuff to make the show more interesting, rather than one soda machine after another.. but their expectations where unrealistic... They still call me occassionally to see if I have anything they might want to buy for a show, or parts on occassion as well.  I've only sold them the Pair of VMC 27's so far that they used on the show a year or so ago..

So, was that you at the flea market when they happen to find the rare parts!!!  :tounge:

Ha, no.. they bought two machines from me .. I was selling them on my website as a pair with enough parts from both to make one complete one.. the one they used on the show I believe was missing one door and the bottle drum, which the other machine had... and they then made up back story and created "REALITY TV".. makes sense right..

Reality is just a perception... just ask a democrat for their opinion and you will see!! :tounge:

"Reality is just a perception... just ask a democrat for their opinion and you will see!!"

AMEN to that!  They elected Santa Claus.