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I've been collecting soda machines for about 14 years now...I've probably owned over 200 machines, including many nice Vendo and VMC 81's.... But I've never had the "Holy Crap" moment when I stumble upon something.

My wife and I went to look at a coke machine about four hours away from my house and it was located on the Oregon Coast ( My Wife loves the Coast ). It wasn't anything special and we were just looking for a reason to go somewhere and the weather was great. This was two weeks ago today. Anyway, when I went to look at the Coke machine, it wasn't half as nice as the pictures, the key was missing and it wasn't a normal key or one that I have on my set of keys. On top of that, the lady raised the price $50 when she should have lowered it $200...but she wasn't even there...I had to wait for her to get there. So we went to get a bite to eat and look at other antique stores nearby while waiting for her. After that, we saw an Estate liquidation / Auction place...it didn't look so promising, but we went in anyway.

It was about 5000 sq. feet in two main rooms and then they had a backroom/ storage area that looked like someone dropped 8 or 10 truck loads of stuff (none of it any good)...I was still in one of the main rooms when I heard my wife (who's now in the backroom- dumpster area) say " Honey, you need to come hear"....I said ok, give me a minute...she says "you need to come here now, you're going to want to see this"...she has some what of a clue about machines, signs, etc. Anyway, after walking over three things and going down the ramp, parked in between an old washer and a stove, is an embossed Royal Crown Machine...because I'm stunned to see one in the middle of nowhere, it takes me a second to realize what I'm looking at and I said 'Holy crap".  It's an embossed VMC 110 RC machine.

I've owned one before, but I didn't stumble on to it like this one...now I think I have to go into every run down little shop within 400 miles of me...But the worst part was it wasn't for sale...they were going to auction it the following weekend (Sept. 7th) and I was going to be out of the state on Vacation.

The auction house guy said he would accept an absentee bid and I placed one. They don't put results online and even when I called on Sunday night, they "couldn't possibly" tell me if I won the auction or even how much the  item sold for...they would figure it out the next day!!!

So now the suspense is killing me and I feel like if I did win the auction for the machine, it would be at the top of my price range...it was just that kind of place. I did win the auction and I got it for a fair price, but I know I probably would have saved a couple of $1000 if I had been there in person....I doubted anyone else knew the actual value of it. Now I'm wondering who else has some good memories of walking around the corner and seeing the "Holy crap" item where they don't expect it?

Very neat story. Thanks for sharing. Your wife has a good eye.

About time you tell the story I couldn't hold it in much longer!!   :laugh:

If you need somewhere to store it let me know!

      Great story!  Best part is giving the wife credit for the find. I'll bet she becomes a real player now.  :happydrinkers:

Awesome find!!! 
Gives us all hope that there are undiscovered machines still out there,... even as rare as this one!!

So what are your plans for it?  Looks like it had been painted at some point?

 :happydrinkers:

Great job by the wife. All should be good.
Creighton

Awesome find ! ! !
The real question is: whose is it...?
After all, the wife did find it!

Great story congrats man

I plan on holding onto it until I can: 1. restore it and 2. make room for it...my "machine room" is full right now and there is nothing that I'm willing to let go of yet. So it stays in the garage until I get to it.   

And since I paid for it I call it mine, but I know I will never hear the end of her seeing it before me...she likes the machines, but doesn't have quite the enthusiasm for them that I do.

And Jared, thanks for the offer...if my garage gets any fuller, I might take you up on it.

Awesome story, great machine!

There is always room for one more!!!   :laugh:

Mine would be finding a an embossed large crown Canada Dry slider.

I was going through CL and kept seeing an ad for a WB-60 selecto matic and kept going by it for a couple weeks. One day I decided to take a look at it for the hell of it and there was a slider that had to go with it if you bought it. The westy wasn't much to look at but I zoomed in on the slider and saw the embossing.I contacted the seller and went to see it and I could see he was waiting for me to try to get him down on price and I handed him what he was asking and after loading the machines I explained I was after the slider and not the westy.

The slider is going in for paint after the Chicago show and should look a whole lot better than it does now.

Great story !!!!
Good find !

Holy Crap> :jawdrop:

I once walked right past a coin op and my wife caught it. She's was like "I think you're losing your touch. Look up." Felt happy and stupid at once. :)

Great story and congrats

i love these stories.they are the best.congrats great machine

I think you owe your wife a return trip to the coast to do what she wants to do!  Great find--good luck on the bid.

 :drinking: Tim :drinking: