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So after a 6 1/2 hour trip we finally made it from Kitty Hawk NC to Alan's museum in Granite Falls. When I first arrived I was greeted by Alan's son Alec who gave us a tour of the museum. He was a young man with a passion for machines and was telling us stories about all the unique stuff they had. You could tell that he is going to be the 3rd generation collector of the family. I wandered around checking out all the machines I've dreamed about like the Decapper, C-102 and the Glascock Deluxe as well as many others. It is quite an amazing site to see so many machines in one place. After exploring for over an hour we took a walk over to where Alan's workshop was.
     He was there working on a couple machines so I had to interrupt and introduce myself. I couldn't miss the opportunity after driving all that way. He stopped and chatted with me for a while about all kinds of stuff. I found him to be very easy to talk to and a enthusiastic collector with a passion just as I. He then personally showed me around the museum telling me stories about several of his rare machines and such. It reminded me that despite anything I've heard about his business practices that in his heart he is a collector like the rest of us.
     I ended up spending about three hours there and found it was well worth the drive. I would have spent more time but by that point my family was about to kill me. I took some pictures of the amazing collection that I shared below including the holy grail Decapper.  :happydrinkers:  

This is the brother of your double select Delf Leonard.

More cool machines. I really liked the liquid carbonic machine where you push a empty bottle in one side and a full one comes out the other side.

Liquid Carbonic cooler in action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYQpu9MB5PY&feature=youtu.be


Mills machines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD0T-dRuEW8&feature=youtu.be

Victor Cooler Grill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2FlaiOylaY&feature=youtu.be

Double sided Coca Cola machine C-102

Seth,
          I'm glad you picked it up for me !!  :smile:    No 2 select in his collection  :tounge:

wow!!!! awesome stuff!!!

Nice.... You leave a bid on that decapper? LOL

Great pictures. Thanks for posting. Was that decapper the one that was in a fire

The Decapper looks rough. Did the Fire warp the metal bad on it? The 102 Looks like a nice original!

Thanks for sharing!

I thought I read somewhere that the machine had survived a basement fire...

Of course I picked it up for you Leonard! Tim, LOL. No way he would sell it and I don't blame him. I know its the Crown Jewel of his collection just by the way he talks about it. It looks as though the fire took the paint off of it but structurally it looks good. The door where the cup drops is melted but could be reproduced. It looks ruff because of all the burnt paint but nothing a good paint job couldn't fix. I'm not sure where the fire took place but I didn't ask. He told me he bought it like that.

Alan's Decapper is a rare one. It did survive a fire in the Vendo factory. It is a prototype model. Some Decappers were actually put in production with serial numbers. Alan's has no serial number, but instead of a serial number it reads prototype. The metal is warped on it from the heat of the fire. The inside of it is in fairly good condition. It could be restored. This would be the Holy Grail of all Coke machines if it was restored. I know Alan has been offered big money for it just as it sits. I always enjoy going to Alan's place. There is a lot to see there and a lot of soda history.

Any idea on who bought the decappers from the museum that closed down in Kentucky?

Or what they sold for?

There is a guy in Canada that owns two but they are production models. He's the guy that wants $250,000 for one. There were only 10 pilot models made and Alan's is the only one ever found. All the others known machines are production models. Alan's tag actually reads Model-Decapper and Serial # PM 417A-28     
The PM stamp on the tag is what stands for Pilot Model. Apparently the others don't say PM so this is the reason Alan's is the most valuable and rare.

Most rare yes, Most valuable no! The two the Schmidt Museum Had were in amazing original condition. Factory fresh originals. I would take a production run original unrestored Decapper over a prototype that had been in a fire any day of the week! Only difference is a metal tag that reads PM before the serial number.

http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php?topic=8621.0

I agree too!
Like real estate, location, location, location, it's all about Condition, Condition, Condition ! ! !
And nice originals will always be your best bet!

Wow I must say that is in really good condition. I see where you could argue that point with the production model being in great condition. I probably should have put a * in my previous comment saying (after Alan's is restored). I guess it depends if you want the rarest machine restored or if you want a rare machine unrestored. I'd say value really depends on how you like your machines restored or unrestored. Once Alan's is restored I'd personaly put a higher value on it. Its obvious I like the rarest so of course I would say that.  :biggrin:

If there were 251 of these produced I am surprised that you don't see more of them pop up . with only 200 rc 81s supposedly made they do come up from time to time and are in many known collections

I still believe there were more than 200 RC 81s built.

I agree

These Decappers are huge and heavy so majority were probably scrapped. Some could even be still buried in a basement of a old abandoned building just waiting for us to find.  :biggrin:

Cool stuff!

Thanks for sharing.
 the decapper is a really cool machine but I kinda like the carbonic cooler more. To me it's a cool design.