Rick's Restorations

[ClassicCokeLover]

Has anybody ever visited his shop? On the program, it looks like he has quite a selection of old machines. I don't know how much of what we see on TV is real though. The estimates right off the cuff, to me are way high. The quality does look good though. The finished product always looks amazing.

[vintage-air]

Never been there. Multiple discussions about Rick and his below average restorations. A lot of unhappy customers with the finished product and a lot of his stuff is farmed out to be restored. Just TV drama is all.

[jholmgren]

I will admit I do enjoy the show, if only because of the general subject matter.   I have also read several online reviews of his shop tour and it sounds like they do a nice tour and are generally very friendly and accessible to their "public".

That said - yes, there is a lot of TV "Magic" going on with the show and many prior discussions about this can be found on these boards.

Jim

[MoonDawg]

       Yes on the show we see a lot of old machines but most are only useless shells,
I believe he is looking just as hard as we are for complete desireable models.
       
      Although I previously assumed all the restoration work was sourced out, I may have been proven wrong and I hope Ray will jump in here and share the experience he had on these 2 subjects last week.

       I had visited his prior location almost 20 years ago, when it was a simple workshop with 2 roll up doors run by him and Ron. I would like to know more about that tour or see pictures from someone that has taken it, sounds cool


       

[Slapshot42]

I visited the new location in August 2011.  Had no intentions to meet Rick and is Crew.  I really just wanted to see the machines.

Glen is right all of the machines empty cabinets or just really easy and cheap machines to find.  All I really saw was Vendo 39's. Vendo 80's. VMC 33's some themed Pepsi.  At the time he had one Cavalier 72 small door...  All the machines were locked and 7k plus...

I will say it again it's reality tv at best saw the Coffee machine that they supposedly found outside the school.  All the items that were restored for customer's were all for sale....??  The Victor Hot Dog Grill was in the hallway which looked halfway done..even though it had already aired as complete.

The engine mechanic Jeff was very nice and so was the kid Tyler and Brett.  Rick was polite enough to come out for a picture.  Didn't get to meet Big Boobs... magee but I guess we had the rest of the Vegas Strip for that...

Jared

[mygoose101]

Yes, I did sell a machine to Rick last weekend and it was a very pleasent experience. I had the machine running on e-bay. Someone contacted me through e-bay that they wanted to buy and pickup the machine the following day. I could tell from the user name that it was either Rick or one of his employees. I emailed my phone number where one of Ricks employees called me Saturday morning saying that he was still in Vegas but would be here late that night as he had to both drop and pick up machines through out the day on his way here. So far price was never discussed. He, the employee, kept me updated through out the day on his schedule.

He arrived here about 9PM, very nice guy, he called who he called, "the boss" to let him know that both he and the machine were here at my place in which Rick paid by Paypal within minutes. My full asking price, never asked for a discount.

The employee told me that they never have to drift this far away from Vegas to buy machines, I'm in California, and he admitted they they never pay that much for a machine but they were running very low on inventory as their business was booming. He said they have a large showroom with restored stock as well as orders for customers and also a bone yard full of machines that are either not complete or too far damaged to ever use.

He said that he has been working for Rick for 4 years in which there were 6 total employees, today he said there are over 30 and all of the work was done there now on site.

He invited me there over and over to come check out the place and that he would give me a tour. He was here for about 45 minutes in total and he never once mentioned the TV show. I was a little surprised by that and the only thing I could come up with about that is the guy was very humble and perhaps maybe he just didn't say anything because he thought that would be a way of showing off? Don't know.

[MaineT]

Well, their boneyard is filled with less desirable machines, but like the rest of us, I'm sure they don't turn their nose up at a cheap one or a throw-in or package deal for the right price. Parts are parts and a lot of them have parts that they need. All not worth restoring, but how many times did you want a straight Vendo 80 cabinet to replace the rusty bucket you were starting with!

I talked to someone doing this for over 25 years and he has trailer fulls of round top machines like Vendo 80's just for parts and cabinets in varying condition that he has bought over the years for cheap. In Vegas, you just don't need the trailer!! Any restorer will need parts, and if you have the room, there is no need strip them and scrap the rest.

[mygoose101]

In all honestly we can't just single this show out as bogus when it comes to reality TV.

I heard someone who's friend had his house redone on Extreme Home Makeover and when they got the home back in a week it was only about half way done. Looked done on TV for sure.

In watching either the Bachelor or Bachelorette every season something more dramatic happens and all the bad guys or girls are always kept towards the end so we keep watching. I'm sure most of that is fake, in more ways then one.  

I like watching Overhaulin with Chip Foose. I love his work and he is a local boy here from Santa Barbara so I want to think all is legit on his show but you never know right, it's TV who who really knows.

Undercover Boss, they pick the employees with the most hardships so they can get the most gifts at the end. There is never an employee on that show with the perfect life that needs nothing.

I'm sure we can go on and on about reality TV. It's there to entertain the viewer and that it does.