What got you started restoring?

[Ridewithme38]

This is for all the hobbiest out there! the ones who see a machine in a barn or on Ebay and say i need to own that! not those guys that look at a machine and say i can just paint that and sell it for twice what i paid...but from what i can tell everyone here is a hobbiest!!

Ok so what machine was it that first got you started in this hobby? Was it a family members or just you just see it somewhere and say i've got to have that...and what is you holy grail of Soda Machines?


I saw a machine on Ebay and said wow! $20 for a working Soda Machine...i didn't realize at that point how adictive it can be...unfortuantly now that i'm almost done with this machine i've been scouting out new one's hoping to move up to a more classic machine...

How about you guys?

[coke_and_stuff]

Im a collector, buyer, trader, seller and cant keep everything! Ive had around 50 machines in the last two years or so everything from roundtop 56s to Pepsi 81s. Right now im working on a Vendo coin changer "which will be for sale" and a Vendo 81D that im keeping for myself. I started with a Westinghouse giant huge chest missing the lids, cap catchers and totally eatin with rust. After that I had several probably a dozen chest type coolers including a rare but rough 7up embossed quickold jr. I always wanted a upright roundtop and my dream came true with my first Vendo 39. I was in heaven and tore it apart the first day. I got real lucky one day and picked up a Vendo 81D at a antique store for a killer deal of $99.95 It was missing the shelves and bottle stack but very solid I ended up selling that machine and buying it back about a year later with seven others in the "fire sale" I mainly stick to roundtops but going to locate a few squaretops and maybe start a local vending route. Restorers arent bad but actually good for the hobby without people doing this full time alot of people wouldnt be able to have a nice machine to enjoy. Look at it this way they are bringing back history from the dead.

Joey

[collecture]

I mainly collect them, but hope to try my hand at restoration sometime in the future.
I came across my first machine in the early to mid 70's. I was about 12 years old. The parents of a friend of mine were having a garage sale and there was a VMC 27 (Tabletop) machine on a steel (Pepsi) base. I watched it Friday at $45, Saturday at $30 and on Sunday, I bought it for $15. My parents did not want me to have it and wouldn't go get it for me, so I wheel barrowed it home. I still have it. My second machine did not come my way until 1988, when I saw it in the window of an antique store here in Phoenix. I bought a nice original VMC 27A for $350. I probably paid too much for it at the time, but now it is well worth that and more. Since that time, I have just been buying them up. I don't really want to have every one, but I want a good variety and I think I am well on my way.
There has already been a post here on dream machines and mine has not changed - it is still an embossed Quikold DP 'Good For Life' cooler.

[dr galaga]

I was able to get my first machine as a freshman in high school.  I got it from the high school radio station for free.  It kept breaking down and the teacher ended up trying to sell it.  After a few weeks I told him that I would be interested but I could only pay him $20.  He told me I could have it for free if I got it out of there by the weekend!  My parents had a fit!
I am a squaretop guy.  All of the machines that I have owned have been square-tops.  Roundtops really don't do that much for me.  I would like to find a nice, decently priced Cavalier C2-55.  That would fit perfect in my office next to my desk and under the TV (plus it would be hidden from the Pepsi police).

[loman4ec]

I grew up restoring cars, jukeboxes, slotmachines, and Coke machines with my father. I was given my first machine by a family friend of ours and fellow collector. It was a cornelius slider. I painted it and decaled it in budweiser and converted it into a kegerator. My apartment in college was the local hangout for half of the school so we consumed a ton of beer. Besides the kegerator we needed something to hold bottles. I decided to buy an upright machine. So after some watching ebay I bought a Cavalier USS-64. I restored it to resemble an older machine. Well we used it for a few months and I needed money so I sold it and made a good amount of profit. Once that happened a light went off in my head and I knew I found a great new hobby that actually made me money. That was about three years ago and and almost 70 machines later.

[Skeleton Man]

I saw a pop machine in the local classifieds for $100 and asked for a few pics..  it looked cool and I always wanted one so I took it..  still on my first machine as I haven't until recently been able to afford parts and just now getting it all working..

[davethebirdman]

Well, I bought my first V-39 from a Jukebox show here in the UK. It had been professionally restored and shipped over by one of the Dutch Dealers that have cornered the Jukebox/Soda Market. It was the only one at the show and everyone was having their picture taken with it. Nothing like a V-39 would have been sited in England. In fact the earliest Coke Machines I can recall were from the very early 80's.

I paid a lot of money for it. But love it. Everyone who visits the house loves it.

I found this site a few years ago and dipped in and out for a while. I posted my first post in Jan 2005 and from then on my collection has swollen considerably. My wife would say I fell under the influence. I like to think that I eventually managed to find a group of like minded individuals that were prepared to offer advice (and a whle lot more).

So, since my first purchase. I managed to fall across another V-39. A friend had taken it as Part Ex for a few bandits. His wife hated it and so I managed to prise it from him in exchange for a few Rock & Roll Posters a pair of Drive In Speakers and a few other bits & pieces. I tidyed it up a bit put it on Ebay and made a nice profit which I used to buy a V-56 that had sat in a barn for at least 20 yrs. This is currently stripped down and out at the sprayers.

I also managed to aquire a sad looking Jacobs 50 Pepsi Machine that sits in my gamesroom feeling very sad. He is next on the list as soon as I can get some money togther he'll have the treatment too.

Four roundtop Soda Machines. I feel I can hold my head high now. Along with that I have a Dole Deluxe Fountain that is with the V-56 and will be sharing the paint. That was part of the package with the J-50. Still need a stand for that.... So as can be seen this is an extreamely addictive hobby but one I love.

The group have also convinced me to buy a couple of other bits and pieces too.. Which I am so glad they did.

I love it...

[sodaworks]

I too grew up restoring cars and building custom vehicles. The last vehicle I finished won numerous national car show awards and now is in a private collectors muesem in Japan. Didn't really want to sell it but the guy made me an offer I couldn't refuse! I currently have five more classic vehicles that hopefully someday i will get to, but for now all my spare time is spent restoring soda machines in my shop! Anyways, I bought my first machine, a VMC 33 for 300.00 bucks. It was complete but ugly. The only reason I bought it was because my mother in law is a die hard pepsi collector and I wanted to put a coke machine in my dining room to rival her collection. My in laws happen to pull up as I was unloading the machine into the gararge. My father in law couldn't believe that I just wasted 300.00 bucks on that piece of ^&%! That night I had it totally torn down and within two weeks it was totally restored and inside the dining room. The in laws came over for dinner and couldn't believe it was the same machine. My father in law actually went out to the garage to see if the machine he had sen was still out there. When he came back in all he could say was that I needed to buy all the old machines I could get my hands on and restore and sell them.

[SIGNGUY]

I've been collecting Coke signs and Machines since 1997, when I decided to decorate my bar room with some old Coke Stuff that my Dad had around. I quickly became obsessed and discovered Ebay (when it was still good) and the addiction started. Bought my first two machines in 1998, a vendo 110 and Cav 72 for 750 for the pair! Wife thought I was nuts, and i did too but after selling the Cav 72 for 1200 a few months later she didn't say another thing. Then came my Vendo 39 and since then have only beein collectin Round Tops (I'm not a Square top guy), I've had 12 different Machines/coolers in my collection, currently back down to 6, but working on a few more to acquire! I've done restorations on two Vendo 81's , everthing except for Body Paint, but everthing else and turned out pretty good! I am in the process of dabling with Body and Paint work , so we'll see how that turns out! Long Live the Round Tops!!!

[Eric]

Ahhh.... let's go back about 17 years.......My first machine was a Westinghouse Master...
was being used as a worm box sitting by a shed. .... Ha! I thought, at that time, I really found
something “rare”... I was so scared the old man wouldn't sell it to me I had a friend go with me...
He was a smooth talker... And I got it for $10.... no lids, liner shot, dented , rust, 3 bullet holes....
But I thought I really found something rare... I went to the Library to look up Coca-Cola stuff even called Coca-Cola.... she was no help...
But she told me of the “Coca-Cola Club” then, through them, found out these things were everywhere.... and what I had was worth ... about $10  '>     Kept it for a while then traded it off... It's restored somewhere right now making someone happy.
My first “machine” is my Cav 72, was at a auction when a guy came up and said he heard I collect Coke... Didn't even know this guy... and who are “they” saying I collect.... weird how word gets out
and people get pointed out... Anyway... he asked if I would be interested in a Coke machine... I said
sure I got his address and went to his house a couple days later to find, in his basement, for $300,
(I think.. It's been 15+ years) a solid little ROUNDTOP 72! SWEET!!! And that got it going.....
I still have that machine, later came a Vendo 39 from a 100 year old man from my church... He
worked for Coke... Would not trade it for anything, found a Vendo 56 was a great find... and a fun
story I got to put everyone here through for about 3 months, Then a Pepsi 88 and... finally the
prize of my collection (thanks again Joey) a Pepsi 81!.... I have 2 Dole dispensers and a Pepsi
dispenser a 7up Quikold junior... I'm about done... would like to restore these... I feel I have a
nice collection of different machines.. now I want to restore them to like new - off the assembly line.
(Also am getting into gas pumps ..again thanks Joey... for www.oldgas.com ......would like to find a Wayne 60.... and still searching for that Pepsi Quikold or 7up standard cooler.... yeah it's addicting)
Anyway....Found this site a few years ago... Have met some great people here, most I've never met in person... But I'll tell you what.... ANYTHING you need to know, any questions you may have, any advice you need for a machine you will find here!

Welcome and stick around....