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American Pickers Season 27 Episode 9br br AmericanPickersbr RealityInsightHub br br Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free as soon as possible Reality Insight Hubbr Official Channel httpswwwdailymotioncomTrailerBoltbr THANK YOU
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00:00Danny D, what's up? What's up, girl? Hey, good morning, guys. How you doing? We are in the great
00:18state of Alabama on a two-lane road. Oh, you're on two lanes? You're in your element, I'll tell
00:24you right now. Hey, I'm gonna send you guys to an old airplane hangar. Sounds cool. I like airplanes.
00:29It belonged to a guy named Dick. He was an engineer by trade. Okay. Yeah, so I guess the story is that this guy invented something crazy for the military, like some sort of technology. Nice. Sounds awesome. But Dick and his father had this massive collection of radios and Victrolas, and they've held on to them forever. Oh, wow. Dang. So he's got really old cylinder stuff and breadboard stuff. Let's see, Dick passed away at 85, and a big part of the collection was his dad's. So a lot of this stuff is really old.
00:59Dang, that sounds cool. That sounds awesome. That sounds great. I've been talking to Valerie. Now, she was his friend, his colleague, but now she's the executor of his estate. But she might not be there just yet. You're probably gonna be meeting him with his grandson, Zach. All right, cool. Well, send us the address. Yeah. Please hear me right now. Do not buy any old airplanes, because we do not have the storage space. Eh, we'll figure something out.
01:21That place is huge. You get a flyer.
01:37There's some dude working on a tractor right there. Hey, how are you, man? We're looking for Valerie. All right. How you doing? I'm John. She'll be here in a minute. Zach. I'm John. Hey, I'm Zach, man. Howdy. Zach Lawrence. Good to meet you. What's going on, man? What are you working on? This old Moline tractor. I'm from Iowa. Iowa. So there's a tractor in every barn, man. Oh, yeah. That's a good place right there. We're right across the river from Moline, Illinois. Oh, yeah. You know what's there, don't you? I believe there might be John Deer there. That's right.
02:07Yeah, absolutely, man. Whoa. Look at this. Man, this place is huge. Man, a lot of stuff in here, Mike. Look at this plane. It's a Cessna 195. What year is that? 1958. It's a radial engine plane, dude. Sure is. Look at all cylinders in there. When's the last time this was fired up? Oh, it's been several years now. He hadn't flown for probably eight, ten years. He used to fly over as a kid, and he would drop chocolate out at our house. Really? Yeah, he did. Really? That had to be pretty amazing. Yeah. You're a little kid.
02:37And you're standing in the front yard, and he's dive-bombing chocolate. No kidding? And this is a big plane, too. It's not a little plane. It's a big plane.
02:44This is one of those pieces that, even if you don't care about aviation, it's just a work of art. That radial engine. It's romantic. It just catapults you back into a different time when travel was an adventure.
02:58All right, let me show you the rest of the shop. I'd love to see it, man. Yo, yo, yo. What is this thing? That electrical device? It's homemade. I mean, look at that thing. It's like that open frame electric motor.
03:07Early. Like what time period you thinking? Turn of century. That's, or 1890. Really? Yeah, that's early. This was one of those kit motors. I mean, it's not branded.
03:15We don't even notice electricity today. We turn a switch on, and there it is. In the late 1800s, this was new science.
03:21They would sell you the castings, and you would wind the coils up top here. So it's the very beginning. You know, in a magazine, you ordered a kit.
03:28You'd buy parts. And you'd build a motor. The guys who were nerding out in this in the 1890s were the engineers of the day.
03:33My granddad was always messing with electrical stuff like this. Was he an electrical engineer? Yes.
03:37So he was fascinated by this. Absolutely. Always was. The family lineage here is very impressive.
03:43This is the very beginnings of science, electrical science. I love how jacked up he gets on this stuff.
03:46I love this stuff. No, I love it, too. I love that you love it.
03:49I've heard this speech so many times at swap meets all across America. Jersey John holding court in his space, telling people about the evolution of electricity and steam. And people are just mesmerized.
04:05This contraption that it's connected to, this was just added to it. I mean, this is all kind of homemade.
04:10But it's all early. See how it's got leather belts on here?
04:12Yeah.
04:13This is great.
04:14Jersey's basically the science teacher that you wish you had.
04:17There's wooden planets, and they spin around. It's like a model of the solar system.
04:21There was port and starboard, so one green and one red.
04:23The way he describes things, the way he gets into it, it's adjustable so you can move it back and forth.
04:28He can make you fall in love with the most technological thing.
04:32You could hook, like, a light bulb on that, and you can generate electricity because he makes all of it so sexy.
04:38Hey, guys, where are you?
04:40Hey, hey.
04:40Hello.
04:41Sorry, I'm late.
04:42Can you talk to Danny on the phone?
04:44Yes.
04:45All right, very cool.
04:47I'm Mike.
04:48How are you?
04:48This is Jersey.
04:49Hi, John.
04:50Hi, nice to meet you.
04:51Nice to meet you.
04:52Hi, thanks for having us.
04:53Yeah, Valerie.
04:54You're more than welcome.
04:55This place is amazing.
04:56He's been showing us around.
04:57Jersey's found this.
04:58I think Dick's father is the one who originally found that.
05:03Was his father an engineer also?
05:05Yes, he was an electrical engineer.
05:07Wow, that explains a lot.
05:07And they both worked for the FAA.
05:09Dick came to Redstone Arsenal in 1960 and went to work for Weapon Sciences.
05:17He was hired by Warner Von Braun.
05:20At that time, Dick didn't know who Warner Von Braun was.
05:24Dick was an electronics engineer.
05:38He was interested in lasers, and he came up with the first patent using a laser to guide
05:46a missile, and that was in 1963.
05:49And it became the Hellfire Missile, which is still used.
05:55So is this something you guys want to sell?
05:57Everything's for sale.
05:58Oh, I like that.
05:59Dick passed away about 18 months ago.
06:02He left his estate to his four grandchildren, and all four of the grandchildren have had the
06:07opportunity to go through and pick out the things that they want to keep.
06:11And one of the grandsons, Patrick, he's a helicopter pilot, and his goal is to keep the
06:17air hanger and the active runway here.
06:20So all the funds that we get from selling everything will help generate enough money
06:24that he can buy the other three airs out.
06:26And he can keep it in the family.
06:27Keep it in the family.
06:28That is so cool.
06:29Yeah, I love that.
06:30So let me help you.
06:32Okay.
06:33How much do you want for this thing?
06:34Well, it's priceless.
06:37I'm no stranger to negotiating.
06:39I'm also an engineer.
06:41I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers for 25 years, and I'm used to negotiating,
06:46contracts for the federal government, so I just used that skill.
06:51Make me an offer.
06:53I could see this retailing at maybe, you know, maybe $600, maybe $500.
06:57Because of the apparatus with it?
06:58Yeah, with the apparatus with it.
06:59So, I think of $400.
07:02$500, it insures.
07:04$500, huh?
07:06My goal is to make sure I'm doing the best for the kids in my role as the executor.
07:12How about $475?
07:16We're going to get along just fine today.
07:18Sounds like y'all got it figured out, so I'm going to head out.
07:20Hey, man, thank you.
07:21Good luck, dude.
07:22Appreciate it.
07:22Pleasure meeting you, man.
07:24Dick's interest in collecting things came from his father.
07:28Okay.
07:29Because his father was the one who started the collection of the radios.
07:34Dick was a little bit of a hoarder.
07:36He never got rid of anything.
07:37He loved to collect musical instruments and books and mechanical parts, electronic parts.
07:47He got that gene from his dad.
07:49Valerie.
07:50Yes.
07:51I'm starting to find a decent amount of cathedral radios.
07:57Oh, wow.
07:58Having a store in Nashville, right in Music City, we have sold a lot of these radios over the years.
08:04Some people call them cathedral radios.
08:06People in the industry call them tombstone radios.
08:08Either way, aesthetically, historically, these are small monuments of music history.
08:15I would like to buy all of these.
08:17This is the kind of stuff that my customers would want just aesthetically what they look like.
08:23To me, when you think of an old radio, you think of a tombstone radio.
08:27You know, as far as, like, getting these fired up and rocking and rolling again, you know, sometimes, most of the time, that's more than the radio.
08:34It's worth itself.
08:35The person that's going to want one of these is an audiophile, someone that's truly into music, the roots of music.
08:41What a lot of people are doing is they're retrofitting them to Bluetooth.
08:45So what are you thinking?
08:46Um, let me see.
08:48I see that veneer's all just coming off pretty bad.
08:51This one is a little bit sketchy.
08:54Like two and a quarter.
08:56For all of them?
08:57Yeah, for all of them.
08:59Um, they are beautiful.
09:00I know.
09:01Three.
09:03Okay.
09:04Okay.
09:05He would be very happy to know that someone who knew what they were and were excited about them were getting them.
09:13Whoa.
09:14Whoa.
09:15Oh.
09:16Look at the music box.
09:17Yes.
09:17This is so cool.
09:19Like the gears and stuff in here.
09:22Ah.
09:24Whoa.
09:25I love anything mechanical music.
09:27It fascinates me to no end.
09:29They developed a way in the late 1700s mechanically to reproduce sound.
09:35So this is one of those boxes that predates radio, even photographs.
09:39This is, this is before that time.
09:41This is what we call the comb in here.
09:43See, it looks like a comb.
09:44Right.
09:44So that's what makes the music.
09:46That's the tone.
09:47We call it a comb because it has fingers on it.
09:49And each finger is a different note.
09:50Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
09:51That goes on a cylinder.
09:53Every time that cylinder comes around, it plucks the note.
09:55So this has got a clockwork mechanism in here.
09:57It's got a ratcheting mechanism with a clock spring in there that held the power to power
10:02the whole darn thing.
10:03So that's putting tension on these gears.
10:07And then it's put in this beautiful inlay box.
10:09I mean, look at that.
10:11Oh.
10:11Wow.
10:12That's pretty.
10:12Isn't that amazing?
10:14Yes.
10:14Still has a lot of color.
10:16Yeah.
10:16It's got holly inlay in there.
10:18It's got some colored inlay.
10:19It's probably some pear wood.
10:20There was a glass top in here that's broken.
10:22See the framework?
10:23Right.
10:24That's gone.
10:25I think in the condition that it is, I could probably sell it for like $450, $500.
10:29You know, it's just a lot of work.
10:32Would you do $300 on it?
10:35I would do $300.
10:36You would do $300?
10:37Yes.
10:38I got you.
10:39Thank you so much.
10:40I'm very happy with that.
10:41This is just the tip of the iceberg.
10:43Like, what the heck else is in here?
10:52Jersey, look at this.
10:54What do you got?
10:54Oh.
10:55Whoa, that's beautiful.
10:56What the heck?
10:58Dovetail box, old mahogany?
10:59Anything that I find that looks like it belongs in Frankenstein's castle, I'm talking something
11:04that can, you know, be mood-altering, shocking somebody, hurting somebody, removing hair.
11:10I'm going to show it to Jersey.
11:12I don't know what that is.
11:13I don't know either.
11:14It looks like some kind of quackery stuff, or maybe it's a weather instrument.
11:16He did collect weather instruments.
11:19I think that came from his love of airplanes.
11:22Oh, it's made by Gurley.
11:24They made scientific instruments.
11:25They also made surveying instruments at this time period.
11:28Every pick is an opportunity to learn something.
11:31And here's a perfect example of that.
11:33Whatever it is, it's cool.
11:35I love it.
11:35It's got a little case.
11:36I mean, look how beautifully it's done.
11:38It's got a little brass handle on it.
11:40See the dovetail joint on there on the edges?
11:43I love the way Jersey can say so much without really saying anything at all.
11:48And that he's so excited about something just because he doesn't know what it is.
11:55He's the guy that would completely disassemble it and look at the way it was made and then
12:01try to formulate for himself what the purpose of it was.
12:06I'm taking a shot at it.
12:0775 bucks.
12:08100.
12:09How about 90 bucks?
12:10I'm going to buy a lot more stuff here.
12:1290 bucks.
12:12All right.
12:13What the heck this thing is, I am not sure, but I'm going to have a lot of fun finding
12:17it out.
12:18What's in that box right there, Mike?
12:19This one?
12:20Yes.
12:21So you have to set it up like this.
12:23Well, you can't because of the brackets.
12:25It mounted on a wall.
12:26See, look.
12:28There you go.
12:29Whoa.
12:30Oh, wow.
12:31Damn.
12:31You got it upside down.
12:32This is a medical device.
12:34This is quack stuff.
12:35This is like electroshock therapy stuff.
12:37You'd hook up an electric on this side, you know, batteries.
12:41Jersey's looking at the technical minutiae, the scientific application.
12:45And these bulbs would regulate the electricity going through it.
12:49How much bulbs you would have in here.
12:50And also this would regulate electricity as well.
12:52I don't think Jersey really cares if this stuff works.
12:56He just wants to know how it works.
12:58And he wants to dissect it over and over again.
13:02I love it.
13:02That's cool.
13:03Just because of the way it looks.
13:05I mean, this can be cleaned up.
13:06There can be a light put in this cabinet.
13:08But I couldn't be farther from that.
13:09What I'm looking at is aesthetically what is pleasing to the eye, the shape of it, the time period that it was made, the condition of the wood, the condition of the screen, the case itself.
13:22It's interesting.
13:23It's something interesting to look at.
13:25I mean, the quality of the cabinet's amazing.
13:27It's full on steampunk, man.
13:28Oh, for sure.
13:29When I'm looking at stuff like this, I always try to manage for the 90%.
13:33Who's going to be interested in this?
13:34To me, immediately it speaks steampunk.
13:36To try to build something like this, to have this look with the nickel plating, the gauges, the box itself, it would be costly.
13:44But for somebody that wants something so different and unique, even if it's for a retail setting, that's the person.
13:50It can be in anything from a bar to a restaurant.
13:53As far as what it used to do, that's for Jersey to think about.
13:56I'd do a couple hundred bucks on it.
14:02Would you do $2.50?
14:06I would.
14:07Okay.
14:07All right, cool.
14:08Well, good.
14:08What else you got?
14:20These breadboard radios are really interesting.
14:22I mean, I love these just because, you know, everything is exposed.
14:27There's a lot to look at here.
14:28The breadboard is the base that you can use to make a lot of different electrical things.
14:32In this case, it's a radio.
14:34The breadboard radios were probably some of the more valuable items here.
14:38Yeah.
14:39They're beautiful to me.
14:40You know, especially this one with the gold tubes on it.
14:43You know, again, you know, what does it look like on a shelf?
14:46When you look at the timeline of radios, these are very historically significant.
14:50How do you get younger people interested in it?
14:54Is it Bluetooth-ing it in some way?
14:56Or just simply, is it the way it's displayed?
14:58It's a major part of American history.
15:01You know, this is how people got their news.
15:03This is how they were entertained.
15:04This is how they gathered.
15:05This is how they socialized.
15:06Imagine this in a room with Macintosh and the most incredible speakers and modern tube amps and turntables and all that.
15:16Even if you don't even understand that this is a radio, when you look at it, it just evokes all of these curiosities of like, what is this thing?
15:24I want to know more about it.
15:26You know, if this was in really nice shape, I think it'd be like a thousand bucks.
15:31I'd like to buy them both.
15:32I'd be interested in them for like $600.
15:36For both of them?
15:37Yeah, I mean, I think I'd probably put four and a half on each of them.
15:41Well, I realize it's squeezing your profit margin, but how about $700?
15:48Yeah, I mean, I'm at $350 a piece on them.
15:50I'm trying to get four to four and a quarter, $450 out of them.
15:53When's the last time you walked into an antique shop and you paid what they had on the sticker?
15:57We're one of the few industries that are still negotiable.
16:00How about $650?
16:01We'll make it up somewhere else.
16:06I love the way your mind works.
16:09Okay, we're going to do $650.
16:18Valerie!
16:19Did you find something?
16:20This cabinet.
16:21You see this thing?
16:22You know what it is?
16:23What?
16:24It's like that quack piece earlier.
16:25It's a medical desk?
16:26It's a desk, but it's got all these bells and whistles in here for electroshock therapy, basically.
16:31It's the same kind of deal.
16:32But this is earlier.
16:32This is like 1870.
16:34It's another one of these fancy quack medicine electroshock machines that look like something that should be in like, you know, Frankenstein's laboratory.
16:42This is the way that they would treat different ailments, which they didn't quite understand how to treat.
16:49That's where they would store the batteries.
16:50This is before the time that we had anything to plug in for electricity.
16:53This is something that you would go into a doctor's office, a high-end doctor's office, and see this in his office.
16:59And you were impressed.
17:01And then you wrote your check.
17:02Well, Victorian furniture is not doing too well right now, but that's cool.
17:06This piece is something different because, you know, it's got this top on it.
17:09And this is what's a piece of glass in here.
17:11See?
17:11No glass.
17:12It's broken.
17:13It's gone.
17:14It's missing the curved glass top.
17:16That protects the instrumentation.
17:17It's a custom bend.
17:18You see this J-bend in here?
17:20Mm-hmm.
17:21Imagine what that's going to cost to replace.
17:22A lot.
17:23I'd go $300.
17:24Oh, I think someone would pay at least $600 for that once it's restored.
17:28But I've got to put, you know, a couple hundred bucks on a piece of glass.
17:30Easy.
17:31Would you go $350?
17:32I'd do $350.
17:33Okay.
17:34All right.
17:34Once that glass is replaced, it's going to be beautiful.
17:37Look at these.
17:38These say WLS on them.
17:40WLS Chicago.
17:42Could be.
17:42Somebody's going to want a pair of these hanging on their wall.
17:45Maybe next to the 1979 Sony Walkman that they have.
17:48$20 a piece.
17:50How many?
17:50There's $200.
17:52$225.
17:52Okay.
17:53Okay.
17:54This is the horn section.
17:55This is the Victor Wood Horn.
17:59This one is really hard to find.
18:01Look at that.
18:02That's beautiful.
18:03That's beautiful, too.
18:03But that's for the cylinder players.
18:05Like this gem.
18:06Matter of fact, this gem is really cool.
18:07Cylinder disc players use the pointy horns.
18:10Matter of fact, here's the horn.
18:12Oh, wow.
18:12We call them Witch's Hat's Horn.
18:14That goes like that.
18:16Boom.
18:16And now that's a complete gem.
18:18I see you got a really old jukebox.
18:20This one's 1936.
18:21Think about what was going on in the world in 1936 when this jukebox was lit up and people
18:28were spinning around on the dance floor.
18:31Look how decorative this is.
18:32Oh, that is nice.
18:32The nickel to dime.
18:33The Hoover Dam had just been completed.
18:36FDR had just got reelected.
18:38And the biggie, Harley Davison, released the first knucklehead.
18:44$375.
18:45Okay.
18:46Okay.
18:47I'm doing it.
18:49I'd go $1,500.
18:49What do you got right here?
18:51How about $1,700?
18:53$1,600.
18:54I like $1,700.
18:55I'm not going to argue with it.
18:56$1,700.
18:57I want that.
18:58That oak horn, man.
18:59Just, it's calling me.
19:00I got to have it.
19:03Look at this one.
19:04That's metal.
19:05The Asian influence of it, the color of it, definitely, you know, 30s.
19:10It's got the crane and the speaker grill.
19:12It's like a crinkle paint.
19:14You know, it's got the textured paint.
19:16The detail here on top.
19:17You could tell at one time that this was really bright, bright brass, like goldish colored.
19:24Even the hinges here, these strap hinges that are just decorative.
19:29But, you know, it's missing the knobs.
19:31It's more of a furniture piece.
19:33It's a decorator piece.
19:34But it was also functional back then, and that's the great thing about a lot of this.
19:38When you look at a lot of these really large floor radios, I mean, they're built as a piece of furniture.
19:44This was a focal point of a room that people gathered in.
19:48It was a time when news and entertainment brought people together.
19:52They gathered because we all heard the same thing at the same time.
19:57When I was a kid, stereo speakers were basically furniture.
20:01When I first started buying a lot of vinyl and listening to a lot of music in, like, say, 78, 79, my speakers took up a huge part of the space in my room.
20:14And the bigger they were, the badder they were, you know, the bigger the sound.
20:18I mean, I had some speakers that were literally this tall, you know, in each corner of my room.
20:24All the components, the speakers, the amps, the preamps, the equalizers, the turntables, all of it was meant to be seen.
20:33It was meant to gather around the same exact way a lot of these really large cabinet radios were.
20:39If it had more paint on it, I'd pay more, but I'm thinking 200 bucks.
20:47It is pretty.
20:49Yeah, what do you think?
20:49Very decorative.
20:52$2.50?
20:54For the kids.
20:55For the kids.
20:56Okay.
20:57What a day.
20:58This has been great.
20:59When the great-grandfather and the grandfather started accumulating so much of this stuff,
21:05they found it interesting because they were engineers.
21:08The only reason this stuff is still here and getting put back into the collector's market
21:13is because they had the foresight to see that it was significant back when it didn't really have any value at all.
21:21Thanks for working with us, and good luck with everything.
21:24Thank you, William.
21:24I know you've got a big job ahead of you, but it's going to be something rewarding because it'll be out there to a lot of people.
21:29Well, y'all are going to come back and buy the planes.
21:31Okay.
21:31They honed in on things that I didn't know existed, had never heard of, like electroshock therapy.
21:42Really odd, unique items they dug out of those shelves up there.
21:47They knew exactly who made them, where they came from, what their value was.
21:52See you later, Valerie!
21:53I was just astounded.
22:11Danny D!
22:12Danny D, what's up, girl?
22:14Good morning, guys.
22:15I'm getting the shop up and ready right now.
22:17What you got?
22:18I've been talking to Brad.
22:20He inherited his father's motorcycle collection.
22:23What kind of motorcycles?
22:24German bikes, British bikes, American bikes.
22:26Nice!
22:27So, just around the world.
22:28So, Brad's father passed away five or six years ago.
22:31Oh, okay.
22:32He loves the stuff.
22:33He has fond memories.
22:34I mean, it was his dad's.
22:36But he wants to find somebody who can deeply appreciate it the way his dad did.
22:41We'll let you know how it goes.
22:42Thank you so much.
22:43Yep.
22:43You got it.
22:48All right.
22:52House on the lake, man.
22:54That's the way to live.
22:55Yeah, huh.
22:56On the water.
23:01Hey.
23:01Hello.
23:02Hey, I'm Mike.
23:03I'm Brad.
23:03Hey, Brad.
23:04It's John.
23:05Dr. Danny on the phone.
23:06Nice to meet you all.
23:06Yeah, hand him a flyer.
23:08What are you just going to do?
23:09Motorcycles.
23:09We like motorcycles a lot.
23:10I heard your dad was a passionate motorcycle collector.
23:13Yes, he was.
23:14The easiest way to show you is to walk around and I'll see what's at.
23:17Okay, cool.
23:18All right, cool.
23:18Let's do that.
23:19This is a beautiful forever spot.
23:22Look out over the lake and you're just like, wow, such a sense of beauty and accomplishment.
23:28I mean, this is where the collection landed.
23:29This is where they landed.
23:31Which way are we going?
23:32Man, it's just, what a life.
23:34So these are some of my dad's newer bikes.
23:37Cool.
23:37Okay.
23:37So he was into about everything.
23:39Yeah.
23:39My dad got into motorcycles about mid-70s.
23:42He bought his first one and it grew into a big collection after many years.
23:47He was riding a Ducati?
23:48Oh, yeah.
23:49He enjoyed them very much.
23:52He'd get them out and run down 280 with them.
23:54And he enjoyed every moment of it.
23:56So you're familiar with all these bikes?
23:58Fairly.
23:59Okay.
23:59I followed his lead.
24:02Whoa, whoa, whoa.
24:02That's cool.
24:03Oh, yeah.
24:05Right there sitting in the middle of the shop is a Vincent Black Shadow.
24:09This bike is one of the most advanced engineering motorcycles in the European theater.
24:14So is he the one who started restoring this?
24:22Yeah.
24:22Was he doing all the work?
24:23This was actually a project bike that he's had for a long time.
24:28Vincent's are legendary and they always will be.
24:30Even to see one that's in the middle of a restoration is sexy to me.
24:36We lived in Atlanta and my dad found a Vincent.
24:39And it was down in South Georgia is where it was located.
24:42So my dad took off from Memphis and ended up buying it.
24:46He brought it home in boxes.
24:48They were definitely out of his price range to buy one that was fully restored.
24:52As you can see, it never did get fully completed.
24:55This was a major project for him.
24:56It's a big project.
24:57Phil Vincent bought the defunct HRD motorcycle company in 1928.
25:02He started assembling bikes with JAP engines and rudge engines.
25:06But things changed dramatically when Phil Irving designed the first single-cylinder Vincent engine.
25:12You know, I don't know if it's folklore or legend, but the story goes that he left his desk with a bunch of designs on it.
25:20And then he came back and the wind had blown and had layered over.
25:25There were cylinders layered together.
25:28And he looked at it and said, oh, wow, this could be a twin engine, not just a single.
25:33In the late 40s, they dropped the HRD name and started calling the bikes Vincent's.
25:39Vincent was the fastest standard motorcycle in the world until 1973 when the Z1900 Kawasaki came out.
25:47So this was a complete bike and then someone disassembled it and he bought it.
25:52The only reason I'm asking that is because I'm just wondering if it was something that he pieced together over time.
25:58I'm not sure.
25:59Okay.
25:59We'll get the serial number on the frame.
26:01So it's, okay, RC77413.
26:11RC77413.
26:14So this is a matching frame.
26:15So the rear triangle number and the head tube number on the frame are the same.
26:20And then, Jersey, what's on that side of the case, what's that say?
26:24LL49.
26:27Okay.
26:27And that's what this is.
26:29So these cases have always been together.
26:31Yep.
26:32So then, and I'm really bad at math, so help me with this.
26:37So to document that it's the correct engine for this frame, you would take the serial number of the engine and add 1900 to it.
26:50No kidding.
26:51How about that?
26:52Mike is so knowledgeable about the Vincent.
26:54He knows that you could add 1900 to the serial number, and that's the way the frame number matches in the back.
27:00The serial number is 5841.
27:04You add 1900 to it.
27:067,741.
27:11That's it?
27:12Yep.
27:12That bike's always been together.
27:14Yeah.
27:15It's a matching numbers bike, and it's a 1951.
27:18That's so cool.
27:20So he's the one who rebuilt this engine, though.
27:22That is correct.
27:23Okay.
27:24It's all fresh in your bike.
27:24Because the thing is, with a bike this expensive, especially something that's being restored, the pedigree of the bike, not just the restoration quality, but it's also who built the engine.
27:35Because that's obviously the heart and soul of it.
27:38And when these bikes are done, they can command a lot of money.
27:41It's so rare to find one that's not done because people have just gathered them, you know, and they were really adamant about, like, finishing them.
27:50Right.
27:51But from day one, these bikes were works of art.
27:54They're technical masterpieces.
27:56There's been songs written about the legendary Vincent Black Shadow and the Black Lightning.
28:01There's books that have been written about finding a Vincent in a barn.
28:05I mean, that's how legendary and iconic and part of motorcycle culture that Vincent's have been since the day the first one was ever built.
28:14So I've got to ask you, is this something that you're considering selling?
28:20I'm not sure yet.
28:22I can think about it.
28:24I don't know.
28:24Okay.
28:25Brad and I both have a lot to think about.
28:27He's got to decide whether or not he wants to sell it, and I've got to figure out what kind of offer I can make him.
28:32Let me show you some of the other bikes we have.
28:35Yeah.
28:36Yeah, absolutely.
28:36Love to see them.
28:37So this is what we used to call Old Row.
28:41A lot of my dad's older bikes.
28:43Very cool.
28:45Oh, yeah.
28:47All these European bikes.
28:48It's got BMWs.
28:49It's got the Triumphs.
28:50It's got the Nortons.
28:50It's got a freaking Douglas in there, which I love.
28:53Check this out, Jersey.
28:54Square four with a sidecar, man.
28:56Still got mud on the tires, man.
28:57This thing's been ridden.
28:59Yeah, that one actually went to...
29:01I think it was that, Jersey.
29:02Pikes Peak.
29:03Oh, wow.
29:04Cool.
29:04Look at that.
29:05They're up in Pikes Peak with that damn thing.
29:06Yes.
29:07My mom and dad were involved in antique motorcycle clubs.
29:10Yeah.
29:11Yeah.
29:11They would meet in certain different areas of the country.
29:14My father passed away about six years ago, and then my mother passed away just over a year ago.
29:20We had not really done anything with the motorcycles as long as my mother was still alive.
29:25You know, she would enjoy just walking down, and, you know, she just knew, oh, that's her motorcycles, you know.
29:32Have you given any thought to what you want to do on the sidecar bikes?
29:35I'd like to sell them.
29:36Actually, I'd like to sell a few of these.
29:38Probably most all of them can go.
29:41It would be somewhat of a disservice, I think, to my father, as well as the bikes, if they do just sit around and age and not be well cared for.
29:50I'd just like to know the back end on them.
29:53Yeah, for sure.
29:53We use a guy, John from Blue Moon.
29:56He's in Atlanta.
29:56He's got a shop.
29:57He used to be a BMW dealer for 20 years.
29:59He's got his finger on the pulse of the bikes.
30:01So I can take pictures and just, you know, send them to him.
30:04Hey, that'd be great.
30:06John, Mike, and me, we've known each other for many years.
30:09I mean, we go back, we see each other at swap meets.
30:11I mean, he deals in rare European motorcycles.
30:13John is a great guy for Brad to know because he built a help him, you know, really establish the values on these bikes.
30:19Jersey, look at this Black Shadow you walked by.
30:22I know, dude.
30:22I didn't see that.
30:23That is freaking awesome.
30:24This is the last year of the Shadow.
30:26This is 55.
30:27With all the success that Vincent had worldwide, the factory and the production numbers remained fairly modest.
30:33And when you talk to other collectors about the 1955 Vincent Black Shadow, they'll tell you that they think they made around 500.
30:41I mean, they're awesome.
30:42Jersey, this is it, man.
30:43This is the end of the era.
30:44That's the last year.
30:45That's the last one, huh?
30:45That's the last year they made the Black Shadow, yeah.
30:47In 1955, the look of the Vincent Black Shadow changed.
30:51For one, they took away that infamous dinner plate size speedometer because they went with a Lucas headlight speedometer combination.
30:59The reason they did that is because the 1955 Vincent Black Shadow was supposed to roll out of the factory with a full fairing made of fiberglass, very similar to the Vincent Black Prince.
31:11So is this something that you're going to kind of consider selling, too?
31:14I can think about it.
31:16I don't know.
31:16This is the kind of stuff collectors dream about.
31:18I mean, if you're into European bikes, British bikes, I mean, this is it.
31:22Yep.
31:30Your dad had a great eye.
31:32Yeah.
31:32Because he's got a little bit of everything.
31:34He's got a Vincent.
31:35He's got the Nortons.
31:36He's got the Douglas.
31:38I mean, the Beamers.
31:39Yeah, he searched high low.
31:40He had lots of friends, and he'd always keep an eye out for something that he wanted.
31:45So what was your dad's connection to the European bikes?
31:47I don't know.
31:48I just think he always kind of liked the Nortons.
31:50I think he liked the sound of them.
31:52Oh, yeah.
31:53When did he graduate high school?
31:541959.
31:54Well, that makes exact perfect sense.
31:56I mean, that's the British invasion, man.
31:57We have so many bikes coming in into this country that we're...
32:00They're tearing it up.
32:01Tearing it up.
32:02Now this collection makes total sense.
32:04I mean, if you graduated high school in 1959, that's all you saw.
32:07Nortons, BMWs, Triumphs.
32:09Look what Brando was riding in the wild one.
32:12He was.
32:12He's right.
32:12He ran out of Triumphs.
32:13Yeah.
32:13The bikes that we saw during those coming-of-age moments, those are the ones that left the biggest
32:19marks on us when we were so impressionable.
32:22These bikes for coming into country, they ramped up production to sell them to the U.S.
32:26And they sold us a lot of them because they were lightweight motorcycles, and they were
32:30high performance.
32:32The engineering in these motorcycles was more advanced than we had in the American market
32:36at the time.
32:37You know, Indian was out of business in 1953.
32:39And Harley wasn't really doing anything.
32:41Like, they had a heavyweight motorcycle, and they didn't really have a lightweight motorcycle
32:45that was a direct competitor to these European motorcycles.
32:49Jersey, you didn't even see the original paint power plus.
32:51Holy mackerel, man.
32:52Look at that thing.
32:53Yeah.
32:54Whoa.
32:54It's got some original nickel on it.
32:56Man, that thing is beautiful.
32:58It's dressed up, man.
32:59It's got the tandem seat.
33:00Look at this thing.
33:01It's got the amp gauge.
33:02Look, it's got the APC generator for the lighting circuit.
33:04Oh, yeah.
33:05That's so cool.
33:06They made a chain guard for it.
33:08I'm thinking it's an original paint Indian.
33:10I mean, that is rare.
33:12Oh, it's beautiful.
33:12You can see, like, but look what it said something here.
33:14But, upon closer examination.
33:16Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:17See, it said something.
33:18Get delayed on that.
33:18That looks like a Z or something.
33:20I'm finding out some very interesting things about this bike.
33:22Let me see something.
33:23Yeah, it says Quincy.
33:25Is that what it says, Quincy?
33:26Yeah, Q-U-I-N-C-Y.
33:28What was Quincy, Illinois?
33:29Police Department.
33:30Police Department.
33:31But Illinois?
33:32I'm thinking Massachusetts.
33:33No, Quincy, Massachusetts.
33:34Okay.
33:35On one side of the tank, it says Quincy Police Department.
33:39I mean, you can barely see it.
33:40So then, if it said Quincy here, then, in the beginning, then this, I mean, this was painted
33:45a long time ago, and then they had to re-decal it.
33:48They probably decommissioned it from the police department.
33:51They repainted a dealership.
33:52Repaint, yep.
33:53Yeah.
33:53This bike is not an original paint bike.
33:55It was repainted by the dealership.
33:58Yeah, it's a 100-year-old repaint, so it looks like an original paint.
34:01But to a trained eye, yeah, we know.
34:04Jersey, there's a pinhole in the gas tank right here.
34:06Oh, no.
34:07Look at that.
34:08Really?
34:08Yeah, right there.
34:09Oh, man.
34:10Anytime you see a pinhole or any kind of leak in a tank, that's a big deal.
34:14You know, I'm sure if it's rusted through, if it's not going to hold fluid, it's not
34:17going to hold gas, it's not going to hold oil.
34:19What are you doing?
34:19I want to get in here.
34:20I want to blow on the tank, dude.
34:21What?
34:22I want to see if anything comes out the bottom.
34:24Watch the bottom.
34:25You ready?
34:26Yeah.
34:28Damn.
34:31I can't unsee that.
34:33I can't unsee that.
34:34But it's not leaking, dude.
34:35Okay, I've never seen anybody do that.
34:36Give me that.
34:37Give me that.
34:37Give me that.
34:37A man of many talents.
34:43Yeah, she's got some lungs.
34:45Mike's taking this bike over, and I can hear that it's got compression.
34:48These quick and easy tests give us an idea of condition, which affects value.
34:52Is this something you would sell?
34:55Yes, I think I would.
34:57John.
34:58Spike.
34:58Hey, so did you get the pictures of the aerial square four with the sidecar?
35:03Yes, I did.
35:05That looks like a complete bike.
35:07That's a Watsonian sidecar.
35:09I'm glad they didn't put it on the left side like they normally do in England because it
35:13wouldn't be much use here in the USA.
35:15Oh my God, I couldn't even imagine riding a bike like that.
35:17Hey, so did you see that the chrome on the tank is pitted?
35:21It's not going to clean up.
35:23Yeah, it's definitely pitted.
35:24What do you think?
35:24What's the value of that, the square four with the sidecar?
35:27The square four alone, I'm thinking neighborhood of $15,000 retail.
35:32Okay, so you're saying that the retail number on the square four with the sidecar is like
35:39knocking close to $20,000?
35:42Yeah, that's cleaned up and running, but yes.
35:45Okay.
35:45I know a lot goes into setting a value.
35:48You almost have to have people around you that are knowledgeable in that to come up with
35:53a fair price.
35:54What are you thinking on the Dunstall Norton?
35:56I think that bike could bring high teens.
35:59Okay.
36:00What about the bike sitting next to it, the red, white, and blue 850 Commando?
36:05I think that's a $10,000 bike.
36:07It's like he's giving you jumping off points on this.
36:10I wanted to maybe put you guys together because this is what he does.
36:14I'm going to put you guys together.
36:16Mike, it's always a pleasure.
36:17Talk to you soon.
36:18I was quite pleased with the values that he had thrown out.
36:21I was actually kind of surprised that some of them were as high as they were.
36:30I'm interested in the bike, and I feel like I know enough people to finish what he started.
36:40So, if you have the parts to the bike, I saw some boxes over there that said Vincent on them.
36:46I'd be a player on it at 40.
36:50When you look at the bike, it really looks like the heavy lifting has been done.
36:56But the paint on the tank is starting to bubble on the right-hand side.
37:00The whole tank needs to be repainted.
37:03The engine, whoever's going to buy this or look at buying it, they're already thinking about taking it apart and looking at the work that was done.
37:10Because they're not going to go through the expensive process of finishing, restoring it, and not knowing anything about this engine.
37:18They're just not.
37:20That's why I'm at 40 on this.
37:22I don't know if that does anything for you or if you've kind of kicked it around finishing it yourself and trying to get the last buck out of it.
37:29I'd be a fool to say, yeah, yeah, I'm going to keep them all, and I'm going to get them all up and running.
37:35No, I'm not.
37:36All right, most of the parts I know are over there.
37:39There could be some over in this cabinet.
37:41Okay, okay.
37:42If you want to take a look around at that, I'm going to go check on Jersey.
37:45It's not impossible to get parts.
37:48It's just that they're so incredibly expensive.
37:51That's cool, man.
37:52We love to see old, crusty bikes.
37:55The bike's been run.
37:56It's been subject to heat cycles, you know?
37:58It's lived its life.
38:00Broken fins.
38:02The hinge pin here is really what I can find.
38:05How much stuff did he accumulate for this bike?
38:09You've got to dig deep into these old bikes to find out what clues will show you the value, what's left behind.
38:15Oh, look at this.
38:17That's how we dissect them, and it really takes a trained eye to do that.
38:22C, D, A, 63, 8, B.
38:26So what did you find there, John?
38:28This 41 is cool, too.
38:29I mean, the Power Plus is neat, but this 41 is awfully nice, too.
38:33Next to this Power Plus is a 1941 Indian Chief.
38:36I mean, it's a really cool bike because it's got the leaf spring on the front fork, and that is really cool.
38:41Do you have the dash cover for this?
38:43I may have a couple of them right over here.
38:47Oh, yeah, yeah, that looks like it.
38:48Is that it?
38:49Let me see it.
38:50That's cool.
38:51That should be it.
38:52Yeah, that's it.
38:53I mean, the headlight is the right headlight.
38:57You know, it's got a lot of bells and whistles on it over there.
38:59The gingerbread is pretty nice.
39:01Overall, the restoration is not that, you know, it's not like a Concourse, the Elegance restoration.
39:05You've got some dents in the paint.
39:06It's kind of like, it's okay.
39:07You know, the Power Plus, it's not an original factory paint bike, which hurts its value quite a bit.
39:15But the motor is correct.
39:17The wheels are correct.
39:18The brakes on it.
39:19It's got the ammeter on it, which is the right one.
39:21You know, and the electric model, too, which is interesting.
39:25Lights were an optional thing on a lot of motorcycles, and this bike carried that option.
39:30It's a good-looking bike.
39:32If this bike was totally original paint, beautiful bike, Power Plus, you know, it'd probably be $40,000, maybe $45,000.
39:39Right.
39:42I could do $24,000 on this bike.
39:45On this bike, I'd feel comfortable at $18,000 on this bike.
39:50$42,000 for the pair.
39:51You know, I really would like them to go as a pair.
39:55In fact, my dad bought them from the same guy.
39:58That's so cool.
39:59There he is, huh?
40:00Yeah.
40:00Would you happen to do $45,000 for both of them?
40:03Yeah, dude.
40:04Thank you so much, man.
40:05Did you buy the Power Plus?
40:07It bought bikes, dude.
40:08Oh, you bought this one, too?
40:09Yeah.
40:10Dude, look how nice this is.
40:12I was interested in this one.
40:13Well, I mean, maybe we'd make a deal.
40:14But these guys stay together.
40:16It does not.
40:17Hey, listen.
40:18I found pretty much everything.
40:20I was having a hard time finding the chain guard.
40:22I found the chain guard.
40:23All right.
40:23I found this version of the seat over there.
40:26There's the brakes.
40:27Uh-oh.
40:27Here's the cables.
40:28Here's the taillight.
40:29I found the speedometer.
40:31Is that the right headlight, too?
40:32Yeah.
40:33Whoa.
40:33Check out the speedometer.
40:34It's probably been rebuilt.
40:36Wow.
40:36There's the exhaust.
40:38Anyway, I think I found there's a lot of parts, like smaller parts like this jersey.
40:43Oh.
40:43You know, that's the switch for the headlight.
40:45Yeah, so I feel that looks real.
40:48If you're comfortable at $40,000, I would do the $40,000.
40:50With everything that I found here, I'm comfortable with it.
40:52You go with that?
40:52Oh, yeah.
40:53Dude.
40:53Yeah.
40:54Thank you so much.
40:55That's cool.
40:56The whole bike needs to be finished.
40:58But it's all incredibly rewarding.
41:02To put another black shadow back on the road is huge when it comes to the antique motorcycle community.
41:09So we got the Power Plus in here.
41:11Yeah.
41:11And then Danielle will get a hold of you on the rest of the bikes.
41:14Yes, for shipping.
41:15All right.
41:15Very good.
41:16Thank you, buddy.
41:16I really appreciate you, man.
41:17No, it was wonderful to share your stories.
41:19Cool.
41:20Come and see them run.
41:22Yeah.
41:22I'd love it.
41:23I know it bothered my dad not being able to get it completed.
41:28And honestly, I'd love to see that bike up and riding at some point in time.
41:34And if I run across any parts, I'll be sure to reach out to Danielle.
41:37Honestly, I can't say I have any regret.
41:39I, if anything, it brings me joy for the bike.
41:44You know, I want it, I want it to be loved.
41:48I hear we do.
41:49Thanks for sharing your father's history with us.
41:51Brad's father's collection had focus.
41:53It was very deliberate.
41:55He wrenched on this stuff.
41:56He rode it.
41:57It was a living collection.
41:58Y'all take care.
41:59Yeah, man.
42:00See you down the road.
42:01All right.
42:01I'll bring that chief up to see you.
42:02He was a true enthusiast and someone that obviously loved transportation history.
42:09Well done.
42:14You're welcome.
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