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00:00Up next on American Restoration.
00:03This guy took a B-17 turret off the bottom of the plane
00:07and made it into a wheelchair like, oh my god.
00:09We want to be able to get it running again.
00:13Christian has this bad-ass machine
00:15that he hand-built, and it's capable of doing
00:17all different kinds of things.
00:19I decided to do a anniversary present for Rick,
00:22and it's going to be me in a photo.
00:25I didn't want to be a part of this stupid .
00:28I mean, really?
00:30Look at a man's workbench.
00:33You see his passions, his works in progress,
00:40the things that drive him crazy.
00:44Projects that, you get the point.
00:47Anyway, every workbench tells a story,
00:50and this is ours, American Restoration.
00:53I spend a lot of time building relationships
01:02with local collectors to try to drum up business.
01:05Sometimes it falls flat, but other times,
01:08it comes full circle and pays off in the end.
01:10Somebody's coming here.
01:13Hey!
01:14Hey!
01:15You remember me?
01:16Vicki!
01:17Yes, I am!
01:18You're the one that showed me around the museum.
01:19I did!
01:20Yeah!
01:21Last year, I met Vicki at the Mojave Museum,
01:22and she had a bunch of unique items
01:24that they were interested in getting restored.
01:27I gave her some quotes, so hopefully,
01:29that translates into some business today.
01:31Oh, man!
01:32That's that wheelchair.
01:33Somebody built that, right?
01:34Yes, they did.
01:35B-17 parts or something, right?
01:36Right, exactly.
01:36It was made out of B-17 parts by a local man in our town,
01:41and we want to be able to get it running again.
01:45They had a gunnery school in Kingman.
01:47When the war was over, they had over 12,000 planes
01:51on the lot that needed to be scrapped.
01:54They took all the planes apart,
01:56and one of the local fellas put it together.
01:58Somebody hand-built this whole thing, right?
02:00Exactly.
02:01Wow.
02:01This was a gun turret.
02:04This guy took a B-17 turret off the bottom of the plane
02:08and made it into a wheelchair like, oh, my god.
02:10They used the airplane gearbox as the controls.
02:14Right.
02:15The steps or foot pedals actually were steps.
02:18Right.
02:18Into the turret itself.
02:20The seat is made out of the original airplane seat.
02:23It is mohair.
02:25What about the motor?
02:26It looks like it has hydraulic unit in here,
02:28so that thing was actually the motor that moved the gun.
02:31Right.
02:31The reason why the hole's there
02:33is when it turned, it would come through this hole.
02:36See how that comes through there?
02:37OK.
02:38It would allow that to go through.
02:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:39He could have moved it forward just a hair more,
02:42and it probably wouldn't have done that.
02:43But he did all this work first, and then he turned it
02:45and found out, whoops, so he had to cut himself a hole there.
02:48Then he made it fit.
02:49Right.
02:50Do you see it being a prototype?
02:51Yeah.
02:52Do you think you could do something with it and restore it for us,
02:56make it running?
02:57I have a little vision for this thing, yeah.
02:59I like to seal this up.
03:00I don't want that hole on the side.
03:01OK.
03:02We'll make this thing run, drive, you know,
03:04give it some nice art on it.
03:06What did I quote you on that?
03:07Like $2,500?
03:08You quoted me $25 when you were there.
03:10Yeah, well, right now, as I'm looking at it on the motor here
03:13and the running portion of it, I thought we were just looking at it,
03:15cleaning it up.
03:15You know, in order to get all that stuff done,
03:18where's your budget at?
03:20My budget is no more than $3,800.
03:23OK.
03:25I mean, I actually, I got a feeling
03:28that this job is going to cost a lot more than $3,800.
03:32But I really want to support the museum,
03:34and I know Vicki has a lot more items that need work.
03:37You know what, I'll do it.
03:38I'll do it for $3,800.
03:39I'll get it done, totally.
03:40All right.
03:40And it'll be cool.
03:41It'll be really cool, I promise you.
03:42OK?
03:43I appreciate that so much.
03:44All right, all right.
03:45Let's go in the office, and we'll take care of the rest
03:46of the paperwork.
03:47OK, great.
03:49This is an old SOB.
03:53Look at this.
03:54Hey, guys.
03:55Listen, I need your guys' help.
03:56Years ago, when Rick and I were dating,
03:58he decided to incorporate me into the artwork for the company.
04:01We have an anniversary coming up, so I want to surprise him
04:04and recreate the logo in a real photo shoot.
04:07I just need some help from the boys to make it happen.
04:10I want to make it happen.
04:12I just need some help from the boys to make it happen.
04:14I need you to get Rick's truck for me, but it's a surprise.
04:17For what?
04:18For what?
04:19It's an anniversary present.
04:20Anniversary for what?
04:21It's the anniversary of the day we met.
04:24Nobody does that stuff.
04:25Who doesn't?
04:26What do you mean nobody does that stuff?
04:27I do it.
04:28Third graders do.
04:29Look, you guys, you don't know anything.
04:30You're not even married, OK?
04:32Exactly.
04:32Just get it.
04:33I'm going to text you the time and the place, and just be there.
04:37OK?
04:37All right.
04:38Be there.
04:39Why does she need the truck?
04:41I don't know what my mom's up to, but I'm not thrilled
04:44that she's getting me involved with this lovey-dovey stuff with Rick.
04:53We need to make sure it's got fluid.
04:55Rick wants Fonzie and I to get this electric wheelchair up
04:57and running again.
04:58This thing was custom-made out of B-17 bomber parts,
05:01and I really hope it works.
05:03Because B-17 bomber parts don't grow on trees.
05:06Let's fire it up.
05:08OK.
05:09Try now.
05:10Hey, you see, buddy.
05:11Oh, watch out.
05:15Let's see what we got.
05:18Ho, ho!
05:19Runway 21, come on down, Fonzie.
05:23It even sounds like a plane.
05:28I want a donut, look.
05:30I want a donut.
05:31I want a donut.
05:32That thing turns awesome.
05:34Hey, Rick, Carlo, the thing's working, look.
05:44Hey, how are you?
05:45Hey, my name's Kevin.
05:46How are you doing?
05:47Hi, Kevin. I'm Rick.
05:48What's going on?
05:49Not much.
05:50I got something for you to take a look at here.
05:51OK.
05:52This is a chairlift from Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.
05:55Oh, wow.
05:56I'm the president of Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.
05:59We're replacing one of our chairlifts this year.
06:01It was actually built in 1963, so 50 years old this year.
06:05Wow.
06:06This thing is way cool.
06:08I used to go up there all the time and go skiing as a kid.
06:11Yeah.
06:12Here you're in Vegas, it's 100-something degrees,
06:13but then you go up to the mountains and go skiing.
06:15You know, that's pretty cool.
06:16Since the 30s, people from Vegas have been going up to Mount Charleston
06:19to get out of the hot sun and enjoy some skiing.
06:22As interest in the sport grew, so did the resort's popularity.
06:26And today, it's a huge attraction.
06:28You're going to take them down and replace them with all new ones?
06:31We are.
06:32So we want this one to kind of be a showpiece
06:34in our remodeled base lodge up there
06:36to commemorate our 50th anniversary this year.
06:39Oh, I got you.
06:40All decked out, though, right?
06:41Absolutely.
06:42You know, all cleaned up.
06:43Nice, natural wood through here.
06:45Right.
06:46There's decades and decades worth of paint on there.
06:48Paint on there, I can see that.
06:49It needs to be mounted, like as a swing
06:51or as just standing or something, right?
06:53You want to mount it.
06:54Something like that.
06:55Okay.
06:56I think the biggest challenge is to figure out
06:57what we're going to mount to make it look like a swing.
07:00I've got to figure out how to sit it in midair
07:02and make it look cool.
07:03Yeah, and we'll get you some pictures
07:04and get you up there to take a look at where this is going.
07:07Well, to take the wood off, sandblast it, powder coat it,
07:11I'm looking right around $2,500 to do the whole thing.
07:15Because I think $25 is totally fair.
07:17All right.
07:18But honestly, I never could see a chair like this
07:20coming into my shop and actually somebody saying,
07:22hey, restore this back for good old Mount Charleston.
07:24I mean, that's pretty cool.
07:25It is.
07:26It is.
07:27And I'm happy that you're interested in doing this.
07:28Yeah, yeah.
07:29Appreciate it.
07:30Thanks.
07:32Let's go in the office and we'll take care of some paperwork
07:33and I'll get that thing started.
07:34Excellent.
07:35I really can't wait to see what Rick comes up with
07:37in this restoration.
07:38It's going to be just amazing for all of our guests
07:40to come up and recall all of those years on this lift.
07:45It's ready.
07:46Can't wait to see it.
07:48Oh, my God.
07:49I can't believe it.
07:51Is it okay for me to look yet?
07:55Tyler, you want to see?
07:56Oh, my God.
07:58I'm not naked, Tyler.
07:59Does this look sexy?
08:00Because it doesn't feel sexy.
08:01Yeah.
08:02I see you, Tyler.
08:03I don't see you.
08:04How did I get roped into this?
08:06What are we doing?
08:07We're going up to Mount Charleston.
08:08We're going to do a ski lift chair that used to go up the mountain.
08:19We're restoring a really cool chair lift for a local ski resort.
08:22And they asked us to rebuild it as a monument to all their years in the business.
08:26So Ron and I are going to Mount Charleston to see what kind of materials we can get for it.
08:31So we need to figure out some kind of a swing, you know, that will accommodate this chair.
08:36So I either thought maybe some logs, trees, something that will hold this thing in the air and suspend it.
08:42When Kevin came and dropped off the chair, he was saying they were doing renovations to the mountain and the building.
08:48So we had a lot of extra stuff laying around.
08:51Ah, fresh air.
08:54So that's what got me thinking, I really want to build this thing out of all the materials that are here on the mountain already.
09:01I want to build it out of the mountain.
09:02What's going on?
09:03I'm Rick.
09:04Josh Bean.
09:05Josh, good to meet you.
09:06Ron, Ron.
09:07I'm this little maintenance manager up here.
09:08Kevin told me that you were building some new runs.
09:10So you were cutting down some trees to build these runs.
09:13I'm thinking, you didn't throw away the wood or anything.
09:15No, we've got a stockpile of trees down in our boneyard.
09:18We could go do some tree shopping down there.
09:20So we've got some of the original towers here.
09:22Wow.
09:23How far are these apart?
09:24Somewhere from 250 to 300 feet.
09:26Right.
09:27This is basically what holds the cables running right on the top of that.
09:31Yeah.
09:32There's a lot of trees that we tore out for the lift expansion, putting the new lift in, in place of the old lift.
09:36Man, this is a woodpile.
09:38Look at the size of some of these tree trunks.
09:40We can use those to make a frame.
09:42That's going to look up in the woods, right there.
09:44I'll get the guys together, get some equipment down here and pick through these.
09:48Yeah, yeah.
09:49Yeah, yeah.
09:50That'd be great.
09:51These trees are the perfect element to work into this restoration.
09:54Now I just got to figure out a way to build them into a frame for this chair.
09:58All right.
09:59This is awesome.
10:00This is going to be perfect.
10:01I think I can make something out of this.
10:02All right?
10:03All right.
10:04This is fine.
10:05Thank you guys.
10:06Take it easy.
10:07Drive safe, guys.
10:08Thanks, thanks.
10:09Look, I don't know why I brought you.
10:10I mean, I swear, he did all the work.
10:12You're walking around in your flip-flops.
10:14I drove.
10:19What do you think your mom has us doing?
10:20I mean...
10:21I don't know what we're doing, but if it's dumb, I'm leaving.
10:25Kelly's come up with some kind of anniversary surprise for my dad.
10:28Since he's up at Mount Charleston, we were able to get his truck no problem.
10:32I decided to do an anniversary present for Rick, and it's going to be me replicating the logo in a photo.
10:41I'm hoping everything is tucked in, sucked in, and looking good.
10:44I just want to get started right now.
10:47Oh, that's perfect.
10:48Oh, thank goodness.
10:49Oh.
10:52All right.
10:53We got the truck here.
10:54About time.
10:55Now what's going on?
10:56Why are you in a bathrobe?
10:57We're doing a photo shoot for Rick.
10:59I'm going to recreate the logo.
11:01Come on.
11:02Come on over.
11:03Let's...
11:04Let's get set up.
11:05Eric's ready for us.
11:06Rick's logo is a drawing of a half-naked woman in front of a truck.
11:10I don't like where this is going.
11:11You ready?
11:12Yeah, I'm ready.
11:13Take the rope off, please.
11:14Okay.
11:15You can stand here.
11:22What's wrong?
11:23What do you mean, what's wrong?
11:25I'm not going to be thrilled about this.
11:28Bradley got mad when he realized that I was doing a photo shoot.
11:31You know, dressed sexy.
11:33I am sensitive to his feelings, and I feel bad.
11:37God.
11:38There's nothing to be angry about.
11:40Kelly, we're ready.
11:41Open a little bit, your legs.
11:43A little more.
11:44More, more, more, more, more, more.
11:45Oh, my goodness.
11:47I got a little freaked out when I saw my mom's outfit and posing and stuff, but it's all good.
11:52I just couldn't be there and watch, but her surprise is safe with me.
11:56Is it okay for me to look yet?
11:58I'm not naked, Tyler.
11:59Oh, my God.
12:00Oh, my God.
12:01Does this look sexy?
12:02Because it doesn't feel sexy.
12:03Yeah.
12:04How did I get roped into this?
12:06I see you, Tyler.
12:07I don't see you.
12:08Tyler.
12:09I don't see you.
12:10Tyler had the screen in front of his face when I had my butt out in the air, and I don't
12:15think he really wanted to see that.
12:17Kelly, look at me.
12:18That's perfect.
12:19That's a wrap.
12:20That's a wrap.
12:21Thank you very much.
12:22All righty.
12:24Awesome.
12:25Oh, my God.
12:26Yeah, you look great.
12:27The truck looks phenomenal.
12:28Oh, shut up.
12:31I am so glad I did this anniversary present.
12:34Rick's gonna love it.
12:35I can't wait to see the pictures.
12:38Now that we've got all the wood that we need for the chairlift project, the guys are constructing
12:44an A-frame to hang it on, and Robert is doing all the woodwork for the seat.
12:48While they're finishing that up, I gotta head over to a friend's place to see if he can
12:52help me out with my other project.
12:54I recently got in this B-17 bomber turret wheelchair, and it has a hole in the side of
12:59it that I need to cover up.
13:01I just don't have the tools to do that, so I'm here at my friend Christian's so that
13:05he can hopefully help me build a gun turret.
13:08Hey, Rick.
13:09Good to see you.
13:10Hey, Christian.
13:11How you doing?
13:12Good.
13:13How are you doing?
13:14I'm the owner of Social Metalworks, and we do everything that has to do with metalwork.
13:15Believe it or not, this thing is actually a gun turret off of a B-17 bomber back in the,
13:22you know, in the 40s, right?
13:23Well, somebody ended up making this thing into a wheelchair.
13:26There was a motor sitting back in here, and when it turned, it came out this hole.
13:30So what I wanted you to do was make me something totally round.
13:33I wanna cover this with a mini gun turret, and I want one on both sides now,
13:37because I wanna make it look uniform.
13:39What do you think?
13:40Yeah, sounds good.
13:41I mean, it's not gonna be easy.
13:42Right, right, right.
13:43But, yeah, I can take care of it.
13:44To build these mini turrets, Christian's gonna make two domes.
13:47He'll start by cutting sheet metal into a circle, and then pound them into shape.
13:51Did you build this?
13:52Yeah, I made it.
13:53It's bad.
13:54It just looks like a monster.
13:56Christian has this badass machine that he hand-built out of a sewing machine and a bunch
14:00of iron that's capable of pounding metal into a round sphere.
14:05Ready?
14:06Yeah.
14:10The purpose of the machine is to shape metal into pretty much whatever you want.
14:14It just makes it faster, and that way I don't have to do it by hand.
14:17It looks to me like it's definitely doing it.
14:19It's gonna take a little time, but it's a little, little more, and it's gonna turn into an absolute bolt.
14:22It's incredible.
14:23It's nice, thick metal, so I can see it can stretch out.
14:26Yeah.
14:27So let me know when it's close, and give me a call.
14:29Sounds good.
14:30Yeah, I'll finish this up.
14:31I'm gonna leave Christian to do his magic, and I think this is gonna work just perfectly.
14:35Today we're here at the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort to show Kevin the lift chair.
14:48Oh, here he comes.
14:49Hey, Kevin.
14:50Hey, Rick.
14:51I've been waiting for you to get back up here.
14:52How you been?
14:53I've been real good.
14:54How are you?
14:55Awesome, awesome.
14:56How's it going?
14:57Hey, good to meet you, Kevin.
14:58Nice to meet you.
14:59We're getting ready to open Fridays.
15:00Wow, cool.
15:01Yeah.
15:02So do you have a chair for me?
15:03Yeah.
15:04Well, speaking of, that's why we were up there.
15:05We ended up getting the chair up there on the hill a little bit.
15:07I'm excited.
15:08I can't wait to show it to you.
15:09I'm excited.
15:10Yeah.
15:11It's really important to me that this chair comes out perfect, and this is our new centerpiece,
15:14so I'm excited to see how it came out.
15:16One, two, three.
15:18Oh, my God.
15:19Let's dig it out.
15:20That is incredible.
15:21And when I first saw the chair, I just was speechless.
15:26I had no idea it was going to turn out the way it did.
15:29Look at that.
15:30These look familiar?
15:31They do.
15:32So I ended up using the logs that you actually had down there in the pile of what you cut
15:37from the trails.
15:38Couldn't be more perfect.
15:39The cable, we cut it off.
15:41How we ended up mounting it was putting a U-bolt all the way through the tree so it would
15:45allow it to still sit straight.
15:47What's the wood?
15:48What kind of?
15:49It's actually, it's oak with a cherry stain.
15:50That is beautiful, right?
15:52We took new wood and then rounded the edges just like your wood that was on your original
15:57seat.
15:58This turned out great.
15:59Yeah.
16:00All this has all been welded in here.
16:01We built this out of iron, so the snow will go through it.
16:04Now it's nice and heavy.
16:05Oh, it won't move at all.
16:06Yeah.
16:07We ended up getting your logo put on the front of there.
16:09That was about the only spot that I could actually put it in.
16:11That's perfect.
16:12I mean, you know, people can sit down in this and somebody can snap a picture.
16:15Our logo's right above their head.
16:16Right.
16:17This is just so cool.
16:20I can't be more pleased with how this turned out.
16:22Awesome.
16:23Awesome.
16:24I think you gotta try it out.
16:25I probably do.
16:26Yeah.
16:27Load here.
16:28Lift your skis.
16:30There you go.
16:32Wow.
16:33It's just such a cool fact that this lift swings and moves and turned out the way it
16:38did.
16:39Thank you very much.
16:40Thanks again.
16:41Right on, man.
16:42Appreciate it.
16:43Let's go snowboarding.
16:44I can't wait to see families bring their kids, take pictures, and tell the stories that
16:47they had riding this old lift.
16:49Which of the following practices will prevent rusting and help extend the life of your tools
16:54at home?
16:55A. Polishing with vegetable oil.
16:57B. Applying a coat of paste wax.
17:00C. Hand sanding with sandpaper.
17:02D. All of the above.
17:04The answer and more, coming up.
17:11Which of the following practices will prevent rusting and help extend the life of your tools
17:17at home?
17:18The answer is A. Polishing your tools with vegetable oil is an affordable and effective way to keep
17:24your tools from rusting.
17:25Use a clean cloth and apply a thin coat of vegetable oil to your metal parts.
17:31The oil will coat the metal and prevent it from oxidizing.
17:36Following these simple steps will extend the life of your tools and save you money in
17:41the long run.
17:47Hey, Rick.
17:48Hey, Vicki.
17:49Hi.
17:50How are you doing?
17:51Doing good, you?
17:52I'm here today at Rick's to pick up my B17 electric wheelchair.
17:56I hear it's ready?
17:58Yes, yes, it's ready.
17:59It came out pretty cool.
18:00It came out pretty cool.
18:01I'm surprised.
18:02Can't wait to see it.
18:04I really enjoy doing this stuff for the museums, so I hope I hit it.
18:08I really do.
18:09So I'm going to go get it.
18:10Okay?
18:11And you ready?
18:12Okay.
18:13All right.
18:14Give me a minute.
18:15I'm representing the Mojave Museum of History and Arts in Kingman, Arizona, and we are just
18:18hoping that everybody can enjoy it for many, many years to come.
18:22Oh, my God.
18:23I can't believe it.
18:24Holy moly.
18:25When I first saw the wheelchair, I was just so overcome.
18:39It's amazing.
18:40It's more than I expected.
18:42You're welcome.
18:43Check it out.
18:44Awesome.
18:45I'm just totally amazed.
18:46How did you do all of this?
18:47The motor, what we did is pulled it all apart, made sure it all worked.
19:01It's all got switches.
19:02It allows it to go forward, reverse.
19:04If you remember, there was a hole on the side of it, and that is actually when you turn,
19:09the motor would peek itself out that hole.
19:11Right.
19:12And I didn't want to just have a hole on it, so I took it over to a friend of mine,
19:15and he's sort of a blacksmith, and he made a round cone because I couldn't find anything
19:19the right size.
19:20Right.
19:21So the whole thing sort of looks like a gun coming out of there, but it also covered our
19:25hole that we had, and we had to have that hole.
19:27Wow.
19:28Amazing.
19:29So we did this mohair in here.
19:31It matched the same color.
19:33Oh.
19:34Is that cool?
19:35It is so cool.
19:36It'll go forward, and this is the original panel.
19:39Okay.
19:40That's the panel that would have been in the plane.
19:42Used all the original components that they had in here.
19:45Wow.
19:46We put this logo on the side of it for the airfield that was down there.
19:49That's their logo, and we decided to paint it this military green color.
19:53It was at the airfield.
19:54I just, you know, I felt like that needed to be green, so that's what we did.
19:57Yeah.
19:58I know it's not right to ride in a wheelchair because then sooner or later I'll be riding
20:03in one anyways, but every once in a while it feels pretty good to ride around.
20:07Take a load off.
20:08Yeah, take a load off.
20:09That's right.
20:10I'm just amazed.
20:11I am just so pleased.
20:12Good.
20:13Good.
20:14I am really pleased.
20:15You outdid yourself.
20:17I have to thank you so much.
20:19Thank you very much.
20:20I appreciate that.
20:21I have more than met my expectations, and I just can't wait to have everybody at the
20:26museum see it.
20:30Uh-oh.
20:31Present.
20:32For me?
20:33She got there, birthday boy.
20:35Dear Rick, happy anniversary, always and forever.
20:38Love, Kelly.
20:39Happy anniversary?
20:40What anniversary?
20:41It's not our anniversary.
20:42She said it was like the anniversary of the day you guys met.
20:45What?
20:46That's what I said.
20:47It's not our anniversary.
20:51Whoa.
20:54That's hot.
20:56You guys know anything about this?
20:57We were there.
20:58This is what you used my truck for?
21:00Unfortunately.
21:01What do you mean, unfortunately?
21:03You don't think that was the slightest bit awkward?
21:05No, I don't.
21:06She looks hot.
21:07Sure.
21:08Just go somewhere.
21:09That picture was absolutely insane.
21:11It was just exactly like our logo and like my tattoo.
21:15Just exactly like it.
21:16Before it was just a cartoon.
21:18Now it's actually in real life.
21:20Yeah.
21:21That's cool.
21:22So what'd you get her?
21:24I didn't get her anything.
21:25In fact, I don't even know what anniversary it is.
21:28I have no clue.
21:29Better get on it.
21:30Otherwise, I'm gonna have one pissed off woman.
21:34Cool.
21:35You better not ask us to help them with no photo shoot.
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