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00:00Up next on American Restoration.
00:02This is the 1950s Belvedore Cooler.
00:04I realize this would be a challenge for anyone.
00:06Quite honestly, to me, this thing's so much trash,
00:09I just throw it away.
00:10That's how bad it is.
00:11I got something really cool from a movie.
00:13Yeah?
00:13I believe it's the cruising vessel
00:15from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
00:17What do you want to do with this?
00:18I want to bring it back to 1982.
00:21This is a Rex Air vacuum.
00:23This is one of eight in the world,
00:25and you want me to make it to where it works again?
00:27Yeah.
00:28We don't have a schematic.
00:29We don't have nothing.
00:30I can't figure it out.
00:32Yippee-ki-yay.
00:35Look at a man's workbench.
00:37You see his passions.
00:40His work's in progress.
00:44The things that drive him crazy.
00:48Projects that...
00:50You get the point.
00:51Anyway, every workbench tells a story,
00:54and this is ours.
00:56American Restoration.
01:03Over the years, I've turned all sorts of items
01:06from total disasters into museum showpieces.
01:09But sometimes people bring in items
01:11that may be damaged beyond repair.
01:13So I got to be careful about what kind of projects I take on.
01:16Otherwise, nobody's going to be happy in the end.
01:19Hey, Rick.
01:20Hi, I'm Ron.
01:20Ron, what's going on?
01:21I came to Rick's today to drop off a 1950s-era Bevador cooler,
01:25and it's in pretty bad shape.
01:27It is a Bevador.
01:28This company's been around since 1894.
01:30Right.
01:31Of course, refrigeration wasn't around.
01:32Back then, they'd build just ice boxes and stuff like that.
01:35Right.
01:35These beverage coolers were first used in the 1930s
01:39in delis and supermarkets across the country.
01:41Most people didn't have refrigerators in their homes yet,
01:44so machines like this were great when you wanted an ice-cold soda on a hot summer day.
01:49I see what you got.
01:51I want to know where it came from.
01:52My parents bought a small golf course in a little town of Cade, Louisiana,
01:55and my mother worked there, and the cooler was there.
01:58So we've had it since 1964.
02:00Wow.
02:01It was probably in operation for 20 years.
02:04So from the 80s to now?
02:05Correct.
02:05It's been laying somewhere?
02:06Yes.
02:07What happened to this thing?
02:08We just left in a barn, and when you put it in a barn,
02:11you don't know you're going to leave it there for 20 years.
02:13It's so bad, though.
02:14The bottom's gone.
02:16I mean, this is just termite heaven.
02:18This used to be wood.
02:19Right.
02:19And the termites went in there, and they went nuts.
02:22It's rotted out so bad.
02:23There's nothing that holds the thing together anymore.
02:26Right.
02:26If I let go of this door, it'll just fall apart in pieces.
02:29Quite honestly, to me, this thing's so much trash, I just throw it away.
02:32That's how bad it is.
02:34When Rick saw the cooler, I think he was taking back the condition it's in.
02:37There's a lot of rot that even I didn't know was there.
02:39It's a family artifact.
02:41That's what I thought.
02:42It's nostalgia from working with my mother.
02:44So it means something to you.
02:45It means a lot to me.
02:46It's not.
02:46It means a lot to me.
02:47This cooler needs much more work than it's worth.
02:50It's literally falling apart.
02:52But it also represents a connection between Ron and his mom.
02:55And I can never turn down a project with that kind of meaning behind it if he's willing to go
03:00the distance.
03:00It needs some structure.
03:02Yes, it does.
03:03So what we're going to have to do is remake that whole wood frame on the inside.
03:06We could probably patch the bottom, fix all these holes.
03:10Right.
03:10We'd have to research this and try to find the same hardware.
03:13Right.
03:13Probably put your new compressor in there.
03:15That'd be great.
03:15And then re-insulate it and then paint it.
03:18Okay.
03:19I'm probably looking at about $9,500 to go ahead and get this thing started.
03:23The 95 is fine.
03:24Okay.
03:25Thank you very much.
03:25You got a deal there.
03:26Appreciate it.
03:26Let's go inside and we'll take care of the paperwork.
03:28Right.
03:28When you come back, it's going to look a lot different than that.
03:30Great.
03:31I'm looking forward to it.
03:31Thank you very much.
03:37Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
03:39This thing is going to just crush.
03:41Hey, you couple of monkey nuts, you want to give us a hand?
03:45We have to tear down this beveled oil cooler, but we have to be real careful.
03:48If anybody sneezes on it, this thing might fall apart.
03:52Nice.
03:59This does not look like any cooler I've ever seen.
04:02There's definitely some termites, huh?
04:05Now that the dirty work's done, Dave and I got to figure out a plan of attack on this
04:09cooler.
04:11All right.
04:12So the customer wants this original.
04:13So any kind of original piece we can use, we're using.
04:17We're using it.
04:18Okay?
04:18If it's totally destroyed, then we can make a new piece.
04:21So I need Robert to get on the wood.
04:23Okay?
04:24I need you to show Manny what needs to be happening here for the body work.
04:27Okay.
04:27And then I need you to go ahead and patch panel all this out and the bottom.
04:31Okay?
04:31Sounds like fun.
04:32I know it's going to be tough, but it's what he wants and that's what we got to give.
04:36That's what we're here for.
04:37All right.
04:37You got it.
04:46Hey, Rick, I got a customer here for you.
04:48Hi, I'm Rick.
04:49Hi, I'm Steve.
04:49Steve.
04:50Good to meet you, bud.
04:51Good to meet you.
04:51What can I do for you?
04:52I've got something really cool from a movie.
04:54Oh, yeah?
04:55You want to check it out?
04:55Yeah, yeah.
04:56Absolutely.
04:57I'm here at Rick's Restoration to get my 1960 Buick LeSabre restored.
05:01Whoa!
05:02What I think is really cool is that I believe it's the actual movie car from Fast Times at
05:07Ridgemont High.
05:08That's very cool.
05:09So where'd you get it?
05:10I found it online and the person I bought it from, he's had it since 1977.
05:15It's been leased out for movies.
05:16And I checked it out.
05:17I noticed some things and several indicators made me think, hey, this came from Fast Times.
05:21Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a classic 80s comedy that featured a bunch of up-and-coming stars.
05:27I want to just look at it because I want to see if it's that car.
05:31Well, why don't I get it off the trailer for you so we can take a good look at it.
05:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:36You're good.
05:40You know, just because it's from the movie or anything is one real cool thing, but at
05:44the same time, Buick's a great car.
05:46I mean, they're one of the oldest American-made manufacturers still in business.
05:49Everybody loved collecting them.
05:51They're very iconic because of the wing and the ride and the style.
05:54The reason I believe the car is actually from the movie, the first indicator was the eye from the Buick
06:00is missing.
06:01Okay?
06:01Then if we go over here to the left rear tail light, the chrome ring is missing.
06:06And then these three dents here are just exactly like the one in the movie.
06:10So that has to stay.
06:12Here's where you can see it's been painted gold before.
06:15And I believe this is the original blue paint from Fast Times.
06:19All right, it looks like a movie car because they've been painted a lot.
06:22I mean, there's probably 10 coats of paint in here.
06:24But a lot of the movie cars, they just did it because it was a prop.
06:28They didn't care less.
06:29So all the paint and the dents, I mean, you've got a pretty dang good chance this is the car.
06:34So what do you want to do with this?
06:36I don't want a complete frame-off restoration.
06:38I'm just looking to get the car painted the correct blue.
06:42Right.
06:42Maybe get rid of the sunroof, do some of the interior work.
06:45But bottom line, what you want to do is you want to make it into that car.
06:48I want to bring it back to 1982.
06:50And I don't know about the engine.
06:52You know, I think a tune-up will do good.
06:55All right.
06:56I have a real big problem with doing some math to me, unfortunately, my little head.
07:00So, you know, it needs a full-blown restoration.
07:02It needs a motor done.
07:03It's jerked out.
07:04Tranny needs done.
07:05I don't think I'm your guy.
07:06I really don't.
07:07I would have to go ground up.
07:08And I definitely have to have no projects for a year, which right at the moment, that's impossible.
07:13It's just I got so much stuff going on.
07:14So I really thank you for bringing it by.
07:17I think it's the coolest ever.
07:18But I'm not going to be able to do it.
07:20All right.
07:20Thanks, Steve.
07:21Okay.
07:22I hope you're loaded up.
07:23All right.
07:23It really kills me to turn away a customer, but it would take us months to properly restore
07:28this car that I don't have.
07:30I got to be real smart about the projects I take on.
07:33Otherwise, my whole business could go under.
07:36No matter which way you stack these on here, you run out of room.
07:39I can't figure it out.
07:41This is really difficult.
07:42It didn't really wrinkle.
07:44This thing definitely sucks.
07:45You just have to strip it all the way back down the metal and start all over again.
07:48All right.
07:49It sucks.
07:50Bad.
08:03Rick, you got a customer here.
08:06Hey.
08:09Let's see what you got.
08:10Thanks, Kyle.
08:11You got it, Rick.
08:11Hi.
08:12How are you?
08:12How are you doing?
08:13Good to meet you.
08:13I'm Arnie Perry.
08:14And I red lips, too.
08:16Okay.
08:17What's this?
08:18Oh.
08:18It's a factory burrito.
08:19Okay.
08:20They gave it a factory burrito right there.
08:22Oh, wow.
08:25That's cool.
08:26So this was, like, from 1943?
08:29Right.
08:29They still make them now, but they started in, like, the 30s.
08:33Right.
08:33Right.
08:33What's in here?
08:34Oh, okay.
08:36All this goes inside of this.
08:38Okay.
08:39One of the things that Rexair was very well known for was water filtration.
08:44This held water.
08:45Because the air was running through it and it ran through the water, it also purified the air.
08:50These vacuums were so good at trapping airborne dust that the military used them in World War II.
08:55They were used as stand-alone air purifiers on medical ships so that the wounded soldiers could breathe easier.
09:02They just set it in their room on a ship and you're having asthma and you're really, really having a
09:06hard time breathing.
09:07You would turn on the switch.
09:09Right.
09:09And then as it went in through the hose, sucking it here, it would separate the bad particles in the
09:14air.
09:14And the water from here down is trapping the particles.
09:17This is going to basically just pump out purified air nonstop.
09:21Right?
09:22Right.
09:22Just with it turned on.
09:23The reason why I came here, I'm hoping to do what you can.
09:27I work with the company.
09:28Right.
09:29I still work with them now.
09:30Because I want to show people.
09:32You wanted to work.
09:33They put too many gold in here all over.
09:35What happened is they'd leave the water in there and it rusted out.
09:39Right.
09:39So they'd throw them all away because they were just disposable.
09:42They already made it up in three years because they're very cheap metal.
09:45So they made them cheap enough to where they could sell thousands of them to the military.
09:49They only made $100,000.
09:51So it took me 10 years to find one.
09:53Wow.
09:54There's only eight left.
09:55Eight left.
09:56This is one of eight in the world and you want me to make it to where it works again.
10:01But this all got to be put back together, guys.
10:03So I'm going to have to figure out, this is going to be a huge challenge trying to figure out
10:06how that all goes together.
10:08I'll look it up online.
10:09Is it maybe on the computer?
10:11Is there any kind of, um, no information?
10:14There's no way.
10:14There's no way.
10:16In 1945, after World War II, they got rid of me.
10:21They threw everything away.
10:22Everything.
10:23Paperwork.
10:23Everything.
10:24Nothing left.
10:25Here's the deal.
10:26Because it's so old.
10:28Right.
10:28And because it's really, really, really rare.
10:32Right.
10:32In order to make it work again and look just brand new, I'm looking about five grand to make it
10:37be that.
10:38But it's going to be one of eight totally, totally done.
10:43Okay.
10:43Wait.
10:44I'll take it.
10:45Okay?
10:45All right.
10:45Okay, thanks.
10:46Let's go in the office.
10:47All right.
10:48This vacuum is going to be killer.
10:50But right now, the rest of my guys are up to their eyes and work.
10:53We might be busy, but there's no way I can pass up the opportunity to work on such a rare
10:58project.
10:59So I'm going to make sure this thing flies through the line personally.
11:10We're restoring a 1950s Bevador beverage cooler that was literally a hunk of junk when it got here.
11:16The wood frame and base supports were totally eaten away by termites.
11:20So Robert is rebuilding the entire thing from scratch.
11:28Fonzie's taking apart the entire compressor to see if we can get that working again.
11:35And Dave's replacing a badly rusted section on the bottom of the outer shell.
11:47What's up, Dad?
11:48Hey.
11:49You got it?
11:50Yeah.
11:50Good.
11:51During the 1940s, Rexair used a wrinkled paint on this vacuum that gave it a rough texture.
11:57It's a very tricky technique, so companies rarely use it anymore.
12:00But the customer wants this all original, so we've got to figure it out.
12:05Originally, it was covered in a wrinkle finish, so we're going to have to make it.
12:09We're going to have to paint it with a wrinkle black and then go over top of it with the
12:12colors that were originally done.
12:14When you spray multiple coats of this paint over a certain time at a certain temperature, it creates a wrinkled
12:20effect on the surface.
12:21But it's really tough to get those conditions just right.
12:25Good, good, good, good.
12:26So now what you're going to do is you're going to come back in 10 minutes and put another coat
12:30on.
12:31And then 10 minutes later, you're going to do it again.
12:34But you need to make sure that it's hot enough in here.
12:36All right.
12:36So you need to be about 80 degrees in here to be able to have this stuff work.
12:39And then in two hours, we'll come back and we'll see if it actually did what it was supposed to
12:43do.
12:51So this is what it looks like.
12:55It didn't really wrinkle.
12:56It's not as wrinkled as it needs to be at all, at all.
13:01This is a little better, but it's got like a stripe running down it.
13:05So the cans were warm the whole time.
13:07Yeah, the cans stayed in here.
13:08This is starting to peel right here just from touching it.
13:11I mean, why don't you think it worked?
13:13I think that it's so critical to finding the right temperature in the atmosphere and it even said humidity.
13:17You know, it's too temperamental for us.
13:20This vacuum is turning into a serious pain in my ass.
13:23But we need to make this look perfect.
13:25So Tyler's just going to have to play with the room temperature until we get this paint to set right.
13:30All right, Tyler.
13:31You just have to strip it all the way back down the middle and start all over again.
13:34All right.
13:35That sucks.
13:36Bad.
13:40While Tyler's trying to get the Rexair paint job done, I got a whole other headache to try to deal
13:45with on this project.
13:47Having any luck with it?
13:48I can't figure it out.
13:49We don't have a schematic.
13:50We don't have nothing.
13:51All we got is a bunch of parts.
13:53Kyle and I got to piece this Rexair vacuum motor together to see if it even works.
13:57But all the parts got to go together just right or we could totally burn out the motor.
14:02I got the spacer and the washer here.
14:04I'm thinking that it goes like that because that's real close to the edge right there, right?
14:08Right.
14:10Without a schematic, this is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle
14:14when you don't even know what it's supposed to look like when it's done.
14:18There we go.
14:19Okay.
14:20We're doing pretty good.
14:21And this, now what was it?
14:23Top.
14:25There you go, okay.
14:27It's not going down enough.
14:29Yeah, we're binding up on something.
14:30It's a little nightmare.
14:32We got to take it apart again.
14:33You better get comfy, Kyle.
14:35This is going to take a while.
14:45I mean, I can't figure it out.
14:48This is really difficult.
14:50Kyle and I are trying to get this Rexair vacuum up and running.
14:53But no matter what we do, we can't figure out the correct order that these parts go on.
14:57They just won't fit in the case.
14:59No matter which way you stack these on here, you run out of room with this one.
15:03Okay.
15:04Oh, so leave that one out maybe?
15:05That's what I'm thinking.
15:06This, I think, is extra.
15:08He's been running around hoarding parts.
15:10That's the biggest problem.
15:11Right.
15:11That's the biggest problem.
15:12It looks like the customer gave us some extra parts to be helpful, but we didn't realize
15:16it at first, and it actually screwed us up.
15:19Now that we've removed the extras, I'm hoping we can get it back together before I throw this
15:23thing out the window.
15:25I'll give it a shot.
15:26If you fire it up and it doesn't move, it could fry the brushes.
15:30Okay.
15:31So, you know, just sit there and just burn it out real quick.
15:34Oh, this is fine.
15:34We can give it a little shot.
15:35Okay.
15:35We can give it a little shot.
15:36Joel.
15:38Oh, right on.
15:40Right on.
15:40Go.
15:40Go, go, go, go.
15:45Awesome.
15:46It's awesome.
15:47It's not the prettiest sound I've ever heard, but for now, I'll take it as long as it's working.
15:52The customer never saw it running, ever, so now it's running, so we're doing pretty
15:57good.
15:57So just film it, take it apart, clean all the parts up, oil it when you're putting it back
16:02together, and do it one more time.
16:04All right.
16:04Great job.
16:05Awesome.
16:06We're in the final stretch on the Bevador cooler.
16:09Kyle and Robert are insulating the unit and attaching the outer shell.
16:13And my lighting expert, Paul, swung by to install the white neon in the interior.
16:18When the customer sees this, I think it's going to blow his mind.
16:24Oh.
16:24Hey, Rick.
16:24Ron, how you been?
16:25Fine.
16:26Good to see you.
16:26How are you?
16:27Good to see you.
16:27I understand the cooler's ready.
16:28Yeah, we just got it finished.
16:30I was expecting a call that you'd just given up.
16:33Okay.
16:34Yeah, I'm ready.
16:34Come on.
16:35Let's go.
16:35I'm ready.
16:36When I dropped the cooler off, it was a mess.
16:37In fact, I was almost embarrassed that I brought it out here.
16:40It basically fell out of the crate, and I was shocked that he took it on.
16:43I'd be happy just to get anything that works.
16:45All right.
16:46So you remember what this pile looked like, right?
16:47I mean, it came in just trashed out.
16:49I mean, it was junk, right?
16:50Yes, sir.
16:51All right.
16:51Okay.
16:51So here you go.
16:52One, two, three.
16:56Oh, my goodness.
16:58What do you think?
16:58It's fantastic.
16:59It's just exactly like I remember.
17:01When I first saw the cooler, it brought back memories of when I was young, so it was fabulous.
17:05I can't believe this is the same piece of equipment I brought into here to you.
17:08I can remember when I was a kid restocking this at our golf course where my mother worked,
17:12and it really means a lot to me.
17:13It's really important to my family.
17:15I'm glad that she took this on.
17:16I would say this thing here was probably the most destroyed anything that we've ever gotten in to be able
17:22to try to recreate again and start again.
17:24It was literally trash.
17:25The cool thing is the design.
17:27One, it's round.
17:28And then the other thing is the door, as you're looking through it, they're looking in.
17:32They see nice, refreshing ice-cooled drinks.
17:35The light lights it up.
17:36And then at the same time, the patron can open the door and then spin it around, and it's just
17:41full inside there off this little itty-bitty door.
17:44Right.
17:45So it's a real cool design to boot.
17:46It's just amazing how things were built to last and how it's been rebuilt to last.
17:50And I just don't know how you even knew where to start.
17:53Well, it was just like anything else.
17:54It started from the foundation.
17:56You know, we didn't know what was down there because it was gone.
17:59Right.
17:59There was nothing there.
18:00So we made a new wooden base, and then we put the inside liner on top of it and then
18:05started building it around it.
18:06Right.
18:06But the wood had to be redone because the termites ate it alive.
18:10It's treated now, so termites won't get it.
18:12I won't have it anywhere near termites.
18:14But thank you, just in case.
18:16There's insulation in between the wood and the metal.
18:19You know, that's the only way it can stay cold.
18:20It gets about 30 degrees in there if you wanted to.
18:23It doesn't look like new.
18:24It looks better than new.
18:25And all the Lazy Susans work?
18:27Every Lazy Susan works.
18:30Each one of these racks themselves, they were in good shape, so we sandblasted them.
18:34And then I powder-coated them to where they take a licking forever and ever.
18:38The neon's all brand new neon.
18:40Okay.
18:40And it goes down both sides?
18:41Yeah, it goes down both sides.
18:42Actually, when you close the door, the neon's on the whole time.
18:46It's still lit inside then?
18:47It's always lit.
18:49It's always lit.
18:50That's one of the things that made it unique.
18:51Yeah.
18:51It really was.
18:52Now that I've got the cooler restored, I'm going to send it to my mother in Missouri.
18:56And I just can't wait to see her reaction when she takes a look at this cooler, because
19:00I hope it brings back the same memories for her that it's doing for me.
19:03Keep them out of the barn.
19:04Yeah.
19:05No, I won't do that.
19:06No barn.
19:08You bet.
19:09You bet.
19:12This little vacuum has been a damn nightmare, cowboy.
19:15You need to handle it.
19:16You need to handle it.
19:39I can't tell you this thing was one heck of a project to try to get done and try to
19:43get
19:43done right and make it work again.
19:45But I think you're going to love it.
19:47I can't wait to show it to you.
19:48It's over here.
19:48Come on over here.
19:49All right.
19:49I hope Ricky will put everything back together and make it like a new.
19:53You remember how it looked, right?
19:55Yeah.
19:55You remember how rusty it was and nasty it was?
19:58Right.
19:58It had some paint on it, but the insides was really, really rough and bent and broke and
20:02rusted.
20:03And it was in a million pieces.
20:05Remember?
20:06All right.
20:06So you ready?
20:07One, two, three.
20:11It looks beautiful.
20:13All new again.
20:14It looks pretty sweet.
20:16When I saw it, oh, it's beautiful.
20:20It looks like brand new.
20:22All right.
20:22So what we had to do is we took this piece off and then Ted ended up doing this new
20:26decal
20:27with that original serial number and everything on that.
20:29So he did that.
20:30In order to get the thing painted with the wrinkle finish on it and with this tan and with
20:35the matching green, they only make black.
20:37Tyler painted some and it was supposed to wrinkle and it didn't.
20:40And then we actually had to redo it again in order to get this color.
20:44This piece, of course, if you remember, it had a lot of holes in it.
20:46It was just rusted out solid.
20:48First, we blast it.
20:49And then we go and did all the metal work here.
20:52We used this material called all metal and sanded it just like it would have been.
20:55And the inside, we did the same.
20:57We worked hours and hours and hours in order to get this thing to where it was put back
21:01together, you know, just exactly the way it should have been.
21:03There's a lot of work inside there, believe it or not, you know.
21:07Because it's a museum piece and I didn't want to fill it full of water.
21:12So what I just want to sort of show you that it's sucking.
21:14Okay?
21:15All right.
21:15Here you go.
21:17All right.
21:17So here we go.
21:18You're going to turn on this.
21:28It looks great.
21:31Good.
21:32I'm glad you like it.
21:32I'm glad you like it.
21:33Thanks.
21:34All right.
21:35So let's go inside.
21:36We'll take care of some paperwork and I'll wrap it up.
21:39All right.
21:40The Bevador cooler and the Rexair vacuum were two of the toughest projects I've done in
21:45a long time.
21:46But in the end, just seeing the expressions on the customer's faces made every little struggle
21:51worthwhile.
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