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00:00Up next on American Restoration.
00:02This is the Carl's Jr. sign, right?
00:04From the 1970s.
00:06There was an earlier version of the star.
00:08We want to get one that goes back to that 60s image.
00:11Yeah.
00:11I'm stumped.
00:13Holy .
00:13I've been on the road for two weeks,
00:15and, man, have I brought the mother of all loads.
00:18It's very important for us to start selling.
00:21I'm going to sleep for at least two days.
00:23You're unloading this so we can start selling it today.
00:26It's a Southwest guest boat.
00:28That's just not unique enough for my shop, brother.
00:30I might be walking away empty-handed.
00:34Look at a man's workbench.
00:36You see his passions.
00:39His work's in progress.
00:43The things that drive him crazy.
00:47Projects that?
00:49You get the point.
00:51Anyway, every workbench tells a story.
00:54And this is ours.
00:55American Restoration.
01:00I'm the kind of guy that has all the confidence in the world.
01:03In my shop and in my guys.
01:05So when a project comes in that may seem impossible,
01:08I'm the first guy that says, bring it on.
01:10Hey, Rick.
01:11What the heck is that?
01:13Oh, my God.
01:15Hi, I'm Rick.
01:16Andy.
01:16Andy.
01:17Good to meet you, Andy.
01:18Let's let him pull this right here.
01:19I'm here today to get a Carl's Jr. Happy Star sign restored.
01:24I'm the CEO of Carl's Jr., and we'd really like to pass it on to Carl Leo Karcher, our founder's
01:29son.
01:30This is the Carl's Jr. sign, right?
01:32The Happy Star face is really a caricature.
01:35It's supposed to look like Carl Karcher.
01:37Right.
01:37Remember Carl?
01:38Carl was our founder.
01:39Yeah, that's very cool.
01:41What I really love about the restaurants now is when you walk in, you get to see Heritage.
01:44You get to see the old pictures.
01:46That's right.
01:46You see Carl standing there.
01:47He's got his kid next to the old hot dog stand.
01:49There's a true beginning story.
01:52I remember going to Carl's Jr. with my dad when I was about nine years old.
01:55We would go down to this Carl's Jr. on Harbor Boulevard.
01:59We drove in there, got a burger and some fries and a soda, and I was a happy kid.
02:03This is a sign that's from the 70s.
02:05There actually was an earlier version of the star that Carl used in the late 50s and in the 60s.
02:11It's got freckles.
02:12He's got a soda in one hand, a burger in the other, and he's got shoes on.
02:16We want to get one that goes back to that 60s image.
02:19You're wanting to take this one and make it look like this one?
02:22Exactly.
02:23On the back, it looks like it's missing sheet metal and it's missing this, right?
02:26Yep, missing a lot.
02:28Right.
02:28So this has to be back here, too?
02:29Correct.
02:30I'm going to have to make this piece on the back.
02:32Turning back the clock on this sign is actually really tough.
02:36It means fabricating one-of-a-kind plastic pieces from scratch with only a picture to go on.
02:42And since plastics aren't in my wheelhouse, I'm going to have to get creative on how I'm going to get
02:47this thing done.
02:48The burger, the cup, those are going to be two big challenges.
02:51And then fix all the spots that are bad, sandblast it, go ahead and shoot it red.
02:55It sounds like a lot of work.
02:56It is a lot of work.
02:57I can't wait to get started on it.
02:58Yeah, it's really exciting.
02:59Thank you, Andy, very much.
03:00Thank you, thank you.
03:01Let's go in the office, write up some paperwork, and make happy happy again.
03:10Recently, I sent Ron out to the Midwest, and it's always a risk sending somebody that far with the gas
03:16prices nowadays, because you can spend thousands of dollars and come back with nothing.
03:21Holy s***, wow.
03:24Oh, my God.
03:25Look at that load.
03:27I've been on the road for two weeks.
03:29I'm finally back in the shop, and man, have I brought back the mother of all loads.
03:34That's right.
03:34Wow.
03:35What do you think?
03:36Man.
03:37That's so much stuff.
03:37I have about 20,000 bucks into this picking trip, but have I found some awesome items.
03:43Like, what's it stacked on top of itself?
03:45There's stuff laying down, there's stuff on top of stuff.
03:48I haven't seen a load like that in years.
03:51Everything on there was stuff that we can use in the boneyard.
03:54Check that out.
03:55Wow.
03:56An airline?
03:57Airline picnic.
03:58My God.
03:59Nice, huh?
04:00That's in mid-shape.
04:02This is so cool.
04:03It's got this little handle where it's actually sort of like luggage.
04:06You know, you could carry it on the plane.
04:08This is incredible.
04:09What else?
04:09A lot of pumps.
04:10Right.
04:11Cool pumps.
04:12Cool pumps.
04:12Never seen one of these.
04:13No, never.
04:14It's a Southwest.
04:15They're really, really hard to find, and they're a pretty cool-looking pump.
04:19I mean, this aluminum trim on here, that's nice.
04:21That thing is going to be just sick.
04:23You got to give it to me, dude.
04:24I mean, when was the last time?
04:26Full truck, full trailer.
04:28You did great.
04:29You know, you found so much stuff.
04:31I'm a little worried right now that we've spent thousands and thousands of dollars.
04:34It's very important for us to start selling right now.
04:38I need my money back.
04:40Dude, I just pulled in.
04:42I'm going to sleep for at least two days.
04:44No, you're not.
04:45You're unloading this so we can start selling it today.
04:48Because right now, we're in the negative.
04:50You need to make enough sales.
04:53I'll tell you what.
04:54Since I have to unload all this and freaking sell it, I want you to wait on me.
04:58I want you to cook me dinner.
05:00I want some barbecue.
05:01I want some steak, some chicken.
05:02I want to see you sweating over the grill like I'm going to be sweating pulling this off.
05:06Ron always wants some kind of an incentive.
05:09I mean, that's fine.
05:10I'll make it happen if that's going to make him sell something.
05:12You do make that happen, I'll go ahead and be your chef for the day.
05:16All right.
05:24Hey, Ted.
05:25Tyler and Kyle tore down the Carl's Jr. sign so we can start the bodywork and start making the happy
05:31star face in the style of the 60s sign.
05:34Now I need to see if Ted can fabricate the other missing elements.
05:37I need you to make me two boots here and here.
05:40And then we need the hamburger on the top and the drink out of scratch.
05:47Why can't you ever bring me anything easier?
05:50If we had an original piece or a mold, that would be one thing.
05:53But all we have is a photograph to work from.
05:55So there's going to be a lot of figuring out to get the size, shape, and color of the hamburger
06:00boots and drink cup just right.
06:02From what I can see, the hardest part is just going to be getting it right.
06:07I mean, it's got to look right.
06:08I agree.
06:08So where are you going to start?
06:10We'll measure the star.
06:11We'll get the best idea that we can, how big they are.
06:13Work up some sketches.
06:14Yeah.
06:14Take a chunk of foam and your chisel, and you start carving.
06:17I always figure that Ted can make anything out of anything.
06:21But without a mold or a model to work from, this is going to be a lot of trial and
06:26error.
06:26It's a Southwest gas pump.
06:28If I can make a sale, my brother is going to owe me dinner.
06:32He could have some shelves in here.
06:33You could put a safe in there.
06:35All I hear is blah, blah, blah, talking out the side of their neck.
06:38I'm just really not interested in that.
06:41Shut down.
06:50I spent just over $20,000 on a huge two-week pick and spree, and I came back with some
06:55awesome finds.
06:57The only thanks I got from Rick was, go out and sell.
06:59I want my money back.
07:01So I'm grabbing Tyler, and we're going to try to break even by selling some of this stuff to local
07:05businesses.
07:06One good point about actually going to the people's business is you can see the whole motif, and then you
07:12can incorporate that.
07:13The first item I'm going to try to sell is a you-selected candy machine from the 50s.
07:17And what better place to hit up than a candy store?
07:20Oh, my God.
07:24I think you get a cavity just by walking in this place.
07:26Hi.
07:27Welcome to Rocket Fizz.
07:28I'm Ron.
07:29Hi, Ron.
07:30This is Tyler.
07:30Tyler.
07:30Hi, Tyler.
07:31Can we take a look around?
07:32Absolutely.
07:34Oh, my heavens.
07:35This place is incredible.
07:36I'm a candy junkie, and this has something for everybody.
07:41Check this out.
07:42Valley milk.
07:43Ever heard of that?
07:43No.
07:44It sounds old.
07:45Creamy, flowing marshmallow in two milk chocolate cups.
07:48That sounds good.
07:49That sounds really good.
07:50It's got milk in it, too, so it's kind of healthy.
07:53I'm sure it's fat-free.
07:55My God.
07:56What?
07:57Idaho spud?
07:59Idaho spud.
08:00I haven't had one in probably 10 years.
08:02We may spend more money than we make in here.
08:04This is perfect for a candy machine.
08:06All right, Sherry.
08:07Outstanding store.
08:08We brought a candy machine with us.
08:10Is it okay if we bring it in and show it to you and talk about it?
08:13Absolutely.
08:13You can bring it in right over here.
08:15Okay.
08:16Cool.
08:16All right.
08:17Let's get it going.
08:18Now, this candy machine's pretty awesome because it's thin, it doesn't take up a lot of space,
08:22and it can hold a lot of different varieties of candy.
08:25It's a Uselectic candy machine out of the 50s.
08:28It actually came with the original base, which is very hard to find.
08:31We can take it and restore it back to either really the original style, or we do a lot
08:36of custom stuff also.
08:37We can do logos on the side of it for you.
08:39It can be any color, too.
08:41I think it would be cool if you painted the machine up to look like a rocket.
08:44Something like that would be awesome.
08:45Yeah.
08:46How much would something like this cost to restore?
08:50To take this and completely restore it, inside and out, powder coating, all the chroming,
08:55you're looking at 7,700.
08:58Take it back to actually better than it was in the day.
09:02And that's delivered.
09:04Oh, yeah.
09:04I'll definitely deliver it back to this place.
09:10Let's do it.
09:12Yeah?
09:12Yeah.
09:12Right on.
09:13Very cool, Sherry.
09:16You won't be disappointed.
09:17You'll love this.
09:18I'm stoked.
09:19I just hope they're all this easy.
09:28We recently got in this Carl's Jr. Happy Star sign, and I've been a little worried about
09:33how we're going to recreate the plastics on the face.
09:36Hey, Rick.
09:37But after a ton of research, I found Darren, a local sign specialist.
09:41When I talked to him on the phone, he seemed pretty confident that he can help me out.
09:45The reason why I'm here is that I'm hoping that you can do something with the plastic.
09:49The plastic on the older sign had sort of a ridge running in here.
09:54A crease?
09:55Yeah, it had a crease right in here.
09:57It was lower, so you're going to have to make a mold.
09:59We're going to make a mold from scratch.
10:00We'll take this off.
10:02We'll trace it down, do a computer line drawing with it, and then take that and put it in our
10:06vacuum foam molder and pull a mold for it.
10:09I'm so happy that I found Darren to help me out with this.
10:12His place is amazing.
10:13He's got all the equipment to make this thing just right.
10:16First things first, they have to take the old drawing and dimensions of the 70s star we
10:22have now and put it into a state-of-the-art computer program to give it a facelift to
10:27make it look like it did back in the 60s.
10:29They'll take the 3D model that the program spits out and create a real-life mold out of
10:34wood.
10:35And once that's sanded down, it's onto the oven.
10:38Along with the freshly made mold, a giant piece of polycarbonite plastic is also placed
10:43in this incredibly oversized oven.
10:46It heats the plastic up to 386 degrees, melting it just enough to form over the mold.
10:52Hopefully when all's said and done, we'll transport this star back in time, just like the customer
10:57wanted.
11:02You got this under control?
11:04Yes, I got this.
11:05Tyler and I are continuing to pedal the items that I got on the road.
11:09I need to get Rick in the black on this, and this pedal car could put me on the right
11:12track.
11:13This place is awesome.
11:15I don't think there's a pedal car she doesn't have.
11:18Hopefully this one.
11:19Here she is.
11:20Hello.
11:20How are you?
11:21Good.
11:22Is that what you called about?
11:24Yeah.
11:25Champion dip side?
11:26Yeah.
11:26What drew me to it was it's pretty dang complete.
11:29All four hubcaps are there.
11:31It's straight.
11:32There's nothing really rusted through.
11:33They do have the steering wheel and the windshield.
11:36The only thing I didn't know about, is there a hood on them?
11:38You can get the hood ornament.
11:40Okay.
11:40It was a popular little unit after the war.
11:43Murray came out with the champion in the late 40s.
11:46I know people come here to get pedal cars.
11:48I mean, this is a big place for that.
11:50So I really think no matter what, if we restored it for you, I think somebody's going to come in
11:56and love it and buy it and take it home.
11:59What are you estimating that would cost?
12:02I mean, looking better than new.
12:05It's going to be $4,500.
12:10That's just not going to work for me.
12:12The problem with being real popular is there's a lot of them out there.
12:15A lot of models after the war were mass-produced.
12:19That's what Murray did, was mass-production.
12:21You're not going to get the money you are for a pre-war pedal car, and I focus my restoration
12:27dollars on pre-war.
12:29Thank you for your time.
12:30Oh, you're welcome.
12:31It's always a pleasure to see in your shop.
12:32Thanks for coming out.
12:33It amazes me.
12:34You ready?
12:35Yeah.
12:36On we go.
12:37Normally, I wouldn't get upset about not making a sale, but what's on the line?
12:42My brother cooking me dinner.
12:43So this next sale, I'm going to pull out all the stops.
12:54The Carl's Jr. sign framing was banged up and severely worn from sitting outside for over 40 years.
13:01Now that it's blasted, we're smoothing out the dents and welding up the holds to make it look new again.
13:08Ted is carving out the hamburger, drink, and boots so that it'll date the Carl's Jr. sign back to the
13:13early 60s.
13:14It's a lot of hard work and research, but in the end, it's going to look great and be one
13:19-of-a-kind.
13:24Holy snowballs.
13:26You're like carving out a piece of ice.
13:30Oh, yeah.
13:31That's exactly like it was.
13:32Yeah, this is expanded polystyrene.
13:34It's the same thing that coffee cups and ice chests are made out of, although this is twice as dense.
13:38And what that does is it allows you to carve a little bit more detail without it just literally just
13:42crumbling in your hands.
13:43It's a little brittle now.
13:44But once it gets a coating on there, it's bulletproof.
13:46It'll last forever.
13:47That's awesome.
13:48And that stuff we just spray on?
13:49Just spray it on.
13:50It'll be nice and smooth, ready to paint.
13:52You've got to do this boot, and you've got to do another boot that matches.
13:55Just like it.
13:56And you've got to do the burger and the drink.
13:58Yeah, the hamburger's going to be...
13:59Yeah.
14:00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:01A couple colors, too.
14:02And it's big, too.
14:02Yeah, and it's big, right.
14:03I imagine it's about this big, right?
14:05It's every bit of that.
14:06Yeah, yeah.
14:06Oh, yeah.
14:07Well, I'm going to go in and check on the metalwork and make sure we're ready to paint on that
14:10frame,
14:10because we've got to get this thing done as soon as possible.
14:12Thanks, Ted.
14:13You're welcome.
14:20This has got to be it.
14:22This is your next great lead?
14:23I mean, come on, dude.
14:24Tyler and I have had one sale and one no sale in our attempt to break even on the items
14:30I bought on my $20,000 pick.
14:32If I can make big enough of a sale to my contact, Fred, at this custom motorcycle shop, my brother's
14:37going to owe me a home-cooked barbecue dinner.
14:41Hey, I'm looking for Fred.
14:43Hey, that's me.
14:44How are you doing?
14:45I'm Ron.
14:45Ron, nice to meet you.
14:46Tyler.
14:47Tyler, nice to meet you.
14:48McNasty Cycles is one of the most different bike shops in Las Vegas, because we deal with
14:53real bikers, and we don't take no bull from nobody, and we don't give no bull to anybody.
14:58Yeah, I spoke to you on the phone about a gas pump that we'd like to restore for you
15:02and sell to you for your shop.
15:04You got some time?
15:04Yeah, I got a little bit of time.
15:05Let's do it.
15:06Ryan said he had something for me to look at.
15:08He better make it fast and better make it worth my while.
15:11It's a Southwest gas pump made from 1938 to about 42.
15:15This is a very unusual and rare pump.
15:18It's real, real art deco-ish.
15:20What are you going to do with it?
15:22Well, that really would be up to you.
15:24I am limited on space, so it's got to be a unique piece.
15:28You could have it to where you open it up, and you could have some shelves in here for
15:32memorabilia for parts.
15:34I'm just really not interested in that.
15:37When they were telling me they were going to put shelves in a gas pump, I'm like, what
15:40do I need another freaking bookcase for?
15:42You could put a safe in there or a small fridge.
15:45I mean, anything you wanted to do with it, we can make that happen.
15:48Right now, all I hear is yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah, talking out the side of their
15:53neck.
15:54That's just not unique enough for my shop, brother.
15:57Shut down.
15:58I'm getting a little bit worried.
15:59I might be walking away empty-handed.
16:08There's got to be a way to entice Fred to buy this gas pump.
16:12I think Tyler had a gem of an idea when he suggested cutting a fridge into it.
16:15If I'm going to spend money, you've got to come up with something good.
16:18How about if we make this, uh, a light bulb just went off in my head?
16:22Turn it into a kegerator.
16:23What is that, brother?
16:24Serves beer.
16:25Serves beer.
16:26Yeah, that sounds pretty wild, man.
16:28When I first heard kegerator, it kind of sparked the interest.
16:31Anything that can give me cold beer and a hot babe, I'm good with.
16:35Your keg will come up to about here.
16:36Your tap handle, we can probably have something custom-made.
16:39We can have a bike made.
16:41Something.
16:42Yeah, skull.
16:43This up here, you get a globe.
16:44You can put your bike shop's name up on top, and it lights up.
16:48Then through here, you got stepped.
16:50You can just tricolor this thing.
16:51Red, white, and blue would be cool as hell, you know?
16:53Man, these guys are lucky they came up with the kegerator idea because I was ready to
16:57throw them the frick out of here.
16:59I'm pretty interested in that.
17:00If you can make that happen, we might have a deal.
17:02All depends on price, brother.
17:04Okay, price-wise, complete, done, kegerator slash gas pump slash badass is going to be $13,000.
17:14$13,000.
17:15Mm-hmm.
17:16$13,000 is a lot of money, man.
17:18When they said $13,000, I was thinking, are they going to hold me when they're done?
17:23This better be one badass freaking kegerator.
17:26This is going to be a custom job for you, absolute one-of-a-kind thing.
17:31The pump itself, being as rare as it is, it's about a $9,000 pump.
17:37Hmm.
17:38You know what?
17:39Let's do it.
17:41Yeah?
17:41Yeah.
17:42Yeah!
17:43You are going to absolutely love it.
17:44Nice!
17:45$13,000 sale, baby!
17:47That puts me in the black from my big pick-and-trip.
17:50And puts my brother in an apron cooking me barbecue dinner.
17:53Booyah, baby!
18:01Hey, Dad!
18:02Yeah?
18:02There's some people here for you.
18:04Hey, Andy?
18:05Hey, Rick, how are you, buddy?
18:06Good seeing you.
18:06Good to see you.
18:07You too.
18:07I'd like you to meet Carl Karcher.
18:09He's the son of our founder, Carl Karcher, and he's also a franchisee of Carl Jr. in his own right.
18:14Wow.
18:14And he has no idea why I brought him here.
18:17Oh, total surprise, huh?
18:18Pleasure meeting you, Rick.
18:19You bet.
18:19Let's go back here.
18:21I'm here today at Rick's to see the Carl Jr. Happy Star sign that Rick has restored for us.
18:25This was a tough job, and Carl will know whether or not this looks like the sign from the 50s
18:31and the 60s, the original Happy Star sign.
18:33I'm going to open the gate, and then I'm going to reveal it to you.
18:36Okay?
18:36Looking forward to it.
18:37All right.
18:37One, two, three.
18:41Oh, my God.
18:42Look at that.
18:43That's just incredible.
18:44Happy Star.
18:45That's just incredible.
18:46He got the drink, the hamburger.
18:48So is this a surprise?
18:49I am surprised.
18:50This is beautiful.
18:51I was not expecting to walk in there and see Happy Star.
18:53I couldn't be happier.
18:54Andy came in, and he wanted to surprise you with a gift of this old Happy Star.
18:59He brought in a version that was more in the 70s, so about the only thing we started with was
19:04just the exterior.
19:05The booties weren't on it.
19:07The shake wasn't on.
19:08The burger.
19:10Really, totally redone the plastic.
19:12Right.
19:12Right.
19:12Yeah, that's incredible.
19:13When I first saw that star, I was just amazed.
19:15And then seeing Carl's reaction was even more fun than seeing the sign.
19:19I had no clue how to do this, this big, right off the bat.
19:23So we ended up calling, actually, a big sign company.
19:26They take these big pieces of plexiglass, and the mold goes up, and the vacuum comes down.
19:31Boop!
19:32Next thing you know, you got this frame, but it's clear.
19:34Then after that, they do all this art on the back half of this, and then they shoot the yellow
19:38ball on the inside of it.
19:39In the meantime, Ted looks at this picture, and he goes, you've got to be kidding me.
19:44He took the big chunk of styrofoam that's really dense, and he just went to town and started carving on
19:49it.
19:50He had it on a lathe.
19:51He moves it around.
19:52He actually went out and got a Carl's Jr. burger and had it sitting there so he could figure out
19:56exactly how far the meat came out and what color the bun was going to be.
19:59It was all done in the hard neoprene shell that they put on it, and then he hand-painted it.
20:03Rick was able to bring that star back to life.
20:06Nobody can tell that from the original.
20:08It'd be impossible.
20:10My recollection of having a happy star on top of our sign would be number 28 in Fullerton.
20:16We opened that in 1968.
20:18Right.
20:18And that's the first one I recall where we had the large star with the cup and the drink and
20:22the top.
20:23Before that, it was just an image that was on a flat plastic piece.
20:27This is really awesome.
20:28In fact, we might want to bring this back.
20:30It looks good to me.
20:31Thank you for doing such a great job with that.
20:33You bet.
20:34Brought happy back to life.
20:35It's awesome.
20:36Let's go inside the office.
20:37Thank you, buddy.
20:37Let's do it.
20:38My dad would think that this star was a great image of the original happy star from back in that
20:44time period,
20:46and he would be ecstatic over it.
20:53I'm starving, brother.
20:54What's on the menu?
20:55Burgers and hot dogs.
20:57That's not gourmet.
20:58Where's the steaks and stuff?
20:59You know, you should be grateful that you're getting anything at all.
21:01I'm grateful I don't have to wear that ridiculous apron.
21:05Burgers?
21:06Count me in for one of those.
21:07This is not your deal.
21:08It's his deal.
21:09Bet with him, not you.
21:10I held himself as much stuff.
21:12Well, he talked you into that, not me.
21:14Whatever.
21:14Get over here, dude.
21:15And make sure my napkin's in my lap, too, please.
21:18This is that kind of joint.
21:20Ketchup?
21:21Just a dollop, please.
21:22Oh.
21:23Can I see your manager?
21:25I am your manager.
21:28Don't make this weird.
21:30Oh!
21:32Next time, you won't make me a bet to have a gourmet meal.
21:36You'll just do your job.
21:37Ron, you got something on your face.
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