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00:01Up next on American Restoration.
00:03What do you got there?
00:04Geez.
00:05I don't think that's even legal.
00:07That often you get to blow away Rick Dale.
00:10Rick.
00:11Check that thing out.
00:12I brought you something you've never seen before.
00:15It's a NASA jet pack that you would use in space.
00:18I mean, I got to get my hands on this.
00:20Are you kidding me?
00:21Where do I sign up?
00:22Check it out on back.
00:23Oh, no way.
00:24Buzz Aldrin and Gene Shearman.
00:26Evidently behind there is something special
00:28written by one of these guys.
00:30I say we do it.
00:31I say we make this baby fly.
00:35I'm Rick Dale.
00:37And at my shop, we share a passion.
00:40To give new life to pieces from the past.
00:47Every project has its challenges.
00:49But there's no job we can't handle.
00:53This is American Restoration.
00:59Sometimes the smartest guy at the shop isn't the guy with all the answers.
01:03You got the doors shut.
01:04You look at this.
01:04Doesn't look like too hard, right?
01:05Right.
01:06Oh, my God.
01:07We got to call Tim.
01:09But is the guy who admits that he needs a helping hand?
01:11But is that something you can help me with?
01:13It's going to be hard.
01:14But yeah, we can certainly help you.
01:15I succeed when I find the best man for the job.
01:20Rick.
01:22Oh, my God.
01:24Check that thing out.
01:25I brought you something that you've never seen before.
01:30It's a jet pack that you would use in space.
01:33Really?
01:33Yeah.
01:34So this is probably the only one in existence?
01:37One of very few.
01:39There's only four left.
01:40Is this yours?
01:41Yes.
01:42Hey, I'm Rick.
01:43I'm Andy.
01:43I had a customer come out of my shop, and he had a real NASA jet pack.
01:47And he sort of wanted an astronomical number for it.
01:50And I just said, I don't think I can sell it.
01:52I did mention to him that he might have a better chance of selling it if it was restored.
01:56This was a NASA prototype.
01:59After the Gemini project, I ended up in a scrapyard.
02:02That's how he got it.
02:03You found this at a scrapyard?
02:04Yeah.
02:05A scrapper actually found it and alerted me.
02:07Wow.
02:08That's insane, huh?
02:09It was built by a company called LTV.
02:11And they had started the development actually in the late 1950s.
02:15Even today, when astronauts go on a spacewalk, if they're drifting away, they can actually fly back to the space
02:20station.
02:21This is awesome.
02:22My question is, will this work on land?
02:26It's only puffs of two pounds of thrust coming out of these nozzles because you're weightless.
02:31I mean, the thing is pretty cool.
02:33They have, like, the world's first Atari joysticks.
02:37That is pretty innovative.
02:39Well, of course, it's NASA, for God's sake.
02:40Yeah.
02:41You know, if you do work on this thing, you can tell everybody, yeah, I'm a rocket scientist.
02:46Good luck, man.
02:48Call me when you get it finished.
02:49Okay.
02:50I mean, this thing is awesome.
02:51Can I jump in there?
02:52Absolutely.
02:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:53Get in here.
02:54Well, these are cool.
02:55They move?
02:56Yeah.
02:56And this, you got right up inside you?
02:58Yes.
02:59Wow.
03:00This is pretty cool.
03:01I'm a child of the space age.
03:03I mean, I grew up in an era where people were going to the moon.
03:06So to be able to see one of these and actually touch it, it's awesome.
03:10Oh, my God.
03:12Oh, my God.
03:12Check that out.
03:13That's Buzz Aldrin's signature?
03:14Yes, it is.
03:15And Gene Sardin.
03:16That's amazing.
03:17The history right there, to me, is incredible.
03:19I would love to meet one of those guys.
03:21There's a secret message on the inside of the panel.
03:24Really?
03:24Yeah.
03:25That's why you have to restore it so you can find it.
03:28Check it out.
03:29I mean, I got to get my hands on this.
03:31Are you kidding me?
03:32It's got all kinds of gadgets.
03:33It's got a secret message inside.
03:35Where do I sign up?
03:37So what do you think it would cost to restore this?
03:39I'd really like to see it back to factory.
03:43I see a lot of dents in the sheet metal.
03:45I see a lot of parts that are going to need to be made.
03:47I mean, this piece here, we're going to have to make one of those here, here, and then
03:52these bottom ones look like the same.
03:53You want me to redo all the labels?
03:56It may as well be crisp.
03:58So to make it look ready for my Gemini mission, I'm looking at probably $9,500 to do the
04:03whole thing.
04:05Right now, my budget was at $8,000.
04:10Can it come down even just a little bit?
04:16I can go to $9,000, you know?
04:18I want to make it look new.
04:21So that's about the best I'm going to be able to do.
04:27All right, deal?
04:28All right, cool.
04:30Let's go inside.
04:31This is probably going to be the coolest thing I ever did.
04:33Come on.
04:45I'm here at Rick's today to have something unique restored.
04:49I don't even know if Rick's ever seen one before.
04:53What's up, Darius?
04:54What do you got there?
04:55Geez.
04:56Something I want to show your dad.
04:58I don't think that's even legal.
04:59To tell you the truth, I don't know.
05:00Oh, my God.
05:01Yeah, he's back there.
05:02All right, thanks.
05:03Yeah.
05:07What the heck are you doing here?
05:09How you doing, Darius?
05:10Look what I got for you.
05:16It's a World War II practice bomb.
05:19It's bad to the bone.
05:21I mean, I got to admit, Darius, I mean, some of the stuff you bring me, I've never seen.
05:25I mean, you brought that high striker in, which was probably the funnest thing I've ever played.
05:30That's what I'm talking about.
05:32Well, I'm trying to keep it so that your life doesn't get routine.
05:34No dullness, huh?
05:35Yeah, no dullness.
05:36I mean, it says right here, it says 100 pound.
05:39It says the date, December 44.
05:41I mean, that's right almost near the end of the war, actually.
05:43They used to fill it with sand and then practice carrying from storage to the plane before they let the
05:50guys use the real things.
05:51Right.
05:53Sometimes, practice bombs were used to actually practice bombing also.
05:57Because what they would do is they'd drop them from the plane straight into the ground.
06:03And the sand would blow up on the air and it would let them know, hey, we're close or we're
06:07on target.
06:07So they had these for target practices, actually.
06:11What I want to know, what do you want to do with it?
06:14I was very intrigued when I saw it.
06:15I know that the magnitude of the explosive inside was designated by rings.
06:21I think they'll maybe put a yellow neon ring around each one, paint it in the olive drab cream.
06:28And then be able to hang it from the ceiling.
06:30And then not only is it, you know, authentic, but it adds a little artwork to it.
06:34Do you also have like a military collection?
06:36Is that what you're, you got this kind of stuff to do?
06:38No, I just thought conversation being said, but really.
06:42Darius, I think my toughest challenge is basically going to be cutting it apart
06:46and being able to put it back together and make it look like it did.
06:50So what do you think it's going to cost?
06:53All right, so to make this thing just a work of art.
06:58I'm looking at about $3,500 to do a whole piece.
07:02You've always done great work for me before, and I want you to blow me away.
07:06Okay, awesome, awesome, cool.
07:08Let's go in the office, and we'll finish writing this all up.
07:11Did they check that into your luggage?
07:13How'd you get that here?
07:18Check it out on back.
07:19Look at this thing right here.
07:20Oh, no way.
07:21Is that cool?
07:22Buzz.
07:23Yeah, Buzz Aldrin and Gene Stearnan.
07:25Evidently, behind there is some kind of, uh, something special written by one of these guys.
07:31So, let's get that thing off.
07:33They put plastic over top of it.
07:34See, I knew there was something on there.
07:36Check it out.
07:38Dude says, spacewalk from hell.
07:44The spacewalk from hell?
07:46I need to figure out exactly what that means.
07:48So, what the customer wants us to do is restore it.
07:51It doesn't need to be working, but it has to look just like it would have back in the day.
07:57Screws over here.
07:59You ready?
07:59Yep.
08:04Oh, that's a lot of shit.
08:06Man.
08:06Look at all that.
08:07Oh, my God.
08:08Can you just imagine redoing all that?
08:11The insides on this thing looks like some kind of a time bomb.
08:14This thing's going to need an expert's opinion before we even try to tear it down.
08:18All right, guys?
08:19Just bring it inside.
08:20Is that your blow-up doll?
08:22That's your mama.
08:26His faceplate kept on fogging up.
08:28That must have been a walk from hell.
08:30I was wondering what that meant.
08:31He wants to hang this from the ceiling with neon on it.
08:35No.
08:36Rick definitely has a tendency to take just about any project that comes along.
08:40And sometimes you don't know what you're talking about.
08:58How's it going, Ted?
08:59Good.
09:01Well, maybe.
09:03Oh, no.
09:04What is that?
09:05This is actually a test bomb, believe it or not.
09:07Oh, it's not a real bomb.
09:09Right.
09:09So, Manny cut it in half because it was really dim.
09:12Now that that's all hammered out and split open, goes sort of like that.
09:16Cool.
09:17It is cool, right?
09:18He wants to take this, hang this from the ceiling with neon on it.
09:23Yeah.
09:25Yeah, with neon on it.
09:26Okay.
09:27So I left it open.
09:28Get the transformer in.
09:29We'll close it up.
09:30We'll weld it.
09:31Then we go to paint.
09:32No.
09:36No.
09:36Not going to work.
09:37Why?
09:38Well, what happens if something goes wrong?
09:40We have to change the transformer at some point down the road.
09:43Ah.
09:44If the parts are welded inside, it's all over.
09:46Yeah, you're right.
09:46So we're going to need to cut some kind of an access hatch, some kind of a panel.
09:50Okay.
09:50Rick definitely has a tendency to take just about any project that comes along.
09:55And sometimes they could what?
09:57Sometimes you don't know what you're talking about.
09:59I'm human.
10:00I make mistakes.
10:02I know, but we shouldn't always be the half the ones that pay for them.
10:06Makes you better, man.
10:07It's all you.
10:08All right, thanks.
10:09You're the best, Ted.
10:10Thanks.
10:11Thanks.
10:12For nothing.
10:19Yeah.
10:20There it is.
10:21Wow.
10:22It's pretty cool, huh?
10:24I'd say I'm a space historian and space artifact expert.
10:28Rick gave me a call because he had a jetpack from the Gemini program, and hopefully I'll be
10:32able to answer his questions.
10:34So this is a jetpack that a customer brought in, and he wants us to restore it.
10:39He doesn't want me to make this thing work, which I'm thanking God, because I'm no rocket
10:45scientist.
10:46So I started tearing it down, and we saw this gadgetry and everything inside of it, and
10:51that's why I called you.
10:52I needed some kind of expert opinion on what I should and shouldn't do, and how I don't
10:56want to ruin it, you know?
10:57Sure.
10:57This is not just any jetpack.
10:59Every astronaut that goes out on a spacewalk wears a pack that has its origins in this
11:05jetpack.
11:06This is how we started to develop how we would maneuver in space.
11:10Right.
11:10You know, when we were taking it apart, check this thing out.
11:14You know, you go.
11:16So you have Gene was the guy who flew it, of course.
11:18Right.
11:19Buzz on Gemini 12 was supposed to be the next one to fly it.
11:22Ah.
11:22But something didn't go right with Gene's walk.
11:25It was literally the spacewalk from hell, as he put it.
11:28Oh, there you go.
11:29Well, I was wondering what that meant.
11:32This was in the early days of the space program, and we didn't know how to spacewalk.
11:37He had to make his way out of the hatch, and then his faceplate kept on fogging up.
11:41He had damaged his spacesuit.
11:43He did not have the thermal regulation in his suit, so he was sweating up a real storm.
11:47Right.
11:47He said he'd lost about 15 pounds.
11:50Wow.
11:50He sweat off 15 pounds?
11:52It was a dangerous situation.
11:54That must have been a walk from hell.
11:56So you have three main tanks here.
11:58This is what would hold the hydrogen peroxide.
12:01Okay.
12:01This was the propellant.
12:02Okay.
12:03Up here, in the spherical tank, you had nitrogen, and that's what pushed the hydrogen peroxide out.
12:08Okay.
12:08And then this had nothing to do with propulsion.
12:10This was your oxygen.
12:11Do I get in there and start taking stuff out, pulling out, and cleaning up?
12:15You know, if you started taking this apart, it might be the jigsaw puzzle you just never could reassemble.
12:20Yeah, we're pretty good at it, but personally, I mean, I wouldn't.
12:25I would leave this intact.
12:27I love taking stuff all the way apart and putting it all back together again, but this thing looks really,
12:33really complex on the inside.
12:35I mean, so complex that it took a rocket scientist to put it together.
12:39Can't wait to see what you do with it.
12:40Yeah, we'll see, right?
12:56Hey, Leonard.
12:57Hey.
12:57My dad wanted to give you this Rick shirt because, uh, I guess we're going on some pics with Ron,
13:02so he just wanted to give it...
13:04That is so cool.
13:06Leonard's new to the shop, and we're giving him a chance to do some freelance work going on pics with
13:10Ron, and he's a little, uh, excitable.
13:14This is a super soaker slash fire extinguisher slash weapon of war.
13:19This is weird.
13:21Hey, Tyler.
13:23I think we're going to have to make a couple new fuel cells for the jetpack.
13:26Wait, there's a jetpack.
13:27Jetpack.
13:28Jetpack.
13:28Like a type of jetpack?
13:30Like jetpack.
13:31Wait, can I see?
13:32Can I see it?
13:33Yeah.
13:36Well, there it is, Leonard.
13:37This is so cool.
13:38Are we going to fill this baby up on a hydrogen peroxide?
13:41Because that's what they used for fuel.
13:43It's pretty neat the way it works.
13:45It's basically like a water molecule with an extra oxygen attached.
13:49When you want to thrust forward, you hit the throttle, release a little bit of silver, which rips the extra
13:55oxygen off, generating water molecules and a hell of a lot of heat.
14:00The water is vaporized, and super concentrated steam shoots out the back, and you soar majestically through space.
14:06Like rockets.
14:07I say we do it.
14:08I say we make this baby fly.
14:13Well, that's all fine and dandy, Leonard, but right now, we need to make a couple of these to replace
14:18the damaged ones.
14:19Is there something I can do?
14:21All right, well, first we've got to start off by cutting some sheet metal for this.
14:24Let's cut it.
14:26This should be really interesting.
14:28So what you've got to do is basically you put the metal in here, you have to make sure everything
14:32is lined up and square, and then you hit this.
14:35Whoa.
14:37Okay.
14:37All right, after you.
14:39Okay.
14:40So I'm going to line this up real nice.
14:47It's not working.
14:48You're going to have to try a little harder than that.
14:53Yeah!
14:55Did it.
14:56You need a little work.
14:58Come on, Leonard.
15:00A good place for you is on the road with Ron.
15:02You keep the intelligence there.
15:03Well, let's hit the road then.
15:17This way.
15:18Here you go.
15:18Last time you blindfolded me.
15:19I know.
15:20I know.
15:21All right.
15:22Okay, Darius, you ready to see this thing?
15:24Yep.
15:24Here you go.
15:26Check it out.
15:27Wow, what a great job you did, Rick.
15:34Check it out.
15:35That's fantastic.
15:37Oh, Rick, you did such a great job on this.
15:42It's exactly as I imagined, although I had no idea what it was going to look like, if that makes
15:48any sense.
15:48You made this into an art piece.
15:50Yeah.
15:51Tell me what you did.
15:53Well, you know, it came in and it was all dented up, you know?
15:55The nose of it was beat in.
15:57A lot of the sides were beat up.
15:59So we got all the dents all pretty much out of it.
16:03The neon got put on it in a way that it went through two holes here, and then you still
16:07have these hooks.
16:08See how it hooks there?
16:09And then hooks up here.
16:11And these are all black up here, so when it's up in the air, you really can't see it.
16:13We had to cut the end of the balm out for that tip to come through.
16:16This is exactly what I wanted it to be.
16:19You restored it, but then you made it into a piece of art as well.
16:22That's what sets it apart.
16:23I love it.
16:24I've been dying to say it.
16:26It's the balm.
16:29Let's go into the office and we'll finish up the rest of the paperwork, and then we'll ship that airmail.
16:33All right.
16:36De-rusting chrome can be pricey.
16:38We get a lot of questions from customers on how to deal with it inexpensively.
16:56The answer and more coming up.
17:06Which of these household items can be used to remove the rust from the chrome?
17:11The correct answer is C, aluminum foil.
17:15What you're going to do is take a small piece of aluminum foil and dip it in water.
17:22Then rub it on the rusted chrome.
17:25The friction mixes the water, the rust, and the aluminum, which produces a fine metal polishing compound that smooths the
17:33chrome surface to a bright shine.
17:35As you can see, this is a very inexpensive way of removing the rust from your chrome.
17:42We've been restoring what is no question probably the coolest, most complicated piece we've ever done.
17:48A NASA jet pack.
17:49We've polished it up and made new pieces for it, and I think it looks great.
17:53I just hope the client agrees.
17:55So can we look at it?
17:56We've got to wait for the customer.
17:57Andy's not here yet.
17:58You sound excited to see this thing.
17:59I want to see it.
18:00I mean, I don't own it, but I want to see it.
18:01You know what I mean?
18:02When I was a kid, being an astronaut was possibly the coolest thing on the planet.
18:05There's Andy now.
18:06Hey, Andy.
18:07You want Rick?
18:07I brought Rick because when we did the drop, he was pretty excited to see it.
18:11So I told him that we're going to reveal it today.
18:13Are you excited?
18:14I'm very excited, but as excited as I am, I'm nervous.
18:19Nervous?
18:19You're very nervous.
18:20This is just one of four AMUs left.
18:23So you're worried that I messed it up?
18:26I'm sure you put, like, flames on it.
18:29That would have been cool, right?
18:30I was pretty nervous working on it.
18:32In fact, I even had to bring in an expert.
18:34All right, let's go take a look at it.
18:35Okay, all right.
18:36This is a real special artifact.
18:38There's only four in existence, and I hope he took the care and time to really make sure
18:43he did it correctly.
18:45All right, so, Andy, do you remember what this thing looked like?
18:48Like it tumbled down a mountain.
18:49Every panel had a dent or a scratch.
18:52Yeah.
18:52A lot of the decals were faded on it.
18:55Velcro was peeled up.
18:57There was nozzles missing.
18:58Right.
18:59There was a lot of things wrong with it.
19:00I'm going to have Rick help me pull this off.
19:02Okay.
19:02So, yeah.
19:03Yeah, if you just take from right about here, Rick.
19:05I feel like Vanna White.
19:06You're there now, buddy.
19:08All right, we're just going to go up and over.
19:10All right, one, two, three.
19:11Go.
19:12Wow.
19:13No way.
19:15Oh, my gosh.
19:17Unbelievable.
19:18I mean, it was dirty.
19:19It was filthy.
19:20Everything was torn up.
19:22Unbelievable.
19:23Unbelievable.
19:26And it's not just restored.
19:28It's perfect.
19:29Yeah.
19:29Oh, thanks.
19:30Did you actually go to the trouble of polishing the glass?
19:33Yeah, I mean, we wanted to do the best job possible, and cleaning it up was tough without
19:37totally ripping it apart, because I sort of like doing that.
19:40I like ripping into stuff and checking it out and figuring out how things work.
19:42Robert, the expert guy, said, you tear it apart, you'll never get it back together.
19:47Ever.
19:47He told us what to do and what not to do.
19:50So then we got in to start doing all the skins on it, all the side skins, the back skin,
19:56this whole side over here.
19:57Yes.
19:57Where it was all dented, we straightened those all out, took all the parts off.
20:01Every single thing came off the outside of it.
20:03And then all these levers and knobs, polished those up.
20:07Ted went and put all the labeling back.
20:09Wow.
20:09Check this nozzle out.
20:10So you push, just push it back.
20:15Guns a-blazing.
20:16That's awesome.
20:17The release button was broke also, so we had to fix all that, make that straight.
20:22All these nozzles were dented from getting beat up, so we took them all off, pounded them
20:27all straight, polished them up the way they would have been.
20:29The attachments over here that would attach to his suit are all plugged in.
20:33Redid the knobs.
20:34You can see both the knobs have been taken off.
20:37Stuff's like wizardry trying to get it off.
20:39You'd think you'd just unscrew the thing, but there's 15 little nuts and bolts that you've
20:42got to pull apart.
20:43Everything for space has to have four ways to attach it.
20:47Oh.
20:47So it doesn't fly off.
20:48That's why.
20:48It doesn't fly off.
20:49This is probably one of the coolest things you've ever done.
20:52It looks like it belongs in the Smithsonian.
20:54Well, the important thing, too, is for younger generations to see this to be inspired.
20:59Right.
21:00Originally, my goal was to actually sell the item at the pawn shop, and I'm glad I didn't
21:06sell it.
21:06I do have to thank you very much.
21:08You said you knew a guy, and boy, did you know a guy.
21:11If it's made out of metal, he can fix it.
21:13I can just tell you that right now.
21:15Thanks, both of you.
21:16I mean, it was an honor.
21:17All right, so let's go in the office, and I'll get the spaceman for you.
21:21All right.
21:21And you can head off.
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