- 2 days ago
The heat is on as the team struggle to restore a 1950s coffee machine. Meanwhile, Rick battles to keep his cool as he converts a 1930s refrigerator into a wine box.
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00:05Up next on American Restoration.
00:09Hey, Tyler's on the phone.
00:10What'd you do now?
00:11Whenever Tyler calls me from school, it's never a good thing.
00:14All right, be there in a minute.
00:16Run!
00:16Let's go, we gotta run!
00:18I have a little icebox.
00:20I would like to make it into a wine chiller.
00:22Normally I don't re-engineer stuff, but the customer's always right.
00:25Whoa!
00:26My dad wants us to go see if we can find some of the missing parts.
00:29You seen anything at all yet?
00:31No.
00:32This was hopeless.
00:34Remember back in the day when things were made by hand and people took pride in their work?
00:40My name's Rick Dale, and I bring these things back to life.
00:44Every restoration has its own set of challenges.
00:48There's no owner's manual for what we do, but there's no job we can't handle.
01:06Rick!
01:08Rick!
01:09Rick!
01:10Rick!
01:10Hey!
01:10Tyler's on the phone.
01:13What'd you do now?
01:14Whenever Tyler calls me from school, it's never a good thing.
01:17I'm not really sure what this is about, but I'm pretty damn sure it's not about him getting
01:21on the honor roll.
01:22All right, be there in a minute.
01:24Bye.
01:28Run!
01:29Let's go.
01:29We gotta run.
01:38What's up?
01:39What you got?
01:39So when I was leaving the parking lot earlier, I saw this, and when I walked up to it, it
01:44said Maxwell's, so I'm just assuming it's an old coffee machine.
01:47Help me spin it around.
01:50It's cool.
01:51By the plate, you know, it says it's a stoner.
01:54Normally, when Tyler calls me from school, he did something wrong.
01:58But I'll be damned, I think this time he found some.
02:01Well, I see why they threw it out.
02:02It's missing a lot of parts.
02:03Is that like a thing for cups?
02:04I don't know.
02:05I didn't even know they made vending machines for coffee.
02:07Yeah, they did.
02:09With the first coffee machine, the guy literally came in, and he poured coffee in a thing, and
02:12you pushed it, and it would give you coffee out, and you got, you know, all-day-old coffee.
02:16But the cool thing about this machine is that they actually could put in a dime, and you'd
02:21literally get fresh coffee.
02:22This vending machine was such a revolutionary idea when it came out.
02:26For the first time, you didn't have to worry about getting coffee that had been sitting
02:29around all day.
02:31I have never done one, but I have seen a picture.
02:34This thing here had a girl's face on it, and then it had all glass here, and then it
02:38would have an area where you'd push a button to where you'd get cream or sugar or hot chocolate.
02:43Tyler, I think this is a great find.
02:44Somebody else's trash is our treasure.
02:46We'll be able to make some money on it.
02:48So that means I get half, right?
02:51Finders fee is usually like 10%.
02:53Oh, all right.
02:53It's not 50.
02:54Okay.
02:54Nice try, though.
02:55I'm really impressed that Tyler even found this thing.
02:58Unless it's wearing a skirt, he never seems to notice a damn thing.
03:02Tyler is really starting to get this business.
03:04He's understanding that if we can get this thing for free, we'll make a lot more money.
03:08Let's go ahead and pull your truck up, and we'll load it up.
03:13Ready?
03:14Watch the toes.
03:19I've never seen you give anyone a finder's fee.
03:22I mean, he did find it.
03:23Can I get a cut of it if I find all the missing parts?
03:26Isn't that what I pay you to do anyways?
03:35Rick, I'm Hubba.
03:36Hubba, good to meet you.
03:37Nice to meet you.
03:38I came to Rick's restoration today.
03:40I have a little ice box from 1930s, and I'd like to see if Rick can make it into a
03:45little wine chest.
03:48What it was, it was an ice box, right?
03:50Yes, it was.
03:51I think the ice went down in here, I believe.
03:54Ice went right here.
03:56Oh, the ice went here.
03:57I see.
03:57These were in places like rural areas that they didn't have electricity.
04:01Right, right.
04:03Down here is your coldest portion, so you'd keep your milk and your cream.
04:07This is Montgomery Wards.
04:09They were in business for like 135 years selling like all kinds of goodies.
04:13So, what were you thinking about doing with this?
04:15I would think I would like to make it into a wine chiller.
04:18If you're wanting to do the wine thing, it's like 63 degrees or something like that.
04:22Constantly for red wine.
04:24I'd like to take a refrigerant unit and put it in here.
04:27Is it refrigerated to where it'll only be set to 63 degrees or is it refrigerated like lower?
04:32That's a great question.
04:32Can I adjust it?
04:33You could adjust it.
04:34Let's say you wanted to go white in here.
04:36Yeah.
04:36I'll need to play with the circulation of it to get it to dial in right, but yes, you can
04:40adjust it.
04:41I generally don't like re-engineering things, but when a customer wants it, I gotta do it.
04:46Would you change the shelves around?
04:48Actually, what we can do is we can put oak inside here, have little ribs like this.
04:53Then I do have some ideas about the outside and the painting and stuff.
04:57Yeah.
04:57I'd like to do it up in like a vineyard style.
05:00That's a nice idea.
05:02All right, we need to talk a little price here.
05:04Yeah.
05:05I'd probably have three hours in teardown, maybe four hours in bodywork, four hours in
05:11regular solid color paint, and then 10 hours in custom painting.
05:16Yeah.
05:16Then to get to the inside, I want to do all that in oak.
05:19And of course, the compressor alone has probably cost us $600, $700.
05:22So a total restoration, you're running right around $2,500.
05:27$2,500?
05:28Dollars.
05:30The thing about wine coolers, you know, you got yourself a $200
05:34bottle of wine.
05:35Yeah.
05:36I'll tell you what, if that thing gets hot in there, you just ruin $2,000 worth of wine.
05:39That's very true.
05:40That's very true.
05:40So it's very important that it's built correctly.
05:43Ah, you're selling me a little bit here.
05:46All right, we have a deal.
05:47All right, bud.
05:47Let's go inside and write you up.
05:49Tyler, let's go ahead and put it in the lineup.
05:51Thank you, Tyler.
05:51Nice meeting you.
05:52Nice meeting you.
06:00Okay, Ty.
06:01Well, this whole entire plumbing in here has all been welded in.
06:05Earlier, Tyler called me from school to tell me that he found an old coffee machine that
06:09somebody threw away.
06:10It's definitely in bad shape, but I won't know how bad a shape it's in until
06:14Tyler and I start tearing it apart.
06:17Holy .
06:18So whatever you do, if you're seeing something like that, I want you to take pictures
06:21of it instead of just ripping it out because nobody's going to know how it goes back together,
06:24all right?
06:25What is that?
06:25That's a switch.
06:27The majority of the things that are missing on this are the exterior parts.
06:30The glass and the...
06:32Chrome and the bezels and all that stuff on the front.
06:35This coffee machine is in rough shape.
06:37I'm starting to get a little worried because if we can't get it working again, my finder's
06:40fee will be around $0, and $0 won't get me very far.
06:45It's on fire.
06:46Burning that oil.
06:47You all right?
06:50It's hot.
06:52Blow.
06:54We just tore down the coffee machine, and it's missing a lot.
06:57But there's enough for Cowboy to start prepping and polishing, and Brentley to start sandblasting.
07:04While they're doing that, I'm stuck with my Uncle Ron.
07:07My dad wants us to go see if we can find some of the missing parts for the coffee machine.
07:13Tyler and I are searching one of the largest flea markets in the area for coffee machine parts.
07:18I've actually had some good luck at flea markets in the past.
07:20And I know for a fact that some of these vendors are known for carrying old vending machine parts.
07:28I think Cowboy would have anything to say if we brought this home over our back like this.
07:32One of those.
07:35You seen anything at all yet?
07:37Actually, no.
07:45Earlier, we had an icebox dropped off by a customer.
07:48He wants this turned into a functioning wine cooler.
07:51So, first things first, my guy's got to tear this thing down.
07:54So, is this a refrigerator?
07:57Yeah. Can't you see it? It says refrigerator.
08:00Oh. So, where's the plug?
08:02No plug. It runs off ice. It's an icebox.
08:07Icebox? Where do they get the ice from?
08:09From water.
08:11Well, I know that. It's not like they went out to a lake or something and just cut out a
08:15piece of ice or something.
08:16Most people learn by asking questions. There's nothing wrong with asking a good question.
08:20But dumb questions irritate the out of me.
08:23What's the matter where the ice came from?
08:26I'm tearing it down. I'd like to know, Kyle.
08:28I knew Kyle was anal, not this anal. I mean, we just got started and it looks like he wants
08:33to throw a wrench at my head.
08:36Take the feet off.
08:41You need to put all that in a bag.
08:42What? All the screws?
08:44Don't just throw them in there. Bag it and tag it.
08:46We work on hundreds of machines a year.
08:48There's no manual to put these things together.
08:50You just throw the around, nobody's going to know where it goes.
08:53And that takes time to figure it out. Time is money.
08:56Oh, this is ridiculous.
08:58Let me just cut them off.
09:06Earlier, we found a discarded coffee machine that we're trying to restore.
09:09It's missing a ton of parts.
09:11So I sent out Ron and Tyler to see what they can find.
09:14Meanwhile, I'm having Ted paint this mirror.
09:16The mirror has integrated into it graphics and instructions.
09:20So we can't just take a mirror, cut it to shape and put it on the machine.
09:23We have to start from scratch.
09:24We have a piece of glass.
09:25We will paint the graphics on it and then we will actually silver it.
09:29This glass has to be absolutely spotlessly clean.
09:32A little piece of dust can land in it and ruin the silver
09:34where you'd have to remove it and start over again.
09:36There's quite a few different chemicals that have to be mixed just at the last minute.
09:40Once the actual silvering process begins, it happens right before your eyes.
09:43It's kind of like magic.
09:44Here we go.
09:52Tyler and I have spent the last two hours at this flea market
09:54looking for parts for this coffee machine.
09:56So far, bam!
09:58It's not looking good.
09:59License plates.
10:03We are finding everything here but what we have.
10:07Do we have anything that looks like it would go along with vending machines?
10:13About this box over here.
10:15That's what we have right now.
10:17If you need anything, just call me, okay?
10:19Okay.
10:19All right.
10:21Let's take a look through this stuff.
10:23All right.
10:24Well, this looks like a good mount on it.
10:26It could be part of a cup holder.
10:28This is definitely great for the front, like a drip tray.
10:31They definitely look like parts that go to a vending machine, but just, is it the right vending machine?
10:36Look at that.
10:38Oh.
10:40Yeah.
10:40Right?
10:40The filter.
10:41I'm not really sure that this is for our machine, but I'm pretty sure it'll work.
10:46Yeah.
10:46Our goal is to always make things as authentic as possible, but sometimes we just can't do
10:51that.
10:51We may just need to tweak them a little bit, but no matter what, I'm going to get my cut.
10:55All right.
10:56So let's go get that lady over here and we will show you how it's done.
11:14All right.
11:15$40?
11:16Well, I got to talk to the boss and see if she can agree.
11:19Do your best.
11:19Use that smile that she used on me.
11:21Okay.
11:21Get her to do it, okay?
11:22Okay.
11:24Don't want to know, they could take the bucks for the vendors, $40 for everything.
11:31Okay.
11:32She said okay.
11:33She did.
11:34We got a deal.
11:35Right on.
11:36Tyler may have found the actual coffee machine, but I just found the parts that are going
11:39to bring it back to life.
11:41Looks like I deserve part of that finder's fee after all.
11:44Suck on that, Tyler.
11:45Take it for the later.
11:45You guys have a good day, okay?
11:47Bottom line is we're eventually going to sell an entire machine and not a couple parts Ron
11:51found at a flea market.
11:52Finder's fee should go 100% to me.
11:54I found it.
11:55You got that?
11:56Yeah.
11:59Everybody's been working hard on this icebox.
12:01Bradley removed all the original paint, Phil smoothed out the body, and I just got it.
12:05He just gave the entire shell a couple of fresh coats of paint.
12:08So now Cowboy and Kyle got to build the inside and hook up the refrigerant unit.
12:12Got to make sure that we keep it all the way over here so that we hide my nails.
12:17Okay.
12:17I'm known around here as the prince of prep and polish, but I'm really a carpenter at heart.
12:22I'll step back and look at it and see if it looks right.
12:25That's where it's going up.
12:28Looks like it's down there.
12:29I made these five oak shelves that Rick says have to tether to the cork.
12:33I think that means they have to be slanted.
12:36This is why I drink beer, because beer doesn't need to tether to anything but my mouth.
12:47Sometimes Rick won't call me for weeks, and sometimes he'll have me working on several projects at one time, and
12:52now is definitely one of those times.
12:54I'm going to be painting some original artwork on the exterior doors of an icebox that Rick is converting into
12:59a wine jeweler.
13:00Rick wants to use something of an Art Nouveau design.
13:03Art Nouveau uses a lot of trees and leaves and fruit and scroll work.
13:07Most of the designs are actually quite detailed, so I think it'll come out really good, but I can't make
13:13any promises.
13:22We've been trying to restore an old coffee machine that Tyler found in a dumpster behind his school.
13:27These are just like the vending machines used in the early Las Vegas hotels and resorts, like the El Rancho,
13:33which had an Old West cowboy theme.
13:34My goal is to eventually sell this thing, and I think it's a great tribute of the pioneering days of
13:40this town to give it the exact same western look and feel of the first Las Vegas themed hotels.
13:45But what we do to the outside won't mean a damn thing if the inside of this thing doesn't work.
14:01We've been working right up to the last minute converting this icebox into a wine chiller.
14:06Good to go.
14:07The customer's on his way, and I've never done one of these things, so I'm really excited to see the
14:11look on his face when he sees it.
14:13I came down to Rick's restoration today to pick up my 1932 Montgomery Ward icebox, and I'm ready to see
14:19it.
14:19Hey, Hubba, how's it going? You must be here for the wine cooler.
14:22I got a call from your dad. He said it's ready. Now, how did it turn out?
14:26Hey, Hubba, what you looking for?
14:28Whoa! Rick, look at that. That looks fantastic.
14:33I am absolutely shocked. This was such a great surprise. It is perfect.
14:38Pretty awesome, huh?
14:39That looks really, really good. What a great job.
14:43So how we did it was we shot this in the cream first, and then we had our art guy
14:48just go to town on this.
14:49This right here. It hand painted the whole thing, and it just really sets it off, I think.
14:53Absolutely terrific. The artwork far exceeded my expectations. I have red grapes, white grapes, a swirl going down into a
15:02wine glass.
15:03Let me ask you a question. Did you get the opportunity to, we have the white with one temperature and
15:09the red with the other temperature?
15:10Well, let me show you what I did. The outside's pretty, but you got to see the inside.
15:15Wow!
15:16On the bottom, this is the area that's the coolest. So those are your whites.
15:19Right.
15:20Over here, it goes from whites up to reds. And then we handmade all of these racks out of oak.
15:27And we've got them leaning so that the wine is heading to the cork like it should be.
15:31Now in here, this is actually a refrigerant unit that we painted it wood green in there to match this
15:37because it's plastic.
15:38So that's actually a piece that gets cold.
15:40So that's a cold plate.
15:41It's a cold plate. Exactly.
15:43I get it.
15:43So this area here can hold white, it could hold beer, it could hold whatever you want.
15:48I can't wait to show this off.
15:50We came in right at budget.
15:52Ooh, ooh, something over here likes that a lot.
15:55Alright, we'll get somebody to help you load that. Let's go inside and we'll take some of your cash.
15:59Ah!
15:59Oh!
16:00I am going to display that. That's a showpiece.
16:03And for $2,500, I'm gonna talk a lot about it.
16:11Tyler, we took those parts you guys got at the flea market, but I'm not quite sure they're gonna fit.
16:15What'd you pay for these?
16:16Me and Ron got the whole box for $40.
16:19Ron and you?
16:19Ron and I.
16:21It's gonna be great if these parts fit in the coffee machine because that means we'll be able to make
16:24it work.
16:25Which means I might actually get a finder's fee after all.
16:28No thanks to Ron.
16:29These brackets, I got those all mounted.
16:32I don't quite know which goes which here.
16:34I think this is creamer because it needs to be mixed the least.
16:36One of those is coffee and one of them is cocoa.
16:38This one here isn't gonna reach, is it?
16:40Nope.
16:40Dang it.
16:41The trick to making this thing work is to get all the canisters to fit.
16:44Alright.
16:44And feed into the main line into the middle.
16:52Where's the long one go again?
16:54You know, you gotta figure it out by trial and error.
16:56Right?
16:57Bam!
16:58And all of them light up.
17:00Alright Tyler, you did a good job getting those parts.
17:02You're definitely learning.
17:03I know.
17:03Don't let it go to your head.
17:12We've been working on this coffee machine for several weeks.
17:15We used a combination of old and new parts in order to make it work and then decorated it with
17:20a bit of nostalgia.
17:21Now, we need a buyer.
17:23A little while ago, I sold a visible gas pump at an auction to a guy named Brent.
17:27While I was there, the guy bought everything.
17:30So I got his number and gave him a call to see if this might be something he'd be interested
17:33in.
17:34Well, how are you?
17:35Good to see you again, Brent.
17:36Good to see you.
17:37Rick called me and told me that he was in the process of restoring a 50's copy machine.
17:41And I'm a product of the 50's.
17:43So I came down to look at his restoration and I'm anxious to see what he's done.
17:47Well, this is a real unveiling.
17:49This is an unveiling, yes.
17:50So, um, you ready?
17:52I'm ready.
17:52Here we go.
17:54Voila!
17:54Oh my gosh.
17:55When I saw this creation, I couldn't believe it.
17:58Because as a young boy, I remember the El Rancho Hotel.
18:02And to think what he's done to it, the beauty of the thing is just unbelievable.
18:07This is actually a 1954 machine.
18:09Okay.
18:09My son called me one day from school and he said, Dad, I think I found some kind of a
18:15vending machine.
18:15So my brother and I ran over and there was, it was missing a lot of parts though, a lot
18:19of stuff.
18:20This is steel and we made it look like wood.
18:22It's incredible.
18:24My sign painter uses different chemicals and made in a mirror.
18:27And then he ended up painting all this artwork on the front, all that artwork on the side.
18:31Then we ended up chroming the whole thing and polishing it all out.
18:36Oh my gosh.
18:37There's a box in the back that has a ton of cams in it with switches and stuff.
18:41And when you put the dime in, it would turn this, drop the cup, and it'd fill your cup.
18:46You know, I really can't believe what you've created here.
18:49Yeah.
18:50But does it work?
18:51Yeah, of course.
18:59There you go.
19:01And you put lots of cream in it.
19:02Yeah.
19:03It's straight up black.
19:04I thought that's what you'd like.
19:05I can't believe it.
19:06Mmm.
19:07Oh boy, that's strong.
19:09Yeah?
19:09The coffee for me was a little strong, but the fact that it works with mechanical parts
19:14and a lot of electronics, I mean, absolutely incredible.
19:17Okay, Rick, you called me and invited me down to see this.
19:21Let's start talking price.
19:23I have a lot of time and money invested in this machine.
19:27I'm going to set the price on this at $10,000.
19:29That way, just in case he starts negotiating, I'll be able to get between $6,000 and $8,000.
19:35The thing is, with everything going on in there, I really think it's worth right around $10,000.
19:43I thought you'd like it.
19:45I thought it was a piece that was one of a kind.
19:49You take credit cards?
19:52Yes.
19:54Debit cards?
19:55Yes, sir.
19:59Well, you know...
20:12I'd have to say yes.
20:13Oh, you're the man.
20:14Okay.
20:14You make me happy.
20:16All right, let's go do some paperwork.
20:18Okay.
20:18You know, $10,000 is a lot of money, but it's one of a kind.
20:22I'll certainly get a lot of wows, and you're crazy, you know, for my friends and family.
20:28But it's the thing I enjoy doing.
20:31Earlier, my dad sold that coffee machine that I found, so I figure it's time for him to pay up.
20:35I just have no idea why my uncle's following me.
20:38Rick!
20:39He found parts for it.
20:40Last time I checked, that's his job.
20:43What's up, man?
20:44What do you guys want?
20:45We heard the coffee machine sold, dude.
20:47I'm here to pick out my money.
20:48No, it's my money.
20:49I found the machine.
20:50I found the parts that made it an actual machine.
20:52Okay, but you couldn't have just sold the parts.
20:55You bought the parts for $20,000.
20:59Here, I'll settle this right now.
21:01What is this?
21:03Lunch money?
21:0410%.
21:04That's $30.
21:0510% of what?
21:06It was worth $300 when we found it.
21:08Now, stop bothering me.
21:09Get out of here.
21:10Get back to work.
21:13There you are.
21:14That blows.
21:16He's so cheap.
21:17Ridiculously cheap.
21:18You can see.
21:18It looks like you 200,000.
21:18You can do it.
21:18You're trying to get the food.
21:19You should be 34,000.
21:19Get back to work.
21:19You can do the money.
21:20Time to do everything.
21:20You're going to be 34,000.
21:20Yay.
21:20You should be 35,000.
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