(phone rings)
MIKE: Dani D, what's up? ROB: What's up, Dani?
DANIELLE: Good morning to the lovely Wolfe boys. How are you doing?
MIKE: Oh, I love it when you call us that. ROB: Yeah.
MIKE: What's shaking? What you got?
DANIELLE: Alright, talk about a dream pick.
I'm gonna send you to meet Dirk.
Now, Dirk's been collecting coin-op
and really choice door display automatons forever.
MIKE: Yeah? What time period are you talking?
DANIELLE: Seems to be a lot of '40s and '50s.
ROB: That's the good stuff, man.
DANIELLE: This place is insane.
I mean, he loves this stuff, but he's moving on.
He's got a new passion.
In the last five years,
he has bought three different roadside attractions.
ROB: Really? DANIELLE: Yes. Like, a Crystal Cave.
MIKE: Oh, that's in Missouri. He bought that?
DANIELLE: Absolutely he did.
MIKE: So, he's buying properties that are roadside attractions
that have some history? DANIELLE: Yeah.
ROB: Wow. MIKE: Really?
DANIELLE: He also has a tilted house.
MIKE: Oh, that's in, uh... Michigan!
DANIELLE: Yes! MIKE: He's stepping up to the plate then,
because I'll tell you what, it's one thing to buy them,
then you gotta maintain them, you gotta have all the employees,
you got to do all that stuff. That's a huge commitment.
DANIELLE: Well, yeah. Because of that, he's really
trying to clear out his other collection.
He is ridiculously passionate about Americana,
so I think you guys are gonna get along well.
ROB: Awesome, awesome. MIKE: Oh my gosh.
DANIELLE: Alright, I love you boys. Have fun.
I'll send you the address. ROB: Thanks Dani D.
MIKE: Bye. ROB: See you.
(upbeat music)
ROB: It's right here. MIKE: Yeah, it's up at the top
of this hill on the right.
Look at the size of this building, dang!
ROB: What the heck is this thing?
MIKE: Looks like one of those chicken coops.
There's the guy right there.
(honking) MIKE: Grab a flyer.
MIKE: Hey, how are you doing, man? I'm Mike.
DIRK: Oh, Mike, I'm Dirk. How are you?
MIKE: This is my brother, Robbie.
DIRK: Robbie, nice to meet you. MIKE: Hit him with a flyer.
Coin-op. DIRK: Oh.
We got some of that stuff.
MIKE: You been to the Chicago show?
DIRK: I have not. I would love to go.
MIKE: I figured you would've travelled through Chicago
just because Dani was telling us about
your roadside attractions.
She told me you own the Crystal Cave.
DIRK: Yeah! MIKE: I've been to that.
How long's that been around?
DIRK: It started in 1893. ROB: What?!
MIKE: No... DIRK: Second oldest cavern
in the state of Missouri. MIKE: No way!
DIRK: It's amazing, yeah.
DIRK: I currently own three roadside attractions.
One in Onsted, Michigan, the Mystery Hill.
We also own the Crystal Cave.
And the third attraction is the Crystal Goldmine,
an authentic goldmine created in the 1860s.
MIKE: So, Dani said you're kind of transitioning
a little bit, you know, as far as your passions?
DIRK: Well, I love roadside America.
MIKE: Okay. You and me both.
DIRK: I am just a nut for the Americana.
MIKE: I love it. Just the way the country opened up,
the travel, and everything, you know.
DIRK: Yeah. Back in the '50s, it was all about road trips.
MIKE: One thing Americans can definitely plant our flags in
is the roadside attraction.
In the 1920s when the US highway system was expanding
and transportation became more affordable,
the roadside attraction was born.
With so many people traveling to parts of the country
they normally wouldn't have,
entrepreneurs and a lot of small towns
saw the opportunity to create something
that still lives within all of us to this day.
The largest this, the smallest that
can get us reaching into our pockets
to spend a few bucks.
The great ones awaken our curiosity
and encourage us to pull over
to experience something uniquely local.
MIKE: What's going on? I see you got the coin-op stuff.
MIKE: Are you not putting any of this stuff in these places?
DIRK: Well, you know, I did put some of it in our gift shops,
but this is all items that I've collected over the years.
ROB: Wow. DIRK: I collect anything
that makes me smile,
that brings happiness,
that's fun and frivolous and whacky.
ROB: You're not kidding, you got some stuff.
MIKE: I'm really excited to see that Dirk has an incredible eye.
When you say coin-op, it really encompasses
so many things from so many different time periods.
DIRK: I'm mostly an arcade guy. MIKE: Okay.
DIRK: I love the concept of someone putting in a nickel or a dime.
DIRK: And then shooting a gun. MIKE: Absolutely, man.
DIRK: Or hitting the thing, or squeezing it
and seeing what your love rating is.
MIKE: Right away, we're speaking the international language
of coin-op. A love for coin-op is in all of us.
Whether it's a jukebox, a fortune teller, pinball game.
We all grew up with so many different versions
of these machines.
In the town that my brother and I grew up in,
they had a community center and there was a baseball game,
and it was incredible because you could see the players
run around the bases, you could hear the crowd cheering.
That was the moment the seed was planted
that makes us now love all of this stuff.
And if you truly love coin-op,
you want to know more about the history,
how everything evolved.
All of these machines were designed
to attract you to it, look at it.
The lights, the graphics, the colors.
After that, you're gonna want to put a coin in it,
and then you start the experience
that can transport you and your imagination
anywhere and everywhere.
MIKE: That's cool, Robbie. Right there.
ROB: It's a screen of some sort. Probably lights behind it.
MIKE: That had a speaker. That's a speaker screen.
DIRK: Oh, okay.
MIKE: He's like, "Ha-ha-ha!"
MIKE: This is cool because it's an image
of a ghostly clown laughing on a screen,
and I'm sure it was the cover to a speaker.
So, right away, when I see this, I'm thinking funhouse.
MIKE: What are you thinking on that?
DIRK: Oh... 50 bucks.
MIKE: Alright, I'll buy it. I got a guy that buys
a lot of clown stuff from me. DIRK: That's great.
DIRK: Sounds like it's going to the right home.
MIKE: It's neat. I like it. Thank you.
What do you think, Robbie? ROB: I like clown stuff.
MIKE: Yeah? I'm looking at these clowns right here.
What are these guys from? Was this some sort of store display, or...?
DIRK: I think it was. See, the manufacturer is Old King Cole.
MIKE: Oh yeah, Old King Cole! DIRK: They made a lot of stuff.
MIKE: Oh my gosh, so, Old King Cole,
I've got an Uncle Sam by Old King Cole.
I've got a couple elephants.
I mean, they were a big manufacturer
of a lot of different things. I mean, such quality pieces.
MIKE: Old King Cole's a company that started in the early 1900s
and they were really the Michael Angelo
of store displays. I mean,
the craftsmanship, the subject matters,
they're brilliant. ROB: Let's see it.
Holy cow. (laughing)
ROB: Look at that donkey's head. MIKE: I know, I love it!
DIRK: At some point, I was introduced to automatons.
Things that have movement,
operated either on a coin
or just on their own as store displays or attention-getters.
I think it's folk art.
I love the motion, I love that they're all hand-crafted,
and I thought if I could help preserve those
and bring them back to life
and share them with other folks, that would be awesome.
MIKE: The donkey's crying! ROB: He's crying, the donkey's crying.
MIKE: He's got a tear in his eye.
Oh my gosh, this is great. (Robbie laughing)
MIKE: No way. And then that...
ROB: That just needs some glue. Some glue on there.
DIRK: Isn't that awesome? ROB: It is awesome.
MIKE: It's a great piece. What are you thinking on something like this?
DIRK: Oh, jeez, Mike. Um...
I hadn't really thought about selling it.
I love the donkey, how he's crying
while he's yanking on him. (Mike laughing)
DIRK: It's just, it's a great piece.
MIKE: This piece to me stands out
just because of its sheer size,
but when I asked Dirk about it, I can tell he's in love with it.
I don't want to push it, and there's so many other things
to see in here. I'm just going to move on.
MIKE: What about these pieces?
I've noticed there's one, there's two...
They don't look like they have a lot of age to them.
ROB: This is on Masonite. MIKE: Yeah.
DIRK: I think there's five of them, Mike.
MIKE: Is there? DIRK: Yeah.
MIKE: These pieces are theatrical,
they're colorful, super cool.
But they're reproductions, they're decorator items.
These pieces really start defining a space
because of the subject matter and size.
Too cool to pass up on.
DIRK: I bought them from a collector
and they were used as the backdrop
to a travelling magician.
He would take them to the different shows.
I bought them because I thought they were awesome.
MIKE: Would you sell... You said you had five of them.
DIRK: I got five of them, yeah. You want to look at them?
MIKE: What are you thinking on them? Like, what kind of number?
DIRK: Well... ROB: Do you have the one that has a devil on it?
DIRK: I do. ROB: Pull that one, slide it out a little bit, Mike.
ROB: Yeah, that's the one I was talking about right there.
MIKE: The devil? ROB: Yeah.
MIKE: We've all had those nights.
Woo. Look at this little dog thing with wings.
DIRK: Right. MIKE: What are you thinking on these things?
DIRK: Oh jeez. For all five?
MIKE: Yeah. DIRK: You gotta kind of keep them together.
MIKE: Yeah, I'm thinking about it. Yeah.
DIRK: 4,500?
MIKE: Yeah. I think you're right on the money
as far, like, the value of them.
DIRK: That's the world-renowned Long Tack Sam.
MIKE: Ah... How about 3,500?
This one's pretty nicked up. ROB: That's worn off there.
MIKE: See, I think if I had that in my shop,
I'd probably have 500 bucks on it.
Some of these other ones, maybe as much as a grand.
That one there, that's the biggest one.
MIKE: You'd probably get 12 for that. 3,500.
DIRK: You got to come up a little bit.
MIKE: Oh, I do? (laughing)
MIKE: Alright.
DIRK: How about 39?
ROB: How about 36 and that mask?
DIRK: Oh, the Monopoly Man?
MIKE: They call him the Monopoly Guy.
ROB: Isn't that cool, Mike?
ROB: I had to throw the Monopoly mask in there.
It's a popular game all over the world.
Who wouldn't want a rubber Monopoly head?
ROB: This is cool. MIKE: I like how someone preserved it.
ROB: Yeah, it's totally preserved.
MIKE: How about 3,600, this head?
DIRK: 3,750 and we got it.
ROB: Let's do it at 37 with the head.
DIRK: Perfect. MIKE: Alright, I'm doing it!
DIRK: Alright! MIKE: Very cool.
Alright, good idea on the head thrown in there, Robbie.
ROB: It's cool. MIKE: Dang. You want to touch it?
ROB: It's early.
MIKE: What about this WW2 game over here?
MIKE: That's cool.
DIRK: Well, it's authentic World War II.
MIKE: That's awesome, man.
DIRK: Made in '43, '44.
MIKE: No kidding. DIRK: Right.
DIRK: The Liberator game is a great machine.
Built during the war, it was a very low production machine,
not many produced. And it's fun to play.
You put in your nickel and the planes go around
in a circle, and you've got to shoot them down.
Very few are still around.
MIKE: Where'd you find this one at?
DIRK: You know, I don't remember.
I've had it for a long time.
MIKE: Oh my God, the subject matter is incredible.
DIRK: All original paint.
MIKE: The graphics are what really pulls you into this game.
It's like you're a gunner on a B24.
Back then, you're 12 years old,
you can't go overseas and join in the fight.
But when you're playing this game,
there you are in the top turret of a B24
shooting at everything you can.
Messerschmitts, Stukas, Japanese Zeros,
they're all coming at you
and you feel like you're doing your part. I'm
sure it was very emotional to play a game like this
when so many loved ones were overseas fighting for us.
And remember there were material shortages during the war,
so a lot of these games were built from repurposed
parts of other games.
MIKE: It's a true testament to patriotism and...
DIRK: Oh, the graphics. Look at the graphics.
MIKE: The artwork is incredible. DIRK: You are the gunner, right?
MIKE: Yeah. DIRK: You are the gunner.
MIKE: And it's been sitting here for how long?
DIRK: 20 years. MIKE: Has the machine ever worked?
DIRK: Yes. MIKE: So, it probably needs
some contacts cleaned or something?
DIRK: Yeah, you're gonna want to go through it.
Surface contacts. MIKE: 2,500.
DIRK: Oh, I couldn't do that. I'd go 32.
MIKE: Yeah... I mean, you're right there at the number.
I think it's probably 3,500 retail.
You know, there's not a lot of money to be made at it.
When it did work, it worked well?
DIRK: Yes. MIKE: And you can see now,
like, I'm looking at it. There's starting to be
loss of paint here on the glass.
DIRK: The glass on that one, Mike, has been sealed.
MIKE: Okay. So, you pulled it, sealed it.
DIRK: Right. MIKE: So, you won't have any issues
in the future on that. DIRK: It will not continue to flake.
It's a great piece. MIKE: It is a great piece,
but I really feel like I gotta get somebody
to go through it. 3,000 bucks.
DIRK: But you'll have it to have someone go through it.
MIKE: I'm gonna have 35 on it.
DIRK: 3,000. MIKE: Alright. Okay.
DIRK: Awesome. MIKE: Alright,
we're doing it! I love it.
DIRK: I thought that the final price on the Liberator
was fair for both parties.
I think if you're a World War II collector,
it's a hard one to find.
ROB: Hey, I wanted to ask about this.
This is a great Gottlieb, man. This is a nice machine.
Look at the graphics on this thing. This is like 19...
DIRK: I'd say like 1960?
MIKE: It's wood rail. ROB: That's so cool.
ROB: This pinball machine is advertising Falstaff beer.
On top of that, it's a Gottlieb,
one of the oldest and best companies
to build pinball machines.
It's got the guy on it, the colors are perfect.
This thing I could play for hours.
ROB: Is this a quarter or a dime?
DIRK: It might be set on free play, Rob.
ROB: Okay, hold on. Here. There it is, it's working.
DIRK: There you go. You're playing.
ROB: There we go.
MIKE: When I look at a lot of these
early coin-op machines, I really love to dream about
the space they lived in.
An old tavern, pool hall.
And then you start thinking about the city,
Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago.
As crazy as it sounds, that's one of the reasons
I love this stuff.
ROB: How much is this?
DIRK: How about 850?
ROB: How about 600 if I get to...
if I hit the hole right there. DIRK: Yeah.
ROB: Oh! Aw! Oh no! DIRK: You were so close!
DIRK: Oh no! ROB: Oh!
MIKE: Whoa! Good save, brother.
ROB: I'm getting it.
DIRK: He's like the Pinball Wizard.
ROB: I was a pinball king, man, back in the day.
MIKE: You're Pete Townsend right now.
ROB: Get in the hole!
There it is! DIRK: Woo!
MIKE: Hey! How much?
ROB: 600! DIRK: Deal.
ROB: That was one good hole. DIRK: That was a great shot.
ROB: That was a great shot! Hey, you didn't see this.
It's got the belly rail.
MIKE: I see that. I couldn't see it
because your belly was on it. ROB: Whatever.
(laughing) ROB: And the cigarette holder.
DIRK: Cigarette holder, yeah.
MIKE: Dual cigarette. DIRK: That's right.
ROB: Was this astronaut looking thing,
was that an automaton too?
DIRK: Yeah, I think it came from an old toy store.
It was probably an attraction display.
ROB: Let's see if I can plug him in.
DIRK: Oh, yeah.
ROB: It's just the head moves. DIRK: Yep.
ROB: Wow. Cool. DIRK: He's scanning the surface of the Moon.
ROB: I see that he's standing on the Moon.
DIRK: Right. ROB: Yeah.
DIRK: Do you see his little space gun?
ROB: I saw, the little ray gun in there.
ROB: This astronaut was probably not mass-produced.
His head moves back and forth.
It looks crudely made. But it's still cool.
ROB: The gun, to me, kind of dates it.
He's got like a 1960s, 50s ray gun in him.
DIRK: Look at his shoes, Robbie.
ROB: He's literally got Jordan sneakers on.
DIRK: Well, that might be the most rare thing there.
ROB: I don't know about that. (Dirk laughs)
ROB: Dirk, what are you thinking on this thing?
DIRK: Well, what are you thinking?
There can't be many of them out there.
ROB: 450.
DIRK: 600.
ROB: 525.
DIRK: 6 and a quarter.
ROB: You were at 600!
DIRK: Oh. Going the wrong direction. No, I was at 650.
ROB: No, you weren't! You said 600!
DIRK: Okay. ROB: I was at 525.
(laughing) DIRK: Okay, 525.
Okay, split it. 550. Give him a good home.
ROB: 540. DIRK: 540.
ROB: 540. DIRK: Awesome.
ROB: Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
DIRK: Hey, thank you. ROB: Thank you.
DIRK: He's pretty cool.
ROB: Love it. MIKE: Robbie!
ROB: Yo!
MIKE: Check this out. This is cool.
ROB: You trying to see if the bicycle thing works?
DIRK: That was made by a company called Mike Munves.
MIKE: Yeah. DIRK: And they made some great arcade games.
Very unusual, low production machines,
not a mass-produced look. MIKE: Yeah, you can see
the work that's into it. DIRK: There's very few
that are bicycle themed for arcade games.
MIKE: Robbie, look at the graphics on the side of this.
They're drafting each other here.
ROB: That's cool.
MIKE: I'm a bicycle guy.
This is a bicycle coin-op game.
The subject matter, the graphics, it's just cool.
DIRK: The game starts and you spin that wheel as fast as you can.
ROB: It just says two can play.
DIRK: And your bicycle goes up in a circle.
ROB: You want to put a penny in there or what?
DIRK: Probably a dime.
MIKE: Is there a bag of dimes in there?
DIRK: There we go. MIKE: Okay, there we go.
Oh, here, look. DIRK: It's resetting.
MIKE: It's resetting. Look at this thing.
ROB: First bike to finish two laps wins.
Alright, you ready? MIKE: Ready.
DIRK: Go, go, go! MIKE: What color am I?
ROB: I'm green. I'm green.
MIKE: Oh, it's more than one lap!
DIRK: I can see they are very competitive brothers
for sure on the bike race game.
ROB: Oh! DIRK: Green's the winner.
ROB: That's killer! MIKE: He smoked me, man.
ROB: That's awesome. MIKE: Alright, let me try green.
MIKE: It was fun letting my brother win one.
It's all part of the stewardship
of being an older brother. (laughing)
MIKE: Oh, I'm gonna smoke him!
MIKE: You almost get as much cardio playing this
as you do on a real bike.
MIKE: He's catching me! DIRK: Whoa!
MIKE: The green one's way faster.
DIRK: Go, go, go, go!
MIKE: Yeah!
I think whoever's gonna be on the red one is gonna lose.
(laughing) MIKE: How much is this thing?
DIRK: I hadn't really thought about selling that one, Mike.
MIKE: Woo!
DIRK: I would be at 3,500 on that.
(Mike sighs)
MIKE: Okay. I think you're right on the money
or even a little bit more.
I think in the real world with this, in my opinion,
I mean, and that's all it is, is my opinion.
MIKE: I think it's a 2,500 to $3,00 machine.
DIRK: And so, what would you like to pay, Mike?
MIKE: What's your bottom on it?
DIRK: Probably three.
MIKE: Yeah. I love it, but we're too far apart.
DIRK: Are we? MIKE: Yeah.
I just can't do it at that number.
But I appreciate you letting us look at it.
DIRK: It was too bad that we weren't able to come up
with a price that both of us felt good about
on the bike race. It's a good piece.
MIKE: How about the stork? DIRK: Yeah, I like the stork.
That's an advertising display of some sort.
MIKE: I think it's for shoes, is it?
MIKE: This is a display from the children's section
of a department store,
and it's just speaking to me.
It's a piece of art, and I think somebody
that collects store displays
is absolutely going to love this piece.
MIKE: There's a repair here, obviously.
ROB: Yeah. MIKE: A pretty big one.
DIRK: This, I did. I fiber glassed it.
MIKE: Okay. DIRK: Because this part...
MIKE: Yeah. Because there's a lot of pressure on it.
DIRK: Right. MIKE: Right there.
DIRK: I like his top hat.
MIKE: It's got a great look to it.
Can I throw you an offer on him? DIRK: Of course.
MIKE: 350 bucks.
MIKE: This thing is made out of papier-mache.
So, it's amazing to me
that it's in the condition it's in given its age.
DIRK: Sounds great.
MIKE: Alright, we're doing it. DIRK: 350.
MIKE: Okay. DIRK: Awesome.
And we have other things we can go look at too.
Right through this door.
DIRK: So, this is an actual poultry barn.
50 feet wide, 300 feet deep.
It was in use in the 1940s, 50s.
MIKE: Wow! ROB: Wow!
MIKE: Oh my gosh, look at this. ROB: Dude.
DIRK: It's been a great spot
for me to pack rat my stuff away.
MIKE: Yeah.
DIRK: When I was hot and heavy into collecting,
I would take road trips. I like the old thrill of the hunt.
Sometimes you see something that's unusual
and you really can't identify it
but you know it's well made.
At the moment, you just gotta get it
and figure out what the story is down the road.
ROB: Is that a moonshine guy, Mike?
MIKE: Yeah. Look at his face. ROB: Look at the motor
underneath this thing. Think he tilts his jug back.
DIRK: These automatons told a story,
each one of them had a little story.
Someone had to come up with the imagination
to create them, and when you plug them in,
they start moving around. It's quite the sight to see.
MIKE: Robbie, look at this kid's face.
It's scary looking, man.
That's the stuff nightmares are made of.
ROB: God, these things are ancient.
So, when you were buying up roadside attractions,
were some of these things in it?
DIRK: No, none of this stuff came from roadside attractions.
The roadside attractions are the same era,
they're the same uniqueness,
and I can share them with other folks.
MIKE: Absolutely. And the ripple effect
of a roadside attraction that's up and running again
is huge for the area, economically.
DIRK: It is, yeah. And it preserves history.
MIKE: Dirk is my hero because he is investing
in roadside attractions
that have been a part of so many of these small towns
for generations.
And a lot of these out of the way places
still rely on them economically.
They're still a part of what makes these little towns tick.
MIKE: Have you ever seen any of the wigwams?
DIRK: Oh, the Wigwam Villages. Now, those are amazing.
DIRK: There's one in Arizona.
MIKE: Yeah, I've been to that one.
DIRK: And one in Kentucky.
MIKE: Cave City. DIRK: Cave City.
MIKE: Yep. DIRK: And it came up for sale.
MIKE: I know! It was bought,
and the people that bought it are restoring it.
DIRK: Right. MIKE: Talk about a roadside attraction, though.
DIRK: Yeah, absolutely. MIKE: I mean, that's one of the premier ones in America.
DIRK: And you can stay in it overnight.
MIKE: Absolutely. DIRK: You can actually experience the attraction.
MIKE: Oh my gosh. And it's right next to Mammoth Cave.
MIKE: The Wigwam Villages were actually motels
that were built in the 1930s
in the shape of a wigwam.
If you really pay attention to this stuff,
then you know the second Wigwam Village
that was ever built in Cave City, Kentucky,
was for sale. At one point,
I was actually thinking about buying it
because it was so reasonable.
I mean, it came with a house, all of the wigwams,
the main lodge. I mean, to own a piece
of Americana history like that would be so epic.
But then I started thinking about maintaining it,
finding employees, restoring it,
all that would entail to really be the caretaker
of something like that, and I just backed off of it.
ROB: I gotta ask. At what point do you go home
to your wife and go, "Hey, I bought a wigwam."
ROB: And then she's like... And then you go,
"Hey, we're moving to the wigwam because the house is next door."
DIRK: Yeah. ROB: That's like going to the next level.
DIRK: I have the best wife ever. She is so understanding.
MIKE: Does she love this stuff too?
DIRK: She... (Robbie laughs)
DIRK: ...accepts it. I love it. ROB: Yeah.
DIRK: And she's called me when she runs across something.
"Hey, what about this?" She's into it.
ROB: Yeah. DIRK: Not as much as I am.
MIKE: When you buy these properties,
how are you maintaining them?
Is it difficult to find management and stuff?
DIRK: That's the trick, is finding the staffing
to not only preserve and share it,
but are enthusiastic about it. ROB: Yeah.
DIRK: So, at the Crystal Cave,
we hire a lot of geology students.
MIKE: Okay. Yeah. DIRK: Because they go down
into the cave and you see all the formations,
and when they start talking about it, it's a love.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah. DIRK: And they share the love.
MIKE: They have passion as a tour guide.
DIRK: Yeah.
DIRK: When I'm at one of the properties,
I'm usually incognito. No one knows I'm the owner.
And I'll just sit back and watch, and I'll listen,
and to see the kids smile, and to see them excited.
They saw something they couldn't see any place else.
That's great.
MIKE: What's the story behind this guy?
DIRK: You know, I was at a swap meet
and I just was attracted to him in kind of a weird way.
(all laughing)
ROB: It is kind of a weird item, there.
DIRK: Yeah! ROB: He's got a martini glass hanging from his...
(laughing)
MIKE: This is probably one of the most
bizarre mannequins that I've ever seen.
It's like Max Headroom meets Fred Astaire.
On top of that, he's wearing an apron
with a martini glass on it,
so he's got kind of a Devo thing going on as well.
MIKE: I would just use him to put, like,
vintage clothing on. DIRK: Sure.
MIKE: What are you thinking on him?
DIRK: Oh, jeez. Not much.
MIKE: What's not much? DIRK: Uh... 450?
MIKE: I thought you said not much?
DIRK: Oh, well... (laughing)
What are you thinking?
MIKE: 300 bucks.
DIRK: 375, and he's yours.
MIKE: Alright. I gotta have him.
I've never seen a mannequin with that face.
Seriously, look at his face, man.
DIRK: He's great. MIKE: Couldn't you see him
with a Harley jersey on, Robbie? ROB: Oh, 100%.
MIKE: 1,000%, man. That thing's cool.
MIKE: Hey, what about those rollers back there?
Can you move it out? ROB: Here.
MIKE: You handing it to me? ROB: Yep, yep.
MIKE: Alright. You look like you're doing pretty good.
ROB: Grab this side. Set it down. Yeah.
MIKE: There we go.
DIRK: The way I understood it
was there was a bicycle that sat on it.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a neat piece.
I used to ride rollers.
MIKE: Growing up bicycle racing in Iowa,
we did a lot of training inside in the wintertime.
Rollers had you actually riding your bike.
You're balancing yourself
and free of anything supporting you.
I can tell by the way the rollers are made
and the wheel base of the overall unit
that these are wooden exhibition rollers
from the early 1900s.
And what I mean by exhibition
is they actually had a pair of these next to each other
where racers would compete with each other.
You have odometers so they spectators
can see how fast they're going
and how many miles they're travelling.
This is a great display piece
for anybody collecting early road racing machines.
DIRK: What a great piece, though, to refurbish.
ROB: I'm looking around to see if you got
a bicycle around here. DIRK: I don't have any.
ROB: You got everything else, but no bicycles.
MIKE: What are you thinking on it?
DIRK: Oh jeez. MIKE: It's obviously
a relic of what it was. DIRK: Right.
MIKE: Too bad this is all gone. DIRK: Right.
MIKE: You can see this would've spun.
ROB: Oh, it's a speedometer.
MIKE: Yeah, as this was going on.
You can see some paint right here.
That looks white. There's a one.
ROB: Oh, there it is right there. Three quarter.
This looks like it's distance. Not speed.
MIKE: Yeah, you're right.
DIRK: It's a pretty unique piece.
ROB: It needs some work. DIRK: But it needs some work,
I agree with that. 500 bucks?
MIKE: 400 bucks.
DIRK: Let's split it. 450 if you'll give it a good home.
MIKE: Alright. I'm a bicycle guy. I'll do it.
DIRK: Awesome. MIKE: Thank you.
DIRK: That's awesome. ROB: That's cool.
MIKE: Thank you.
DIRK: It's really cool to see someone
that has the same interest in the items I've collected.
They can appreciate the uniqueness of it all.
What a great opportunity
to share that with other collectors.
ROB: I gotta ask. The construction guys.
DIRK: Oh, the Silent Sams. Right.
ROB: Silent Sam, I remember, they called this.
DIRK: So, the Silent Sams were made in the mid-60s.
They were made in New York, and the full story
as I understand it,
is there was an industrial engineer
reading the paper, and a roadworker had been killed.
And he said, you know, "I think I can do something
to help these guys out." So, he went back
and he created these robotic men,
designed to sit in front of a working road crew,
and they're motorized. So, Mike, if you flick that switch there,
he should come on. Just watch your head there.
ROB: Yeah. So, they put that thing in his hand, the flag.
MIKE: It's like a Johnny Roventini we have.
ROB: Yes, same thing. MIKE: Where he was waving down the road.
Yeah. No, I've seen them online,
but I've never seen one in person.
DIRK: Right. And it would warn there's folks working up ahead.
ROB: Right. DIRK: But they didn't live long
on the job site. They were only there maybe two years.
ROB: Yeah. DIRK: And then the unions
started catching on to how many of these Silent Sams
were occupying paying union man jobs.
So, what happened was, the road contractor
was not getting the jobs
unless you took the Silent Sams off
and replaced it with a union man.
ROB: So, they don't make them anymore.
DIRK: No. They only made them for maybe a year.
Year and a half.
DIRK: So, the gentleman that had the construction company
took all of his Silent Sams and put them in a semitrailer.
Fast forward 50 years,
the gentleman passes away,
and there's a semitrailer.
And they... "Oh, what's in that?"
So, they take a bolt cutter, cut the lock,
open up the doors, and here is 200...
ROB: Wow! DIRK: ...of these guys
waiting to go back to work.
(Mike laughs)
MIKE: Oh my God.
ROB: This is picker folklore.
I have heard the stories of these things
disappearing up in Canada.
He's got them all!
This is like the picker version of the Terracotta Warriors.
This is mind-blowing.
ROB: I always wanted to be drowned by Burt Reynolds.
DIRK: I don't think I really had a plan when I bought them.
I think it's folk art. Someone had to come up
with the imagination, and mechanical and electrical
ability to create them. They're great.
ROB: Listen. You have a sickness, my friend.
(Dirk laughs) ROB: I mean, 200 of these!
I'm looking at the faces, all the face look the same
until you start really looking at them.
MIKE: This guy's got a mustache, that guy doesn't.
DIRK: No two are the same. Each one of their faces
is painted individually. They are industrial art.
DIRK: These things are as cool as they can get.
I love that they're all hand-crafted, one of a kind.
DIRK: This one I took and...
ROB: Made him into a referee. He's a referee.
MIKE: Wow, you did that? DIRK: Yeah.
MIKE: You're pretty talented.
DIRK: Well, it was a fun project.
ROB: Except a referee doesn't wear a helmet.
DIRK: This one does. (Robbie laughs)
DIRK: My wife keeps asking me, "Well, jeez, Dirk,
why did you need to buy all of them?
Why not just get a few?" And I really thought
keeping the group together,
that there is a higher and better use for these men.
MIKE: So, what are you thinking on them? Where you at with them?
DIRK: Well, when they're done and operational,
I sell them for 1,500.
ROB: When you see a sea container full of Silent Sams,
you got to take a few of these home.
These are collectible, and you don't find them.
ROB: Dude, these look pretty damn rough.
DIRK: You know, I agree. They're pretty rough.
The sleeves have all deteriorated, right?
MIKE: How heavy are they, Robbie?
ROB: They got a pretty good mechanism on them.
DIRK: They have a steel frame. ROB: It's not that heavy.
MIKE: Why'd you choose to pick them up like that?
ROB: Well, how else are you gonna pick the damn thing up?
You can't pick them up under here.
You want me to bear hug them? MIKE: Yeah!
MIKE: Yeah. DIRK: Right.
ROB: I mean, what the hell.
MIKE: Man... DIRK: We can pull a few out
and you can get a better idea. ROB: Yeah?
ROB: Somebody out there needs these.
This is one of those days you dream about.
MIKE: Now I got him by the butt cheeks.
That's more sensible.
(Dirk laughs)
DIRK: The roughest ones are up front.
MIKE: This one's definitely jacked up. The arm is broken.
DIRK: As we were removing the Silent Sams,
it's funny, because in my mind,
they were actually cleaner and probably in better shape
than they actually were.
ROB: That one's busted.
DIRK: A lot of them are missing the back plate.
DIRK: So, as we dug back into them,
I noticed there was more and more of them
with a damaged arm or scuffed up face.
ROB: You got to look for the good ones.
There's two right here. These things ain't light.
MIKE: Oh, my God. DIRK: I think they're like 80 pounds.
ROB: Dude. DIRK: This is where it starts getting...
ROB: I know. Because the minute I pull one out,
it's like, holy cow. DIRK: Like a domino.
ROB: Like a freaking avalanche.
You start pulling these things out,
they're gonna fall over.
DIRK: Whoa!
(laughing)
ROB: Nothing wrong with this one.
DIRK: Put him in your keeper pile.
ROB: Yeah, this one's a keeper. MIKE: See, look at this here.
You can just take a back. DIRK: Yeah, you can take a back.
ROB: I'm worn out.
You done wore me out and I only got five.
One, two, three, four, five.
ROB: For me to buy these, the deal has to make sense.
One thing you're gonna have to do with these Silent Sams
at the end of the day is you're gonna have to repaint them.
DIRK: You like those? ROB: I like them so much
that I want to give you $425 apiece for them
so I don't have to dig out anymore.
DIRK: Okay, let's make it 4 and a half each for five.
ROB: I'll tell you what. We'll do the 450.
I'll take six. DIRK: Six of them.
ROB: 450, I pick the last one.
Any one more, though.
DIRK: Oh... ROB: Any of the one more that's in here.
DIRK: That's not black and white.
ROB: No, no, no.
DIRK: Because I know the one you're...
ROB: Yeah. MIKE: For the striped guy?
ROB: Yeah. DIRK: Yeah. Nice face.
ROB: How much extra for this guy?
DIRK: Well, that's a great piece,
but I have a lot of time into him. $200 extra.
ROB: So 650 for this guy. DIRK: 650 on this guy.
450 on the five.
ROB: The fact that he already finished the referee,
that's a plus. I can get $1000 out of that one.
ROB: And I get the panels off the one?
DIRK: And you get the panels off the one.
ROB: Done. DIRK: Awesome.
ROB: I forgot to throw in who's putting these back in.
(laughs) MIKE: Who do you think?
Grab one. ROB: Yeah.
DIRK: I did come down off my price a bit for Robbie
on that package deal. You know, I realized
that he's got some work ahead of him.
He's got to get the same vision I have for them,
and he's got to make it a reality.
DIRK: This is more items that I have
if you see anything that catches your eye.
ROB: Look at that. Pro-Soccer.
That's a cool piece.
What is this, like a foosball table?
DIRK: Yeah. ROB: The players actually
look all hand-painted.
ROB: Typically, in a foosball table,
soccer players were plastic guys on the stick.
These are actually cast iron and hand-painted.
Soccer is one of the fastest-growing sports
in America right now.
This is easy to sell then.
DIRK: Yeah, it was made by US Billiards back in the '60s.
Coin-operated. But the thing that makes this one unique
is it has a glass top.
So, obviously, it was meant for locations
that they were worried about someone stealing the soccer ball
because you put in your coin, the ball would come up here,
and then you'd have to manually lift it up.
ROB: And push it in. DIRK: And put it in to play.
And then shoot away. I love the artwork on it.
And I'm pretty sure I have the legs for it too, Robbie.
In fact, I know I do. ROB: Wooden legs?
DIRK: Wooden legs, yes.
ROB: What do you gotta have on this thing?
DIRK: I'd do 500 on it.
ROB: It is cool.
I mean, I love the fact that it's soccer.
My daughter plays Division 1 Soccer.
ROB: So, it's like the only reason I'm like,
soccer, pro-soccer. Cool.
MIKE: Oh, I can see her playing that when she comes home.
DIRK: Oh, she'd love it. ROB: Let me think about this
just for a little bit.
ROB: You find anything, Mike?
MIKE: I like all these parts and pieces, man.
DIRK: Yeah, a lot of this stuff is project stuff.
MIKE: I mean, some of it's cool just because, you know,
you can use it for props. Like this, for example.
DIRK: Put it on a shelf. MIKE: Like a photoshoot or something.
The case is rough. But I love the casting.
You got that piece.
I saw this can with a light socket in it.
MIKE: I love that Dirk understands the value
of parts and pieces.
All of these things add up to somebody out there
wanting to finish a project.
Somebody that's looking to repurpose an old can
for a sign,
or someone's got an old trade stimulator
that needs a part.
MIKE: What are you thinking on these two pieces?
DIRK: 200 bucks. MIKE: 150.
DIRK: Awesome. MIKE: Alright.
And then I saw a table back here
that's got some really old nickel plating on it.
There's the leg. Or, it could've been a base for something.
But it would've taken a really long rod
because there's a hole in that,
and there's nothing to support any kind of platform.
DIRK: Right. You'd have to fabricate that.
MIKE: $60. DIRK: Perfect.
(laughter) DIRK: That's great.
MIKE: Alright, thank you. DIRK: Thanks. That's awesome.
DIRK: I've got some more items in the back
if you want to check it out. The barn here
is where we keep all the different items.
A lot of these I don't own. They're family or friends.
MIKE: Storage for people? DIRK: Storage, yeah.
ROB: This a hearse? DIRK: Yeah.
ROB: Got any bodies in it still? DIRK: Hope not.
MIKE: Look at this submarine game. Undersea Raider.
DIRK: 1940s. ROB: Oh, look at that.
This is like the submarine game you look through the...
DIRK: Periscope. ROB: Yeah. Periscope up.
MIKE: Look at the graphics on this box, Robbie.
Aircraft carrier.
ROB: Look at that. DIRK: I know.
DIRK: The Undersea Raider was made during World War II.
It was one of the first periscope arcade games
where you actually looked through the periscope
much like they did back during World War II,
and object was to shoot and sink the boats
that were flying by inside the back box.
DIRK: Don't you love it? ROB: Yeah.
The fact that it's still presentable.
DIRK: After 80 years.
ROB: Yeah, I can imagine this thing working. Here.
MIKE: Can you move this thing without...
DIRK: It comes in three different pieces.
MIKE: Whoa, the top is roached.
ROB: Look at that ship on there. MIKE: I know, it's cool.
DIRK: Love the paint on it. The graphics are awesome.
MIKE: This, for me, is about the entire look of the machine.
It's missing so many internal parts,
it might be impossible to get it together,
and if you did, it would be expensive.
But I'm really trying to build a catalog
of unique pieces like this
in inventory for photoshoots or videos
in our warehouse in Columbia.
I mean, we've been really fortunate to have a lot
of photographers and directors come down
and pick and choose pieces they want.
They say, "I love that, I've never seen that before.
I want to use that."
So, I feel like if we put it together
and clean it up some, it's really going to pop.
ROB: Right here, Mike. Look at the bottom right here.
MIKE: Yeah, look at it. It's delaminating down there.
Let me see the other side of it.
Yeah, it's about the same on this side.
Let me, um... let me think about that for a little bit.
MIKE: What about this sign can? Is this yours?
DIRK: It is, Mike, yeah. MIKE: Robbie, grab part of this can.
ROB: Hold on.
MIKE: Whoa, whoa.
ROB: Wanna set it down on here?
Where do you wanna set it at?
MIKE: I want to put it on the ground.
ROB: Right here. MIKE: Alright...
That's pretty cool.
Look, you can see
where it lights underneath here,
though, Robbie. Look. DIRK: You know,
I have the letters that came off of that.
MIKE: Oh, wow. ROB: Oh, wow.
DIRK: Yeah, this was-- ROB: So, what was
the sign originally? DIRK: Well, it was from
our downtown hardware store.
ROB: So, those just went on there.
DIRK: The letters would sit on this rail
and then it would be backlit by the neon coming up.
MIKE: The letters bolted. DIRK: I think they were on a rail right here.
MIKE: Because they got brackets. Yeah, there you go.
DIRK: There you go. ROB: Hardware.
And then these would've been left for the other side.
MIKE: Oh yeah, I like it!
DIRK: That does look a lot better.
(Mike whistles) ROB: I can see it lit up.
MIKE: This hardware store can is incredible!
It doesn't scare me that it's painted with house paint,
because we've got guys that can paint whatever color
we want in the background to really make it look old.
I mean obviously we would disclose that to the buyer,
but when you have artisans that can recreate the past
and put it on the outside of a building?
I mean, how cool would that be?
MIKE: What are you thinking?
DIRK: What do you think about 500?
(Mike sighs)
MIKE: I'll do 450,
and 300 on the submarine box, the carcass.
That could be used as a prop.
It's really cool, it's got a great look to it.
DIRK: That would be nice. MIKE: Know what I mean?
DIRK: Okay. 750. ROB: 750.
MIKE: 750. DIRK: Awesome. Thanks.
MIKE: I'll tell you what, I love it.
DIRK: That's great.
ROB: There's so much stuff to look at in here.
Dang! What's this doing here?
DIRK: Yeah, isn't that a great old truck?
ROB: This yours? DIRK: Yeah.
ROB: Wow. DIRK: That truck actually
was bought in San Luis Obispo
just down the road and has never left this area.
ROB: Sixty... DIRK: I think it's '67.
ROB: '67, I think it is. DIRK: All original paint on it.
MIKE: That's cool.
ROB: Hey, it's a Ford truck.
We live in America. It's got original paint on it.
Come on! Who wouldn't want that?
ROB: 53,000 miles? DIRK: Yeah, 53,000 miles.
ROB: Wow. So, how long have you owned it?
DIRK: I think I've had it maybe six or eight years.
ROB: It's got a V8 in it. DIRK: Yeah.
ROB: Three on the tree. DIRK: I take it around
every other Sunday, drive it around town.
ROB: So, it's your Sunday driver?
DIRK: Yeah, but not recently.
MIKE: Looks like some engine work's been done to it.
ROB: Well, originally, on the engine,
the manifolds were reversed, and they came up over the top.
So, somebody changed the manifolds on it,
which is good because that was like,
their worst design ever.
The water pump's been changed. DIRK: Mm-hmm.
ROB: When's the last time it was on the road?
DIRK: Well, honestly, maybe a year and a half ago.
ROB: Oh. That's not that long. MIKE: It's pretty straight.
ROB: Is it something you're looking at selling?
DIRK: I hadn't thought about it, but I mean,
you're welcome to make me an offer.
DIRK: I really like the yellow truck
and I'm not surprised they're keying in on it
a little bit, because it is a nice truck
and it's in great shape.
But it is one of my favorite things.
ROB: Dirk, it's your truck.
You can't buy and sell it. You got to put a number on it.
ROB: If you want to sell it.
DIRK: What are you thinking something like this
would be worth to you?
ROB: As much as you're thinking you want to sell it.
(laughing)
MIKE: My brother and Dirk are doing the dance
that we all do in this business.
Nobody wants to put the first number on it.
ROB: I'm putting you on the spot on this one.
DIRK: Yeah, you are. I hadn't really thought about that.
ROB: Well, here. From one picker to another picker,
you know what you got in it, you know what you need to make.
DIRK: Right. ROB: What's that number?
MIKE: It's got a nice pleather seat.
(Dirk laughs) ROB: It's actually not bad.
I mean, the seat's been changed. The cover has.
DIRK: Yeah. It's a solid truck. I mean, really, it is.
ROB: What makes you happy to sell this?
DIRK: Uh... ROB: What's the number?
DIRK: I would be happy if you paid me 9,500.
ROB: How's it run? DIRK: We can try it up and see.
ROB: You got the keys in it? DIRK: Keys should be in there.
MIKE: Key's in here. Is this the key?
DIRK: There you go. MIKE: There you go, Robbie.
DIRK: There it is. ROB: When's the last time it started?
DIRK: Probably about a year and a half.
(honks)
(Mike laughs) ROB: Let's see here.
We got ignition here,
we got a choke. Does the choke work?
DIRK: I don't think the choke works.
(engine sputtering) MIKE: Push the clutch in.
ROB: You don't need the clutch in.
DIRK: Come on, baby!
DIRK: Oh boy...
This is either gonna work or not work.
(engine sputtering)
MIKE: This thing even got a gas gauge?
ROB: It's right here. It's got half a tank.
DIRK: If it doesn't start, it's no loss,
because then I'll just be able to keep the truck.
(engine sputtering)
DIRK: I don't think so, Robbie.
(sputtering)
(engine starts)
(Mike laughs)
(revving)
MIKE: There it is. ROB: Love it.
DIRK: I've enjoyed that truck.
MIKE: Take it for a drive, Robbie. Whoa.
(revving)
ROB: I know. I'm not taking it out of here.
MIKE: Whoa. Now what is he doing?
(Mike laughs)
What was that about, Johnny Cash?
ROB: Just checking. Well, it's not smoking.
MIKE: No, it sounds good. DIRK: It does.
MIKE: You can probably drive this back to Iowa, Robbie.
It's got okay tires on it.
ROB: It's got radials on it. Which you changed out.
MIKE: Woo! ROB: Sure drives like a million dollars.
Little loose in the front end. DIRK: Yeah.
ROB: You gotta do one of these deals.
DIRK: Yeah, it keeps you in shape.
ROB: I'm going to throw my hat in the ring.
How about the truck...
and the soccer game?
DIRK: Whew...
ROB: 8,700.
DIRK: Uh... 9,500.
You get the yellow truck
and the US Billiards soccer game.
ROB: Let me ask you this. Has this thing ever
given you a time on the side of the road?
DIRK: It has never let me down.
ROB: 9,200.
DIRK: That is very close.
I like the 95.
ROB: He's stuck on 95 for some reason.
(Mike chuckles) ROB: It's a great number.
ROB: This is a good truck, and I've got to give it to Dirk,
I didn't think it was going to run that good.
This is the condition you want to find these in.
(chuckling)
ROB: For some reason, you knew I was gonna shake the hand.
He wasn't gonna let it go. DIRK: It's a great piece.
ROB: I'm not saying it isn't. I love trucks.
I'm a truck fanatic, and if it comes out of California,
I'm even more happy. MIKE: He's a truck nut.
(Dirk laughs)
ROB: Sometimes things look you in the face.
This 1966 Ford,
long bed, original,
I was born in 1966!
This is absolutely amazing.
MIKE: Hand me that, Robbie. That's the last one.
ROB: Yeah, I know.
ROB: You've got to love collectors like Dirk.
He started out in the coin-operated stuff,
and went into the automatons,
and now he owns roadside attractions.
He jumped in with both feet just because he loved it.
MIKE: Ah, there's my man! DIRK: There he is!
MIKE: Heck yeah!
MIKE: I love Dirk's passion.
To me, it really gets back to that sense
of childlike wonder
and helping people understand no matter how old you are,
you can still revisit these moments in time.
MIKE: Alright, buddy. DIRK: Thank you. Thank you.
MIKE: I hope that you continue
down the path of buying the roadside attraction.
DIRK: Oh, that's awesome.
DIRK: This whole collection has been
a lifelong journey for me.
It has brought me to so many interesting places
and meeting so many interesting folks.
And being able to share it with Mike and Robbie
was just wonderful. It was a great time.
(honking) MIKE: See you, buddy!
DIRK: Okay! Bye, Mike! Bye, Robbie!