♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: So the way I roll is 10‐pair of underwear,
one pair of socks. Live it.
DANIELLE: That's the way to roll,
I've been telling you that for years.
MIKE: I know. I finally started listening.
DANIELLE: Well...
ROBBIE: Man... Yeah
MIKE: Listen up, Robbie.
DANIELLE: I'm glad that you guys are finally...
ROBBIE: Listen, as long as it doesn't‐
doesn't smell, that's all I care about.
MIKE: [chuckles]
DANIELLE: I made reservations in Columbus, Ohio
for tonight at the hotel.
So don't go on any adventures...
MIKE: Ooh, reservations.
ROBBIE: We're not going to West Virginia?
DANIELLE: Columbus, Ohio, first.
MIKE: Usually the hotels we stay at,
don't take reservations.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: So this must be fancy.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
DANIELLE: This one's pretty good.
MIKE: [laughs]
DANIELLE: It's pretty good.
MIKE: Bye.
DANIELLE: Alright. Love you guys. Be safe.
MIKE: Bye.
DANIELLE: Watch that lead foot, Robbie.
[honks horn]
♪ ♪ ♪
MIKE: [laughing] Remember in high school, when your
girlfriends would call the house, and then I would answer
the phone, and they'd be like, 'oh Robbie,' you know, it just
clicked in my head all of a sudden, I'm like...
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Oh my God, these guys think I'm Robbie.
ROBBIE: I still owe you for the time that you freakin' told
3 different girls that I was going to take them to the dance.
MIKE: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Yeah, you don't remember that.
MIKE: On your salary from Chef's Hat.
ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Remember that?
ROBBIE: A&W root beer.
MIKE: Times have changed, little brother.
ROBBIE: Times have changed.
ROBBIE: Here it is, right here. It's right here.
MIKE: Oh this is it?
ROBBIE: This is it.
MIKE: Alright. Give them a flyer here.
Ah... hey ‐hey!
BRAD: Yeah, hey.
MIKE: Hey, what's going on?
ROBBIE: How're you doing?
MIKE: I'm Mike, this is Robbie.
You guys talked to Danielle?
BRAD: Yeah, I did yeah, hi Mike.
Yeah, good to meet you.
MIKE: Nice to meet you.
Here, man, here take a flyer.
BRAD: Hey Robbie.
ROBBIE: Good to see you, man.
BRAD: Yeah.
BRAD: What do we got here?
Motor scooters, Vespas...
MIKE: Yeah, there you go.
That's the good stuff.
You got any of those?
BRAD: Yeah we...
have some of this stuff around here, yeah, yeah.
Hey, Bruce?
BRUCE: Hey.
MIKE: What's going on, man?
We heard, we heard all about you guys.
BRUCE: Ohh... trying to figure out where
to start with this stuff.
MIKE: We heard all about you guys, all the way from Iowa.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
BRUCE: Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Bruce.
ROBBIE: Good to see ya.
MIKE: I'm Mike.
BRAD: My name is Brad Hunt, this is my brother, Bruce Hunt.
And we're from Cottageville, West Virginia.
BRUCE: Originally, this was my grandfather's
general mercantile.
It was also a United States Post Office as well,
part of the store.
BRAD: It's been closed for a long time, and our mother
passed recently and it's kind of passed to us and...
we're trying to sort through it, clean it out, you know.
MIKE: Figure it out?
So Dani was saying on the phone that, you guys closed in '89,
and then your mom started yard sale‐ing.
BRAD: Yeah, yeah... she
MIKE: [laughs]
BRUCE: Well, the... well she would go to yard sales
and pile all the stuff in here.
BRAD: Yeah.
MIKE: Okay.
BRUCE: Our mother grew up in the Depression, basically,
and she would not get rid of anything.
You know, she said, oh we might need that, we might need that.
BRAD: And in Mom's will, it was handwritten, and in parentheses
‐ 'lots of junk, sorry boys.'
BRUCE: Yeah.
BRAD & BRUCE: [laughs]
BRAD: In parentheses on her handwritten will.
BRUCE: That's...
BRAD: And she wasn't lying.
There's a lot of junk around here.
MIKE: Yeah.
BRAD: You know, there's‐ there's...
MIKE: I like all that shelving that's in here.
Like that's still the original...
stain on it...
BRAD: That's old original.
MIKE: ...this has been painted, obviously.
BRAD: Uh... yeah, that‐ that's old original.
These were two buildings at one time, that we got made into one.
MIKE: Oh, okay.
BRUCE: This was a harness shop and hardware store, and then
that was a grocery store, and then when Grandpa
bought it back in the late '30s, early '40s...
MIKE: So when he bought it, when‐ did he buy a building or
did he buy a business?
BRUCE: He bought a business.
BRAD: The store was started with him and his brothers,
Waldo and John.
And they were the Hunt Brothers, so they opened up
the Hunt Brothers General Store and...
MIKE: Yeah, you can buy a ham in here,
and then maybe some rubber boots.
BRUCE: Right, yeah, appliances...
BRAD: Yeah, or a gun, appliances, um...
MIKE: Yeah.
BRAD: You name it, get a‐
MIKE: Oh you guys even sold appliances.
BRAD: Yeah, oh yeah...
BRUCE: Oh yeah.
MIKE: Oh wow.
BRAD: ...yeah, yeah, Grandpa was a Crosley dealer.
MIKE: When you look at these general stores, the way they
were laid out, the way they were customized, the way they
were merchandized, they're pretty brilliant.
Because the length of the counter, the height of a
counter, when you look at all the shelving on the walls and
the spacing of the shelving, how high the shelving is,
I mean, they were done brilliantly and beautifully,
and really, you know, retail is a living breathing thing, so
when somebody walked in there, they had to have everything
from A‐to‐Z, everything from galoshes to cat food, okay.
MIKE: I mean, look at all the detail here, of the cabinetry.
BRAD: Right.
MIKE: And then it all matches the trim on the doors.
BRAD: Yeah.
MIKE: Look at all that detail.
BRAD: Yeah, that‐ that real wide, I mean, that's just stuff
that you just don't make any more.
MIKE: Yeah, fancy leg and everything.
I know, it's gorgeous.
MIKE: If you think about the square footage of a store, and
you think about like, how many products they have to carry,
and then on top of that, you think about traffic flow, like
which way the customer's coming in, which way the customer's
going out, are they going to be trying on boots over here, are
they going to be like filling feed sacks.
You know, you have to have hardware, you have to have
nails, you have to have so many different products.
So, for me when I walk in and I see all that shelving,
I'm already imagining what this place was.
All of these stores were the main heartbeat of the community.
MIKE: This piece looks like it's been here forever.
BRUCE: Oh it has.
That was the original, made by Grandpa, those were
where we kept all the nuts and the bolts.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah.
BRAD: And there's probably still nuts and bolts in it.
New Year's Day around here was the, the family take inventory
day, once a year we took inventory.
MIKE: Uh‐huh.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
BRAD: And mine and Bruce's job was to count the nuts and bolts.
So...
MIKE: [laughs]
BRAD: We‐ we had lots of time spent digging in those drawers.
BRUCE: Not fond memories, actually.
BRAD: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah.
BRAD: The doors are made out of the
wood of a crate of something...
BRUCE: Crate essentially, yeah.
BRAD: So it was definitely wasn't,
it didn't come out of factory, it was‐ it was handmade.
BRUCE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah, I think I can get this out of here, Mike.
MIKE: Well, it's wedged, isn't it?
Oh there it's loose over there.
ROBBIE: No, it's just screwed, it's got a couple
of screws right here, that's it.
MIKE: Oh okay.
BRAD: It's probably pretty heavy.
MIKE: I mean, is this something you guys would sell or no?
BRAD: Uh yeah.
I don't see why we wouldn't...
BRUCE: Yeah, sell it.
BRAD: Yeah, yeah, it's a...
ROBBIE: Huh.
MIKE: It's got some decent hardware on it, you know,
it's painted with milk paint, it's kind of cool,
the color's decent.
I don't know, I mean, if this was in the shop,
it'd probably pull... 600 bucks.
BRAD: Right.
MIKE: You know.
What do you think?
BRAD: Half of that, maybe? 300?
MIKE: Alright, 300.
BRUCE: Yeah, 300.
BRAD: 300.
MIKE: 300? Is that cool?
BRAD: Yeah, yeah.
BRUCE: That's cool with me, yeah. We're good.
BRAD: We're selling 'cause we needed some money
to help with some of these projects.
BRUCE: Projects... We kind of want to have us a workshop
‐slash ‐man cave, I guess, where we could come hang
out as brothers.
BRAD: We don't live, we live far apart,
but our heart's down here in this old building, you know,
I always get emotional about it. Heh.
BRUCE: Yeah.
BRAD: But uh... you know, we just want to turn
this place into a place we can...
you know hang out and have woodshop.
MIKE: What would that section of the store be?
BRAD: All that, to the best of my memory, was clothing
and household goods, and things like that.
MIKE: Yeah, all about your...
BRAD: All the toilet paper and like the medicines.
There's old medicines up on the shelf too,
been there probably for 80 years...
MIKE: Oh yeah.
BRAD: ...old medicine bottle, Triple‐S tonic,
and all this crazy stuff.
MIKE: [laughs]
BRAD: This, this place literally was,
sold everything.
BRUCE: It was in here if you knew where the hell it was.
BRAD: Right yeah, right yeah.
BRUCE: It was just stuffed in corners everywhere, and...
BRAD: Right.
MIKE: These are like Adidas knockoffs.
I had‐ I think I had these when I was a kid.
BRUCE: Adidos? [laughs]
MIKE: [laughs] Adidos.
Yeah, Adidos.
MIKE: My mom was a single mom, raised 3 kids on her own.
We couldn't afford the name brands, we didn't have the
Converse, we had the Reverse; we didn't have the Adidas,
we had Adidos; we didn't have the...
Nikes, we had the Neekies.
I mean, we... [laughs]
we were, we were pretty low‐buck.
Our brand for our family was the off‐brand.
MIKE: So we got Reverse, and Adidos.
BRUCE: Adidos.
MIKE: But these are made in the USA.
BRUCE: Right.
ROBBIE: Found another pair.
MIKE: What do you got?
ROBBIE: Little ones.
MIKE: Oh baby ones?
ROBBIE: Yeah, here.
MIKE: Alright. So it looks like you got a big stack here.
Baby vintage shoes.
ROBBIE: Whoa.
MIKE: These would be what, like, early '80s, late '70s,
is that what you're thinking?
ROBBIE: There you go.
BRUCE: Yep.
MIKE: The type of customer that's going to want to wear
this stuff, never lived in this era, but they want a level of
authenticity, they want to wear vintage.
You know, they want something with a story.
If you look at music videos from the '80s, the aesthetic,
the style, the hip‐hop fashion, the urban wear.
These shoes fit into that.
I'm imagining whoever's going to wear these,
is going to be kicking it to the Beastie Boys.
MIKE: How many pairs of shoes are there, Robbie?
We could go through each pair...
ROBBIE: Um... I'm looking through all these...
MIKE: These are nice.
ROBBIE: ...I got 1, 2, 3...
BRUCE: Cool. Red, white, and blue, All‐American.
MIKE: That's cool.
ROBBIE: 15 pairs here.
MIKE: 15 pairs of shoes.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: They're all pretty tiny.
MIKE: They're fashionable, but not in a mainstream way.
And I'm freaking out, every box we open up because
they're dead‐stock, they're new ‐old stock,
they've never been worn before.
But the problem is, [sighs] man, the size issues.
I mean, there's not a lot of decent sizes here,
but that is not deterring me from still wanting them.
MIKE: What would you feel...
comfortable selling 15 pairs of shoes?
BRUCE: Make me an offer.
MIKE: Oh my God, I don't know.
They sold all the good sizes.
BRUCE: Right.
MIKE: It's just the little baby sizes left. How‐ 3 bucks a pair.
BRUCE: 45.
MIKE: Alright.
BRUCE: The whole batch.
MIKE: Alright.
ROBBIE: Look at that shirt. Freakin' 1970s.
MIKE: Yeah, is that...?
BRUCE: That... bowling shirt.
ROBBIE: Bowling. Polyester.
MIKE: Oh yeah, that feels good, what else you got in there?
BRUCE: We dealt with a dry goods wholesaler down in
Huntington, and Mom would take us down there.
She would buy for the store, but she would also buy
our school clothes at the same time.
ROBBIE: You were the test dummies...
BRUCE: Yeah, we were the test dummies.
ROBBIE: ...you actually got to try,
you got to bring the good stuff on.
BRUCE: Right.
MIKE: Well that's cool, because when somebody walked in here,
you worked here, right?
BRUCE: Right, oh yeah.
MIKE: So when somebody walked in, you were head to toe...
BRUCE: Oh yeah.
ROBBIE: Like, I'd wear these.
MIKE: ...Oh I like that shirt, that's right over here.
ROBBIE: Yeah, it's right here. Yeah.
MIKE: What's upstairs here? Anything?
BRAD: Up here we got some good stuff.
MIKE: Watch your head, Robbie.
BRAD: There's nails that, kind of come through the roof there.
MIKE: Oh look at that.
BRUCE: I got a couple of scars on my head to prove it.
BRAD: Yeah, that's‐ that's kind of our...
MIKE: That's a flagship piece?
BRAD: That's the flagship piece.
That used to be out in front of the store.
Grandpa was a Crosley Appliance dealer.
That's a double‐sided.
ROBBIE: Ugh!
BRAD: Formerly neon sign.
ROBBIE: Man, it feels like it's got every
piece of transformer in it.
BRUCE: Probably does.
BRAD: It probably does.
BRAD: It drew the customers to this building, you know,
it lit up the street, and it was kind of, you know,
what drew people to this place.
MIKE: What's the porcelain like on the
other side of that, Robbie?
ROBBIE: It's chalked out a little bit.
I mean, it needs some serious elbow grease put into it.
BRAD: I think that'll wash off,
I think it's in pretty good shape for its age.
MIKE: The subject matter is great.
I mean, not the appliance part of it...
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: ...but the fact that it says Crosley Radio.
ROBBIE: Crosley, yeah.
MIKE: And the colors are amazing.
ROBBIE: Crosley was one of those companies that
started in the 1920s and ran until about 1956.
They were so huge in America, they were one of the largest
radio manufacturers in the United States at the time.
MIKE: We actually picked a guy in Iowa years ago,
that's all he collected was Crosley.
BRAD: Really?
MIKE: When we were there, I was just amazed
at how many different products...
BRAD: Right.
MIKE: ...that they actually made.
You know, they did everything.
ROBBIE: They were doing anything from appliances to
cars, to actually even helping the war effort in World War II.
They built paratrooper motorcycles.
MIKE: How long ago did you guys take this down?
BRUCE: Probably right after the store was closed,
probably in the early '90s.
MIKE: Yeah.
BRUCE: When Dad started renovating the store building.
MIKE: Okay.
ROBBIE: You know, neon and porcelain signs in general,
it's a time in America where advertising, you know,
they don't do it anymore like this.
BRAD: Right.
ROBBIE: Everything's plastic.
BRUCE: Right.
ROBBIE: And they want L.E.D.
BRAD: Right.
ROBBIE: You know.
MIKE: Or vinyl.
ROBBIE: Yeah, or vinyl.
This‐ the guys that bend this glass every day,
day in and day out, they're making a piece of artwork.
BRAD: Right, oh I agree, I agree.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
Basically what, you know, what it's going to take to get this
back up and going again is,
it's going to need a thorough cleaning on it.
The plus is, it's already got the insulators on it, which
are, you know, you want, you know, the originals.
BRUCE: Yeah, the original stuff.
BRAD: Original, sure yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
I want to say, on the high side of this, this sign hanging,
if it had all the neon cleaned up, fixed, probably 42 to 4,500.
BRUCE: Right.
ROBBIE: It's going to take a little bit
of getting there to get to it.
BRAD: I know what you're thinking, maybe 25?
ROBBIE: [sighs] One thing I love about neon is saving history.
So...
2,500.
BRAD: 25?
ROBBIE: I'll do the 25.
I think we can do it.
BRAD: I think we can do that. Oh, yeah!
♪ ♪
BRUCE: Alright Robbie, now that you've got that Crosley sign,
let me take you out here and show you
where everything used to hang.
ROBBIE: Yeah?
BRUCE: 'Course, the façade's changed a little bit.
Dad a little work to it.
The porches were kind of separated.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
BRUCE: But right above the... main door...
MIKE: So was this awning on it?
This whole awning right here?
BRUCE: Yes, yes. It was all on it,
but it was 2 separate ones, 'cause it was
2 buildings at one time.
MIKE: Oh really?
BRUCE: Yeah.
MIKE: So this had a separate door over here?
BRUCE: Yes, it had a separate door.
That where the post office was...
MIKE: Okay.
BRUCE: ...years ago.
BRAD: And that's where all the kids in the neighborhood
would come down here and...
ROBBIE: They came and sat on the steps.
BRAD: They came in, bought a Coke, got a Coke order...
MIKE: So at one time, this was busy.
BRUCE: Oh lord.
BRAD: Oh yeah.
BRUCE: Years ago, Main Street Cottageville was actually S33.
So this was the main thoroughfare from...
it starts in Illinois somewhere, I believe, and runs all
the way through West Virginia, over to the East Coast.
BRAD: And it was kind the Route 66 of the East Coast.
BRUCE: East Coast, right.
BRAD: 33 was, back in the day.
BRAD: And at one time, this little town had a car
dealership, a bank, it‐ it had just about every‐
BRUCE: Barbershop, a restaurant.
BRAD: ‐barbershop, it had about everything.
MIKE: Right here in this little stretch.
BRUCE: Right here, this little stretch.
BRAD: Just this little stretch of road here at one time.
And this old store that was, when it was being run by our
grandfather, it‐ it was the last place to be open here,
to buy anything.
MIKE: Okay.
MIKE: The store owner had to understand who
their customers were.
And that was a really easy thing to do for them
because they lived in the community.
BRAD: He wanted to be able to still serve the people that
were all his loyal customers for years, for decades.
BRUCE: That's right, many years.
MIKE: There were so many of these little stores that
serviced such large regions.
And the products that they carried were really regional,
from the occupation that most of their customers, you know,
like coal miners or farmers, to steel workers ‐
so many people relied on such a small little store.
MIKE: Now, the society that we all live in, it's all about
walking into a franchise, walking into something
that's cookie‐cutter.
With all the convenience that we have,
we've stripped away the human element.
Now it is one ‐size‐fits‐all.
Back then, it was a back ‐and‐forth relationship.
BRAD: This was the meat department back here.
This is where we cut meat‐
MIKE: Oh I see, yeah, I see the saw!
BRAD: And the saws.
Grandpa would get a, he'd buy sides of beef,
and Bruce is a fantastic meat cutter.
MIKE: Is he?
BRAD: He taught Bruce how to cut meat and grind burger and
cut pork chops and...
I mean, it‐ this place was full‐service,
anything you wanted.
MIKE: Yeah, hey.
BRAD: It was fun to have growed up in a store like this.
We were the pop bottle sorters and...
BRUCE: Swept floors.
BRAD: Yeah, and cardboard box busters.
BRUCE: Busters. And the ice cream cooler behind the counter,
and the candy bars, and the old Coke cooler.
BRAD: yeah, right, oh yeah, yeah, candy bars
and ice cream... anything you wanted.
MIKE: We got tavern ham, we got honey ham. How thick you like,
what do you want?
BRUCE: I want it three ‐quarters of an inch,
give me 2‐ pound of each.
MIKE: [laughs] Okay, I'll‐ I got some really good chops in,
just cut some amazing filets,
he just cut the cheese back here.
[group laughing]
MIKE: Woo!
God‐dang, dude!
BRAD: Yeah, we'll pass on that.
MIKE: God‐dang!
BRAD: Yeah, no thanks.
MIKE: I want to see what the‐ I'm looking at
the back of a counter here.
I want to see what the front of this looks like.
Yeah, you see, you got the change drawer right there.
This has fallen down, it's dropped.
BRAD: Yeah, the shelf's been around there...
MIKE: Let's see here.
MIKE: The counter is the command central for your store.
And believe it or not, a lot of people would think something
like this would be insignificant, but it's not.
It's part of your aesthetic, it's part of your brand.
When somebody walks into your store,
you want them to feel a certain way.
So it's the width of the counter, the depth of the
counter, the height of the counter, what does the
countertop look like, what does that paint on
the front of the counter look like?
MIKE: It's interesting, it's orange.
ROBBIE: Yeah. It's got a great look to it.
MIKE: Yeah.
And then it's got the‐ the paint's starting to alligator,
you know, just separate.
MIKE: I'm seeing that age to it,
I'm seeing all those boards cut up
separately on the top of this thing, it's got‐ it's got a
country store look, you know, but also kind of...
I don't know, maybe a little Urban Outfitters, you know.
I mean, it's got a, it's got a look to it, is what I'm saying.
And that's why I want it.
MIKE: Yeah.
BRAD: I think this might have been the original checkout
counter, I think.
MIKE: Yeah, this is, this is, this is from that time period,
or maybe even earlier.
I mean, this could have been handed down from
merchant to merchant here in town.
BRAD: It probably was.
It's‐ it's probably been in this building as long as
the building's been built, would be my guess.
MIKE: This, what's great about it is, is that it's a nice
size, and the edges haven't been cut off.
A lot of time these counters are really long,
and they'll cut one edge off.
BRUCE: Right.
MIKE: And then they'll just put a piece of plywood on the side.
Uh...
600 bucks.
BRUCE: Well, what do we want to do with those
cabinets that's on top of it right now?
You want to buy those too?
MIKE: I was‐ I was hoping Robbie would buy them.
BRUCE: Oh okay.
MIKE: [chuckles]
BRAD: Yeah.
BRUCE: That's what we used as our display cases.
ROBBIE: The good thing about these display cases are,
they're intact.
The glass is all there, the doors are on the back of them,
and they're great for smalls.
MIKE: Here you go.
BRUCE: Ceramic cat.
BRAD: Yeah, that, that we'll throw it in with the deal too.
MIKE: [laughs]
BRUCE: That's right.
MIKE: You guys going to throw that in?
BRUCE: Yeah, we'll throw that in.
MIKE: Alright.
ROBBIE: I'm thinking 200 bucks apiece, 400.
BRAD: I think it'd be worth a little more than that,
don't you think?
250 apiece?
Might as well buy the whole thing, right?
ROBBIE: 500 for the pair.
BRAD: 5.
ROBBIE: 250 apiece, right?
BRAD: Okay yeah, yeah we can do that.
ROBBIE: Yeah, we'll do it. Appreciate it.
BRAD: Yeah I guess, I think that's fair.
MIKE: Okay, now that Robbie bought these 2,
where are youat with this?
I think I offered 6.
BRUCE: Shake his hand before he changes his mind.
BRAD: Yeah, I think we can do that.
MIKE: [laughs] Alright, man.
BRAD: We're not big collectors, trinket guys.
You know, we like guns.
BRUCE: Right.
BRAD: We‐ we keep them locked in a gun safe, but...
ROBBIE: Look at that.
MIKE: 'Supertone Ragtime King.'
[Mike playing out‐of‐tune banjo]
MIKE: [laughs]
[Robbie playing tambourine]
BRAD: Yeah, we... got the hillbilly band going on.
ROBBIE: You have the hillbilly band going on here?
MIKE: Who played this?
Did anybody in your family play this?
Did Grandma play this?
BRAD: We had a cousin who was the musician.
None of us were very musically‐inclined.
MIKE: 75 bucks.
BRUCE: 90.
MIKE: Alright, I'll do that.
♪ ♪
MIKE: So Robbie look it, this was all the original façade.
So this was the outside of the building.
BRAD: This was, yes.
MIKE: When you walked up, he just pushed, he pushed this out.
ROBBIE: He actually just built a wall there, Mike.
Yeah.
MIKE: That's what I'm saying.
He pushed this out, he pushed this whole area out.
See... right there.
BRAD: I think, I think Dad thought it was easier to cover
it up than to try to‐ to scrape all this paint and redo it.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
BRAD: He just, he just thought it would be a faster...
I think maybe our cousin that was helping him do it,
they encouraged that a little bit.
MIKE: Yeah, I love all that.
I mean, that's a big transom window.
BRAD: We have a window, it's back from when...
Grandpa and his brothers were running
this store as the Hunt Brothers.
ROBBIE: Flip that over, Mike.
MIKE: Right now...
ROBBIE: It says right here, look at that.
BRAD: Hunt Brothers.
MIKE: Wow.
BRAD: That‐ that's our pride and joy right there.
MIKE: Wow.
BRUCE: Yeah.
BRAD: That was painted probably back in the '30s.
ROBBIE: Look at that.
BRAD: It's a miracle it didn't get busted out by...
MIKE: Oh my God, yeah.
ROBBIE: Wow.
BRAD: ...one of these punks around here with
a rock or something.
BRUCE: Rock, or something.
MIKE: Yeah.
BRAD: And everybody came in and out of here,
this is for the shop.
Especially if you lived on the street.
MIKE: This is where they got their Adidos.
BRAD: You did, yeah.
[group laughing]
MIKE: Sometimes, no matter where you live,
it never feels like home.
Imagine if you had the opportunity to go back,
to a building, to a farm, to a place, that still exists.
Would you take that chance?
That's what they're willing to do.
They want to take this space, and convert it into something
that connects them as brothers,
but also it's connecting them to their past.
BRUCE: Actually, this originally was where we
kept all the appliances and things like that.
That whole room over there was where the dry goods were,
where we kept the jeans and blah‐blah‐blah, whatever.
MIKE: You guys sold jeans here?
Do you have any more of that stuff here?
Like do you have any dead‐stock?
Any new‐old stock stuff?
BRUCE: Ahh...
I think there's some boxes of some jeans upstairs.
I mean...
MIKE: How old are those, do you know what kind of age they have?
BRUCE: No idea.
BRAD: Oh God.
ROBBIE: Can we take a look at it?
MIKE: Can we look at that stuff?
BRAD & BRUCE: Yeah sure.
ROBBIE: Alright.
BRUCE: Back in the corner.
Yeah, there's this, boxes full of them here.
They're... they're bell bottoms.
MIKE: Man, that does got a bell on it,
don't it... look at that.
BRUCE: They're not, they're not even hemmed.
MIKE: 28‐regular.
ROBBIE: There's 12 ‐pair in each box.
MIKE: Yeah, it says here, 12‐pair.
Uh... made in Puerto Rico.
MIKE: These ain't your mama's, or your grandma's
bell bottom jeans.
They started out life as that, but now they are high‐waisted
raw denim, brand new, never touched by
human hands vintage denim!
BRUCE: Uh, here's like a 30‐XL.
MIKE: Okay, so there are different sizes.
BRUCE: Yeah, there's different‐
MIKE: So this, to me, this tag right here looks like it's
military surplus.
BRAD: I, I think it is military surplus.
BRAD: I think it came from an auction.
It may have been brought in here to be resold.
It never quite made it to the sales floor, I guess.
[laughs] It's up in the attic.
MIKE: And they're dated '87.
BRAD: 11, '87.
BRUCE: Okay.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
BRAD: They're not that old.
MIKE: '87, they're made in Puerto Rico.
ROBBIE: Yeah, I think they're all the same.
MIKE: They all have some value.
I mean, they're not real ol, they're 1987.
BRAD: Right, yeah.
MIKE: Obviously. But the cut is interesting, a bell bottom,
you know.
BRAD: Yeah.
ROBBIE: Right.
MIKE: I mean, those are hot right now.
MIKE: The champagne problem here is, is that there's just
so many of them. I mean, you're talking long game on these,
unless you're going to wholesale them.
And that's what I'm already starting to think about in
my mind, because I'm looking at the sheer volume, man.
I mean, there's 12 ‐pair, 2 a box,
and I don't even know how many boxes are here.
You know, you see something like this, you understand what
it is, you want to bring it back into the world,
so people can appreciate them.
MIKE: Alright.
17 boxes, you got 12‐pair per box.
BRUCE: A little over 200 of them.
MIKE: Alright. And you got 2 sizes.
BRUCE: 2 different sizes.
The only thing is...
MIKE: The thing is, okay for me, you know I mean...
they need to be sold to like a vintage shop.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: You know, somebody that's got a retail store‐
ROBBIE: That can alter them.
MIKE: ‐that can deal with that type of volume,
because there's only 2 sizes.
There's 28s and there's 30s.
BRAD: Right.
BRUCE: 30s.
MIKE: You know, and that's it.
BRAD: Right.
MIKE: So, and then they got to, I mean, this is a lifetime...
ROBBIE: Haul...
BRUCE: Supply.
MIKE: It's a lifetime supply of this one pair of pant.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Right, I‐ I mean, I just, I just don't feel like
I'm the guy to buy them all.
I could buy like, I'd buy this stack, maybe off you.
BRUCE: I mean, we want rid of them,
me or Brad can't get our fat butts in them,
so they're of no use to us.
BRAD: Right.
BRUCE: I'd rather Mike just take it all.
I mean, other than 3 or 4 boxes, because I mean,
what are we going to do with it?
BRAD: It‐ it maybe end up being the hottest
item ever to hit the internet.
BRUCE: [laughs] Yeah.
BRAD: You never know.
BRUCE: 400 bucks for all of them and you,
that throws you in 4 ‐pair for free.
MIKE: Alright, alright, alright.
BRAD: Alright, that works.
BRUCE: Alright.
MIKE: A good pair of jeans is like a good leather jacket.
Okay, a good pair of leather boots.
I mean, the more you wear it, the more relationship you have,
the more broke down they are.
And the rips and the scars and the paint and all that,
man, it just becomes part of your story.
You know, each pair of jeans here is going
to mean something to somebody.
ROBBIE: Oh.
MIKE: Woo!
Alright, I'm in the denim business.
BRUCE: Yes you are.
BRAD: Yes you are.
ROBBIE: Throw them in there.
BRAD: We knew this day would come sooner or later,
where we just have to thin some stuff out,
and we just can't keep everything.
And we're glad that it's going to guys who will repurpose
it and get it into the hands of other people
who will appreciate it.
BRUCE: And will enjoy it, yeah.
ROBBIE: Man. What a day.
MIKE: Thank you, brother.
BRUCE: You're welcome, my man.
MIKE: Appreciate you sharing your family's history with us.
BRAD: Yeah, thank you for coming, yeah.
BRUCE: You're welcome.
MIKE: Absolutely.
Robbie's going to send you a picture of that
sign when it's done.
ROBBIE: I will.
BRUCE: Alright, I...
BRAD: Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
We really...
ROBBIE: Appreciate you guys.
Thank you so much.
ROBBIE: The history that these 2 brothers have with this
community, and the stories that they told us,
they're going to live on forever.
MIKE: Keep on keepin' on.
BRAD: We really proud of this town, this whole town, you know.
We‐ we grew up here and...
we're hoping to make it better too.
MIKE: We're all here to take care of each other.
BRAD: That's right, my friend.
ROBBIE: That's it.
MIKE: Alright.
BRUCE: Y'all be safe.
BRAD: You guys take care, appreciate ya, yep.
[honks horn]
ROBBIE: Thanks guys, catch you later.
BRAD: See you guys, thanks.
♪ ♪ ♪
[phone ringing]
MIKE: Oh here's Danielle calling.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Dani D, what's up?
ROBBIE: Whaddup, Dani?
DANIELLE: Okay guys, are you ready for the
mother of all leads?
MIKE: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Yeah?
MIKE: Yeah, hit us with it.
DANIELLE: You're on your way to meet a guy named Jeff.
He's a retired electric wholesaler,
but he has a passion for coin‐op scales.
MIKE: Okay.
DANIELLE: So for the last 40 years, this dude has picked
every scale he could.
And I just sent Robbie a list of the scales that he
is definitely interested in selling.
MIKE: Does he have lollipop scales?
DANIELLE: Yep.
MIKE: Advertising scales?
DANIELLE: Yeah.
MIKE: Floor model scales?
DANIELLE: Indeed.
MIKE: Countertop scales?
DANIELLE: Abso‐tutely.
ROBBIE: Produce scales?
MIKE: Character scales?
DANIELLE: Yeah, I mean, he has all the scales.
I mean, this guy has more scales than a
West Virginia rattlesnake, he's got scales.
ROBBIE: Man, this guy must be a bruiser.
I mean, he must be built like, I mean, holy cow,
those things weigh like a gas pump.
MIKE: Alright, we're on it.
ROBBIE: We're on it.
MIKE: Send us the coordinates.
Hey, I'm excited!
ROBBIE: My back's hurting already, Dani.
DANIELLE: Alright, you guys be careful out there.
MIKE: Alright, bye, thank you.
♪ ♪
MIKE: Alright here, we're coming up on this place,
it says.
ROBBIE: Yeah, it's up here on the right.
MIKE: Oh man, this is cool back here.
Look at that Sinclair sign.
ROBBIE: Ha!
MIKE: See? He's got something besides a scale.
MIKE: He's got a Sinclair sign. ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: You got to get a flyer. ROBBIE: Right here.
MIKE: Alrighty.
ROBBIE: What?
MIKE: Hey‐hey!
JEFF: [faintly] Hello! Back here.
MIKE: Jeff.
ROBBIE: Jeff.
MIKE: Lordy!
ROBBIE: Man, Dani wasn't kidding about you having scales.
MIKE: [laughs]
JEFF: I have a few.
MIKE: Yes you do!
ROBBIE: Just a few, I'd say.
MIKE: What's going on?
I'm Mike.
JEFF: Hi there.
MIKE: This is my brother, Robbie.
ROBBIE: How're you doing?
JEFF: Hi, how are ya?
Nice to meet you.
ROBBIE: Good to see you.
MIKE: Here's a flyer.
MIKE: She probably talked about this,
but... see right there.
JEFF: Yep.
ROBBIE: Scales.
MIKE: Scales.
JEFF: Yep.
You start with one. And then...
MIKE: [chuckles] Yeah.
JEFF: ...one leads to another, and to another, and to another.
JEFF: What I collect are coin‐operated scales.
The kind you stand on and weigh yourself for a penny.
They were real popular in the early 1900s.
They were in train stations, bus depots, drug stores,
on the sidewalk, near the markets, everywhere.
JEFF: That's the first scale I bought.
ROBBIE: That's it right there.
JEFF: Yep.
MIKE: Is that original face?
JEFF: No.
I had to reproduce that face.
MIKE: Oh so you bought it and then you restored it.
JEFF: Correct.
MIKE: I've always loved and appreciated the guy
that collects just one thing.
Okay because, if anybody's ever looking for a part for a scale,
or they want information on a scale, or they want a scale
restored ‐ this is the guy behind the scenes
that you contact.
MIKE: I'm sorry, I'm looking around, man,
I'm just kind of like...
ROBBIE: I'm just, yeah.
JEFF: Yeah.
MIKE: ...I've never, I mean, I've‐ I've seen most of these
scales, but I've never seen so many in one space.
ROBBIE: In one‐ yeah.
JEFF: That's... yeah.
MIKE: Jeff is that guy.
He planted his flag a long time ago, for one reason or another,
and said, I love scales, I'm devoting my life to scales.
Today is going to be a learning experience for Robbie and
I because, we are talking to the Sultan of Scales.
JEFF: Mainly, I like big head Watlings.
Watling was a manufacturer out of Chicago.
MIKE: Okay.
JEFF: I like this particular style, because they're big,
you see the mechanism.
MIKE: But for example though, if they put any kind of
advertising on this glass in the center...
JEFF: Um‐hm.
MIKE: ...like that one you can see that's faded out...
JEFF: Right.
MIKE: ...then you're really covering up the mechanism.
JEFF: Some of it, yes.
But you still see...
ROBBIE: See.
JEFF: The, the weights move...
MIKE: Okay.
JEFF: ...and‐ and the motion.
JEFF: It was a big, big business back then,
at a penny a weigh.
There's big companies that made them, there's small
companies that made them, different gimmicks.
Whether it'd be astrology, be guess your weight.
MIKE: So I see this one says chimes.
What does this do, this actually...
makes music?
JEFF: Okay.
What that did is... if the penny bounced through.
[chimes sounding]
MIKE: That's awesome.
ROBBIE: Huh.
JEFF: And the operators loved it, because it was mechanical.
MIKE & ROBBIE: Yeah.
JEFF: People, even if they got their penny back...
ROBBIE: They'd put it back in.
JEFF: ...they'd‐ they'd put it back in,
because they want to hear the chime.
MIKE: Oh okay, yeah.
MIKE: It's so interesting to talk to Jeff and learn the
psychology behind the design of the scales.
They knew that they had to up the ante.
You know, they knew that they had to step up their game if
they were going to get the coin out of your pocket.
Every time that retailer heard that chime ‐ ding, ding, ding
‐ is like, just made [snaps fingers]
2‐ and‐ a‐ half cents.
MIKE: You know, but that was a lot of money back then.
I mean, think about it, for a nickel, you could
have like 2 huge handfuls of candy.
I found old signs before which says, 'hamburger, a nickel.'
It doesn't sound like a lot of money, but it really added up.
MIKE: Well, you got some soda stuff.
You got some Coca‐Cola, some Royal Crown.
ROBBIE: You got some clocks.
JEFF: Yep.
MIKE: Okay, so you're taking this apart to restore it.
JEFF: The motor needs to be replaced on that one.
MIKE: Okay.
JEFF: And then put together.
ROBBIE: Yeah, these are all Cleveland clocks.
MIKE: I like the black face, I think better with
the cream colored numerals.
ROBBIE: Any collector out there that has advertising,
is always looking for a Cleveland clock.
They were on dealerships, they were on ice cream places,
they were in movie theaters.
It had an advertising marquee on the top of it.
ROBBIE: Yep, green and pink.
MIKE: Ooh, that's cool.
ROBBIE: Yeah, green and pink.
ROBBIE: It was all about the advertising.
And the neon made it stand out.
ROBBIE: Danielle said you had a list...
JEFF: Yeah.
ROBBIE: ...of stuff that was for sale.
JEFF: I have a list. Uh...
ROBBIE: Was this on the list?
JEFF: No... but that doesn't mean...
ROBBIE: ...it's not for sale?
JEFF: Doesn't mean it's not for sale.
ROBBIE: You said that...
and it doesn't look like the motor's working?
JEFF: Just needs a motor, I think.
ROBBIE: Okay. 800.
JEFF: More like 1,000.
ROBBIE: Settle at 900. It's a project.
JEFF: Yep.
ROBBIE: 900?
JEFF: Yeah. I can do 900.
ROBBIE: Alright. Appreciate it. Thanks.
JEFF: Sure.
JEFF: I bought them at a good price.
I made a few dollars, he's going to make a few dollars,
everybody's happy.
JEFF: I've got the... headlight tester.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
ROBBIE: This thing looks like a robot.
JEFF: It does, doesn't it? Yeah.
MIKE: War of the Worlds. Is this original paint?
JEFF: That's original, and you would, you know,
the car would come up here...
MIKE: Yeah, yeah.
JEFF: ...and they'd put the headlight, you know, back in
then, I mean you remember, when I was a kid, you'd be driving
down the highway, and people's headlights...
MIKE: Yeah, one's like in the tree, [laughs] yeah.
JEFF: One would be, one here, an another one...
MIKE: Hey, I still drive cars like that.
ROBBIE: I still drive cars, yeah.
MIKE: What I love about stuff from this era, is that it
wasn't just about being utilitarian and being useful,
it was also beautiful.
The design, the aesthetic, streamline, airflow.
All of that bled into so many different industries.
From the automotive industry, to the‐ to aeronautics,
to railroads, to motorcycles.
And even pieces that were in your own home.
It's just a time in America that's never
going to come again, man.
And we were setting the bar for the rest of the world.
Everybody was emulating what we were doing.
MIKE: What do you value this at?
JEFF: Um... 450.
MIKE: I love it. I mean, we‐ we both got‐
JEFF: It's a great piece.
MIKE: We've both got older buildings...
JEFF: Um‐hm.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: ...that serviced cars.
JEFF: Yeah.
MIKE: You know, whether it's a car dealership or
a body shop or a gas station.
Would you do 350?
JEFF: Uhhh...
450 is about as low as I go on that.
MIKE: Really.
JEFF: Yeah. It's worth more than that.
ROBBIE: I like the originality of it.
JEFF: I just got a pretty good deal, yeah.
MIKE: Make me feel like I'm getting a good deal ‐ 430.
JEFF: 4‐ [laughs] I'll eat the $20.
MIKE: Okay, [laughs] thanks.
♪ ♪
MIKE: So looks like you had all of these scales from
one time period in, in just this area here.
JEFF: Yeah. This is early cast iron. 1890s.
MIKE: I love that blood red one.
ROBBIE: 'To which class do you belong?
Lean, fat...'
JEFF: Yeah, they were‐ they necessarily politically correct.
MIKE: [laughs]
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JEFF: They, they didn't worry about
people's feelings back then.
ROBBIE: No, no.
MIKE: It's so cool to see Jeff geeking out about scales,
the same way I do about a 1910 Harley.
ROBBIE: There it goes.
MIKE: Alright.
ROBBIE: What's that say? Lean?
JEFF: Lean, mean, fighting machine.
MIKE: The fact that he's so passionate about scales,
is really the reason why so many of them exist.
You know, he's got all of these scales in this building,
but think about how many scales he's gone through.
Probably hundreds and hundreds, maybe even thousands.
MIKE: So this is, this is the quintessential, like unicorn
when it comes to scales.
JEFF: They're, yeah, they're rough,
but the main part for me is the mechanical part.
And then I'm going to redo the bottles.
ROBBIE: Oh yeah.
JEFF: And...
MIKE: Oh... do they reproduce this bottle?
JEFF: No, no. I'm going to do it.
MIKE: Oh you're going to...
you're going‐ you're going to reproduce this thing?
ROBBIE: The back side of that's missing.
JEFF: Yeah, the back side of this...
MIKE: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about,
the back side of the bottle's missing.
JEFF: Yeah, correct.
MIKE: You're going to have that made.
JEFF: Yep.
JEFF: You get these scales and the glass is broken and
the coin door is damaged, and all that.
Well, you've got to replace it.
So I've started getting into making replacement glass,
replacement faces, things like that, that go bad on a scale.
MIKE: So you're going to make the back of this bottle.
JEFF: Right.
MIKE: And you're going to make the cap.
JEFF: Make the cap.
MIKE: Okay.
And these were broken because they're‐
people were trying to get in and take some...
or get the money.
JEFF: To get the money.
ROBBIE: Get the money out.
JEFF: To get the money.
MIKE: Ohh okay.
MIKE: If Jeff is going to go through the process of making
these bottles, he has to make a mold.
And that's the expensive part. Then it goes into an injection
molder, okay, and then he can make as many as he wants.
JEFF: I've got more complete ones of these up at the house.
MIKE: Can we see those?
JEFF: Yeah. Any time you want.
MIKE: Alright, well I want to see that.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Heck yeah.
MIKE: It's all about supply and demand.
There's not a lot of these scales around, so if you're
going through all that trouble, it's purely for preservation.
Which is awesome, because it shows where his heart is.
It's not about the money, it's really more about
getting more of these scales complete,
and putting them back into the hobby.
JEFF: Now this is the scratch‐and‐dent department.
MIKE: Okay, I like that.
ROBBIE: I mean, it looks like a damn big building here.
JEFF: Yeah.
MIKE: Oh wow!
[laughs]
ROBBIE: What!
JEFF: There's a few in here.
MIKE: Dang!
ROBBIE: Do you have every scale in America?
JEFF: I... no, I think there's a few still out
there that I don't have.
MIKE: [laughs]
JEFF: Not many.
MIKE: Wow.
ROBBIE: I mean, what is the process here?
You yank them out of here and then you take
them up to the building and...
JEFF: Yep.
ROBBIE: ...you're restoring them?
JEFF: This is where basically, waiting to be done.
ROBBIE: Let me ask you this...
Ahh!
God‐dang, son of a [beep]
ROBBIE: Snakes!
MIKE: Oh, where at?
ROBBIE: Right there on top of that [beep] thing!
MIKE: Alright, let's see here.
ROBBIE: It's dark in there, I'm looking through
these water troughs,
I'm opening up the top, and I stick my hand in,
I'm like... holy [beep]!
You know, it freaked me out, it's a damn snake!
JEFF: It's a, probably a black snake.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: I know, but what are they?
Is it freakin' poisonous?
JEFF: They're, they're harmless.
MIKE: Yeah.
ROBBIE: I don't know but he don't look no freakin' harm‐
his head's right there.
MIKE: I know...
ROBBIE: A big bastard.
MIKE: Robbie, it's just a black snake.
ROBBIE: I don't‐ yeah it's not like a gardener,
I never see these things.
JEFF: I found a snake in that container about a week ago.
It scared the jeebies out of me then.
ROBBIE: I almost put my freakin' hand in there.
MIKE: [laughs]
ROBBIE: I was pulling these out.
MIKE: He's cozy in there.
JEFF: I don't know how it gets in here.
ROBBIE: Freakin'... that thing's huge, man.
MIKE: He's like,'Ahh!' I go, what's up?
[Robbie voice] There's a, there's a snake in the back!
[laughs] It's a black snake, dude.
Easy, Indiana Jones.
JEFF: Let's go on this way.
Those are all parts.
You got to have parts.
ROBBIE: Okay.
JEFF: These are kind of the workshop where...
ROBBIE: This is the...
JEFF: ...basically restore scales.
MIKE: Oh wow, look at that.
JEFF: See, it's an all chrome mechanism.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
JEFF: Polished back door.
MIKE: What's the value of something like this?
I mean, just school me on it, you know.
JEFF: Probably... 9,000.
MIKE: Wow.
MIKE: The stuff in this room is next level,
it's high‐test, very unique, very different.
JEFF: That's a talking scale.
80 pounds.
ROBBIE: Oh, look at that.
MIKE: Wow.
MIKE: The high‐test pieces that he's restoring,
I mean, just unbelievable, meticulous work.
The guy is an artist.
MIKE: Oh Robbie.
ROBBIE: What‐
JEFF: Now. These are the soda bottles.
MIKE: Hahaha! Woo!
ROBBIE: Oh there you go.
JEFF: There's the soda bottles.
ROBBIE: Oh you got the Planters Peanut.
MIKE: Peanut man, Pepsi ‐Cola, Grapette,
Humpty Dumpty.
I've never even seen any of these scales.
I mean, this is the kind of stuff that you
only see in books.
Because so much of it did not survive.
MIKE: I've never seen a Humpty Dumpty scale.
JEFF: Humpty Dumpty, that one came out of
an amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky.
MIKE: To have this many bottle scales,
this many character scales ‐
who's going to be attracted to that?
A kid.
They're going to be jumping up and down on it,
they're going to be shaking it.
The fact that any of this stuff survived is incredible to me.
MIKE: So which one of these are you selling?
JEFF: I'm selling that one.
MIKE: Okay, and this is obviously been restored.
JEFF: Yeah.
Somebody's redone the graphics on that one.
MIKE: So the bot‐
ROBBIE: Just the graphics?
JEFF: Hm?
ROBBIE: Just the graphics?
JEFF: Just the graphics.
MIKE: So this is, this has got one of your caps on it.
JEFF: One of my new caps.
But the bottle itself is original.
ROBBIE: Okay.
MIKE: How much is this one?
JEFF: Uh... 4,500.
They sell for up towards 6,500.
MIKE: Okay.
JEFF: Same company made all those figural,
the soda bottles, and the‐ and the Humpty Dumpty
and the Mr. Peanut.
And they're quite popular, because it's a cross‐over.
MIKE: What about this one, since it's unrestored?
JEFF: Umm...
MIKE: And it's got cracking in the back on the bottle.
JEFF: Let me take a look.
MIKE: Yeah, look at the bottom, it's kind of jacked.
MIKE: Jeff is all excited about selling us
the restored bottle machine.
I look over, and there's an unrestored bottle machine.
The unrestored bottle machine appeals to me way more because
it's basically untouched, it's as‐found, it shows its history,
and it looks like it has a story.
MIKE: Okay, so you can see all the cracking
on the back of the bottle.
JEFF: Um‐hm.
MIKE: But at least the back of the bottle is here, you know.
JEFF: Yep, that's, that's unusual.
MIKE: And I like the fact that it's got the original cap, and
it's got the original graphics.
MIKE: Now there are some stress cracks in the back of it,
nothing that pierces all the way through the plastic.
These are just like, hairline stress cracks, you know,
in the plastic, from I think heat, or like attic burn,
maybe or something, where it's gotten hot.
But overall, it's a much cooler scale.
MIKE: So what are you thinking on something like this?
JEFF: Mm... 35?
MIKE: Yeah, see I was thinking 3,
because of all this situation.
ROBBIE: How bad's the cracking on it?
JEFF: But I thought you liked that.
MIKE: I do like that, I do like that, but the thing is...
JEFF: You should have to pay extra for that.
MIKE: ...I‐ I should pay extra for that.
ROBBIE: That's stress cracking.
MIKE: Jeff is the only kind of guy that would ever sell
a scale like this, because he's got so many of them.
MIKE: 3,200.
JEFF: You'd rather have this one than that one.
MIKE: Yeah.
JEFF: Okay.
MIKE: We're doing it.
JEFF: Alrighty.
MIKE: Yeah man, awesome. It's brilliant.
MIKE: At some point, if you do that much restoration work,
you tend to be more of a perfectionist.
You know, where I'm looking at something and celebrating
the idea that it's kind of janky, he's looking at it going,
that's next on the line for restoration.
♪ ♪
MIKE: How about the Goodyear?
Look at that big crease.
JEFF: A big... big crease in it.
MIKE: Yeah it is.
JEFF: That's why it's out on the building.
MIKE: With advertising being so hot right now,
I'll buy signs like this all day long.
Great subject matter, yes they're roached,
they're tweaked, they're dented, they're dirty,
and you can barely read parts of them...
MIKE: What do you value that one at?
JEFF: 300.
MIKE: Alright, so 300 on that one, what about the Goodyear?
The rough, toasty one there.
JEFF: The... near ‐mint?
MIKE: Yeah. [laughs]
ROBBIE: Near, is that what they call that?
Jeff: [laughing] Yeah. 300 too.
MIKE: Okay, I'm doing it.
JEFF: You took the side of the building.
MIKE: Thank you... yeah!
MIKE: At the end of the day, they wear their history.
They show it. They're cool.
MIKE: What about the Schmidt teepee,
what would you want for that?
ROBBIE: Looks pretty cool.
It'd be cool lit up.
MIKE: This time period is the time period that I remember.
I romanticize about going to the tavern with my grandma,
and seeing all the lights and everything,
and I was the youngest person at the bar.
MIKE: The only light is like, stuff like this,
and the pool table light...
JEFF: And the beer sign... MIKE: And the neon...
MIKE: And you're just sitting there and you're staring
into the Schmidt teepee.
JEFF: That's it.
MIKE: Where are you at with this?
JEFF: 100‐and‐ a‐quarter.
MIKE: Alright, I'm doing it.
JEFF: Okay.
MIKE: I got to have it.
MIKE: There you go, now we're talking. Bicycle.
MIKE: There were so many different bicycle manufacturers
around the turn‐of‐the‐ century, and that led to
a lot of really cool, creative advertising.
MIKE: Look at that.
ROBBIE: Racer.
MIKE: It has a racer coming right at you,
like he's jumping out of the frame.
JEFF: I'd say, probably... 200.
MIKE: I'm going to do 250.
JEFF: Okay, I appreciate it.
MIKE: I appreciate you.
I'm a bicycle guy.
It's an incredible image, original matting, it's cool.
JEFF: Well it's right up the alley for
somebody that's into bikes.
MIKE: Oh my gosh! Yeah.
JEFF: Yeah.
MIKE: Who was... drag racing back in the '70s?
JEFF: My brother and I.
MIKE: Really!
JEFF: Yep.
ROBBIE: What were you drag racing?
JEFF: It was a fiberglass body Opel GT.
MIKE: Is this a picture of it?
JEFF: That's a picture of it there.
MIKE: Wow.
ROBBIE: Whoa‐ho!
MIKE: Is that you sticking your head out the top?
JEFF: No, that was somebody standing on the starting line.
My brother is, is the driver.
MIKE: Okay.
JEFF: And I own the car.
JEFF: My dad bought me a disassembled Model T for $25.
And we had that '50 Chevy, and we did the
local drag races on Saturday night.
JEFF: Model Ts, then Model As.
MIKE: Really?
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JEFF: And then into drag racing.
Robbie: [laughs]
JEFF: And then sold all that and came out here.
MIKE: There is a lot more to Jeff than these scales.
I mean, never would have guessed that he
was into drag racing.
ROBBIE: So Jeff, I wanted to ask you
about this astrology scale.
JEFF: Alrighty.
ROBBIE: Looks like it's large and in charge here,
and it's got original paint.
JEFF: Yep, it's the same as the one up in the,
up at the house restored.
ROBBIE: One thing I've always been intrigued
with is space, you know.
And astrology, that's space.
The stars, everything about it.
It's got the crackle paint on it.
If you just light it up, it just looks cool
sitting in the corner.
ROBBIE: So what, what year is this from?
JEFF: I'd say '40s.
They were trying to come up with all different
ways to get people to put their penny in.
ROBBIE: Right.
JEFF: They would not only get their weight,
but they would get a ticket,
with a fortune or a horoscope on it.
ROBBIE: This doesn't work, I take it.
You haven't...
JEFF: I... don't know, it might.
ROBBIE: Okay.
JEFF: I've never plugged it in.
ROBBIE: Is this one on the list for sale?
JEFF: I'd sell that one.
JEFF: I've done one for myself,
so I know what it looks like all done.
JEFF: As you know, it's‐ it's easier to take one apart
and put it back together when you've got one to‐
ROBBIE: One to‐ one to look at.
JEFF: One to look at.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
And now that you've already done it.
JEFF: That's it.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
What kind of...
JEFF: So I would sell that one.
ROBBIE: ...what kind of money?
JEFF: I'd let it go for 1,000.
ROBBIE: I got a question.
JEFF: Sure.
ROBBIE: I didn't see any of the cards inside here?
JEFF: Um‐hm.
ROBBIE: Your machine that you restored has all the cards?
Or you took them out of this machine and keeping all those?
JEFF: No, I had a few.
ROBBIE: Okay.
JEFF: Uh, I don't know if there were any
in this one when I got it.
I can give you a couple.
ROBBIE: So what you're saying is, I can reproduce good
sayings on the cards, so every person that
gets in there is all about happiness.
JEFF: Oh yeah, yeah, no, you don't want to put any negative.
ROBBIE: Oh yeah. There you go.
Man, they want...
JEFF: No, no, no.
They want‐ they want positive.
ROBBIE: So positively, I'm‐ I'm‐ I'm feeling like...
JEFF: Positively, positively...
ROBBIE: ...I'm feeling like 750.
JEFF: I'm feeling like 1,000.
ROBBIE: I know.
JEFF: I know.
ROBBIE: I mean, if this thing's restored, what's it worth?
JEFF: Uh... a friend of mine had one.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JEFF: And he did it, and he sold it for 15,000.
ROBBIE: Wow, wow. Holy cow.
JEFF: All new glass...
ROBBIE: Yeah.
JEFF: All new...
ROBBIE: Everything. All redone.
JEFF: Yeah, all repainted.
And it's not like you're going to see one every day.
ROBBIE: No.
I have, you know, I haven't seen one.
1,000 bucks. I'll do it.
JEFF: 1,000 bucks.
ROBBIE: I'll do it.
JEFF: Alrighty.
ROBBIE: Alright, I appreciate it.
JEFF: I think you'll like it.
ROBBIE: There's not too many people out there
that don't like, lik robots, space.
And the fact that it's astrology,
you want to put your penny in it.
All I got to do is get the lights working in it, and I'm
not saying it's working, but if you want to try and
put your penny in it, I'll collect your money.
[chuckles]
MIKE: Alright, you got it?
Hand it to me. Watch that cord, buddy.
ROBBIE: Watch that, yeah.
MIKE: I know a little bit about a lot of things.
That's how I've made a living.
But guys like Jeff know a lot about one thing ‐ and that's
what makes them so special and cool and interesting;
and the biggest point ‐ a mentor.
ROBBIE: Today was more of a teaching day for me,
and I appreciate it.
MIKE: Alright.
JEFF: [chuckles] You're more than welcome.
ROBBIE: I appreciate ya.
MIKE: Hey, I know who I'm going to call if I find some scales.
JEFF: You do.
MIKE: [laughs] Yeah.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
MIKE: Absolutely.
JEFF: Yeah.
MIKE: Jeff is a walking library.
And the ripple effect of that, is an asset
to the collectable community.
MIKE: Alright, I appreciate you.
JEFF: Thank you. Alrighty. Bye ‐bye.
MIKE: Guys like Jeff are invaluable.
And one of the reasons I do what I do.
[honks horn]
ROBBIE: Thanks, Jeff!
JEFF: Thank you!
♪ ♪ ♪