ROBBIE: Urgh.
MIKE: Jersey, I've picked a lot of places. I've never-
JERSEY JON: Picked a strip mall? (Mike laughs)
ROBBIE: Bumper cars, carousels, boat rides.
there are entire generations of Americans
who grew up with these.
MIKE: This is a sedan delivery. It's not a panel truck.
This is an expensive engine.
ROBBIE: When was the last time you were even in here?
BRENT: 15 years, ain't no telling what's in this place.
ROBBIE: Ha, ha, ha.
JERSEY JON: It's a steam train, man. Unbelievable.
MIKE: You did say you collected train stuff.
JERSEY JON: How will you get this back, Mike?
MIKE: Dani D, what's up?
DANIELLE: Good morning guys, what's up?
MIKE: We are in Alabama and it is 72 degrees!
DANIELLE: Good ol' Bama roll tide, huh?
MIKE: Heck yeah, God Bless America.
DANIELLE: I'm going to send you to a man named John.
John has been collecting for 40 years.
And he recently sold 20 buildings.
JERSEY JON: Wow! MIKE: Dang!
So this guy's heavy into property.
DANIELLE: Yeah, absolutely.
In fact, you're going to meet him at a strip mall.
Where he actually owns the strip mall
and it's full of his collection.
MIKE: The guy owns the whole strip mall.
JERSEY JON: Oh good.
So what kind of stuff does he have?
DANIELLE: Everything. MIKE: Okay. Let me ask you this.
Does he have furniture or blacksmith tools?
DANIELLE: He's got furniture. MIKE: There you go, Jersey.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, what are you talking about, man?
I'm into motorcycles. MIKE: Oh whatever!
DANIELLE: Be prepared for a big day of picking.
MIKE: Alright, we'll talk to you soon.
JERSEY JON: See you later. DANIELLE: Behave.
MIKE: Bye. JERSEY JON: Bye.
MIKE: Dude, you know what I love about Danielle?
She's always consistently in the same mood.
She's always like, you can just tell with her voice,
she's just got that little, little spring in her step.
JERSEY JON: She's happy.
MIKE: Yeah, you know what I mean.
She's like a 1950s, like, beach movie.
You know, just fun, just fun to listen, to watch.
MIKE: Jersey, I've picked a lot of places, I've never--
JERSEY JON: Picked a strip mall? (laughs)
MIKE: Picked a strip mall, yeah man.
JERSEY JON: I don't think I ever have either, man.
MIKE: Which one is it? JERSEY JON: It's right here.
Sporting goods store. Look at the sign, park right there.
MIKE: Where, right here? JERSEY JON: Right here.
MIKE: That's where I'm parking.
JERSEY JON: Well get it done dude. MIKE: Settle down, man.
Alright. Let's check it out.
JERSEY JON: After you, sir. MIKE: Whoa!
JERSEY JON: Yeah. MIKE: Hello!
This guy's got some stuff.
MIKE: Hey, I'm Mike. JOHN: Hey Mike, John.
MIKE: This is Jersey Jon. JERSEY JON: Hey, I'm Jon.
JOHN: Hey Jon. JERSEY JON: Nice to meet you, good name.
MIKE: Alright, I see you got a Hex Tube here.
JERSEY JON: Looks like you got a lot of stuff that's on that list.
MIKE: When you first walk into this place, it's like the back room of a Cabela's.
JERSEY JON: He's got furniture, taxidermy. He's got bicycles,
he's got all kinds of weird stuff in there.
This is like, going to be a really good pick.
MIKE: So what's going on? This looks like expensive real estate to store your collection.
JOHN: It is. That's why we're selling.
MIKE: Okay. JOHN: I'm glad to see you.
JOHN: I've always been a seller. I buy with value in mind,
and I've learned how to value everything from artifacts to real estate.
MIKE: Dani said you own the whole mall. JOHN: We do.
I'm now wanting to clear out this space, because I have
actually national tenants that are looking at this space.
And I've got a lot of, what I consider nice things in here.
But they're nothing I can take with me.
It's just more material things.
JERSEY JON: Let's take a look around.
MIKE: So, so you're... wait, look at this bike, man.
JERSEY JON: I know, I saw the Hex Tube, it's beautiful.
MIKE: I know. This is like '47, '48.
JOHN: That's an aluminum, isn't it? The frame is aluminum.
MIKE: Yeah it's aluminum. And then if you look at the lug work on it,
that's cast aluminum.
In 1934, Monarch Silver King
advertised that they had an aluminum alloy bike
that was three times stronger and way lighter than steel,
which meant a faster bicycle.
Try picking it up, Jersey. It's not like an aluminum bike today.
JERSEY JON: No, it's heavy. MIKE: Yeah.
The gauge of the aluminum and everything is different.
This is the same material that airplanes
were being made out of, trains were being made out of.
It was a beautiful time in American design,
the 1930s and '40s.
That's a hard bike to find. JERSEY JON: Yeah.
MIKE: I mean, everything on this--
JERSEY JON: You don't ever see 'em.
MIKE: ...chrome-wise, needs to be redone.
These fenders, it came chromed, the chain guard was chrome.
JERSEY JON: Got the rear light? MIKE: That's upside down.
Somebody's pulled it apart though, maybe.
Somebody's put this... JERSEY JON: Got a 3-speed rear hub, Mike.
MIKE: Yeah. Sturmey-Archer. JERSEY JON: It's got Schwinn wheels.
MIKE: It looks like a barn find. Do you remember where you got it?
JOHN: It was a barn find. I've not had that bike forever.
I probably had it three or four years.
The guy that found it brought it to me. I didn't actually find it.
MIKE: Was it found locally? JOHN: Yes.
MIKE: It's incredible to me that a bike like this
was sitting in a barn three years ago.
MIKE: Is this something you'd consider selling?
JOHN: Oh, let me think about it, Mike.
MIKE: I'll tell you what, it's a rare bike.
JOHN: My interests are pretty wide
and over a long period of time.
When I was about 18 years old, I decided I really wanted
a motorcycle and I really got into that in a big way.
I like books. I like to read, I do hunting and I do fishing.
I've also liked cars for a long time, still do.
JERSEY JON: Come on, I saw this clock over here.
I want to show you this.
The watch repairing clock, which is interesting.
JOHN: There should be a switch over there.
JERSEY JON: Yeah. Oh yeah, look at that.
JOHN: Okay. We got... JERSEY JON: Wow.
JOHN: We got some neon going.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, so it's got the outer ring in neon.
It's an advertising clock for a watch maker.
The can's nice. Neon worked, clock works.
It's a really nice piece with a tin back.
What are you thinking on something like this?
JOHN: Probably around $700. JERSEY JON: Wow. Um...
JOHN: You think more?
JERSEY JON: I think it's worth more than double what that is.
I'll give you 1,500 bucks for the clock.
JOHN: I'm never opposed to going up.
JERSEY JON: Yeah. I mean, it's a nice piece.
Nice graphics on the clock, with the blue numerals and the dial.
JOHN: Right. Yes. JERSEY JON: You got that for...
For cheap money then.
JOHN: Well, I picked it up and I just liked the subject matter with the watch repair.
And I've actually had some people just want this so bad,
but they won't pay for it.
JERSEY JON: Well, I'm on it for 1,500 bucks.
JOHN: You got it. JERSEY JON: Everything's in great shape in this thing.
This is a really fantastic piece. Alright.
Woo!
ROBBIE: So Cindy, how many rides do you got?
I'm really looking forward to looking at these things.
I mean, what kind of condition are they in?
CINDY: They're old, antiques.
ROBBIE: I like antiques.
CINDY: Well, there's some in real good shape
and they're not put together, so they're all separated,
scattered out and around about here.
ROBBIE: I'm on my way to meet a brother and sister
who are sitting on what Dani described to me
as multiple shipping containers
full of old rides from their dad's carnival business.
CINDY: Daddy just loved, he wouldn't get rid of anything.
ROBBIE: Dad kept everything. That's great news for me.
I think I'm here.
CINDY: Soon as you see an elephant.
ROBBIE: Okay, I see-- CINDY: Turn right there.
ROBBIE: See the elephant, I got that.
CINDY: Alright, then you're going to see a crawfish.
ROBBIE: I see a mushroom.
CINDY: Things out in the woods, alright good.
ROBBIE: Oh I see that crawfish now.
CINDY: Alright, as soon as you turn down there, just keep following that little road
right down through that kind of winds back through there.
And you'll come to an opening right there.
ROBBIE: Alright. I see something. I see you, is that you right there?
CINDY: Ah, that's me. ROBBIE: Alright. Right here.
Alright. Nice and easy. CINDY: Alright, you're here.
ROBBIE: Alright, thank you.
Cindy! CINDY: Hey.
ROBBIE: How're you doing, Rob Wolfe. Good to see you.
CINDY: Cindy Hood, good to see you.
BRENT: How're you doing, Brent Williams.
ROBBIE: Nice to see you. This is kind of some of the stuff we're looking for.
CINDY: Alright. Y'all looking for some stuff, huh.
ROBBIE: Yeah. Always.
BRENT: A whole bunch of stuff all the way down these sheds,
all these trailers and stuff here and stuff.
Got a good bit of stuff in here.
CINDY: C'mon, let me show you,
'cause there's everything you can think of.
When we grew up here,
all this was just storage sheds for asphalt paving.
Everything was stored up in here.
BRENT: Dad growed up in the country a little bit.
He kind of started off in the turpentine business.
Turpentine that would come out of pine trees and stuff.
Did that in his younger childhood.
There was a gentleman over in Ocean Springs, Mississippi,
did blacktop business.
So he went to work with him a couple of days a week.
And finally, he decided
he wanted to get in his own blacktop business.
CINDY: Then he started getting into the amusement park businesses.
He paved a go-kart track.
ROBBIE: Okay.
CINDY: And that's how it started our business.
That fella could not pay for the asphalt.
ROBBIE: So your dad ends up with a go-kart track?
CINDY: Exactly.
BRENT: So next thing we knew, we were in the go-kart business.
CINDY: All this is remnants from every other business.
I mean, we've had go-karts and water slides,
amusement parks.
BRENT: He started going to different states,
Chicago and other places and bidding on these carnival rides.
So next thing we knew,
we were in a stationary carnival business.
CINDY: We had a motel, and the reason he got the motel
is because they called for an estimate there.
So we went and paved the motel and ended up buying the motel.
ROBBIE: It sounds to me like their dad didn't just build
an asphalt plant, he built an empire.
CINDY: Car washes and just everything you can think of.
ROBBIE: His mind never stopped.
How old were you when your dad got into that carnival business?
BRENT: 20 years old. ROBBIE: 20 years old.
BRENT: I was 20 years old when I into it.
ROBBIE: Did you think to yourself, man, my dad has lost his mind.
What are we talking about?
CINDY: We never knew what to expect.
We were raised completely different from our cousins.
Daddy put us, he worked us.
CINDY: And we had fun though, we did have fun.
Our kids grew up playing up underneath this
after everything had been taken down, but...
ROBBIE: What are these?
BRENT: Waterslide tubes.
He had two places that had the water parks.
He had... CINDY: Slipper Sam's and Wonderland.
BRENT: He had Slippery Sam's and Wonderland.
ROBBIE: Where's Slippery Sam at?
BRENT: It was down on the coast in the...
CINDY: It's about 10 minutes south.
BRENT: But Katrina pretty much wiped a lot of that stuff out.
CINDY: Katrina took care of a lot of businesses on the beach.
You know, everybody, when you're older,
you want to go back in time
and go visit those places,
and you want to take your kids to see them and they're gone.
BRENT: A lot of this stuff just got torn down
and brought out here and put up.
ROBBIE: Cindy and Brent have found themselves
with shipping containers full of their own memories.
This is a bumper car in here?
BRENT: Yeah. ROBBIE: Oh wow.
ROBBIE: But over the years, they've realized
they're custodians of other people's memories too.
Alright.
CINDY: I had a couple that wanted one particular horse,
because his wife, when she was a little girl,
on the amusement ride at Magic Gulf,
was sitting on that horse.
And he wanted that horse, and he was able to have that.
BRENT: There's some of the rides in these trailers here,
this is one of the old car rides.
That's probably in the 1950s and stuff.
(Robbie laughs)
MIKE: You got a great collection, man.
This is killer, when's the last time this... oh look at that cord.
JOHN: Yeah, that gives you an idea how old it is.
MIKE: Yeah, man.
JOHN: The Mopar clock, I've had a number of car people
want to buy that clock.
MIKE: Mopar guys are... JOHN: Oh yeah.
MIKE: That's true religion to them, you know what I mean?
Mopar guys are rabid.
They're crazy for anything Mopar.
Rewiring, it's not that big a deal.
But this transformer's pretty bad.
I mean, the neon's in there and it doesn't look like it's broke.
I mean, anywhere...
In this condition, not knowing if the neon works either,
$1,000.
JOHN: I know that clock was valuable
and I knew it when I found it.
How about 1,100?
MIKE: 1,050.
JOHN: You got a deal. MIKE: Alright, man.
JOHN: Thank you, sir. MIKE: Thank you, I appreciate ya.
Where'd you find that at?
JOHN: That was in a service station that I tore down
to sell the property to a Zaxby's.
MIKE: Is most of your property commercial?
JOHN: Oh all of it is, yes.
I like stuff that's on the national register.
MIKE: No kidding. JOHN: Yes.
MIKE: Is there stuff locally like that?
JOHN: Oh yeah, there are a lot of local properties and there's a historic district here.
JERSEY JON: Oh wow. MIKE: So you're... you're very familiar
with historic preservation then.
JOHN: Oh very much.
At one point, I did, along with my family,
bought and owned Union Station in downtown Montgomery.
MIKE: Really.
JOHN: Which is as significant as you get.
JERSEY JON: We were just over there. MIKE: Absolutely, yeah.
JOHN: Railroad architecture,
I really appreciate the architecture.
When you go to a small town, every town had a railroad depot.
It's usually far superior to the houses
or the other utilitarian brick buildings all around it.
MIKE: When you bought it, did you understand
the historic significance of it?
JOHN: Oh absolutely.
JERSEY JON: Union Station is an important historic building in Montgomery, Alabama.
It's not just a building,
it's a celebration of early American transportation.
When they built the really great stations,
they showcased new technologies.
Electric lamps, hydraulic systems, elevators.
This all started in the railroad stations in America.
MIKE: So we're all kindred spirits here.
JOHN: Yeah that's great.
MIKE: Because I like old buildings, you obviously like them.
We're all just caretakers of these properties,
and it is extremely important that we understand
the history of these buildings
and what they mean to the community.
JOHN: I had a sporting goods store at this location.
I moved it once, and I sold the property where I moved it to.
MIKE: You got old counters? JOHN: I do.
MIKE: Which way are we going? Take us to those.
JOHN: Well, I've got an older counter sitting over here
that's 27 feet long.
MIKE: No way! JOHN: And it's one piece.
MIKE: Let me see the 27 foot. JOHN: Starts over here.
JERSEY JON: Holy crap! JOHN: All the way...
MIKE: Jersey, look at this thing!
JERSEY JON: Whoa, that's a counter? MIKE: Oh my gosh!
JERSEY JON: Oh man!
The commercial store counter was really cool, but it's huge.
It takes up half a building.
MIKE: That's awesome. JERSEY JON: Great look.
BRENT: There's some of the rides in these trailers here.
This is one of the old car rides.
ROBBIE: Oh wow. Yeah, I've had a few of these.
These things weigh a ton.
The last time I saw one of these rides,
I had to bail my brother out.
MIKE: I'm calling you because I need your help
and you're my brother.
ROBBIE: He bought one and had no way of getting it home.
MIKE: Woo!
ROBBIE: It was smaller than this one, but I got it put together.
BRENT: This was one of the older rides here.
Probably in the 1950s.
CINDY: Alright, if you're gonna start pulling all that stuff
out, I got work to do, so, y'all call me when you're ready.
ROBBIE: Alright.
I've bought some of these cars in the past 15 years.
I mean, they are heavy.
They were made, the best of the best.
What kind of money would you want for,
I think there's 10 here, right here.
Yeah, there's 10, 10 complete cars.
BRENT: Probably 3,000. Because it's still a complete ride.
It's what makes it so valuable.
ROBBIE: I'm going to think on this for a minute.
BRENT: Okay.
ROBBIE: So let me look at these boats back here.
BRENT: When Robbie started climbing in all these trailers
that have all these rides in there and some stuff,
it's been about 10, 15 years
since I've climbed up in some of these rides.
ROBBIE: Wow.
BRENT: I probably was anxious as Robbie to see what's in there.
ROBBIE: The big boats, people can use those.
They put them on a wall, they put them upside down,
they add lighting to them.
That's what I'm thinking of to use on these.
What do you think you got to have on those?
BRENT: Uh we're probably doing $500 apiece on these.
ROBBIE: Honestly, the big thing with these things to me,
is they're going to have to be all cleaned up.
Even if we sold these off to a decorator,
they couldn't use them like this.
I'll tell you what I want to do,
I'd like to get one of these out of here.
Most kids nowadays, they don't see these.
There's not a floating moat at a carnival anymore.
There's rules, regulations. Lawsuits, people, come on!
Alright.
I remember as a kid, sitting in that aluminum boat
after my mom put me down there.
(bell ringing)
There are hundreds of people
that want to reconnect with that.
That's why they use them as decorator pieces.
MIKE: Okay, so this is the matching shorter counter.
JOHN: That's right. MIKE: The 10-footer.
This one's manageable. JERSEY JON: Yeah, it's nice.
MIKE: The counter was the heart of the general store.
This is where the people gathered,
this is where the transaction took place.
It's missing this piece down here, whatever, but that...
JERSEY JON: The trim moulding. MIKE: You could fix that.
Probably had a vise right there.
JERSEY JON: No drawers. MIKE: Here, right here's one.
JERSEY JON: Oh that's cool. It's got a drawer.
I don't think the other one got drawers.
MIKE: Yeah, there's a paper roll.
JERSEY JON: There's an old paper roll there.
MIKE: Yeah.
Would you sell this one? JOHN: I would.
MIKE: What are you thinking on something like that?
JOHN: Probably 1,500 bucks.
MIKE: What do you want for that squirrel?
JOHN: The squirrel, you buy a counter,
the squirrel will be thrown in.
(Mike chuckles)
MIKE: How about $1,000?
JOHN: You got it in your pocket? MIKE: Yeah.
JERSEY JON: Oh yeah. (laughing)
JOHN: Let's do it. MIKE: Alright.
So do I get the squirrel? JOHN: You get the squirrel, too.
MIKE: Alright, Jersey, look at that. JERSEY JON: Free squirrel.
MIKE: That's for Charlie Wolfe's room right there.
MIKE: John, who built this gvehicle, who restored. this vehicle?
Because it's got an overhead valve conversion on it.
JOHN: This car was on the Hee Haw television show.
MIKE: Really? JOHN: Yes.
And a collector by the name of Johnny Portamon,
he owned a carnival.
And he had a collection, big collection,
he had a Corvette for every year.
MIKE: Oh wow. JOHN: But he bought this car, he redid it.
MIKE: So he's the one who restored it, he's the one
who did the engine work and everything.
JOHN: Yeah, he would have done everything, I've done nothing.
But I bought it at his auction after he passed away.
MIKE: How long ago was that? JOHN: Oh 15 years ago.
MIKE: Okay. JOHN: But the car does run.
I had it lettered with my grand-grandfather's name on it.
He was a merchant, and that's why I put his name
and phone number on it.
MIKE: I saw that, yeah. JOHN: But it's a neat car.
MIKE: Yeah. This is a sedan delivery.
It's not a panel truck.
Which a sedan delivery is actually a better vehicle,
it's a shorter vehicle, it's more manageable.
And it's a rarer vehicle.
It's got one door in the back instead of two.
The engine, you know,
has its Miller overhead valve conversion on it.
A lot of people consider Henry Miller
the greatest creative force in American auto-racing.
The guy built a number of cars
that won the Indianapolis 500 in the roaring '20s.
He retired in 1929, but he couldn't stay away.
He came back in 1930 to a completely different economy.
He got into partnerships making after-market speed equipment
like this overhead valve conversion kit for the Model A.
This is a rare conversion.
And this is an expensive engine if it ran really well.
JOHN: The only thing I know with the motor,
it has a head gasket that needs to be replaced.
And I was just using it for display,
so I didn't even worry about it.
But I've heard it crank and run.
MIKE: As soon as he said it had a head gasket leak...
Let me see this side of the engine.
Your mind automatically goes to expecting the worst.
It could be a problem, a big problem.
It says Miller high-speed head.
Worst case scenario,
it could possibly have a crack in the head.
And in order to repair this engine or rebuild this engine,
it's not cheap to do.
That is a little bit concerning to me.
But you know, it's such a cool vehicle
with some really rare parts.
You know, I don't want to let that sway me.
ROBBIE: Alright, I'm going to flip around there.
BRENT: Pulling some of the stuff out of the trailers and stuff,
it just brings back memories and all the kids that were happy,
ringing the bells on the boats
or the car rides and stuff, just parents and stuff
sitting their babies in there.
It was just a real good time to grow up.
That probably weighs 150 pounds, maybe.
ROBBIE: Oh yeah, easily, easily.
BRENT: The rides seem like they are heavier
than when I was around 20 or 30 years younger.
CINDY: (laughs)
It's okay.
ROBBIE: These cars, I think,
you know, you were saying 70 years old.
I mean, they look like a Nash bathtub.
It's modeled after like a late '40s car, aerodynamic.
Could have been a Nash, maybe a Chevy Fleetside,
something like that. But they're so cool.
You're at 3,000 on this.
All of them. BRENT: Correct.
ROBBIE: We can probably get $500 apiece out of these cars.
But there's a lot of work. They need to be cleaned.
ROBBIE: How about, you're at 3,000, I'm at...
I want to be at 2,500 on this.
2,500, if we go any higher,
we're not going to make any money.
And you wanted 500 apiece on these.
BRENT: Yeah. ROBBIE: I want to be at 1,200.
On all 6.
At 200 bucks each, I'm doing okay.
BRENT: I'll take 25 for the complete ride,
but I'll take $1,800 for the boats.
That's $300 apiece on the 6 boats.
ROBBIE: Alright. I'm going to take these for 2,500.
BRENT: Okay, okay. Good deal.
ROBBIE: Alright. 1,500 bucks on the boats.
You're at 18.
BRENT: $1,500 for the boats. ROBBIE: Alright. Deal.
BRENT: 1,500.
MIKE: Ugh, alright here we go, here we go, here we go.
Alright right there.
Alright, let's see the back end of this thing.
This sedan delivery has a really interesting history.
It's so cool. I mean, the back end of this thing,
this looks like a baby buggy, man.
It was owned by a circus guy, and it was on the show Hee Haw.
So what kind of signage was on it before you painted this?
JOHN: None. It was just plain red.
MIKE: And it hasn't ran in 15 years?
JOHN: That's probably about right.
MIKE: Um... (clears throat)
It's got everything going for it as far as, you know,
it being a sedan delivery,
you know, having this engine conversion,
but that leak concerns me.
JOHN: I'm thinking you give me a number where you take the risk,
I can't guarantee the head gasket.
(Mike sighs)
JOHN: I'm okay with an offer, you won't hurt my feelings.
If I can't take it, I'll just tell you no.
MIKE: Alright, okay. 15,000 bucks.
Well that was quick. JOHN: I'll take it.
I know what you're thinking, I know what you're thinking, Mike.
MIKE: I'm thinking, I should have went lower?
No, I'm kidding you. No, I'm comfortable with that.
JOHN: I'd already made up my mind I was going to sell it,
and he basically offered exactly what I was thinking.
MIKE: Jersey, I bought a sedan delivery! What are you doing?
(laughing)
Okay.
You said you were going to think about the bicycle.
I'm a bicycle guy.
The bike is hard to find.
As far as from a collector's standpoint,
it's more of a rider.
You know, the original fenders would have been stainless steel.
The original fender had this really awesome light.
This bike had a really big pedestal light on it.
So the fenders are incorrect,
and the wheel are incorrect as well.
Somebody upgraded it, obviously, you know, to a three speed.
It also had the rear rack, you know, that's gone.
So I'd be interested in the bike
with everything going on with it, for like 550.
JOHN: I, I think y'all have been fair with me so far
on trying to value things.
So yes, I'll do that.
MIKE: Okay. JERSEY JON: Alright, awesome.
MIKE: Alright, thank you. JOHN: Yes.
Hey Mike, I've got some other stuff.
I've got a railroad location that's actually got a 1913
locomotive and some pretty rare railroad items, if you'd like to take...
JERSEY JON: I'd like to see that. MIKE: Heck yeah.
MIKE: What do you think of that Model A sedan delivery?
JERSEY JON: I didn't know it had the overhead valve conversion in it.
MIKE: I had no idea either.
I started looking it over, I was like, God the interior of this thing's pretty decent.
It was solid. JERSEY JON: Solid.
MIKE: I popped the hood on the thing and I'm like, no way!
It's not a panel truck, it's a sedan delivery.
And that's the kicker too, man.
No way! Look at that train, Jersey!
JERSEY JON: Holy mackerel! It's a steam train, man!
Unbelievable!
MIKE: That's crazy, dude. JERSEY JON: Yeah. I'm gonna go climb on that thing.
MIKE: Dang! JERSEY JON: Let me outta here.
It's one thing to see a train. But to see a steam train?
Like in the wild? MIKE: Wow!
JERSEY JON: That's what we're looking at right here.
MIKE: Where did you get this at, man?
JOHN: Montgomery, Alabama.
That's a 1913 Bowen dummy locomotive.
It was a dummy locomotive.
It was in the city of Columbus, Georgia.
And it was a transition time
between steam-powered locomotives,
and horse-drawn wagons.
And in order to avoid scaring the horses,
Bowen Locomotive built a complete wooden façade
around the locomotive
to make it look like a horse-drawn streetcar,
so that it would not spook the horses.
There's only three of these in the world.
JERSEY JON: This is a rare locomotive, right?
JOHN: It's real rare, according to John White
at the Smithsonian, it's very rare.
MIKE: My respect for John has just gone through the roof.
I mean, the amount of money, time, and effort it would take
to move something like this,
and to preserve it for all of these years is incredible.
How the hell do you even move something like this, man?
JOHN: Two cranes, big trucks. JERSEY JON: Yeah.
JOHN: This one car... JERSEY JON: Yep.
JOHN: ...loaded out on a truck was over 100-feet long.
My goal is to put that locomotive into a museum,
such as in Baltimore.
MIKE: You did say you collected train stuff.
JOHN: (laughs)
I don't need to be the ultimate owner, and I certainly don't
want to be the guy that dies and it goes to the scrap yard.
JERSEY JON: God bless you, man. This thing is awesome.
ROBBIE: Alright, so we got four grand here.
All the cars, the six boats.
BRENT: Correct.
We got some more stuff in this trailer here if you want to
see if we can rifle in there to get to that one.
It was almost barricaded with branches and limbs and stuff.
Watch the nails. ROBBIE: Alright.
BRENT: Robbie just went to get nosy around in there,
but it just got me more excited.
ROBBIE: When was the last time you were even in here, Brent?
BRENT: I haven't been in here in 15 years.
ROBBIE: 15 years.
BRENT: 15 years, ain't no telling what's in this trailer.
ROBBIE: Well damn!
The motorcycles are in here!
The motorcycle rides are in here.
BRENT: Yep.
ROBBIE: It looks like these are the seats here, I don't know
if I can get them out or not, but there's five of them.
They all pretty much look like this.
BRENT: Yeah. That's fibreglass and...
ROBBIE: Yeah, it's fibreglass. This is just aluminum.
It could look like a Harley back then, anything, it's '60s.
BRENT: Because I just seen this
and I didn't know it was in here,
I'd like to study on this a little bit.
ROBBIE: Okay, alright. Can we pull one of them out?
BRENT: We'll pull one out.
I discussed with Robbie about,
talking to Cindy about the motorcycle ride.
ROBBIE: Get this tree out of my face here.
BRENT: See if we were interested in selling it all.
ROBBIE: You got 'er? BRENT: Yep.
ROBBIE: There you go. She's down.
There's two great things about these motorcycle carnival rides.
First, they're like carousel horses.
They can be displayed easily inside a home,
because they don't need a lot of space.
Set her right down there.
BRENT: This one's missing the wheel, so.
ROBBIE: There's two of them that don't have wheels on them.
Second, they're less common than horses.
I got the seat too, here.
So they're desirable to people who love motorcycles.
BRENT: I think you got the rear post to those.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
Man, I actually like it more out here now.
You can see it.
Look at that.
This was literally, hey get on this thing, kid,
I got to put the safety belt on, there you go.
They just tied you on there like a dog.
And hope you didn't fall off.
BRENT: They didn't have a lot of safety back 30 years ago,
as much as there is now.
ROBBIE: I know one guy that's gonna be excited about these,
my brother.
So you want to think about this?
BRENT: Yep. ROBBIE: Alright.
MIKE: Dang, that's so cool.
JERSEY JON: That is bad to the bone.
MIKE: Show us around which building we're going to go in?
JOHN: This one over here. MIKE: I love this guy.
He's into historic preservation, he's into old signs,
he's into bicycles, he's into taxidermy.
He's got a 27-foot long counter.
He's awesome!
What do these say?
JOHN: Those are Coca-Cola signs,
and they, this Army Navy Surplus store
got them all and painted them out in black,
and then lettered them with his store name.
Now I've got a picture of one that has been stripped.
They look pretty doggone nice, once they're done.
MIKE: Really?
JOHN: The 4x8 Coca-Cola signs that are painted over
in black paint are pretty interesting.
I've got a friend that has one of them.
He stripped the paint off of it, and it restored into a beautiful
Coca-Cola sign.
And I think it has a date stamp on it of 1948 or '49.
MIKE: Let me see. JOHN: That's what it looks like.
MIKE: Wow. JERSEY JON: Wow.
MIKE: Now it looks cool, looks really cool.
JOHN: What I've got are eight of the same signs,
but they still have the black paint on them.
MIKE: Would you be interested in selling all of them?
JOHN: I don't know if you want them all, you just make me a price.
MIKE: It's worth taking the gamble because of the age
of these signs, the size of them, and the fact that
they're in the original wood frame.
Some of them look like
it's maybe not going to be that big a deal.
That one's not bad there... from, that's from heat.
JERSEY JON: Looking pretty good. MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: Others look like it's really going to be a journey.
That is bare metal.
So you're not going to get anything with that.
JOHN: I think they've got tremendous potential.
JERSEY JON: A lot of bullet holes in that one.
That got pepper shot.
MIKE: Oh God, yeah it did!
JERSEY JON: That got bird shot, man.
JOHN: But it's going to take some elbow grease and some paint stripper
to clean them up and put them back.
MIKE: I'd do 4,000 for all of them. That's 500 apiece.
Some are probably going to turn out maybe good,
and some are going to turn out maybe not so good, you know.
JOHN: I think the risk of the $4,000 purchase is all on Mike.
I think the potential is tremendous, but if I'm wrong,
he's got a 4x8 sheet of tin.
I'll do that. I'll do that. MIKE: Okay.
JOHN: And I understand, I understand the risk.
I've started to do them 100 times.
And I've just never taken the time to...
MIKE: Oh, so you have started to do them?
JOHN: No I meant like started thinking...
MIKE: Oh, like within your mind. JOHN: Like in my mind, yeah.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, how you're going to do it, yeah.
JOHN: That's where I start stuff.
MIKE: Whoa Jersey, you need that stove, man.
JERSEY JON: Negative.
MIKE: Alright. JERSEY JON: This place is huge!
MIKE: There's some more bicycles.
JERSEY JON: It's all about square footage when it comes to like, antiques.
MIKE: See the tank on the front of that ladies' bike?
JERSEY JON: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow that's a Colson?
MIKE: Yeah, it's called a Clipper.
JERSEY JON: The more room you got, the more stuff you can buy, the more money you can make.
MIKE: Look at this, Jersey. This is heavy duty, back here.
Holy crapola! What's all that iron in there?
JOHN: There's a movie theatre worth of seats in there.
MIKE: Man, you're in the architectural salvage business,
you're in the commercial property business,
you're in the restoration preservation
of historic property business.
JOHN: Let me get that on a recording for my wife.
She calls me something else.
MIKE: Walking back into this room is like walking into
a large jigsaw puzzle.
There's a part for this over there,
there's a part for that over there.
You have to kind of really be able to put some of this stuff
together in your mind.
JERSEY JON: Isn't that creepy? MIKE: Yeah.
Get out of here with that, you freak!
It's freakin' me out, man. JERSEY JON: Creepy, dude.
MIKE: You got some space.
JOHN: This was originally a skating rink.
MIKE: It was a roller-skating rink.
JOHN: Yes. MIKE: Okay.
JOHN: And I sold the building,
and the guy demolished half of it.
And asked me to buy it back.
MIKE: Okay. Whoa!
Oh my gosh, look at this, Jersey.
JERSEY JON: Wow! MIKE: God, you are Mr. Railroad.
(laughing)
MIKE: This is amazing!
Yeah you've got to Memphis, from Memphis,
to Louisville, to Nashville.
The L&N Railway ran from Louisville to Nashville.
And eventually spanned from New Orleans
all the way to Cincinnati.
JOHN: Got the train names on there too, Hummingbird.
JERSEY JON: Oh the Hummingbird, yeah. Look at that, yep.
MIKE: Pan American.
JOHN: Didn't the Hummingbird go all the way to New Orleans?
MIKE: Yeah, man. This was one of the most important
signs in the depot.
JERSEY JON: It's all hand-lettered, Mike.
MIKE: This is telling you when your train is leaving,
where it's going, and what train you're riding on.
And a lot of those details would have been written in chalk
by the stationmaster.
MIKE: 1,200 bucks for that.
JOHN: I need 1,500 out of this one.
It's the only one I've ever even seen.
MIKE: It's a big piece. JERSEY JON: Yep.
MIKE: It's an incredible piece. Tremendous amount of history.
Self-serve luggage carts.
You literally cannot be in this room
without standing on a sign most of the time.
And there's so many signs all over the place.
And these are the different towns. Look at the gilding on that.
JERSEY JON: What does that say? MIKE: That's rail Chehaw.
JOHN: I think that's up in North Alabama.
MIKE: From the restroom sign to the baggage sign.
MIKE: US Mail Room.
No Admittance.
It's incredible the amount of signage here.
Cannonville.
And the condition that it's in for its age.
JOHN: When he got in there and they read the subject matter
on these signs, I could tell the excitement was rising.
MIKE: Union City. JERSEY JON: Union City.
JOHN: Rising every minute. MIKE: Montgomery, Alabama.
JERSEY JON: Ooh, that's pretty cool. MIKE: That's cool.
There's more over here.
Every one of these signs represents a depot
that represents a town.
Madras. Here.
And a lot of these towns existed because of the railroad.
Fairburn. JERSEY JON: Fairburn.
MIKE: The railroad connected this country
from coast to coast.
Another Union City, same one. And then that's it.
This is southern railroad history.
The collection is really incredible.
JOHN: I've had a guy look at these signs, these wooden signs,
they're around $700 apiece retail, on average.
JOHN: I'm not an expert, I'm not certain of the value
on some of these signs.
I did have what I consider an expert,
come in and help advise me.
MIKE: This stuff is pretty rare.
JERSEY JON: How many are there, Mike?
MIKE: Eight. I got, there's eight signs.
Would you do 400 apiece, if your guy's saying 700 retail?
JOHN: Well, I'll do that. MIKE: Okay.
Shake his hand, Jersey. 3,200. JERSEY JON: Thank you, sir.
JOHN: Yes, sir. I think between us we came to
a fair price for both of us.
I think they'll be great in someone's home or in a museum.
BRENT: We got another big shed down here that's got stuff
that's probably 70 years old on the old merry-go-round.
We have one set
of merry-go-round horses in here.
ROBBIE: Oh wow.
BRENT: Some of them are small, some are medium.
ROBBIE: Wow, that thing's heavy too.
BRENT: Yeah.
ROBBIE: These horses have such a dramatic look to them.
They're not just standing horses.
These are running horses, so they're sleek, they're long.
BRENT: These horses here are in better shape,
'cause they're always running.
ROBBIE: The paint on them is not chipping, and actually,
the colours are awesome.
How many are there?
BRENT: 26 of them. ROBBIE: 26?
BRENT: Yeah.
ROBBIE: How much, if I buy a few of them,
what's the price on them?
Versus if I buy them all?
BRENT: It's probably another item that I'd like to talk
to Cindy about, because...
ROBBIE: Okay. Why don't you go get Cindy?
I want to call my brother on these. BRENT: Okay.
These are in great shape.
Most guys are going to look at these and just either hang it on a wall,
or they're going to put the pole through it
and put a base on it, and put it in their living room.
It's a decorator piece.
MIKE: John, you're wearing me out, man,
with the railroad stuff, I'm telling you right now.
I've never seen this much of an extensive sign collection
with railroad.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, I'd never seen that much signage.
MIKE: It's almost like it was all from one place.
JOHN: It was. This was. MIKE: It was?
JOHN: It's not so much that I'm a railroad collector.
I'm not a model railroader.
I did acquire this almost in defense
of the railroad artifacts.
There was a gentleman that was going to put together a museum
in Montgomery, down at Union Station.
It started and he had a stroke, and could no longer run it.
He got real ill, and his family called me to ask me
to come in and buy the artifacts that he had
and pay off the banknote, which I did.
It was either step up and buy the stuff,
which I didn't really need, or it would all be scrapped,
including the locomotive, the whole bit.
MIKE: No kiddin'. JOHN: Yes.
MIKE: So the locomotive that you have...
JOHN: Oh that was part of the purchase. Yes.
MIKE: Oh my gosh, you did step up.
John understood its value and its historical significance.
So to have the opportunity
to look through some of these pieces is incredible.
What'd your guy say on that one?
JOHN: $1,000. MIKE: How about six?
JOHN: 650 and we'll do it. MIKE: Alright, 650.
JOHN: I'll give you a left-handed shake.
MIKE: This is the kind of stuff, as a picker,
that you dream about going through your hands.
JERSEY JON: John, there's a box full of lanterns in here,
and the only one I'm going to be interested in
is this amber globe.
The kerosene lantern is a signal lantern for a train,
to tell the engineer to stop.
JOHN: I knew you'd pick out the most expensive lantern
in the whole bunch.
How about $85?
JERSEY JON: 85, how about 75? JOHN: Alright, let's do 75.
Just 'cause I like ya.
MIKE: The quality of these pieces, the rarity,
and to have so much of it at one time.
JERSEY JON: You've got this bridge sign here.
It's a cast iron sign.
Notice: all persons are warned
not to trespass on this bridge.
JOHN: How about $150?
JERSEY JON: That's exactly what I was thinking.
Thank you, John, I appreciate that.
MIKE: John did his part. Now it's up to us
to get these signs into the hands of the right people.
Look at that Baggage Room sign. 800.
JOHN: I'm gonna do that, 'cause I actually was thinking about 7.
Really was. MIKE: Okay. Shake his hand.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, man. MIKE: Jersey.
JERSEY JON: Thank you, sir.
(phone ringing)
MIKE: Hey, what's up, little brother?
ROBBIE: Nothing. Hey, did you get that picture I sent ya?
MIKE: Yeah, what are they made of?
ROBBIE: Like a cast heavy aluminum.
MIKE: How many is there? ROBBIE: There's 26 of them.
MIKE: Dang! Okay, that's a commitment.
ROBBIE: Yeah, I know, that's why...
MIKE: is there any like, you know, like pinks?
ROBBIE: There is a pink and white one in there.
There's a black and white one. There's some yellows.
MIKE: Have you been buying other stuff from the guy?
ROBBIE: Oh yeah. I found some other motorcycle thing.
Rides here, but he's got to talk to his sister first.
MIKE: Oh you did? ROBBIE: Yeah.
But he's got to talk to his sister and he went to go
talk to his sister about these, these horses.
MIKE: I think the retail number on them's probably like four, four and a quarter.
I mean, if they're something that you want to sell.
Yeah, so I mean, if you can get them for a couple of hundred bucks apiece.
Alright. ROBBIE: Alright, love ya, bye.
CINDY: Heh, you still?
ROBBIE: Oh, where have you been all day? I've been, I mean...
CINDY: I've been busy, but you're still digging out, aren't ya?
ROBBIE: My back's hurting today. You guys got heavy stuff.
BRENT: I talked to Cindy about it on both rides.
Just throw something at us
and then we'll see if we want to go with it.
ROBBIE: I'll tell you what I wanna be on the motorcycle rides.
There's five of them. BRENT: Okay.
ROBBIE: I want to be on the motorcycle rides, I want to be 1,250 on them.
BRENT: If you're going to take them out of the trailer
and get 'em yourself.
I'm going to do you 1,000 on that.
ROBBIE: Okay. BRENT: Okay, 1,000 on the motorcycles.
ROBBIE: Umm on these, I wanted, I want to do...
CINDY: These are down to probably about 800, 900,
somewhere around there apiece.
So, I don't know.
Maybe 5 or $600 apiece?
ROBBIE: At, at the number you just gave me,
we're so far apart.
If I was to take them all.
BRENT: I'd like, I'd like to at least try to get
300 apiece for them.
So 26 times 3, that's $7,800.
BRENT: So if we come down to $7,000, and that's...
ROBBIE: I'll tell you, I'll tell you what.
I would rather take five of them.
BRENT: Before you do that,
I'm going to go as low as $6,000 for all 26 of them.
ROBBIE: 230 bucks apiece? BRENT: Correct.
Yeah, and... CINDY: That sounds good to me.
BRENT: Sounds good to you? CINDY: Mmm-hmm.
ROBBIE: I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.
CINDY: Alright. Sounds good. ROBBIE: You should have came out earlier though.
Seriously, he's getting a little softer since you got out here.
CINDY: Oh, I seen where you'd been.
I don't think I need to be in the hole.
ROBBIE: Bumper cars, carousels, boat rides.
There are entire generations of Americans who grew up
with these as part of their family life.
BRENT: All these kids, they've grown and have kids now.
And every time you go in somewhere.
CINDY: We remember y'all, we remember you, Miss Cindy.
And I'm going... BRENT: Everybody knows you.
Everybody knows your Daddy. ROBBIE: I appreciate it.
I love the family stories here.
BRENT: A lot of lives have been touched.
Through all the businesses and stuff that Daddy had.
ROBBIE: These rides that I got here today will help people
give their own kids some of the same wonder and joy.
BRENT: Everything good!
ROBBIE: Thanks guys, appreciate it!
JERSMIKE: Let's look made in here real quick.
Here, hold that, Jersey. Let me see that.
JERSEY JON: Yep. What is it?
MIKE: It's a portrait of a Civil War soldier.
It's very amateur, but it's still a neat subject.
I'm digging it.
JERSEY JON: Dude, somebody made this in the '70s.
MIKE: You think this is 1970?
JERSEY JON: Mmm-hmm. MIKE: Of a Civil War soldier?
JERSEY JON: Yep. MIKE: Why?
JERSEY JON: 'Cause it's got finished nails in the frame.
The moulding came from Home Depot.
The frame makes me question the age of the painting.
MIKE: To me it looks way older than 1970.
JERSEY JON: Okay, do what you want.
MIKE: Jersey is Mr. Wood. And I appreciate his opinion.
But what he is looking at is the frame around the painting.
Okay, date the canvas for me.
JERSEY JON: I don't know how to date that canvas.
Perhaps you're right. I mean, they could have
reframed this thing, but I know what the frame is.
MIKE: This is an early painting.
Is it done well? Not really.
But it's a great decorator piece.
It's of a Confederate soldier, and to me, it's historic.
JERSEY JON: The frame is new. MIKE: 500 bucks.
JOHN: I would think more like 800 bucks.
JERSEY JON: It's not dated.
I feel Mike should be cautious about buying this piece.
JOHN: Honestly, even at that, it could be worth 2,800.
MIKE: I'm all in. 800. JOHN: Okay. We're good.
JERSEY JON: It's modern. JOHN: Alright.
MIKE: Okay. Whoa!
JERSEY JON: Oh, went right through it.
MIKE: Did it really? JERSEY JON: No.
(laughing)
MIKE: What about this piece? Whoa, here you go. Look at the shoe.
JERSEY JON: That's cool. MIKE: What's left of it.
JERSEY JON: It's almost like a folk art neon.
MIKE: Yeah. This sign is earlier than the neon conversion.
JERSEY JON: They added a neon. MIKE: Yeah, they added the neon to it.
JOHN: $50 and you can have it.
MIKE: No, I'd pay way more than that for it.
JERSEY JON: Give him 200 bucks for it, dude.
MIKE: I'll give you 300. JERSEY JON: There you go.
JOHN: You're way too generous, but I'll take the money.
MIKE: I'll give you 300. JOHN: I will take your money.
MIKE: I mean, it's an early piece though, it's early, you know.
JOHN: You're fair, I know that.
JERSEY JON: What about this gauge, man?
JOHN: It came with the railroad items.
JERSEY JON: So this is a stationary steam gauge.
They didn't put them on locomotives.
This is a steam that powered a factory.
MIKE: Wow, that's cool.
JERSEY JON: That's a cool gauge, man. It's neat.
MIKE: The bracket is incredible.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, the gauge is probably 1875, 1880s.
The gauge is the most important part of a steam engine.
It's the difference between life and death.
You got too much pressure... (loud explosion)
It's going to blow up. 125 bucks.
JOHN: 225. JERSEY JON: 225, how about--
MIKE: Man John, that's killer, man.
JERSEY JON: $175.
JOHN: 200. JERSEY JON: Alright. I'll take it for 200.
MIKE: I see you got a couple of signs in here.
A home garden is profitable and offers healthful recreation.
Buy seed in bulk. The better way.
These signs look like they're hand-painted on Masonite.
Grow fresh vegetables and save money.
The common thread is that they're from a garden center.
I'll give you 200 for all of them.
JOHN: Done. MIKE: Thank you, buddy.
JOHN: Yeah that's... that's the business they came out of,
this J.W. Shreve.
What do you offer on it? MIKE: I'm Shreve'd out.
JOHN: Alright.
MIKE: Alright. JERSEY JON: Get in there.
MIKE: Lay this on top of here.
JOHN: Mike has got tremendous knowledge.
I would make Mike what I considered a decent price,
and he would come back and say, yes you know,
that's actually worth more than that.
So, you know, that shows integrity.
JOHN: Ready for this one? MIKE: Yeah.
JOHN: Alright, here you go. MIKE: Alright, thank ya.
John was really more of a preservationist
than he was a collector.
I mean, a lot of the things that we were looking at today,
you know, he collected them because he wanted his store
to look a certain way, or he collected it because
he was trying to help out a family and a friend.
I can't believe you've held onto that stuff for all these years.
JOHN: Some things are more valuable than money.
MIKE: I agree with you 100%.
All of these things are worth money,
and he's doing some of these things for money,
but really truly, I feel in his heart,
he's doing it to preserve some history.
(honks horn)
JERSEY JON: Keep rolling down the track!
JOHN: See ya, Jersey! You take care!
MIKE: Who doesn't love a guy like that?