(thunder crashing)
Robbie: Put your phone away, numbnuts.
Jersey jon: Dude, I'm looking where we're going.
Robbie: No, you're not. Your freakin' phone's dead.
Jersey jon: I told you this morning that the wrong address's in there.
Your phone is going to be dead in a second. Look it, no battery, dude.
Robbie: Dude, you're dead!
Jersey jon: I actually remember to charge my- at the hotel last night, I charged my phone.
Robbie: Jersey. Jersey. Jersey jon: You don't even do that, robbie.
Robbie: Jersey. If you're going to travel with me...
(whistling tune)
Jersey jon: Why does it always gotta be an argument with you, robbie?
Robbie: It's not arguing, I'm looking at it.
Jersey jon: Me and your brother, man, we don't have any problems, it's smooth sailing.
What difference does it make? We're going to the place.
We got the address in the gps, we're going there. Why do I got to read her email a dozen times?
Mike: Listen to me, let me answer the question.
Jersey jon: With you, it's like- robbie: Oh my god.
Jersey jon: Dude! Robbie: Oh, urgh!
(phone ringing)
Robbie: Whaddup, dani d? Jersey jon: Dani!
Danielle: Hey, what's up guys? How's alabama treating ya?
Robbie: Extremely good.
I got to listen to jersey in the morning.
He gets my blood flowing, I'll tell you that.
Jersey jon: Yeah. (laughs)
Robbie: What do you got for us?
Danielle: I'm going to send you to see tommy justice.
Robbie: I'm interested.
Danielle: So tommy's father was this huge motorcycle guy,
And he even opened up justice motorcycles
In montgomery, alabama. Robbie: Really.
Danielle: So then tommy got involved
And all these years later, he still has
All these vintage motorcycles, so it's a perfect place
For you to go.
Robbie: Alright, well send us the coordinates.
I'm jonesing on this today. Jersey jon: It sounds good.
Thank you, dani d. Robbie: See ya, sister.
Danielle: Alright. Adios.
(honks horn)
Robbie: Tommy! Jersey jon: Tommy!
Tommy: Hey! Jersey jon: Hey.
Tommy: Hey. Robbie: Hey.
Tommy: Can I help you? Jersey jon: There he is.
Robbie: You tommy? Tommy: Yep.
Robbie: How're you doing? Tommy: I'm alright.
Jersey jon: I'm jon. Tommy: Hi jon. Tommy.
Robbie: How're you doing? Amanda: Amanda.
Robbie: Amanda. Good to see you. Nice to meet you.
Tommy: Hey, how are ya? Jersey jon: Got any of that?
Tommy: I got a motorcycle. Robbie: Yeah.
Tommy: Motorcycles are in my blood,
Because I would ride on the gas tank with my daddy
Since I was 6 years old or so.
Robbie: Who's riding the gas gas? 'cause it's not her.
Tommy: No, it's me. Amanda: No, not now.
Tommy: It's me. Robbie: You're riding a trials bike?
Tommy: A trials bike. Yeah.
Robbie: Trials riding is one of the intricate motorcycle sports
I've ever seen.
These guys get up on logs,
They bounce till they got the right angle.
Then off the log they fly, onto the rock, onto the next thing.
Their feet can never touch the ground.
Tommy: We had an event in north georgia yesterday.
Jersey jon: How'd you do?
Tommy: I did real good yesterday.
My first ever clean for the whole day.
Jersey jon: So that's like a zero score? Tommy: Zero score.
Jersey jon: That means you never touched the ground. Tommy: For 4 loops.
Robbie: At what age? Tommy: 71.
Jersey jon: Oh man.
Tommy: I didn't start that till I was 66.
Robbie: What! Tommy: Yes.
Robbie: Wow. Amanda: I'm going to help mama.
Amanda: Love you. Tommy: Love you. Bye.
Amanda: Buy some of my inheritance, okay?
It'll be less for me to figure out.
Tommy: There you go. Jersey jon: Well, we'll do what we can.
Amanda: I appreciate it very much. Robbie: Appreciate ya.
Jersey jon: So this is the trials bike you're riding? Tommy: That's it.
Jersey jon: Let's take a look at this thing, man.
Tommy: Alright. There's where I've practiced.
Robbie: Dude. I got to see this.
Tommy: Say a little prayer. Robbie: Yeah.
Tommy: Trials bikes is not about speed, it's precision.
We're hardly going 2 or 3 miles an hour most of the time.
It's about keeping your balance and technical riding.
Robbie: It is so much harder than it looks.
And tommy's 71 years old.
Jersey jon: Yeah!
(both laugh)
Jersey jon: Nice! That's awesome.
Tommy: It's fun! You need to ride one.
Robbie: No! Jersey jon: No.
I'm not doing it. Robbie: Where's the good stuff at?
Tommy: Alright, we'll put this up and we'll go inside and look at the other stuff.
Jersey jon: Yes, let's do this. Robbie: Alright.
Tommy: They call my place the 'black hole.'
Stuff comes in and never goes out.
This is my motorcycle shop. I don't sell things.
When I get it, it's because I like it and I want to keep it.
Robbie: These things are hot right now.
Jersey jon: You never see this, and that's an expensive car.
So this guy's got a mercedes on a lift,
He's got to have some other good stuff in the corners.
Robbie: Are any of the cars for sale? Tommy: No.
Jersey jon: What about the signs and...
Tommy: Yeah.
Jersey jon: Like, I love that display up there.
Tommy: I figured you might love that, yeah.
Yeah, you love that. I love it too.
They went straight to it. I knew they would.
Jersey jon: This thing is killer.
Lynx eye are tail lamp lenses, but with the little blue dots
In the middle, which I freakin' love.
It's hot rod stuff.
Tommy: It wasn't that old when I bought it.
All the lenses on it are from '54 and back.
Robbie: It's got every blue dot.
Jersey jon: I've had display cards from different manufacturers,
But never a lynx eye.
Jersey jon: Is that something you'd consider selling?
Tommy: It would be hard.
Jersey jon: Well, what's the hard price?
Tommy: Ahh, I have no idea.
Robbie: I would say complete, you know, retail number on it's
Got to be, with the crack in it, 750, 800.
Jersey jon: Really, that much?
Is it worth us taking it down and taking a look?
Are we in the same neighborhood? Tommy: You're in the ballpark.
Jersey jon: Well, you know what the retail number is. Tommy: Around there 750, yeah.
Jersey jon: No, we got to make money too.
Tommy: Gotta make a little money. I was glad he said
$750 retail,
'cause that's about what I thought it might be worth to me.
Robbie: You got to hold it by the top and the bottom. There you go.
Jersey jon: You rarely see one of these cardboard displays
In good condition. They just disintegrate.
This piece obviously has never seen any moisture.
It's in pretty good shape.
Jersey jon: I feel comfortable at like 300.
Tommy: I can't do that. Jersey jon: Well...
Tommy: I can't. I like it. I like it.
I probably like it more than they like it.
Jersey jon: Well, hit me.
Tommy: 6.
Jersey jon: Whoa. That's hitting me hard.
Tommy: Well.
Jersey jon: I'll tell you what, how about 4-and-a-half?
Robbie: Don't look at me, tommy.
Jersey jon: Come on, dude, I'm coming up.
Tommy: You're coming up. 5-and-a-half.
Jersey jon: Ugh.
Tommy: You're just lucky I even put a price on it.
Two minutes before he looked at it,
I probably told somebody I'd never sell it.
Robbie: We'll split it in the middle. 500 bucks.
Jersey jon: 500 bucks, dude. Come on.
Tommy: I know they, they got to make a little money
If they want to sell it, so.
And I don't have $750 in it.
Tommy: $500. Jersey jon: Alright, man.
I appreciate your hospitality.
It's so cool, man. I love this thing.
Tommy: I paid 30 for the original display.
I remember that. Jersey jon: It's going to a good home.
Tommy: It's hard. Jersey jon: Yeah.
Tommy: You don't know how hard it is.
Mike: Today I'm headed to meet tim, whose dad, blue,
Lived in an old dance hall in the middle of nowhere, kansas.
He was a custom bike builder who had a passion
For knuckleheads and music.
Mike: Hello! (laughs)
Walking into this place, it has a total vibe.
Hey, you tim? Tim: How're you doing?
Mike: Hey man, I'm mike. Tim: Tim black.
Mike: This place is awesome!
Really high ceilings, huge dance floor,
Balcony all the way around.
Tim: Built in 1934.
Mike: Okay. Here, let me give you one of these. Wow!
Tim: The ballroom, they had wrestling matches,
Boxing matches, live bands.
Mike: So do you know any of the artists that played here?
Tim: I think the largest was bob wills
And the texas playboys.
Mike: No kidding!
Tim: They'd have 5 to 600 people on this dance floor
When they played, yeah.
Mike: Imagine bob wills and the texas playboys on stage here,
He's destroying a fiddle, and there's 600 people
On the dance floor honky-tonking and tearing it up.
American roots music grew out of places like this.
Mike: Dani said blue lived in here? That was his name, blue?
Tim: Oh yeah. There's an apartment upstairs.
Mike: Oh okay.
Tim: Actually, my brother-in-law's upstairs cleaning right now. Hey bj!
Bj: Yeah!
Mike: You doing some digging? Bj: Yeah! Yeah.
Mike: What's going on, man? Bj: Hey, how are you?
Mike: Hey, I'm mike. Bj: Hey, I'm bj.
Mike: Nice to meet you. How are you?
Bj: Blue collected all his life.
Anything that he found an interest in, he grabbed onto it.
Most of the bike parts are over here.
Tim: He never got rid of anything.
Bj: Never.
Mike: Wait, wait, wait, wait look at this, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Look at the paint job on that! (laughs) 'blue to the bone.'
I like that, that's cool.
'born to be blue.'
Okay, so blue was obviously his nickname.
Tim: Yep, that was his biker nickname.
Mike: Where did he get that? Tim: Dad rode two knuckleheads.
They were his babies.
I don't know why he painted the bikes blue,
But once the bikes were blue, he was blue.
Mike: Ha ha! That's so cool!
Tim: It kind of played along with his love for blues music
And then later on with his blue drinks that he drank.
He was just 'blue' to everybody.
Mike: (laughing) no way!
Tim: Dad would lead the toy run, yeah.
Mike: A blue santa! Oh he was santa leading the parade?
Tim: Yeah. Mike: Oh for like the toys for tots?
No way.
Tim: And we even started calling him blue. (laughs)
(group laughing)
Mike: What else you got back here? Alright.
What's this here? Oh yeah here, easyriders.
So this is his bike. Bj: Yeah, yeah.
Mike: Okay. Bj: That's the '39.
Mike: In 1969, the movie, easy rider, came out.
It had jack nicholson in it, dennis hopper, peter fonda.
It was huge. And two years later, in 1971,
Lou kimzey, mil blair, and joe teresi
Created easyriders magazine.
The movie brought the chopper scene to the masses.
But it was really the magazine
That celebrated the lifestyle and the culture.
Tim: He was really proud of easyriders top 300.
Mike: Oh really. Tim: Ol' blue made top 300.
Mike: No kidding! Tim: Yeah, yeah.
Mike: Wow!
Easyrider magazine was successful because it was real.
It was true to the biker community.
To have your bike on the cover of that,
And then to be on the list of the top 300 custom bikes
That ever graced that magazine?
That was some serious street cred.
Did he build this bike with, did you see this bike together?
Tim: Yeah, I think that was one of the early versions
Of his '39.
Ol' blue went through so many phases.
Back then, it wasn't about, it's got to be dirty and original,
He was all about the show bikes and customization.
And I think all those parts were on ol' blue at one point.
Mike: 'knuckles forever.'
So you could actually, no kidding,
You could build a bike out of these.
These are knuckle tanks.
If you look at the width there from the petcock down here
Into this tab, how close it is.
These are '47 knuckle tanks. These are hard tanks to find.
Would you sell these tanks and this fender?
Bj: Yeah. Mike: Hmm...
Tim: Custom paint job. Bj: Yeah that's right.
Mike: I know. I love that, I really do love the paint job.
I mean, I'm serious, they're cool.
This is the beginning of him customizing a bike.
The light blue with the dark blue flame, 'knuckles forever.'
This is like his early work.
It's primitive, it's raw, it's full of emotion.
1,200 bucks.
Bj: Yeah. Tim: Yeah.
Mike: Alright man, I appreciate ya.
Bj: Yeah. Mike: Thank you.
It's motorcycle folk art from an outside artist.
I mean, this is 'blue to the bone,' to the marrow.
Mike: What's this? So he made this?
Tim: Yeah. He was a computer guy.
Mike: (laughs) that's cool.
Tim: Not every day you see a knucklehead on a wheaties box.
Mike: No, no I'm looking at it. He made this one too?
Bj: Yeah. Mike: What is that?
Bj: That's the slushie bus. Mike: What's the slushie bus?
Tim: He went to bike rallies, bj went.
Bj: We had some slushie machines.
And we made alcoholic slushies.
(laughs)
Bj: And that bus is outside. Mike: No kidding.
Got to be the number one vendor there.
Look at this, oh look at that oil tank, man.
It's got kind of a tombstone shape to it, you know.
50 bucks, you want to do 50 bucks on that?
Bj: 50 bucks? Yeah. That's good. Mike: Okay, we'll do 50 bucks on that.
These are the parts and pieces that are left over
From a lifetime of searching and hunting
And custom-building bikes.
Here, this is a good piece. This is a tombstone taillight.
The lens is cracked on it though.
The tabs is broken off here on the hinge. 2-and-a-quarter.
Bj: 300.
Mike: Alright, doing it, man. Thanks.
Alright, I'll put this pile together here.
Here's a rear crash bar.
All of this stuff is getting extremely hard to find.
100 bucks. Bj: 120?
Mike: I'll do 120. Yeah.
Because guys like blue have been searching it out for years.
It's an oil tank. They call it a horseshoe oil tank.
Some guys call them oil bags. 300 bucks.
Tim: 350.
Mike: 3-and-a-quarter. Okay. Alright, cool.
Have you guys found any parts in here
That really stand out to you?
Tim: There's some knuckleheads over here somewhere.
Mike: Oh here you go.
Harley-davidson made the knucklehead from 1936 to 1947.
It was their first overhead valve big twin engine.
And the reason they call it the knucklehead is because
When you look at the rockers, they look like this,
They look like knuckles, you know.
Mike: '36, '37, '38, '39 -
Those are the years that everybody is,
That's the sought-after stuff, you know.
And there's little differences between each year.
They're coming off of a flathead side valve vl.
And then all of a sudden, they're changing everything -
The frame design, the oil tank, the sheet metal.
Everything was changed.
See this dimple here? Tim: Uh-huh.
Mike: They made these early heads with the dimple
From '36 to '38.
And then from '36 to '37,
They've got this flathead screw in here.
Just off the cuff, I'm thinking these are '37.
They've always been the most coveted harley
When it comes to big twins.
They were revolutionary.
Okay so this one has damage here. And here.
You can see here this fin, these two fins are gone.
That fin's broke there. That one's broke there.
Okay, so those are both broke.
On these like I mean, these need to be completely rebuilt.
But they're good property because of pre-war knuckle.
I'd pay 1,500 apiece.
3,000 bucks for the pair.
They need to be rebuilt. And then there's some damage.
Bj: Right. Um
Tim: 35?
Mike: 35?
Let me see that one. Let's trade.
Bj: You don't come across these every day.
Mike: No. Especially this early. 35. I'll do 35.
Alright, man, thank you.
Robbie: You have any more intakes?
Tommy: Probably one or two.
Robbie: Oh look at this, jersey!
What do you mean, one or two, tommy?
Tommy: Well, you said that I would sell.
Jersey jon: This is a speed shop, man.
Tommy: I was concerned about what he might want to buy,
'cause I don't really want to sell.
Robbie: It's a fenton.
Tommy: One of them's not a 97, that one's not.
Robbie: This fenton dual carb intake is cool.
It's for a later model. Tommy: Late model flathead.
Robbie: I'm pushing more gas down there,
I'm going to go faster.
That was a high compression head.
It was all about adding a little bit of horsepower.
Tommy: I took it off of a 1940 model ford.
That I still have. The engine's out of it right now.
Robbie: If I could put 30 or 40 horsepower in a flathead,
More than what it was stock, that was an accomplishment,
That was unheard of back then.
Robbie: Were you planning on reusing it?
Tommy: Probably. But who knows when.
Robbie: Guys that are building these original hot rods,
They're looking for original speed equipment.
This piece here, that's probably worth 200, 250.
Tommy: Um-hm. All day long.
Robbie: Yeah. Would you be interested in selling it?
Tommy: Yeah.
I'm going to sell the car I was going to put it on,
So I don't need it anymore.
Robbie: 450.
Tommy: They're not rare,
But they're hard to come by inexpensively.
Robbie: Let me ask you this.
This piece right here, I just noticed this grant.
This is a grant. Tommy: Yes.
Robbie: He knows what it is. Tommy: A grant, yes.
Robbie: This thing was called the 'flamethrower.'
This is a distributor, but it's a dual coil system.
It was meant to throw spark through your spark plugs
Faster and hotter.
These were built in the '60s.
Tommy: For a v-8. Robbie: I know, I counted.
It really wasn't built for the street though,
They were mainly for the racing industry.
For boats, for drag strip.
Adding this to a regular car
Is going to make you jerk back in the seat!
Boom!
Would you sell this? Tommy: Yes sir.
Jersey jon: What do you think that's worth?
Tommy: Probably 250.
Robbie: You're right in the ballpark.
I was at 475 here,
600 for the pair.
Tommy: 650.
Robbie: Alright, I'm doing it.
Jersey jon: Yeah, that's a cool piece, robbie.
Tommy: Alright. Good deal. Robbie: I'm doing it. I love it.
This is old school technology, old thinking.
Jersey jon: This is a grinder? Tommy: Yeah.
Jersey jon: And a hone. Tommy: A hone, yeah. Um-hm.
Jersey jon: This is weird. I mean, I- grinders are common,
But I don't see... Tommy: For chisels and stuff.
Jersey jon: This is for like woodworking tools. Tommy: Right.
Jersey jon: It's a tool that sharpens plane blades
And chisel blades.
These are tools that I use every day at my work.
This is something I could use at my shop.
I have a furniture restoration business.
Tommy: There you go. Jersey jon: I'm a woodworker.
I'm always, like honing my chisels.
I usually have a belt grinder with attachments,
This is like a slower speed deal.
There's two grinding wheels on this thing.
One on the side goes at a high speed.
So that's like roughing your blade in.
But on top it's got the slow rpm hone.
It goes slow so it doesn't burn the blade
While you're polishing it.
It makes a really fine edge possible.
What's cool about it also, it's made by the atlas company.
Which is like probably from the '40s or '50s, post-war.
Tommy: It's an old one.
Jersey jon: Would that something you'd be selling? Tommy: Yes sir.
Jersey jon: What do you think
You want to get out of something like that?
Tommy: $75.
Jersey jon: 75 bucks? I'm thinking more like 50.
Tommy: I'm thinking more like 85.
Jersey jon: Oh, he goes up! Robbie: Man, yeah!
Jersey jon: Ugh dude, I'll give you 75 for it.
Tommy: 75, done deal. Done deal.
Jersey jon: Absolutely, man. I want that thing. That's cool.
Mike: Nuts and bolts. Oh look at these dog bones!
Mike: Those are some tall dog bones, man, look at those.
These are artifacts, these are left over from
Projects that he was gonna do.
50 bucks. Tim: That sounds good.
Mike: He kept these around for a reason.
Look at this! (laughs)
I bet this has got some weight to it. Oh yeah!
Holy crap! Look at the rear end of it.
Like how that's all scalloped and stuff, man.
A trike frame, a harley servicar frame's not that big a deal,
I mean, they made so many of them.
Harley made the servicar from 1932 to 1973.
'servi' is short for service.
And it was used for exactly that.
Parking tickets and a lot of service garages.
I mean, they were utilitarian vehicles.
You know, people hauled stuff in the boxes.
It was built for municipalities and police departments.
It was basically three wheels,
With a big metal box on the back of it.
And that was kind of the privilege panel
Where somebody would put the name of their business.
You can see like, the amount of work that's been put into this.
It's a '45 servicar
That someone has taken to the next stratosphere.
This is like the clockwork orange timothy leary version.
It's in an altered state.
Tim: Dad would ride us around town
On the back of that wooden box.
Mike: He was riding this? Tim: Yeah.
Mike: No way.
Tim: Dad actually took me to kindergarten on that trike.
I probably got made fun of.
It wasn't cool to be a biker back then.
Mike: Look at this, yeah!
This was a time when people were basically chopping anything.
Can you imagine flying down the road with these things?
It was a creative artistic expression of themselves.
People are riding and building choppers now,
But this was the beginning of it all, this was the genesis.
This was counter-culture, it was outlaw,
It was tied into politics and music,
And it was just like, it was a time in america
That will never come again.
You got that frame, you got those handlebars, the box,
The front seat.
You've got a trike rear end here.
And then you've got that fork.
This would have had a lid on it with a seat of some sort.
The tanks are in here. Is the engine here?
Tim: The engine's at my place, right down the road.
Mike: Okay. When you look at something like this,
And you think about the time period in which it was built,
And the amount of effort and the edge that it has,
This is really cool.
A lot of the chopper trike frames are valuable
If they're molded properly,
And they've got the right paint, original paint.
The downside of it, is it's a servicar.
And he's raked that thing out, and he scalloped the frame,
And all the metal and the bodywork
And the paint on it is really cool,
But as far as the rarity of the piece that he started with,
They're not rare.
It's got some cool characteristics to it, but...
2,000 bucks, for everything that you see here.
I think there's a little bit of room on, it's just not a lot.
I would still like to see the engine, you know.
Bj: Okay. Yep.
Tim: I just like the thought of it
Being back on the road, maybe someday.
Mike: Ho man. (exhales)
It can be done, it can be attempted.
Tim: Even though I have a lot of memories on it,
We've got pictures, I was okay with it going.
I just love the idea that trike
Being back on the road at some point.
We'll take 2,000 if you try to do it.
Mike: Alright, dude, alright, I'm gonna take it down the road.
Mike: Danielle said you might
Have the building sold or something?
Tim: Hopefully. There's a local businessman
That claims he wants to restore it.
Mike: Oh really, bring it back to its natural state?
Tim: Yeah. Not reopen it, but he's into the history
Of the local community.
Mike: Oh that, I love that. Tim: Yeah.
Bj: The gay parita ballroom was built in 1934.
It was originally built for the coal miners in the area,
So they would have a place to gather.
Tim: Cosmopolitan meeting place. Bj: Yes.
Mike: Wow, look at this!
Best seat in the house right here.
Can we look at the shirts? Tim: Oh yeah.
Mike: Your clothes are basically how you present yourself to the outside world.
I like this one, sturgis '83, what would you have to have for that?
Tim: $10. Mike: You're light on it. I'd do like 40 bucks.
Tim: Great. Mike: Vintage clothing is a very artful,
Very personal stylistic thing.
And then what about this one? 25 bucks.
Tim: Deal. Bj: Deal.
Mike: Alright, cool.
It's about the physical and mental stimulation
You get from wearing an authentic piece.
Not to mention the way it smells.
Whoa! He had to buy a shirt every single place he went.
Tim: Is all he wore, was t-shirts.
He wore a t-shirt to my wedding. (laughs)
Mike: 2001, close to home.
There's a lot of things that come into play
With the value of these t-shirts.
What are the oldest ones though? Bj: '80s, '90s.
Mike: Oh, this has actually got a knucklehead on it.
Got a drag bike on that one.
The problem is they're extra-large,
Double-extra-large, triple-extra-large.
These are huge. Blue was a big dude.
I mean, to go through every single one of these.
And check out the condition, check out the size.
I don't know, if we came up with a number for all of them
I might be a player, you know what I mean.
I want to buy them all.
Because eventually, I'm going to sell them.
It's long game money.
What are we considering here,
Are we considering the rail there?
Bj: Everything. Mike: 1,000 bucks.
Bj: I'm okay with that. (laughs)
Mike: Alright, man. Thank you guys.
Tim: Thank you.
Jersey jon: Hey tommy!
Tommy: What'd you find? Oh, it's a generator.
Jersey jon: Is that what this is? Tommy: Yeah.
Jersey jon: For an airplane, right? Tommy: Yes.
Jersey jon: I like buying weird (beep).
This is good stuff to buy because it's weird.
Like really weird stuff sells.
I like weird stuff. I want to buy skeletons.
So this is like biplane stuff. This is pretty early aviation.
Probably the '20s.
It would just be a wind-powered deal.
That produces 6 volts, that's going to charge a battery
To power a light, or power a radio so you could talk to the ground.
I'd be in it for like $75.
Tommy: Alright. Let's see what else you could find.
Jersey jon: Alright. I like early headlights, of course.
I got guys who want this stuff.
They're putting hot rods together. They can use these things anything.
You pick them up for a couple of bucks, you sell them for a couple of bucks more.
You know, just trying to help people out in the hobby.
This is a good light. It looks like it's a harley light, knucklehead, flathead.
It looks like a harley light, but I'm not sure.
It's got the rivets in the right spots,
It's got the square connector in the bottom, the bezel.
It's got the right lens.
But the body's got to say cycle-ray.
Unfortunately, it's got this white paint all over it.
You mind if I clean this off?
Tommy: No, you can, we can sand it. Here.
Jersey jon: You got it? Beautiful.
Let me sand away on this a little bit
And see what we can find on it.
Yeah, there it is. Okay. That's what I want to see.
Tommy: Oh yeah. I see it. Jersey jon: See that, how it's coming up?
Tommy: Yep, yep.
Jersey jon: It's stamped 'cycle-ray' right there.
This is a harley light.
Tommy: He found a headlight that I really didn't know I had.
I had no idea that it went on to an old motorcycle.
Jersey jon: I value these way different than I value this.
This is where the money's at.
But we can make a package deal altogether.
I'm thinking for this and all these lights, like 400 bucks.
Tommy: 450.
Jersey jon: How about- tommy: Four and 50.
Jersey jon: Four and 50. When you break it down like that,
That's a good deal for me. I appreciate it, man.
Tommy: Okay. Jersey jon: Thank you, sir.
Tommy: Good deal for me too. I appreciate you.
Tim: You a card guy? Mike: What kind?
Tim: Baseball cards. Mike: These are '50s, 1950s?
Bj: Yeah. Mike: Oh wow, jackie robinson
Bj: When we- when we were moving down from ottawa,
I went up to his bedroom where he hadn't been up there
Since he was a kid.
And I opened up a brown paper sack, it was like a lunch sack.
And those cards were in there.
And the first one I saw was the jackie robinson.
I was like, are you kidding me?
Yogi berra. Sandy koufax.
Finding a sandy koufax or a jackie robinson card
Is just crazy.
Tim: And if you knew dad, dad was not a sports guy.
Mike: If you guys want, I can take some pictures
Of some of these and send them off.
I know enough about sports memorabilia
To where I know I have to call an expert.
Tim: Here, you want them out on here.
Mike: Here, give me a flat surface. A lot of this stuff has to be graded.
And it can be an expensive process to grade stuff.
But what I want to do is help these guys out
Just basically on a jumping off point.
Like are these worth being graded?
You know, are they worthy of that.
Okay cool.
I'm going to call my buddy dave carey.
And hopefully he's got some good news for these guys.
Mike: If he's a music lover and he's living in this size
Of a music venue from 1934, and he's got his knucks in here.
Bj: Yeah, this was his world. Mike: This was heaven, man.
Blue chose to live here because it was inspirational to him.
A collector thrives and grows in a place like this.
The american dream is different to a lot of different people.
You know, it means something different to all of us.
And this is what it meant to him.
Tim: A lot of what you see in the building is generational.
My grandmother had her grandparents' things
In her place.
Mike: A lot of this stuff was your granny's?
Tim: Yeah. It's not just dad. It's the whole family's history
Is in this building.
Mike: Look at this one, this is neat.
This is like all scrap denim and stuff.
This is made out of old denim.
Workwear that was cut up, and then made into a quilt.
This one panel right there is tore.
I mean, obviously that can be patched easy, it would look-
Tim: Put a denim patch, there you go. (laughs)
Mike: Yeah exactly, wouldn't look that unusual for the piece.
I think it's great. I love it. Would you sell this?
Tim: Sure.
Mike: 200 bucks.
Alright, appreciate you, man. Thanks.
This was made out of necessity.
But that necessity led to creativity.
I love these, man. 'beer bayonet at our backs.'
'hiding behind legal control.'
'it's time for some straight talk about beer.'
Mike: '60 per cent of all crimes were alcohol-involved.'
'thousands of people are offended by the very evident
Beer breath of even light drinker.'
Where did you guys get these at?
Tim: My grandmother was a district president
Of the women's christian temperance union.
Mike: (laughs) okay. Tim: Yeah, for a long time.
Mike: Temperance means self-restraint.
So this is basically propaganda that's produced
To get people not to drink.
I doubt they'd meet at the tavern.
Bj: No. Tim: No, probably not.
(group laughing)
Mike: And then he, later on, is traveling around
In a daiquiri van.
This is basically like reefer madness for alcohol.
Alright. I'm interested. 100 bucks for all of them.
You know, 'cause the thing is, they have to be framed.
And that costs a little bit of money too.
But I think they're just so unique.
Tim: 150. 50 apiece.
Mike: Ugh if I didn't have to frame them, I'd do that.
Mike: 120.
Tim: We'll do that.
Mike: Alright, man. Boom, boom!
These will be great in a bar
Because they're great conversation pieces.
When people are looking at these,
They're going to find humor in them,
And maybe even a little self reflection.
Tommy: Here's my trophy room.
Robbie: Wow I love that smell!
Jersey jon: Yeah something about it.
Robbie: You got some trophies. Holy cow!
Tommy: Some of them are my dad's.
My father was into motorcycles when I was young.
Tommy: He was a mechanic at daytona in '49.
Robbie: Phoof those were the early days at daytona, man.
Jersey jon: Yeah, it was a race on the beach,
Onto the street, race the beach
Tommy: Oh on the beach. Jersey jon: Yeah.
Could you imagine being on the daytona race track,
Watching bsa try to dominate the industry.
Tommy: These are my dad's trophies over here
That survived my adolescence.
He was in the air force. Robbie: I was going to ask.
Tommy: That's his flight suit. Jersey jon: Oh wow.
Robbie: So he was a pilot? Tommy: He flew p-38s.
During world war ii. That's his helmet.
He flew the first jets, t-33s and stuff when they came out.
Jersey jon: That's from the first jet!
Tommy: Yes. Robbie: Holy cow.
Robbie: You can see the need for speed
Goes back generations for tommy.
And I can understand why at 71, he's still racing.
Tommy: That's his motorcycle dealership.
He retired from the air force in '63.
And opened up a bsa motorcycle shop.
A little one-man show.
He died in 1965.
And at that time, I was 15 years old,
And my mother and I sold the motorcycles.
The older I got, the more I wish I had never sold them.
That's why I have these bsas.
Jersey jon: Yeah. Robbie: That's just...
Jersey jon: Fantastic.
Robbie: I know obviously none of this stuff over here's for sale.
Tommy: That's right.
Robbie: Okay. These trophies up here look as old as these.
Tommy: Those are the same age. Robbie: Okay. You-
Tommy: But they're not tied to my family.
You could tell I didn't own them 'cause they're not broken.
Robbie: I've got a ton of freakin' trophies.
That's a harley.
And I collect it because of the top piece.
Jersey jon: This is harley. It's got a springer front end on it.
These aren't marked.
Robbie: No, none of them are marked.
Robbie: I look at trophies and go,
Hey those are great decorator pieces.
I'm a motorcycle guy, they look awesome on a shelf.
175 for all three. Is that a deal? Alright.
Jersey jon: Cool.
Robbie: Appreciate. Thanks, tommy.
Mike: Oh I was definitely the guy that put them in his spokes.
Dave: Me too.
(all laugh)
Clothespins and baseball cards.
Mike: That's right.
Dave: From the pictures I can see the condition okay.
The color looks really good.
Probably most important to vintage collectors
Is the centering of the card.
Because so few of them were centered properly.
Mike: You talking about like the manufacturer
Actually mis-stepping it and printing it crooked?
Dave: That's exactly right.
A lot of the vintage cards were miscut,
Whether it's left to right, or top to bottom.
You could see the white borders.
Usually they're a little bit off. The centering looks okay.
Corners show some normal wear
For a card that's almost 70 years old.
But for the most part, pretty decent condition.
Mike: Yeah, absolutely. So can you help us out
In regards to the value of some of these?
Even a jumping off point since you don't have it in your hand?
Dave: Sure. The yogi berra card is a 1955 bowman,
Maybe 2-300 bucks.
Then you slip into the hank aaron card.
On the low end, 4 or 500 to as high as 1,000
Or a little bit more than that.
Mike: Wow.
Dave: He's also got a '55 jackie robinson,
This is the 75th anniversary of him breaking the color barrier.
As high as 1,000 to a couple thousand bucks.
Based on the condition.
Dave: And then you kind of get the jewel of what you guys
Have there and that's the sandy koufax.
The two koufax cards. That's his rookie card.
That's the card all collectors want.
That if it graded at a 9 or 10
Could actually go for a couple hundred thousand dollars or so.
Bj: 200,000. My mind was blown.
I knew that they held value. But I had no idea.
Plus there's two of them!
Dave: What I see from something, you know,
In the lower grade and on the low end,
7- 800 bucks to as high as 2- 3,000 bucks.
Mike: The grading can go anywhere
From 800 bucks to 200 grand.
Dave: That's right.
Mike: Alright, man.
I think I got a new-found interest in baseball cards.
Dave: You should.
Mike: I appreciate you letting us bug you every once in a while.
Dave: No problem, mike. Any time.
Mike: Okay, well that gives you an idea.
Bj: I think we'll hold onto them and get them graded.
Tim: Yeah. Mike: I don't blame ya.
Tim: We might have a $200,000 card there.
Mike: Yeah, there you. Hey, then you can restore this place.
Tim: Dad rode 2 knuckleheads. They were his babies.
Mike: This is it. That's the one we've been hearing about.
If you really don't know what you're looking at,
From a distance, the bike looks newer.
It has modern lines to it. Tim: Yeah.
Mike: And then you see that old power plant in there, man.
Wow, that's a knucklehead engine in there.
That's so cool that he was kind of
Mixing those two worlds together.
I love the oil tank.
He brought this all into it, and then this fender, man,
The way it's formed into the frame.
It's very cool to see the evolution of this bike.
From the tanks and the rear fender section that I bought,
To what it is now.
He was growing into it, it was changing throughout the times.
I mean, think about it, when he first started building the bike,
It was more of a bobber,
Now it's more of a hot rod, like a custom.
When's the last time this thing ran?
Bj: 2004. Mike: He rode this to sturgis.
Tim: (laughing) he did. Mike: Dang. That's laid out.
I can tell you what drove him to ride that bike to sturgis
Through all the pain, through all the miles.
It was pride. Can I sit on it?
Tim: Go ahead. Mike: Alright.
Oh wow.
Tim: You need some longer arms.
Mike: What's it like riding this thing, man?
Tim: I've done it once. He told me, since I was a teenager,
That when I could kick it over I could ride it.
I think I was 32 when I finally kicked it over.
Dad passed last June.
The last few years were, were tough,
Dealing with the dementia and seeing dad change
And the bikes were moved to my shop because dad was staying
On the other side in the apartment.
If he was having a bad day, a bad night,
We can take him through the door,
And he'd change in a, you know, as soon as he saw those bikes,
He was okay.
He was... He'd go and sit on them for hours
And, you'd have to drag him back in.
Bj: It's like sometimes he forgot who he was,
But when he saw those bikes, it like centered him,
You know, just re-zeroed him.
And he'd just light up.
Mike: And these are the trophies from it?
Tim: Yeah, oh yeah. Mike: God-dang!
This many troph- he showed it this many times?
Tim: Mid-'80s to mid to late-'90s.
Mike: Wow. Blue's identity his whole life
Was directly connected to these bikes.
It just seemed so fitting to me, the bikes,
When he needed them most,
Basically brought him back to who he was.
That's a very powerful thing.
Tommy: This is my warehouse. Robbie: A what?
Tommy: Warehouse. It's where I keep stuff.
Jersey jon: (laughs)
Tommy: My wife and I built it.
Jersey jon: Yeah. Wow. Robbie: Holy toledo!
There's cars everywhere. Right up my alley.
Wow!
Tommy: Drag race cars,
The classics, I like it all.
Robbie: Man, look at that. That's a desoto suburban.
What's that, a '47, '48? Tommy: '47.
Robbie: Look at this thing, jersey, it's like a bus.
Jersey jon: Big as a whale.
Robbie: A lot of these were used at hotels, I thought.
Tommy: And airports. Robbie: Yeah, and airports.
Tommy: The first minivan, only it's not that mini.
Robbie: It looks like a car.
Chevy, gmc, dodge - they all made suburbans.
But desoto was a smaller company.
This car, it is rare.
Robbie: This thing run? Tommy: Runs good.
Robbie: Yeah?
Tommy: Shifts good, drives good.
The brakes could use a little help, but they stop it.
Robbie: It looks like it's all original.
Tommy: It pretty much is.
The hood ornament lights up on it, look at the hood ornament.
Robbie: Oh yeah, look at that. Tommy: I'll light up.
Robbie: Look at this. Jersey jon: That is cool!
Tommy: It got a light in it. There's a jump seat in the back.
Jersey jon: Dude, you could fit a coffin in there.
Robbie: Well I guess. I don't know.
Big cars have always been part of me.
Why? Because I got 5 kids.
Jersey jon: This is leather? Robbie: Of course it's leather.
Everything on this car's original.
Look at that dash, jersey.
Tommy: Yeah, all that's original stuff.
Robbie: All that.
Jersey jon: They don't do this anymore in new cars.
Robbie: Yeah. Now you know what? It doesn't feel that big inside here.
Jersey jon: It's really cool to see robbie's eyes light up
When he jumps in that car, like whoa!
Robbie: I don't even know what one of these things are worth.
Tommy: According to haggerty, who I got insured with
It's worth $27,000.
Robbie: Wow!
Tommy: Yeah, yeah. But I don't expect.
Robbie: What are you thinking it's worth?
Tommy: I don't- I don't, I would guess 14.5 or so.
Robbie: Yeah honestly, I like it.
I just, you know, tommy, you know really, you know how it is.
You picture yourself driving something, you know what I mean?
Everything about it is cool.
I just don't picture myself driving it.
Tommy: Well that's alright.
Robbie: I love it, but I don't love it, you know what I mean by that?
Tommy: I understand, I understand.
Robbie: You know exactly what I mean by that. Alright, what else we got to look at in here?
Robbie: Tommy. Tommy: Uh-oh.
Robbie: He said 'uh-oh.' tommy: Uh-oh.
Robbie: Independent regular national brand oil well.
There are a million gas and oil collectors out there.
This is a brand I'm not familiar with.
Tommy: Owc is what they were called
Back in the early '70s.
And then they became racetrack petroleum.
Robbie: Yeah, I've heard of that.
Tommy: Yeah. I went to work for them designing gas stations.
Jersey jon: Great logo.
Robbie: Is it something you want to sell?
Tommy: I'll entertain an offer.
Robbie: This is a 13-and-a-half. It would go on a lens just- wow,
I didn't even see this up here.
Jersey jon: That's a nice one, robbie.
Robbie: What's this right here?
That's the same type of lens. Goes right on there.
If this was on that body here, with two lenses,
In today's market, you're probably $3,800.
Jersey jon: It's a rare one.
Tommy: I know they were getting pricey, but...
Robbie: I'm a gas-and-oil guy,
So you got me in the palm of your hand right now.
Tommy: Well step up. That's all you gotta do.
Robbie: 1,600. On the one lens.
With no body.
Tommy: No body.
Robbie: Yeah. And I think I'm standing tall.
Tommy: I really don't want to sell that lens,
'cause it's the last remnant of what I have from working there.
I think that's pretty fair.
I'll do that. Robbie: Alright.
I appreciate you, man.
Tommy: I acquired the oil well lens
And didn't have to pay anything for it.
So I made good money on that, I guess.
Jersey jon: Robbie, give me that.
Robbie: I don't know about that, jersey.
Tommy: I'm not touching it. (all laugh)
Robbie: The mutual brand was around 1957 to about 1970.
Tommy: It's got a different lens on the back.
Robbie: Yeah, it's got a rabbit on there.
These lenses here retail 800 apiece.
The body's going to be 400, it's got a crack in it,
That's 2,000 bucks if everything was good on it.
Robbie: I'd be at 1,400 bucks.
Tommy: 15.
Robbie: 1,500. I'm doing it.
Tommy: I hope that I have put the money I get out of this
Up and don't go spend it on more stuff.
I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Robbie: Yeah? I appreciate you telling me the history
Of your dad and the bikes, man.
He's never let the flame go out. He's still riding motorcycles,
He's still building hot rods.
He's challenging himself every day.
And that's what I love.
Jersey jon: Thank you, brother!
Tommy: Alright, be good! See y'all.
Mike: So you were saying that this engine was in this bike.
And then you had a '39 knuck engine in here.
Tim: Yes. Mike: Okay, where's that at? Tim: Over here.
Mike: These bikes are not just objects.
They're part of their family.
Not just because he customized them,
And built them from scratch,
But because they were such a part of his lifestyle.
Mike: This is the flathead that was in the trike.
A lot of people understood who he was
Through the work that he did on these bikes.
Mike: This is a g motor. This is a 1950 g motor.
This is the g motor that was in the servicar.
So it's a very interesting color combination.
So he had the trike painted orange,
And the this was blue in the trike?
Tim: Yeah, 'cause he was probably going to do something else with it. (laughs)
Mike: Can you imagine this thing going down the road?
This is the kind of thing that inspires
A ben & jerry's ice cream flavor.
These are all over the place, these g motors.
This is the rare piece, this is the hard-to-find piece,
This '39.
And then the rest of this stuff is the parts to that.
So what are you guys' plans for this bike then here?
Tim: Bj's pretty partial to the '46.
Mike: This is a great project. Tim: Can the heads be repaired?
Mike: Oh yeah, absolutely.
I mean, if you guys don't have anybody around here,
Then let me know.
I mean, in the hobby, in the antique motorcycle world,
Everybody's interested in helping each other out.
You know, they really are, because the big thing for us
Is like, keeping these things on the road.
Tim: So what would you do if these were yours, do you think
We should leave ol' blue as he is and focus on the '46 ?
Mike: I mean, this is the way it was shown. That talks a lot
About the legacy and the history of the bike.
I mean, everything on that wall was directly connected to this.
It's a timeless piece, you know.
Bj: Having another enthusiast look at it and be like, wow,
You know that was a little validating agent, you know,
That this bike is still cool.
Ol' blue can still hold a room.
Mike: If you want to change it and make it your own,
That's the bike probably to do that with.
And that'd be a lot more comfortable bike to ride.
I'm sure if he was here, he would just be happy that
You guys are both wanting to ride.
Tim: I'm going to keep ol' blue forever and everything we sell
From this point forward will be funneled
To the restoration of the bikes.
It would mean a lot to him
For us to get those back on the road.
Bj: So are you interested in that g motor?
Mike: What do you want for it? Bj: 2,000.
Mike: For that kind of money, I could buy one
Without that paint on it. You know what I mean?
Tim: What's wrong with the paint?
Mike: I mean... Bj: 1,500.
Mike: No, it's- it's it is what it is, you know.
I mean, and I've got the project already,
That's the one that came out of it.
Bj: Right. You need it.
Mike: You're gonna make me buy it.
Bj: You need it. Mike: I don't know, man.
Bj: He bought the trike and you lose the essence
Of everything if it's not all there.
Mike: Look at this thing. Bj: You can even have the stand.
Tim: The stand comes with it. Mike: Ah god.
Tim: Custom.
Mike: That's incredible.
I don't know, I'm just thinking about the blue and the orange.
What team is that?
I could sell it to a denver broncos fan.
Tim: It'll be worthless then.
Mike: 1,000 bucks.
If this was on a field at a meet, it'd be anywhere
From 800 bucks to 1,500 bucks.
Tim: That way the whole bike's together.
Mike: I mean, that's- bj: Okay.
I felt good about...
Tim: Making him buy something he said he wasn't going to buy?
Bj: (laughs) yeah exactly.
Tim: Jedi mind-tricked him. Bj: Yeah.
Mike: Alright. Let's do it.
Bj: Kind of felt like we were celebrating ol' blue
Because he meant a lot to a lot of different people.
And to the ones that were closest to him,
It brings him back a little bit, you know.