A trip for a free machine and questions for vintage soda machine folks

[Angry_Radish]

A trip for a free machine and questions for vintage soda machine folks

I went out this evening to pick up a free "pinball" from someones garage.
Not really a garage, the damn thing is way bigger than my house!

Anyway, the pinball turned out to be 2 older 50's (?) puck bowlers that were rusted to shit. They used to be in their boathouse and were moved into the carriage house last year, my guess is they met their fate in the humid air in the boathouse long ago. Anyhoo, while I was there he asked if I wanted a soda machine. I know NOTHING about soda machines, but this one looked cool. It's pretty corroded, worth trying to fix up?

 

[Drew57366]

Wow! I wasn't expecting it to be that old of a machine. Good find!

I picked up an older Coke vending machine from my late Grandpa, and when cleaning it up I removed the old price points for a can of Coke. The original sticker was 35 cents (or less, can't remember) a can!

Yours is quite a bit older, and aesthetically (not condition, but style), yours is very unique and worth keeping, imo. Maybe try to put new innards inside of it, but restoring the shell? Is there a year associated with that, or how much they were asking for a Pepsi?

 

[Angry_Radish]

Been searching around, it looks like it's a Jacobs 56 machine, made in '52 and '53, and is fairly rare!

This has all that surface rust though and I'm sure is quite inop. Still though, I wonder what I could get for it in it's current condition?


Gonna post in a soda forum I found, I'll post back here if they say anything interesting.

 

[BubbaK]

Make sure the drum is there... Many of these are missing the drum and next to impossible to find. That is a really cool machine and if complete is a good investment. The guys at soda-machines.com can give you a good idea on price..

 

[cadillacman]

damn dood!!! to all!! sweet!!

im drooling over that pepsi machine. That thing would be DOPE all fixed up!

Plug it it, youd be suprised how durable those old compressors are compared to todays krap. My parents have a old westinghouse fridge thats been running 24/7 ever since my dad was a kid(mid 50s) and still going strong today

why the hell couldnt i find a free score like that? man, cool machine man.

 

[avidgeek]

Very cool finds....I hope you took everything. Those old bowlers are still wanted by some collectors.

With finds like that, you have nothing to be angry about, radish.

 

[gorfchampion]

That Pepsi machine is something special. Its gotta have some value to it even in that condition. Looking forward to hearing what you find out.....

 

[Robotron Jon]

Are you kidding?

You could sell that thing in two seconds.

I bet you could get a grand for that, at least, without doing a thing to it.

 

[pinman123]

Very Nice Find!! That pepsi machine has got to be worth something theres alot
of collectors who are crazy over machines like that

 

[CHALLENGER]

Nice find very very vintage!

 

[Angry_Radish]

Well I guess I'd better get it then!
They are family friends and told me I could have it. I passed on the bowlers, the back-glasses were 30% or worse and there was terrible rust on everything, not to mention water damage to the cabinets. I'll stop out on Saturday to trailer the soda machine (ramp), I'm guessing it's not light

If someone nearby wants the bowlers I can pull them too but I have no-where to store them so you'd have to get them this weekend.

 

[Angry_Radish]

Looking at some of the other pics I took, the bowlers might be saved, I've seen worse condition machines brought back from the dead. In case someone is on the fence, here are some more pics. I will probably be out there Saturday, possibly Sunday so let me know before then!

That Genco Shuffle Pool looks pretty cool!

 

[Angry_Radish]

 

[cadillacman]

id love to have the bowlers but id never be able to fix em and i do not have room for em either..

now that pepsi machine, that thing is frickin awesome!! I may be interested in that depending on what you gotta have for it.

 

[cadillacman]

sniff sniff

 

[Drew57366]

I was able to get home last night and rechecked the price on that vending machine. 15 cents a can! I bet yours was set up for a nickel a Pepsi.

 

[HighScoreSaves]

I would love to have that Pepsi Machine!
Is it for sale?

 

[cadillacman]

im sure but hes had some crazy offers already. I will let him comment. I had pepsi logos in my eyes untill he told me what he has already been offered for it.

man, sucks too because that thing just screamed to me "restore me" and i guess my insticts are correct, this is an insanely highly sought after machine apparently.. i didnt know till i researched it, to me the thing is just badass 50s all the way and would have looked awesome in ym arcade all fixed up... Im still in mourning..

 

[pookdolie]

Been searching around, it looks like it's a Jacobs 56 machine, made in '52 and '53, and is fairly rare!

Let's not sugarcoat this. From your link:

Serious collectors consider it the "Holy Grail" of all soda machines.

Nice score!

 

[Angry_Radish]

Yeah, I'm still fielding some emails from collectors on a couple soda machine forums I posted to in order to figure out just what I can get for this thing, crazy!

It DOES look sexy restored that's for sure!