JMK
New member
Please excuse this post if I seem like a kid at Christmas, but....
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jim (the moniker is my initials since "JimK" was already taken), and I just found this forum earlier today.
And I am excited!
My tale: Sometime before I was born my Father purchased a Rock-Ola model 1452 from a local bowling alley that closed-down, and I essentially grew-up with it. Some of my earliest memories as a child involve that machine, and I used to spend hours and hours looking at, and playing with it. Dad used to open up the top, and then push a chair against the front of it so I could stand on it and watch it work. And I was mesmerized! When I was older he would let me replace the tubes, or when the needle dropped out (which happened more than I would care to admit) he would let me crawl all over inside it, looking for the dropped needle. (Imagine letting an 8 year old kid do that in today's world!) However, one day my parents decided to finish-off the basement, and the jukebox had to go. This was in 1975 or so (I was 10), and if memory serves they sold it for $25. Broke my heart.
For 35 years I've longed to replace that old Rock-Ola, and many hours have been spent surfin' the web, looking at pictures, watching Youtube videos...
In the movie "Citizen Kane", the last word uttered by Charles Kane was "Rosebud".......Well, this Rock-Ola has been my own, personal "Rosebud" for 35 years...
Until last week, that is.
That's right, I found one. And better yet, I bought it! It was an eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...69667&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1&_rdc=1
I haven't picked it up yet (I'm in Minnesota, it is in West Virgina), I don't know it's "true" condition (other than what is stated in the ad), and I may have paid too much for it. But you know what? I don't care! "Rosebud" is coming home, and I'm so excited I can hardly sleep at night!
If anyone reading this is familiar with the Barrett-Jackson car auctions they will recognize the term "better than new condition". My intent, no matter how long this takes, is to restore this 1452 to "better than new condition". 1 year, 2 years, or 10 years. $1k, $2k, or $10k. I don't care. It's going to happen.
But I'm going to need help, and I hope to learn much from everyone here. I don't know where to start, or what to do, but I'm looking forward to it all!
Thanks for reading my (somewhat sappy) first post!
Jim
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jim (the moniker is my initials since "JimK" was already taken), and I just found this forum earlier today.
And I am excited!
My tale: Sometime before I was born my Father purchased a Rock-Ola model 1452 from a local bowling alley that closed-down, and I essentially grew-up with it. Some of my earliest memories as a child involve that machine, and I used to spend hours and hours looking at, and playing with it. Dad used to open up the top, and then push a chair against the front of it so I could stand on it and watch it work. And I was mesmerized! When I was older he would let me replace the tubes, or when the needle dropped out (which happened more than I would care to admit) he would let me crawl all over inside it, looking for the dropped needle. (Imagine letting an 8 year old kid do that in today's world!) However, one day my parents decided to finish-off the basement, and the jukebox had to go. This was in 1975 or so (I was 10), and if memory serves they sold it for $25. Broke my heart.
For 35 years I've longed to replace that old Rock-Ola, and many hours have been spent surfin' the web, looking at pictures, watching Youtube videos...
In the movie "Citizen Kane", the last word uttered by Charles Kane was "Rosebud".......Well, this Rock-Ola has been my own, personal "Rosebud" for 35 years...
Until last week, that is.
That's right, I found one. And better yet, I bought it! It was an eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...69667&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1&_rdc=1
I haven't picked it up yet (I'm in Minnesota, it is in West Virgina), I don't know it's "true" condition (other than what is stated in the ad), and I may have paid too much for it. But you know what? I don't care! "Rosebud" is coming home, and I'm so excited I can hardly sleep at night!
If anyone reading this is familiar with the Barrett-Jackson car auctions they will recognize the term "better than new condition". My intent, no matter how long this takes, is to restore this 1452 to "better than new condition". 1 year, 2 years, or 10 years. $1k, $2k, or $10k. I don't care. It's going to happen.
But I'm going to need help, and I hope to learn much from everyone here. I don't know where to start, or what to do, but I'm looking forward to it all!
Thanks for reading my (somewhat sappy) first post!
Jim




