American Pickers (2010–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Super Scooter - full transcript

MIKE: Hello?

MIKE: Would it be cool if
I looked around a little bit?

DAN: I never had anybody
want to buy any of my junk before.

FRANK: Man,
it's a lot to look at.

Doug, I had a motorcycle
like this back in my day.

MIKE: Look at this.

MIKE: This is the kind of
place that we dream about.

TOM: I think this is about
the rarest of the Vespas.

MIKE: This has been
sitting here since I was

four years old.

[laughs]



MIKE: I'm Mike Wolfe.

FRANK: And I'm Frank Fritz.

MIKE: And we're pickers.

FRANK: We travel the back
roads of America looking

for rusty gold.

We're looking for amazing
things buried in people's

garages and barns.

MIKE: What most people see
as junk, we see as dollar signs.

FRANK: We'll buy anything
we think we can make a buck on.

MIKE: Each item we pick
has a history all it's own.

And the people we meet, well,
they're a breed all their own.

We make a living telling
the history of America,

one piece at a time.

[♪]



MIKE: I got a really rocking
call on this guy up north.

This guy's nickname is
Goat Man and he lives on

this road called Bloody Run.

Sometimes we'll go to
picks alone just because I

think two people will
be a little bit intimidating.

I left Frank and
Danielle back at base.

I'm gonna hit this on my own.

When I arrived at
Dan's, it looked crazy.

[♪]

MIKE: This place is a trip.

MIKE: There was stuff
everywhere, exactly the

type of place I love.

MIKE: Hey, you Dan?

DAN: Yeah. Who are you?

MIKE: My name's Mike Wolfe.

You called and
talked to Danielle.

DAN: Oh okay, yeah.

MIKE: Yeah. Would it be cool
if I looked around a little bit?

DAN: I never had anybody
want to buy any of my junk before.

[laughs]

MIKE: To them it's
junk. To me, it's valuable.

I've been doing
this for twenty years.

When I see something
I like, I know I can turn it

over for a profit.

MIKE: Hey, I noticed
you got some old outboard

motors over here.

DAN: Some of them
I've had for fifty years.

MIKE: Yeah this thing is packed.

I like how you made
use of space with buses.

That's pretty cool.

It's amazing that you were
able to get them up here.

You have some old
bicycles back here?

DAN: Yeah, yeah.

MIKE: Can I see those?

DAN: Sure.

MIKE: Looks like these
are all like from the

seventies, maybe some
from the early sixties.

[♪]

What are these,
like old radio parts?

DAN: Yeah, television parts.

MIKE: Somebody's probably
scratching their head out

there right now.

DAN: Wishing they had them.

MIKE: Yeah
wishing they had that.

[♪]

MIKE: I was really surprised
at how much stuff was there.

Having that much stuff
in one area to look at is

almost impossible to find.

It doesn't look
like a mess to me.

It looks like heaven.
Man, this is awesome.

DAN: I don't know if you
can see this very good but

that's a big old
sewing machine there.

I had a leather business
here in the shop.

MIKE: So this barn
actually back then was

your leather shop.

DAN: Yeah. I made a lot of
saddle bags and chaps and short

skirts out of leather.

MIKE: All right. Hot.

This guy had an actual
going business back then,

and this place, it
probably looked a little

bit different.

So what was the name
of your leather business?

DAN: Goat Man Leather.

MIKE: All right,
that's cool. I like that.

Have you had goats?

DAN: I did, yeah.

MIKE: Is that one of the
reasons why they called

you Goat Man, too?

DAN: Probably, yeah.

[♪]

MIKE: Man, you just
have so much stuff in here.

You got all these lights
here. These clamp, right?

DAN: Yeah, they do.

MIKE: Yeah. What about something
like that? Are these working?

DAN: Bought those
just a few weeks ago.

MIKE: You're still buying
stuff and putting stuff in here.

Dang.

DAN: It's addictive, I guess.

MIKE: After I started
digging through the layers

of everything as far
as like looking at stuff, it

seemed like there was a lot
of junk but you know what?

I use that term loosely
and not disrespectfully.

Junk to me still has potential.

I mean like those old
sewing machines, I'm sure

there's someone out there
that's just dying for that

kind of stuff.

MIKE: Oh that's cool.

Is that like an old
windshield off a motorcycle?

DAN: I bought that from
some ratty old biker, I think.

MIKE: It's got like the
guy's old, every state

that he's been through and
camping permits on there.

Would you take
twenty bucks for it?

DAN: Oh, gladly.

MIKE: All right, let
me see if I can get it.

MIKE: That was
completely rad to me.

Any guy that's traveled
that many miles on a

motorcycle through all
those states and then it

had like the dealership
name and decals and stuff,

that's an awesome
piece to hang on a wall.

DAN: Boy, look at
that mess would you?

MIKE: Oh from the raccoon?

DAN: I guess.

MIKE: I love coon shit.

I just put mustard
on the stuff and eat it.

It don't bother me.

DAN: I'll take your word for it.

[laughs]

MIKE: I've been doing
this for so long, stepping in

raccoon and bird
poop is nothing to me.

MIKE: When's the last time
you cooked in this kitchen, Dan?

DAN: Probably fifteen years ago.

MIKE: Yeah? You got
one for grease, one for tea.

MIKE: Kitchen stuff. I sell
the hell out of that crap.

Discerning chefs, they love
classic stuff in their kitchen.

[♪]

MIKE: There's a frame.

Do you have the tub
to this Indian sidecar?

DAN: No.

MIKE: Just the frame itself.

MIKE: Thank god that he
had something motorcycle

related 'cause that's the
kind of stuff I like the most.

[♪]

DAN: I'm glad you're
young and healthy.

MIKE: Do you remember
how this actually mounted?

DAN: There's a bracket
that comes from here and

goes up to a club that's
right on the seat post,

right behind the seat.

MIKE: Okay, right
on the seat tube itself?

[♪]

MIKE: Anything American
Motorcycle is so extremely

hard to find.

I mean guys are building
bikes out of oil stains.

This is a complete
side car frame.

It's missing the tub, but it's
a great start for somebody.

MIKE: Is this something
you'd sell, or no?

DAN: I wouldn't
know what to ask for it.

MIKE: How about
four hundred bucks?

DAN: I'll let you have
it for four hundred.

MIKE: All right.
Cool. Let's do that.

MIKE: He said yes before
I got four out of my mouth.

I don't know. I might
have paid too much.

MIKE: You think
that piece is in there?

DAN: I think that piece
is laying on top of a truck I

got up here.

MIKE: Get out of here. It
was without this missing piece.

MIKE: If you can look
around that junkyard, how

the hell can he ever
remember where he put that

piece thirty years ago?

I'm your bird dog. Tell me
where it's at. I'll hunt it up.

MIKE: All right. Burs.
Love it. It's a picking safari.

MIKE: I'm walking
on a trailer right now.

DAN: Yeah. I was afraid
you might fall through it.

MIKE: [censored]!

All right.

Voila. We got it.

MIKE: It was so cool that
Dan realized where that

extension piece
was to the sidecar.

I mean that's huge.

It still had the coupling,
the original bracket on it

that I needed. I'm gold.

MIKE: All right, let's do this.

I'll haul this out of here.

It aint easy being a picker.

And it disappears
into the abyss.

[♪]

All right Dan, thank
you very much.

MIKE: It remains to be
seen whether it was a

financial pick or not.

I don't know but I met another
really cool guy on the road.

He was an old biker dude, you
know, and that was awesome.

He had some great stories
and he was living the dream.

[♪]

[phone rings]

DANIELLE: Hey, what's up?

MIKE: Just calling to check in.

DANIELLE: Was it awesome?

MIKE: This guy's
totally chalkboard worthy.

It was one of those places
where there was so much

stuff, it was just
layers and layers of it.

DANIELLE: Well I'll get him
up on the chalkboard then.

MIKE: Okay, cool.
Thanks honey. Bye.

MIKE: The sidecar frame
that I bought, it is what it is.

You know, the wheel itself
I'm figuring has got to be

worth three hundred
bucks alone so hopefully I'll

make some money on it.

Hell, I don't even care if I
make a hundred bucks on it.

It was just cool meeting
him and getting the story

from him on it.

[♪]

MIKE: I got back to the
shop and Danielle grabs me.

She's got a good lead.

DANIELLE: I just got off
the phone with a gentleman

in Illinois about maybe
three hours away.

He's got this Vespa
with like a back car on it.

I think it's called
an Ape or an Ape.

MIKE: Really? You
got my attention now.

Those are like almost
impossible to find.

The only thing that
scares me is if they actually

knew to call it an Ape.

Can you call him back and
tell him we want to see it?

DANIELLE: Oh totally.

FRANK: Schedule it.

MIKE: Like right now.

FRANK: If that don't work
out, we're gonna take that

gas money out of your...

DANIELLE: Yeah.

[♪]

MIKE: What colour was the Ape?

FRANK: Uh I didn't
get that information.

All I got was...

MIKE: What condition was it in?

FRANK: I didn't take the call.

MIKE: Did he have the title?

FRANK: Yeah, he had the title.

I think it was, I think it
was mint condition, still

in the box, I think.

MIKE: These things
are so extremely rare.

This is rare in Italy where
it was manufactured.

There's a worldwide market
and a lot of the people in

Europe when they
see something like this,

they're gonna be part of
my whole gamut of people

that I'm gonna be looking
at to buy something like this.

MIKE: Wow. Here we are.

This place is cool huh?

FRANK: It is cool. I looked
at the house and I looked

around and I looked at
all the stuff there. I thought.

MIKE: We don't have
enough money with us.

FRANK: I don't think my
pockets are deep enough

for this place.

FRANK: This is
like a 5-star hotel.

TOM: Nice to meet you, Mike.

MIKE: Yeah nice to meet you too.

TOM: Tom Berstrum.

MIKE: This is Franky.

TOM: Frank.

FRANK: This doesn't look
like a place that we would

probably stop at, but
we don't want to miss a

chance to be able to buy an Ape.

TOM: We have about
five buildings if you want to

look through them.

FRANK: Oh wow. Sure.

MIKE: We got some daylight.

JUDY: It's a little crowded.

TOM: Judy and I have
been collectors forever.

MIKE: Usually we're
digging through like the

chicken coop or something
so this is amazing. Wow.

That's a killer piece,
Tom, that sign right here.

What's the story behind that?

TOM: My friend owned a
junkyard and he was just

getting ready to throw
this one off into the crusher.

[♪]

One of those signs sold
four or five years ago for

thirty-two thousand dollars.

MIKE: This particular
one right here?

TOM: That particular sign.

MIKE: Oh my god.

FRANK: When they start
pricing things like that,

you either go wow,
they're completely out of the

ballpark or can I work with you.

MIKE: See I was like wow, okay.

What do you want for this?
What do you want for that?

What do you think this is worth?

MIKE: I like that fan.

TOM: Are you interested
in selling your fan out here?

MIKE: They were feeling us out.

I mean those guys have
been buying stuff for years.

They've been picking for years.

They're doing the
same thing, you know?

FRANK: It's not
their first rodeo.

TOM: What are you thinking?

JUDY: Forty, forty-five.

TOM: Yeah we'd
probably take forty-five.

MIKE: All right, I'll do that.

FRANK: It was so important
to, to pay 'em what they

wanted for their stuff now
so, you know, we didn't

just get kicked out the
door, you know what I mean?

MIKE: I can see you guys
have a total eclectic mix.

TOM: I love everything.

This is the building I
call my good building.

I don't have a lot of
stuff for sale in here but

we're talking about
selling our house and we

don't know what we're
gonna do with all our stuff.

FRANK: Eventually
that house is gonna sell.

They're gonna call us.

That's gonna be
a good lead for us.

TOM: Since you guys are
motorcycle guys, I have to

show ya a nineteen
forty-seven Indian that my

friend Marty bought restored.

MIKE: What happened
to your friend Marty?

TOM: Uh Marty got killed
in an automotive accident.

TOM: Marty and I
were friends for about

thirty-five years.

TOM: Judy and I had to
go in and take care of the

whole estate. He had had
all kinds of collector cars and

collector bikes and this
is the last one of the bikes.

We've tried real hard to
get as much money out of

all this stuff as
we possibly can.

MIKE: What are you
trying to get out of this?

TOM: We're trying
to get twenty-five

thousand out of that.

MIKE: That's a little bit out
of my price range right now.

TOM: Well if you hear
of anybody, that's uh, you

know, send them around.

MIKE: When we came
up to the Indian and he was

telling us about it,
I could tell it was a

special item to him.

That was really cool that
he was stepping up and

trying to help the family out.

MIKE: When you talked
to Danielle on the phone, I

was asking her, I was
like, is he the one who

said it was an Ape, or was
it you who said it was an

Ape because that's
a big difference.

TOM: Oh. I said it was an
Ape and she seemed to...

MIKE: Because a lot of
people don't know what the

heck that is.

TOM: I think it's about
the rarest of the Vespas.

This is an Ape with
a wood back on it.

MIKE: When I first saw
the Ape, I thought he could

see my heart beating
through my shirt a little bit.

I was like errr.

TOM: Everything was
there, all the pieces.

This comes all the way
up and covers the driver.

MIKE: Every Ape I've ever
seen in the US, it was all

like utilitarian.

This model right here
is, it's called a Calessino

and they were designed
to carry people, you know,

like a rickshaw.

MIKE: You have an idea
of what you want for it?

For once, I was getting nervous.

I didn't want my hunger to show.

I had no idea what this guy
was going to ask for this thing.

TOM: I'm thinking in
this condition I'd probably

have to have about five
thousand dollars out of it.

Most things I'll barter on.

This particular piece
I probably won't.

FRANK: We play
it cool hand Luke.

You know, you don't want
to go in and go oh my god,

I've been looking for that
for fifteen years, you know?

I got ya.

TOM: We'll walk around then.

MIKE: Yeah, I'd love to, yeah
if you've got more stuff to see.

TOM: I'll show ya.

MIKE: That was kind of
a cool breather while we

just kind of looked at it,
took it in and then he had

so much other stuff to look at.

FRANK: That's kind of a
neat looking old bicycle.

What year is this from?

TOM: Well we're not
exactly sure on that one

but I was told that it's
right around nineteen fifty.

MIKE: It's got, yeah the
litho on the side of the

tank's cool.

FRANK: Yeah. I
like those little things.

MIKE: Okay Frank, do
you want me to critique this

bike here for ya?

FRANK: Okay.

FRANK: He knows more
about bicycles than me.

MIKE: I'm sorry,
what did you say?

FRANK: I said you know
more about bicycles than I do.

MIKE: Oh okay.

MIKE: Okay. It's got a
girl's seat, got two different

kinds of pedals. It's
got the wrong grips.

FRANK: Right. I seen that part.

MIKE: It's missing
the front light.

FRANK: I seen that.

MIKE: Overall, I mean what
it's got going for it is the paint.

The paint on it's amazing.

TOM: I'd probably want a
couple hundred bucks for that

FRANK: Well let me uh let
me mull that over a little bit.

TOM: Sure.

MIKE: Man, this place
just keeps going and going.

FRANK: It does.

MIKE: That vacancy sign
over there, do you know if

that's porcelain?

TOM: It's a neon
sign but it's painted.

MIKE: I don't know. Let me see.

Some of the rarest signs
are made of porcelain.

It's actually a baked
on enamel paint.

Anything advertising
can be great.

It's all about the
subject matter.

TOM: I made it hard
for you to get out, Mike.

Sorry about that.

MIKE: They stand
the test of time.

They're much higher
quality than just a

regular pressed tin sign.

FRANK: It'll clean up.

MIKE: You know
what? You need this.

FRANK: I need - not
at my house, I don't.

MIKE: You're a single guy.

If this was in front of
my house, I'd have to say

no vacancy. Hey I
like this, I really do.

Give me a number on it.

TOM: For you,
seventy-five bucks.

MIKE: I'll offer you sixty
bucks, if you and we'll

flip for it.

We'll flip for the fifteen.

TOM: Is this a trick?

FRANK: No.

TOM: All right. Heads.

Ah.

[laughs]

FRANK: There's your
quarter back at least.

MIKE: We bought the
vacancy sign because it's

an unusual piece.

Love the color.

Awesome for someone's
restaurant or home.

I thought it was cool.

MIKE: What are
you interested in?

FRANK: Um I'm
interested in that bike.

He said he'd have to
have like two hundred and I

don't want to try to
reduce the price on him or

anything because hopefully.

MIKE: Yeah don't piss
him off because I'm still, I'm

interested in that Ape.

FRANK: Okay.

TOM: I don't know if
Frank's gonna buy that bike.

I'm not willing to
deal much on it.

MIKE: I could say hey,
you know, I'll buy the Ape if

you give me the bike and
then you can just give me

two hundred.

FRANK: I'd rather just
give it to him 'cause I

want to build a rapport
with him 'cause I'd like

to be able to come back.

MIKE: All right, let's do it.

MIKE: Let me take
a look at this Ape.

JUDY: I already told him
no flipping on the Ape.

[laughs]

MIKE: I do think it's
a lot of money for the

condition that it's in and
I know it's, it's rare and

it's cool and it's got sex
oozing out of every pin

hole of rust all over
it but uh I'd feel more

comfortable
paying like forty-five.

TOM: I'm really stuck on
that five thousand just because

restored it would be a
very, very big dollar vehicle.

FRANK: You want
to think for a second?

MIKE: Yeah, let me, yeah.

FRANK: Let's go
over and work my deal.

TOM: All right. Let's
go look at that bike.

FRANK: Let's ponder
for a couple seconds.

TOM: We're being
tough now, you know.

FRANK: Mine's an
easier deal I think.

TOM: Look at the headers
here. Look at the horn.

FRANK: I know. I like
the, I like the bike, I like the

bike and plus it's.

TOM: It will clean up beautiful.

FRANK: Would
one fifty buy it cash?

TOM: No. Two hundred.

FRANK: I'll tell ya what
Tom, I had to, I wanted to

give you two hundred for
it but and you know being

a picker that I have
to try at one fifty.

TOM: All right. Deal. Thank you.

MIKE: All right, let's do it.

Let's figure this out.
I'm buying the fan.

TOM: You're buying the fan.

MIKE: I'm buying the sign.

TOM: You're buying the sign.

MIKE: Um
forty-eight, forty-eight.

TOM: I'm stuck on...

MIKE: No to forty-eight?

TOM: I'm stuck on five, Mike.

MIKE: No to forty-eight?

TOM: No to forty-eight.

MIKE: Tom, look at me.

TOM: I am. I'm looking at ya.

MIKE: Forty-eight, forty-eight.

TOM: Five thousand bucks
it takes to buy this nice unit.

Are you buying the Ape?

TOM: We'd like to sell you
this Ape, wouldn't we honey?

JUDY: We would.

FRANK: Mike's at 4800,
Tom's at 5000, I don't

know what Mike's going to do.

TOM: That's the best I
can do, like I said when you

turn it over you're
going to thank me.

MIKE: I know. I'm going to be
driving down the road in about

half an hour kicking
myself in the butt, so...

TOM: Deal?

MIKE: Okay, okay.

FRANK: All right.
We got through that.

MIKE: I stepped up to the plate.

FRANK: I'd say you stepped up.

You could buy a nice
used car for that, you know

what I mean?

For something that doesn't
run and the motor's locked up.

FRANK: Don't scrape my bicycle.

JUDY: Don't hit my car.

FRANK: Watch the bike, bicycle.

MIKE: One of the
things that played to my

advantage was I had
that sidecar unit in my van.

MIKE: Hey I got this, I
got this thing yesterday too.

TOM: Oh.

MIKE: It was magic.
He was like oh.

I saw the way he
was looking at it.

MIKE: The tub would sit on here.

TOM: And I have a tub but
I don't have a good frame.

I'd be interested in this.

MIKE: I was a little bit
worried about how much I

paid for that thing.

I paid four hundred
bucks for that.

JUDY: Let me get a quarter out.

[laughing]

MIKE: We were bonding.

FRANK: He got something,
you got something.

MIKE: We'll do six
hundred dollars off the

price of the Ape.

TOM: Perfect.

MIKE: Okay. All right. Cool.

TOM: Thanks, Mike. Thank you.

MIKE: I made a little bit
of money on it, it eased

the pain, I'm buying the
Ape and it got that thing

the hell out of my van.

FRANK: Let me help you there.

MIKE: I fell in love with
this Vespa Ape, but I paid

5 grand for the thing.

I'm not sure how well I
did on it, so I'm going to

call my buddies, they're
scooter experts, they're

going to take a look at it
and hopefully tell me that

I did well.

FRANK: You got it Mike?

MIKE: Yeah, I got it.

[♪]

Put the kick stand in.

FRANK: Let's hit it.

[♪]

FRANK: We never touched
four or five buildings so

when we go next time it's
gonna be like a brand new pick.

[♪]

MIKE: You know what?

Since we're heading south
here, there is this one guy.

I haven't been there in a
long time but I think he'd

be worth stopping.

He's got a lot of cool things.

FRANK: Have I been there before?

MIKE: You've never been there.

FRANK: All right. Well
then give him a call.

MIKE: Hey Paul.
This is Mike Wolfe.

MIKE: I've been working
this lead named Paul for a

number of years.

He's got amazing stuff.

He's got a lot of
different memorabilia and

stuff like we like,
like lots of dirty junk.

MIKE: Yeah I got my buddy
Frank with me and I was

telling him about your
cars and I wanted to just

pop by and say hi and
let him check out your stuff.

FRANK: This will be a new
place for me because I've

never been able to
get inside of the place.

MIKE: We work together
really well so I'm excited

to have two sets of eyes
on this place because he's

got so much stuff.

[♪]

MIKE: Paul?

PAUL: Hello there.

MIKE: Hey, what's up?

PAUL: Glad to see you again.

MIKE: Yeah. This is the
guy I was telling you about.

You've been picking
up anything new?

PAUL: Oh just old stuff.

MIKE: Yeah?

[laughter]

FRANK: New old stuff.

MIKE: Paul's got an
amazing collection of cars.

His claim to fame is
his Crosley collection.

PAUL: My first
car was a Crosley.

I used to walk by it going
to junior high and mowed

enough lawns to gather
up the fifty dollars to buy

it and been messing
with them ever since.

PAUL: This car right
behind you is a Liberty

sedan and I've been told
they only made thirty like that.

FRANK: Oh wow.

MIKE: He knows his stuff.

He's been collecting for
something like a hundred years.

[♪]

PAUL: Playboy car
made in Buffalo, New York.

They only made
ninety-seven vehicles.

MIKE: What year is this?

PAUL: Forty-eight.

MIKE: Okay so this is
way before the magazine.

PAUL: Oh yeah.

MIKE: Wow. That's
awesome. That's really cool.

PAUL: This is what
you take fishing with you.

Put a battery in there,
you stick your pole in

there, stick that in the
ground and when the fish

pulls on the pole, it
honks the horn and wakes

you up, tells you it's
time to pull the fish in.

Crosley snowmobile up here.

You ride on a
big sled behind it.

This bike has both wheel steer.

MIKE: Oh yeah, okay, yeah.

PAUL: See if I can get
my old legs to show you

something it does here.

MIKE: Frank, look out!

[rings bell]

PAUL: It's a Crosley
hair growing machine.

They would pump a
pressure vacuum to stimulate

circulation and help the
hair on your head grow.

FRANK: Hey, I need some of that.

PAUL: Well we
can try it out here.

It don't take long.
Sometimes it's pretty quick.

Whoa. Looky there.

[laughter]

FRANK: Ah feels better.

I had a lot of hair like
that a long time ago.

MIKE: I remember
that. Eighth grade.

FRANK: We looked at his
stuff, we went through the

tour, it was great, he
was full of information.

MIKE: I mean it's an
educational experience, he's a

cool guy but at the end of
the day I gotta buy something.

At some point either of us
are gonna have to break the ice.

FRANK: How about this
AC thing that was converted

into a lamp?

Is that something
you might sell?

PAUL: Oh I'd have to
think about that pretty hard.

FRANK: Would you think
about it while I'm here?

'Cause I'm
interested. I like it.

I like spark plugs.

MIKE: This guy knows his stuff.

FRANK: I can see why he
has a hard time parting with it.

PAUL: I tore down an
old building for a guy and

that was underneath
the building.

MIKE: Needs a
little bit of oil, man.

PAUL: Like everything
else here, needs a little work.

MIKE: Is this something
you'd turn loose of?

PAUL: Probably better not.

MIKE: I was gonna say
you know I gotta ask ya.

FRANK: He's still thinking
about that sparkplug thing.

Don't clog his mind.

Something like
this, you'd let go?

PAUL: No, better not.

I got, I got several of
them I'm putting together.

Just gotta get
the time to do it.

MIKE: What about
this Truing stand?

Would you sell
this Truing stand?

PAUL: No, not really.

MIKE: How about a
hundred and fifty bucks?

PAUL: No, I don't believe so.

FRANK: I was looking
at some smaller things.

Obviously I'd like to buy
some bigger things but I

know not to even ask
about those so what I'm trying

to do is I'm trying to
look at some stuff that

maybe looks like it's
got tons of dust on it.

FRANK: That's something
you'd probably want to sell huh?

PAUL: Oh no.

[laughter]

FRANK: Paul, I'm
not doing very good.

Every time I ask on
something it's no go.

MIKE: Is this the go-go mobile?

PAUL: Yes.

MIKE: Is this something
you'd consider selling?

PAUL: Not really, no.

[♪]

I restored forty-some
vehicles so don't give up on me.

I may get to these yet.

MIKE: At some point
in time, it gets a little bit

hard for us because we're
looking around, we see all

these things that we can't buy.

FRANK: If we can't buy
anything, we need to move

on and get to our next pick.

MIKE: You know, we
like the broken stuff, the

rusty stuff, the dirty
stuff, the stuff that's

like buried in the ground.

FRANK: The rust.

MIKE: Yeah, the rust.

We're the rust brothers.

You got anything like
that we can look at?

PAUL: Oh you've come
to the right place for that.

MIKE: We needed
to change strategy.

We needed to see
the worst of the worst.

Something that we can buy.

[♪]

MIKE: I'm feeling good.

FRANK: I found a mosquito
heaven where there's like

ten thousand mosquitoes.

MIKE: I love wallowing
around in all this stuff.

This is, this is the kind of
place that we dream about.

PAUL: Careful
where you're grabbing.

I grabbed one place here
the other day and a snake

bit me on the finger so.

FRANK: No kidding, huh?

MIKE: Every time I've
come down here for like the

past five years, I mean
I've never been able to

dig this deep so we
are getting back into the

layers of all of
it. It was cool.

MIKE: Look at this.
There's cars stacked there.

All right Paul, I see something.

How about one fifty on this?

PAUL: I've been offered
better than that for it already.

MIKE: Oh you have?

PAUL: Yes, I have.

MIKE: What, how far am I
apart from the other guy?

PAUL: I think you're
just a hundred off on that.

MIKE: A hundred off?

PAUL: Yeah, I think you are.

MIKE: Oh my gosh.

PAUL: Yeah.

MIKE: How bout - I tell
ya what, how about two

hundred bucks?

PAUL: Oh I guess, all right.

MIKE: You want
to do two hundred?

PAUL: Okay, we'll do that.

MIKE: Frank, I broke the ice.

FRANK: Good for you.

MIKE: Okay, game on.

MIKE: Oh Frank.

FRANK: What is it?
Does it say Frank on it?

What do you want for these?

Or are these something
you gotta keep?

PAUL: No, dollar a piece.

FRANK: Dollar a
piece, I'm on them.

MIKE: This is the kind
of stuff we love to do.

How about stuff like
that and these hinges.

Do you know where, do
you remember where these

hinges came from?

You got a lot of them.

MIKE: People that are
restoring older homes,

older properties, they
like to use original pieces.

This stuff is really cool.

It was made in
America. It's cast iron.

I mean if you look at
some of these old hinges,

they're beautiful.

MIKE: Thirty bucks. See
I'm making it so easy for ya.

PAUL: I suppose.

MIKE: I'm making it too easy.

MIKE: How about,
how about five bucks?

PAUL: I'd have to
go ten on that, yeah.

MIKE: All right, ten bucks.

FRANK: Twenty on those two?

PAUL: Have to go
twenty-five on the two.

FRANK: All right.

How about put that
one in, make it thirty?

PAUL: I s'pose.

Yeah, there you go.

MIKE: Look it, the
handle's not even broke.

All right. That's extra huh?

PAUL: Still got moonshine in it.

MIKE: Still got moonshine.

FRANK: Are these
Peppy the Pepper?

I could use this at home even.

MIKE: These are
kind of cool though.

FRANK: They are cool.

MIKE: I like those.
Are those brass?

PAUL: Yes.

MIKE: What would you
do on three port holes?

PAUL: Sixty.

MIKE: All right.

MIKE: Those port
holes are totally rad.

I mean can't you see those
like in a restaurant wall?

[♪]

MIKE: Oh my god, it's like
the Poseidon adventure of

picking back there.

FRANK: What'd you get?

MIKE: I got this old,
this old Coke sign.

It's really cool.

I think it's for golf
or something, isn't it?

FRANK: Yeah it's like
a golf ball, probably golf.

MIKE: It's cool as hell. Oh
my god. It's so killer back there.

This is awesome.

MIKE: I'm really happy with
this trip. I mean you know what?

I really am.

I mean this is, this is the kind
of stuff we love, I love to do.

FRANK: And these are
the kind of places we don't

find every day.

MIKE: It's a little
heavier than I thought.

PAUL: It's a Coke
sign with legs.

[♪]

FRANK: All original Coke
products always have a market.

There's tons of collectors.

MIKE: This thing's awesome.

[♪]

What do you think?

FRANK: Put them anywhere.

Hey, don't set that
next to my stuff.

[♪]

MIKE: I tripped
over one more thing.

Where did this come from
because this is blowing my mind.

PAUL: Yes. This was in
an old uh theatre downtown.

MIKE: I just can't
hold back on it.

I love it. What
are you thinking?

PAUL: I'm thinking
two and a half.

MIKE: Two hundred
and fifty dollars?

I wasn't thinking
anywhere near that.

PAUL: Oh, I didn't
figure you would.

PAUL: Two hundred
and fifty dollars.

MIKE: I like it but I
liked it because I thought

it would be cheap 'cause I
just pulled it out of the dirt.

It's an old movie light.

It's really cool. Whoa. The
bottom's completely gone!

PAUL: You gotta be careful.

The more you shake it, the
less you're getting, you know.

MIKE: I'm a super freak
for anything that's like

industrial, lighting, I love
that stuff and when I saw

that I was like, this is going
to be a really good pick.

How about a hundred bucks?

PAUL: I don't know. I s'pose
I'd go a hundred and a half,

bout the best I can do I think.

MIKE: All right, I'll do
it. Hundred and a half.

PAUL: Okay.

[♪]

MIKE: All right. All
right. Throw it on the pile.

MIKE: I bought the light
because we sell stuff like

that in big cities
like New York.

People don't want just
regular wholesale items.

They want something unusual.

[♪]

MIKE: Thank you so much
again. Thanks. It was a good time.

FRANK: Thanks Paul.

PAUL: You bet.

FRANK: See ya,
we'll see ya again.

PAUL: Bye guys.

FRANK: When he
said two fifty, I was like.

MIKE: I know.

FRANK: It's like
two fifty for the light?

MIKE: I know, I was like.

FRANK: Cause you thought
he was gonna say give me

forty bucks or something.

MIKE: I thought he was
gonna say yeah give me thirty.

MIKE: Well you know what we did?

We opened up a
line of communication.

FRANK: Exactly.

MIKE: I mean we
found some cool stuff.

FRANK: Yeah. Yeah, we
were able to find some stuff.

MIKE: The picking gods were
shining down upon us, man.

I think this is gonna
be a really good trip.

MIKE: All right, this is a
lead that we got from Danielle.

This guy could have a
wide range of interests.

FRANK: Little bit uh.

MIKE: Cleaned up?

FRANK: Cleaned up for us.

FRANK: First impression
when I pulled up was it

was just too neat.

Everything was manicured.

It didn't look junky
enough for us at all.

FRANK: Hey, how's it going?

DOUG: Good.

MIKE: I'm Mike. This is Frank.

DOUG: Oh glad to meet ya.

MIKE: Hey Jan, how ya doing? Hi.

JAN: Jan.

FRANK: Jan, pleasure.
Nice to meet ya.

MIKE: We understand you
talked to Danielle and she

said that you guys might
have some stuff we can

take a look at.

DOUG: Wife says
I got too much stuff.

FRANK: We always hear that.

[laughter]

MIKE: Just think, if you
had a pork chop sandwich

for every time we heard that.

FRANK: I'd be fatter
than I am right now.

[♪]

FRANK: Man,
there's a lot to look at.

MIKE: What's going on
with this juke box right here?

DOUG: Far as I
know, it did work.

MIKE: It's pretty neat.

DOUG: It belongs
to a friend of mine.

I'm just storing
his stuff for him.

MIKE: All right, I'll
forget, I'll forget about

that for now then.

FRANK: Doug, I had a
motorcycle like this back in my day.

FRANK: It's a Trials bike.

Um you just don't
see them anymore.

MIKE: I've never seen one.

FRANK: I mean people have
Trials bikes, they flip them over.

They flip them. That's
what they do is they walk

over rocks and stuff.

[♪]

FRANK: When's the last
time you actually ran it?

DOUG: Hmm about two years ago.

FRANK: About two years ago?

DOUG: I'm sure it wouldn't
take much to get her

started up again.

MIKE: So if you had a
taillight on it Franky you

could ride it on the street.

FRANK: I mean older ones
like that they, you know,

they're hard to find.

People flipped them,
people broke them.

Those are the kind of
motorcycles that gets a

lot of uh abuse so it was,
it was nice to find that.

FRANK: Okay. I might be
interested in this, you know?

FRANK: Me and Mike,
there's certain times that

he'll be there and the
guy will say something and

I'll look over at him and
he'll give me the, like

that, you know, or he'll
look at me going and I'll

be like...

MIKE: Frank, can you
imagine how much stuff

we'd have if we had
this kind of space?

FRANK: I don't
even want to imagine.

What uh what's something
like that tank worth?

DOUG: Oh I suppose
a hundred bucks.

FRANK: Something like
that. How about the seat?

DOUG: Probably
seventy-five bucks.

FRANK: Seventy-five. Okay.

I'm computing
all this, you know?

MIKE: You were right on it, man.

You were like a
duck on a June bug.

FRANK: Briggs and
Stratton motor. It's kinda cool.

I'm trying to buy something
here. I want to break the ice.

A Briggs and Stratton
motor is a four cycle

small engine used in
rotor tillers, lawnmowers,

upright vertical shaft stuff.

You could even put
them in any bikes.

I'll kick start it and it
looks like it's, it's free.

DOUG: That uh belongs
to a friend of mine.

FRANK: Would that be
something you would sell

or you couldn't sell?

DOUG: I'd have to ask him.

FRANK: Okay.

MIKE: Frank's a toy
guy. He's mister toy.

There, that's it. Now
you're talking his speed.

MIKE: Back home
we call him toy boy.

FRANK: Little cattle
hauler. That's kind of neat.

DOUG: Gee, wait till I
tell him the same guy owns

the motor owns that stuff.

[laughs]

MIKE: I'll have to give
you this, you got the

little light bulb go ping.

You're like can you get
the guy on the phone?

FRANK: You think we
can make that phone call on

the guy if he's,
you know, I mean?

[♪]

FRANK: He called him. I
described the items for him.

FRANK: Hey, you got
this little Briggs and Stratton

motor up here.

Wondered if you might
be interested in selling it.

I think he fell backwards.
Hold on. No, he's there. Okay.

I also was interested,
there was kind of a bigger

steel Wyandotte truck, okay?

For a hundred dollars, you'll
give me the motor and the truck.

I tell you what, there
was one more little truck I

was looking at too.

It was a Buddy L truck. It
was like a little horse thing.

Would you do a hundred on
both trucks and the little motor?

Now he did fall backwards.

FRANK: He went fifteen
dollars over my price.

FRANK: Well I'll tell ya, I
don't know if I really want

the motor that bad, to tell
you the honest god truth here.

Yeah. Hundred and
fifteen, I'll do it then.

Fifteen dollars isn't gonna
make or break me. Bye now.

You know what? Now, now
that I'm in a roll, let's talk about the

seat over there.

Would fifty dollars
do it on the seat?

DOUG: Yeah, yeah. Fifty dollars.

FRANK: I'll take
the seat for fifty.

FRANK: Help me out
a little bit on the tank.

DOUG: Forty bucks.

FRANK: Sold.

FRANK: How much
is the Trials bike?

DOUG: Oh it's got a
title with it and everything.

FRANK: Okay, that sounds better.

DOUG: Um two
hundred and fifty dollars.

And I'll tell ya
what, tell ya what.

I got a, I got another
one on a trailer.

FRANK: That's nicer?

DOUG: No, it's parts.

Two hundred and fifty bucks
you can have both of them.

FRANK: He was happy
I think to sell them 'cause

he didn't, probably wasn't
using them that much.

I think I made
good buys on them.

I was happy all the way around.

FRANK: Yeah with the weight
on it, I could touch the ground.

MIKE: Yeah. If you lost twenty
pounds, I don't think you could.

FRANK: Well I don't
see that happening for a

couple days so
I think I'll be fine.

FRANK: It worked
out all good for me.

DOUG: Bye!

[♪]

MIKE: Is that
supposed to come off?

FRANK: I don't know. Sign
it up. I'll put it on the shelf.

I've got a Kawasaki at home.

[♪]

And the last thing I
got was this Trials bike.

He's got another one that he's
going to throw in on the deal.

[♪]

FRANK: Lock her
down. Let's hit the road.

MIKE: You did score
on that bike, dude.

FRANK: I had a good,
clean, fun time there.

MIKE: I mean I think I
actually help you make

these things happen.

FRANK: Actually without
you, I probably wouldn't

be able to breathe or function.

MIKE: We're on our way
north burning some diesel,

hoping we trip over
something worth something.

FRANK: We will. Kinda nice to
be in a new area today. I mean.

MIKE: Oh my god, I love
being on roads that we've

never traveled before.

FRANK: Yeah. Let's
just freestyle a little ways

on the back. We still
got a few more hours.

MIKE: Today we're gonna
do some windshield time.

You know, who knows what
we're gonna dig up when

we're freestyling.

FRANK: Oh look at all the
hubcaps and everything on that.

Think we should
look back on that?

MIKE: Yeah they got
like four outbuildings too.

FRANK: Yeah.

MIKE: All right. Let
me turn around up here.

MIKE: We swung around
and checked her out because

she had all those hubcaps
hanging on the garage and

this looked like a funky
place to stop and then

when she came out of the
barn with her big sun hat

on and she had all the
dried sunflowers laying

around, I was like
oh this is really cool.

This is gonna be
a neat experience.

MIKE: Hey, my name's Mike.

FLO: I'm Flo.

FRANK: Hi Flo. My name's Frank.

FLO: I'm Flo.

FRANK: Nice to meet you.

MIKE: We're looking for
anything from old jugs to

old license plates to old
hubcaps and you just have

so many neat old
outbuildings we thought

we'd pop by and see if we
could, you could give us a

tour or something, you know?

FLO: I haven't been
inside this building for years.

MIKE: See this is the
building why we stopped,

why we pulled over
because we saw all these old

hubcaps laying here.

FLO: Okay.

MIKE: So your husband
was a big collector?

FLO: Those hubcaps, it
means those are for sale.

MIKE: Okay so he
was selling stuff here?

FLO: Yeah.

FRANK: Yeah he must
have 'cause look at the signs.

FLO: Well at different
times he'd just have

tables here and
run garage sales.

FRANK: Okay.

MIKE: Now how long
ago did he pass away?

FLO: In ninety-seven.
August of ninety-seven.

FRANK: Okay. When
did you get married?

FLO: April, Forty-three. Over
fifty-four years when he died.

FRANK: Fifty-four
years you were married.

FLO: I've been very blessed.

MIKE: You have
been very blessed.

FRANK: We go to a lot of
picks and we love to pick

and we love to root around
and we love but not every

pick we go to do we
necessarily like the person.

[♪]

FRANK: Now you say you
got a birthday coming up.

How old are you gonna be?

FLO: Sixteen.

FRANK: Sixteen?

FLO: Eighty-four.

FRANK: Eighty-four.

FRANK: She was so nice
and gracious. She was funny.

That's what keeps me going
is meeting new people and

new experiences.

FLO: This is a Metropolitan.

MIKE: When's the last time
you took a cruise in that?

FLO: Sixty-eight.

My husband bought it and I
was supposed to learn how

to drive and I didn't
learn how to drive so he

put it in the shed.

MIKE: So you never...

FLO: I never drove the car.

MIKE: You never
ever drove. Oh wow.

You got a riding mower?

FLO: Oh yes.

MIKE: Well there
you go. Same thing.

FRANK: Kinda.

FLO: These trees and
buildings don't move.

MIKE: Yeah.

[♪]

FRANK: Whew.
Key is right in there.

MIKE: This has been
sitting here since I was

four years old.

[♪]

What a great car.
It was beautiful.

It was in great shape, but
the thing is, it's a metropolitan.

It's not a big money car.

I didn't want to insult
her with any kind of offer.

FRANK: Well thank you
for showing us. It's neat.

MIKE: It's great.

MIKE: Going into those,
some of those buildings

and her telling us that
no one had been in there

since her husband
passed away is amazing.

FRANK: You've got
some neat stuff in here.

That's for sure.

[♪]

Paper label. Rolls Royce.

MIKE: I love this light, man.

MIKE: The lamp was cool.

You know, when I first
saw it I thought it was for

like a service
station or something.

Then as I looked underneath
the shade and I saw

the glass around it just so
it would actually be brighter.

You know, then I realized
it was something from like

a medical, like a doctor's
office or a hospital or

something, but it's just cool.

I mean it's got the
original white paint on

it, the patina's cool.

It's gonna clean up really nice.

It takes a lot to see a
lamp like that or anything

cast iron that's utility,
that's industrial and

realize that it is marketable.

MIKE: This old light back
here with that shade and

it's got that long pole on it.

I'd pay twenty bucks for it.

FLO: I suppose so.

MIKE: Would you do that?

FLO: Yeah.

MIKE: Okay.

FLO: You found something else.

FRANK: Yeah well
here's some kind of they're

just old polished.

They're like little
oil, oil cans and stuff.

FRANK: I'm a sucker when
it comes for that kind of stuff.

I've been collecting oil cans
since I've been a little kid.

They're beautiful, they
don't take up a lot of

room, and they're great
conversation pieces.

FRANK: Would you
take ten dollars for these?

FLO: Oh yes.

FRANK: Okay. I'll get
them out of your way.

FLO: Okay. Thanks a lot.

MIKE: Hey, thank you.

FRANK: No thank you.

MIKE: You had to keep
buying them though because

then you wouldn't have
the nickname Can Boy.

FRANK: That's right.

MIKE: This looks like it
hasn't been opened for a while.

MIKE: And as soon
as she opened the door.

FRANK: I was.

FRANK: Is that what, is that
something you might sell me?

FLO: I guess. I
don't know what it.

FRANK: It's just a,
it's just a little license

plate thing that I think you
put on the front of your car.

FRANK: It was a
collectible plaque.

People like to buy those.

MIKE: Yeah. If you were
in that club, you had that on

the front of your car

FRANK: so that's kind of rare.

MIKE: Oh wow.

FRANK: What'd you find?

MIKE: Dude, check this
out. It's an old memory jug.

Oh my god, this is killer.

MIKE: That's the kind of
stuff I love. I love folk art.

That piece would have
been possibly a memorial jug.

It could have been possibly
a grave marker or it could

have been just a celebration
of life for somebody.

MIKE: Basically what
somebody did was they took

some clay and then
they took just funky little

things, you know, like I like
Ike, okay Eisenhower and

then they would just stick
everything all over this jug.

MIKE: Something like that, it's
a three dimensional scrapbook.

They're completely amazing.

MIKE: Do you know anything
about this jug, who made it?

FLO: No. It was probably in
some of the stuff he got and

he just stacked it up.

MIKE: I'd pay
fifty dollars for it.

FLO: You're joking.

MIKE: No, I'm
serious. I love it.

That's something
that's really cool.

FLO: Okay.

[♪]

MIKE: I don't know, let's see.

I'm dealing with
some jumper cables.

FRANK: Mike, you
need any help, no, okay.

[♪]

Bring it this way.

MIKE: I thought
you were helping.

FRANK: I am helping. I'm
collecting. There you go.

[♪]

FRANK: I feel pretty good.

I mean we've had some
ups, we've had some downs.

When you meet somebody like
that, how can you not feel good?

We were very happy for
what we achieved today and

the experiences we got.

[♪]

FRANK: After travelling
hundreds of miles, being on

the road, it's going to be so
great to be back at the shop.

MIKE: The wood is
really, really, really weak.

Straighten the
wheel out, Danielle.

FRANK: Straighten it out.
She's good. Let her come.

I got it, I got it. I got it, I
got it. Let her come on down.

[♪]

MIKE: Alright, let's see
if we can get Dean on the

phone and see where
we're at with this thing.

DANIELLE: Hi, this is Dean?

DEAN: This is Dean.

DANIELLE: Mike wanted
me to give you a ring and see

if you could come and
talk to us a little bit about

this Vespa Ape.

MIKE: I got some friends
that are scooter experts.

I'm going to call them
and see how well I did.

[♪]

Alright, that was fast.

DEAN: What'd you
get this time, man?

FRIEND: That is awesome.

DEAN: Oh man, handle
bar Ape. I got goose bumps.

[laughs]

MIKE: I'm kind of freaking
out a little bit about it

just because it put a big
dent in my pocketbook.

DEAN: What'd you
have to get for it?

MIKE: I can't tell you that.

I can't tell you that.
I can't tell you that.

FRANK: What year is this Dean?

DEAN: I'd estimate it
uh forty-nine to fifty-two.

MIKE: You think it's that early?

DEAN: Yeah, I
think it's a series one.

FRANK: It's exciting to
have some people this

close in our area to be
able to give us that much

information, you know?

DEAN: The older bikes
here had coil link here instead

of a shock.

FRIEND: On most
Vespas this, all this is on the

other side.

They only did that
for the first two years.

MIKE: Okay, yeah.

DEAN: It looks like you
got the brake levers here.

See that hydraulic
line comes down here?

MIKE: Seriously, what are
you, what are you thinking?

DEAN: Well it's rare.

You got a one of a kind.

There's not another one
of these in North America.

You did good.

MIKE: They told me
exactly what I wanted to hear,

what I was hoping
that I would hear.

DEAN: One of two things
are gonna happen to this.

Somebody's gonna buy
this and they're gonna roll it

into a museum just like it
sits or somebody's gonna

buy it and they're
gonna restore it.

MIKE: What do
you think it's worth?

DEAN: I've seen them
go for really, really big

money but in really good
condition so, you know,

you could get
ten grand out of it.

MIKE: I was like cha-ching,
you know, ten grand.

MIKE: I'm feeling a lot
better about it already.

DEAN: This is the
only one you'll ever see.

MIKE: I knew that. I knew
that when I was looking at it.

I mean you realize how
many guys are like into

scooters and stuff.

They're gonna be like
can you believe those guys

from Antique Archeology
even found that thing?

Hey thanks man. I
owe you. I owe you.

You heard me Frank,
I said I owed him.

If you brought cash with you,
I'll pop on ten grand right now.

Hey, I at least
have to offer it to ya.