American Pickers (2010–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Frank's Gamble - full transcript

MIKE: You don't come across
junkyards like this anymore.

WARREN: I can run that
car a hundred and twenty five

miles an hour all day long.

MIKE: Now you drive
it with no windshield.

WARREN: Sometimes.
I got pair of ski goggles.

FRANK: (laughs)

MIKE: Oh ya it's a high-wheeler.

MIKE: Oh my god. My picking
prayers have been answered.

FRANK: Got it Mike.

MIKE: I got it baby.

MIKE: When we see a
sign that says if you believe



in life after death, cross
the line and find out, we

don't knock at that door.

FRANK: That car for some
reason kept haunting me.

FRANK: Would five
thousand dollars buy the car?

MIKE: Whoa. All of a sudden
he's spending our money.

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 its 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: Our office is
basically on the road.

I don't care if it's ten miles
or eight hundred miles.

If there's a pick at the
end of that rainbow, we're

gonna find it.

MIKE: You ever notice on these
GPS's it shows you the flag?

FRANK: But it doesn't
show you what side.

You know what it says?

Oh you have went the wrong way.

MIKE: I wonder if you
could like get different...

FRANK: Tones?

MIKE: Yeah like
a sexy voice one.

FRANK: Be like this
one, like hey Mike, you just

turned wrong.

Frank, I think that you
need to readjust your area.

[laughing]

MIKE: We're heading
towards Maryland.

We're freestyling.

We've got Danielle back
at the office working on

leads for us.

DANIELLE: I do
have a lead for you.

Actually there's a
gentleman, Bobby Twig, and

he owns like a
salvage yard, junkyard.

FRANK: And the guy was
cool with us stopping by?

DANIELLE: Yeah he was really
excited about you coming by.

You just need to put on
your little charmer pants

and go do yo thang.

[♪]

MIKE: This would be the place.

Hello. I'm Mike.

BOB: Hi, I'm Bob.

FRANK: Bob, Frank.

BOB: Frank, I'm Bob.

FRANK: Nice to
meet you my friend.

MIKE: You spoke to uh Danielle.

We had an ad running.

You talked to her.

What do you do here other
than I mean I know you're

in the junking business.

BOB: It's been in my family.

My grandfather started it
back in the late twenties,

early thirties.

MIKE: Bob is one of
those guys just like us.

He's made a living
from his passions and his

passions were keeping a
business going that him and

his brother wanted to continue
after his brother got back

from the war and unfortunately
that never happened.

BOB: It was my brother's
dream, my dream and his

dream when we was in
high school to keep the

tradition going
with the old cars.

He got killed in
nineteen sixty-eight.

He was in Vietnam.

BOB: Anything old and rusty.

I'm like you guys.
It catches my eye.

FRANK: We like rust.

MIKE: Would you mind
if we looked around?

BOB: No problem.

[♪]

That used to be a local
place here, Brett's old bread.

FRANK: That was like the topper?

BOB: Yeah just the top of it.

FRANK: I wanted the bread
rack sign because it's an

advertising piece.

It was in great
condition, had nice colour.

FRANK: Would thirty
dollars be okay on that one?

BOB: Yeah, I'd take that.

FRANK: Okay. I'll do that deal.

FRANK: It's gonna clean up.

MIKE: And it was
only thirty bucks.

FRANK: All of a sudden now
I'm turning into the bread guy.

MIKE: You're bread boy.

FRANK: I'm bread
guy now. It's not hard.

I got the dough boy here so
maybe I'll go the bread boy.

FRANK: What year
would this be from?

BOB: I think that one's
around about a fifty-two,

fifty-four Dodge
Ram they called it.

FRANK: It's got a picture
of a ram on the front.

You know, it's got a real
detailed face and everything.

They just don't make
stuff like that anymore.

FRANK: Ten dollars on this one?

BOB: Yeah.

FRANK: If you got the
car and you need it and you

need an original
one, it's a great piece.

[♪]

MIKE: You don't come
across junkyards like this

in America anymore.

I mean they're basically
extinct and the cool thing

about this guy is he knew
enough not to crush a lot

of these old cars when
they were brought in.

He saved them back.

[♪]

FRANK: I don't want to go
back home. I want to stay here.

BOB: That is the thirty.

MIKE: This is a thirty.

BOB: Yeah.

FRANK: Seventy-one.

BOB: That's a seventy-four.

Seventy-one had the thin bumper.

Seventy-three up went
with the park bench bumpers.

FRANK: I should have known that.

MIKE: Some of these
places we go, it looks like

completely it's chaotic,
you know, but these guys,

they have a rolodex
in their mind of where

everything is.

BOB: About everything
here I'd know.

Take a couple minutes
and I'd have to get my

computer working but I
can tell you where it's at,

what colour it is.

FRANK: His computer
right up here, right?

[laughs]

BOB: We're getting
in to rattle snake area.

MIKE: Oh there's rattle
snakes around here?

BOB: Oh yeah.

FRANK: They let you know
what's going on though, don't they?

BOB: Usually.

[♪]

That's a sixty-seven Camaro RSS.

FRANK: Now see it just,
it just thinks to me that

those hood things
would be worth money.

BOB: Yeah the louvers?

But they reproduct them now
and everybody wants them pretty.

FRANK: They don't want original?

See, now see we're just
the opposite on motorcycles.

We don't want the reproduced
part. We would want...

BOB: Yeah see here, see
how the, these are pot metal.

You can't buff this out
but you can buy a set of

reproducted at the price
you have them chromed at.

FRANK: I know there's
purists out in the world

and there's people that
don't care about having

the purest but I mean for
the same price having real

or having a repop,
real would be my world.

MIKE: Unfortunately not
just in the car trade but

a lot of different categories of

collectibles,
reproductions are just

completely taking over
and it's destroyed a lot of

the value of original stuff.

[♪]

BOB: The biggest
thing now is the rat rods.

MIKE: Oh wow.
It's like a wood box.

BOB: Yep. That's why
they call it the jalopy.

MIKE: Oh my god.

BOB: We built
that in twelve hours.

MIKE: Oh lord.

BOB: This is what we
carried out of the yard.

This is a sixty-six
Bronco, a seventy-four

Mustang front end with a
seventy-six Dodge pickup

rear which I've sold
three rears out of it too.

It's a lot of fun.

[♪]

FRANK: You've got cars
in here that are rusty, dirty,

radical looking and people
are starting to enjoy them.

MIKE: So you drive
it with no windshield.

BOB: Sometimes. I
got a pair of ski goggles.

MIKE: Oh do you? [laughs]

BOB: No, I'm
getting it ready to run.

We just put new brakes on it.

I gotta finish the
brakes up on it.

MIKE: Does it go
straight down the road?

BOB: I can run that car
a hundred and twenty-five

mile an hour all day long.

FRANK: He gets
things. He fixes them up.

He drives them around for
three or four hundred miles.

Then he sells them.

That is one hundred percent me.

MIKE: You're driving
down the road and the cops

don't pull you over?

BOB: I've been pulled
over but to laugh about.

MIKE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

BOB: They don't know
how to write the ticket.

MIKE: When you talk to
somebody like Bobby and he

just shares his passions
and his stories with you,

it's really cool to listen
to them but at the end of

the day we've gotta
make some money.

[♪]

FRANK: How much would
the Champion sign be?

FRANK: That's
nineteen thirties sign.

I mean it was not
the best condition.

Had great colour.

Champion was, you know,
a big, big sparkplug company

and it's just a great
advertising piece.

I mean I love it!

BOB: It's got some
bullet holes in it.

FRANK: Fifty bucks?

BOB: I'd like to get
a little more than that.

FRANK: You tell me.

I gotta start
somewhere, you know?

Let's go a hundred
on it. I'll take it.

BOB: All right.

MIKE: I'm here
for moral support.

FRANK: Okay.

MIKE: It's got great graphics.

It's got cool colour.

There's a little thing
called liquid gold.

We're gonna slam that on there.

That thing's gonna pop and
the guy that we're already

thinking about
for that sign is...

FRANK: His brother.

FRANK: An early sparkplug
'cause you can see the

screw on the top and everything.

[♪]

It'll be the lightest
thing I bought all day.

BOB: You didn't
have to climb for it.

MIKE: Got it?

[♪]

FRANK: It's been a pleasure.

Thank you ever so
much for taking us around.

BOB: Oh you're very welcome.

FRANK: And showing
us the stuff and everything.

BOB: I'm glad there's
somebody else out here

involved in this stuff.

[♪]

FRANK: It's nice to see that
we can still travel America.

We can still just pull
off the highway, not five

miles off the highway
and still find a guy that's

still sitting back here in
the nineteen sixties with

his cars, you know?

FRANK: Before we leave,
do you know anybody that's,

through your travels that
might have any like old

motorcycles or any of the
kind of stuff here that we

were able to buy from you?

FRANK: Picking 101, ask
him: do you know anybody

else around here that
might have the same stuff.

BOB: I've got a buddy
of mine lives up the road

here probably five miles.

Galen was kind of like
a motor head with us.

We might see if we can
contact him, see if he has

something in there
that interests you guys.

FRANK: Five miles away?

We're going that way
anyway to our motel.

BOB: There you go.

FRANK: Thank you.

MIKE: Hey, thanks for the
tip seriously. We appreciate it.

[♪]

MIKE: Galen could be good.

FRANK: Oh yeah.

MIKE: It sounds like
he's got a lot of stuff.

FRANK: Five miles away
and this guy's been doing it

longer than that
guy so I'm excited.

MIKE: This could be a mega pick.

FRANK: Darn right.

[♪]

FRANK: I don't know about that.

MIKE: I'll let you
handle this one.

FRANK: All right. Give
me that sheet on there.

MIKE: Let me break
it down for ya like this.

When we see a sign
that says if you believe in

life after death, cross
the line and find out, we

don't knock at that door.

[♪]

[♪]

MIKE: I don't know man. This
place just looks so interesting.

FRANK: He's got those
signs up for a reason.

This guy's not
hiding. He's up front.

You know, I don't
like the government.

I don't like this,
I don't like that.

MIKE: Yeah and if I don't like
you I'm gonna kick your ass.

MIKE: This could be hard to
get someone's trust though.

I mean look at some
of these signs here.

FRANK: You know, money
usually builds a trust pretty good.

MIKE: Hey, my name's Mike.

We got your lead from a
guy named Bobby Twig.

FRANK: Yeah Bobby Twig.
You know, the auto parts place.

MIKE: Let me give you a flier.

FRANK: We buy all kinds of
different stuff and everything.

MIKE: He looked a
little bit intimidating.

FRANK: Hey. If you had
a few minutes to give us a

little five cent tour we'd
be more than happy.

FRANK: We're
not confrontational.

You know, we're not
uh condescending,

anything like that.

I think people generally
take us as being a couple

of decent guys and hey,
how can you be mean to a

couple guys like us?

MIKE: [laughs]

GALEN: Yeah.

MIKE: Okay we'll follow you.

MIKE: I personally think
this is the beginning of a

beautiful relationship.

[♪]

FRANK: There you
are Mike, Wolf at Work.

Oh my gosh. Look
at what we see, Mike.

MIKE: Oh wow, yeah.

FRANK: A hearse.

MIKE: We never know
what we're gonna find.

We go into a guy's
building and he's got a

horse drawn hearse from
the eighteen hundreds in there.

It's crazy.

FRANK: Where'd this come from?

GALEN: My dad bought it
at Shanks, West Virginia back

in the thirties and it's
sort of unusual because

it's got curved glass, which
most of them were flat glass.

FRANK: Okay.

MIKE: When we try to
warm up an intimidating guy,

we're not looking at him
as an intimidating guy.

Okay we're just looking
at him as a fellow collector.

We show interest in
the stuff that they have.

You know, a lot of people
might drive by their place

and think that it's junk.

We're two guys that come
onto his property and all

of a sudden we're like
hey man, this stuff is cool,

this is rad.

Where did you get all
this stuff? Tell us about it.

GALEN: But the front of
it is like on a fifth wheel,

like on a tractor trailer.

FRANK: Mm hmm. Pivots.

GALEN: And the wheels
are turning like it's jackknife.

FRANK: Oh wow.

MIKE: Is that something
you've uh ever considered

selling?

GALEN: No.

MIKE: Okay.

FRANK: Right then I
went uh oh. Here we go.

MIKE: Game over.

FRANK: Yeah game over.

MIKE: I just kind of look
around here 'cause this is one

of those places it's hard
to take it all in all at once.

That's a neat sign.

MIKE: Advertising
is such a hot subject.

It doesn't have to
be a porcelain sign.

It doesn't have
to be a metal sign.

Anything advertising is hot
especially stuff that early.

MIKE: Is that a
sign that you'd sell?

For the right price or?

GALEN: I don't have
a clue what it's worth.

MIKE: Would you do
a hundred bucks on it?

I'd give you a hundred
bucks cash for it.

GALEN: Not today.

MIKE: Okay.

MIKE: You do, you do
got a couple things in here.

GALEN: I was uh at a sale
one day and this was there

and I asked a couple
people what it was and

there was an old fella
there and he told me it

was a pleating iron to put
pleats in cuffs and skirts.

[♪]

FRANK: I love tins. I
love advertising stuff.

That's exactly what it
is, a national Mazda little

light thing.

FRANK: Came across
a little itty bitty metal

box that holds one sparkplug.

I thought it was kinda
neat, kind of a collectible.

FRANK: How about this
little, little tin can here?

Something that's dear to ya?

GALEN: I don't know.

FRANK: I got just stuff
I put little tin things in.

It's just that's all there
is to it, you know?

GALEN: I'm not
gonna part with it today.

FRANK: Okay. That's good.

FRANK: It's pretty
apparent that he was one

of those kind of guys
that collected stuff, held

things dear to his heart and
money meant nothing to him.

MIKE: Bobby was saying
that you used to be the

man to see when it
came to sixties Corvettes.

What kind of guy was your dad?

I mean did he spark
that interest in you?

Was he into old cars too?

GALEN: He bought
a couple old cars.

They're down here
in the basement.

Make sure you duck.

MIKE: Oh my god.

[♪]

MIKE: When we're in a
basement like that, our

adrenaline's going, man.

We're pumped up.

FRANK: This guy's
got amazing stuff.

GALEN: This was a nineteen
fourteen model T touring car.

My dad bought that
back in the thirties.

It's a thirty-seven,
thirty-eight Chevy pickup.

This thing here, it's like a
[inaudible] for horse races.

MIKE: Oh yeah. Cool.

GALEN: My dad's parents
courted on this thing.

FRANK: Courted on
that huh? I'll be darned.

FRANK: This was the start
of you almost, you know

what I mean?

When they started. [laughter]

GALEN: That was a long time ago.

MIKE: In our job we get
to see amazing things.

That's what's cool about it.

We get to see glimpses
of history that no one else

gets to see.

GALEN: It's a thirty-nine
Plymouth business Coupe.

FRANK: This is?

GALEN: Two door.

MIKE: Oh wow yeah, that's cool.

FRANK: That's cool.

[♪]

MIKE: I love the grill
on that thing man.

That kind of, that's
similar to that hood

ornament you bought, Franky.

FRANK: Yes it is.

FRANK: When I saw that
Plymouth Coupe, I mean it

looked like a nice original car.

It had original paint.

It'd been sheltered for
the last thirty-five years

and it just looked
like a real neat piece.

Very unique and hard to find.

FRANK: Galen, is this
something that uh would

come up for sale someday?

GALEN: I don't, I don't know.

I just I'd have
to think about it.

FRANK: I don't
generally just buy cars.

I'm more a motorcycle
guy but I love the lines on it.

FRANK: Just for giggles,
would five thousand

dollars buy the car?

MIKE: What car?

FRANK: The Plymouth.

MIKE: Oh wow.

MIKE: Whoa! All of a sudden
he's spending our money and

I'm like what the hell
is he talking about?

What car? What, why
is he interested in it?

What the hell's going on?

FRANK: At a different time?

Different date you'd
consider it maybe?

GALEN: On a different
day I'd consider it.

FRANK: I threw the
number at the car.

Five thousand dollars
for the car so that.

MIKE: I know. You surprised
the [censored] out of me.

FRANK: Hey, I
love cars like that.

FRANK: You'd
consider that offer?

GALEN: Yeah.

FRANK: Okay.

GALEN: I haven't sold
anything that my dad had.

MIKE: Really? That's awesome.

GALEN: Everything
that he had is still here.

MIKE: Galen's this rough,
tough guy but he turned

into a big old teddy bear
when he started talking

about his dad.

He was obviously a
really sentimental person.

After a while we were
hoping we'd have better

luck if we found some stuff
that Galen's dad didn't buy.

GALEN: This was
an old steam roller.

FRANK: Wow.

MIKE: Look at the
size of that thing.

Now where'd you find
something like that at?

GALEN: I bought that
at Manassas, Virginia.

MIKE: So how
did you get it here?

GALEN: Tractor and trailer.

MIKE: It's like they
always say hey, you know,

you look like your pet.

Well he looked like
his antiques, you know?

He had the big beard and
he was a burly dude and he

had the engineer cap on.

If you would have set
him up there and took a

picture, somebody might
have even thought it was

taken back around the turn
of the century or something.

FRANK: We were determined
to soldier on with Galen.

We had worked
so hard to get there.

We were not gonna leave
without getting something.

FRANK: Galen, I seen a soap
sign over here on the corner.

If you were to sell that,
what would you, what would

it have to take to
get that off the wall?

NFS we call that.

Not for sale?

GALEN: It's not for sale.

FRANK: Alrighty. I had to
try or I'm not doing my job.

MIKE: Nothing was for sale.

It was as if Galen was
locked in this world with

all his memories.

All these things
represented all those

memories around him.

He just wasn't gonna
give up his stuff.

MIKE: Thanks for
letting us look around.

I very much appreciate
it. I had a good time.

FRANK: You know
before I leave, I would be

interested in that car.

Um I know you're not
ready to go today or anything

like that but if you think
about it I'll give you a buzz.

GALEN: I'll think about it.

FRANK: You know, I think
Galen's going on the chalkboard.

Keep in touch occasionally.

Just let him know we're
still interested and, you

know, maybe he might
get, might be able to start a

little fire underneath him.

FRANK: Looks li [♪]

MIKE: The east coast,
I mean it's like all the

picking forefathers that
have come before us, this

is where they all
started man, right here.

I mean we're walking on
sacred picking ground here.

DANIELLE: Hey. I just wanted
to call and let you know I have

a nice little lead for you.

There is a lady named Carol.

She sounds like she's
probably in her eighties

and she is ready, you
know, at this point in her

life to just kind of start
cleaning house and getting

rid of some stuff.

However, she has a son
that is pretty interested

in the stuff.

He has kind of an
emotional attachment to it

but I think if you're able
to kind of charm Carol

then uh you'll be good.

[♪]

MIKE: Hello.

CAROL: Hi there. How are you?

MIKE: We are very good.

FRANK: Frank.

CAROL: Hi Frank.
Nice to meet you.

JIM: Hi.

FRANK: How ya doing?

MIKE: Appreciate you
answering uh, you know,

one of our ads.

Danielle was telling us
about some of the things

that you had.

CAROL: Yeah you've got
a lot of different things here.

MIKE: My first impression
of Carol was she just

looked like the sweetest
little old lady, you know?

I mean she was so small.
She was, she was tiny.

She was just this
cute little thing.

MIKE: If you've got
time to show us around.

CAROL: Oh absolutely.

MIKE: You know, we're here.

We've come this far and we're
excited to see what you have.

CAROL: Jimmy's the
one that'll be able to show

you most of the stuff because.

JIM: Well there's some
places we're gonna have to

work to get to.

[♪]

CAROL: A lot of the
neighbours would like to

get in there and
see what's in there.

MIKE: Yeah, yeah.

CAROL: No.

FRANK: She has said a
lot of people have wanted to

come in here and stuff but
you guys are actually the

first people that have been in
here since my husband died.

MIKE: For us, this is
a privilege to go into a

building no one's been
in for years and years.

FRANK: Looks like you got
quite a bit of things in here.

MIKE: Wow.

[♪]

MIKE: It was amazing. I
mean there was so much stuff.

There was old cars.
There was old furniture.

There was old bicycles.

There was everything
in this place.

This was like a picker's dream.

MIKE: Man. Your
mom does collect chairs.

MIKE: When we first
walk into a place, boom, it's

primary search.

We're scanning everything
looking for the big, big

items, stuff that's
basically sitting right

out in front of you.

Then it kicks into
secondary search and

that's when we're going
through all the drawers.

MIKE: There you go.
Secret compartment.

MIKE: Looking underneath
stuff, going through boxes.

MIKE: This is like what
we call a mega pick.

There's lots of
volume of things.

Um I didn't know if you
are at the point where

you're interested in
selling some stuff but,

you know, I mean I just
want to put that out there

that we're interested
in buying a few things.

CAROL: Well I think, you
know, rather than having

it up here and take a
chance that something's

gonna happen to it, I
would definitely say so.

MIKE: She realized she
had to turn loose of some of

it and I think that she
thought that a lot of it

was almost somewhat
of a burden to her.

MIKE: There. It's on - what
is it? Okay it's a panther.

FRANK: Panther.

FRANK: That bike
is I think a nineteen

fifty-two, nineteen
fifty-three Panther Schwinn.

MIKE: That white wall
in the back looks like it's

kind of toast but this
one looks decent, Franky.

[♪]

Let me see the
inside of this light.

FRANK: Is it rotted out or?

MIKE: Let's see. Oh the bot,
yeah. The bottom's gone, look.

FRANK: The light on
the front is rusted out but

without the tank it just
turns into pretty much a

regular old bicycle.

FRANK: I think I saw the tank.

Yeah.

So I'm kind of interested in
the bike so I better keep this.

FRANK: Being able to find
the tank makes the whole bike.

[♪]

FRANK: Is the bottom
of that cooler rusted out?

I could use that
to stash stuff in.

Set it out. I just want to see
if the bottom's rusted on it.

[♪]

Take a look at this Buick here.

Not much paint.

This was made
by Murray, sixties.

[♪]

Back wheels are there.

FRANK: Original pedal
cars these days are selling up

into the thousands of dollars.

MIKE: Okay, I got this.

FRANK: Kinda heavy.

FRANK: They had
some great designs.

They were designed after
some of the airflow model cars.

If you find one, buy it.

They're great collectible items.

FRANK: These aren't like super
cool or anything but they're...

MIKE: Yeah they're
really neat. They're early.

FRANK: I mean
they're early, you know.

MIKE: I've noticed when
I'm going to swap meets

and just looking on the
internet and stuff that

the porcelain car license
plates seem to do better

than the later ones.

CAROL: I bought a box
and they ran from the early

porcelains up through
I think the fifties.

MIKE: I think it's great
that you, you bought these

antique license plates
that long ago, I mean that

you had the insight to do that.

CAROL: My husband
was always interested in old

cars so that was the reason.

MIKE: How about
fifty bucks for those?

CAROL: Yep.

MIKE: Is that all
right with you?

JIM: Yeah, that's fine.

MIKE: All the ones I
bought were porcelain.

Some of them were pretty
chipped up and they had

damage to them but it
was just the fact that they

were so early.

I mean the one license
plate that I bought was

nineteen oh eight.

MIKE: We broke the ice
on the fifty dollars on the

porcelain plates.

CAROL: Okay. Very good.

MIKE: All right.

FRANK: Would fifty dollars
be okay on the bicycle?

CAROL: Fine with me.

FRANK: And that
includes the tank. Correct?

JIM: Yeah, okay.
So there, we did that.

JOHN: How about the car here?

There's no pedal gear,
doesn't work, no steering wheel.

I did grab a couple
other steering things here.

JIM: I mean I don't know.

FRANK: What would you
want for the Coke cooler?

FRANK: It had the pullout tray.

Those are always gone.
This one had surface rust.

Looks like it would hold.

MIKE: That's not too bad.

FRANK: Yeah.

JIM: What's the Coke cooler
worth? Thirty-five bucks?

FRANK: Let me think that over.

Can we leave it right here?

Let's move on and I'll think.

MIKE: What's up with this?

Was this your bike
when you were a kid?

JIM: No I picked
it up this spring.

Somebody had it by
the side of the road.

They were throwing it out.

MIKE: No kidding.

When I was a kid
this was the bomb.

This was the heavy
sled, man. This was it.

Yeah it's all lugged frame.

It's a Grand Prix.
It's the grand record.

It's a Motobecane.
It was a French bike.

It's all lugged out.

MIKE: Coming from Iowa,
bicycle shops didn't even

sell stuff like that
where I was from.

That was something
you looked at in bicycle

magazine and the guys
in the Tour de France rode.

MIKE: This was a
nice bike back then.

MIKE: You know, it was
an inexpensive model but it

still has a little piece
of my heart in it so when

I saw it laying in the
weeds like that and just

going to hell I was
like I gotta buy this.

Somebody's gonna want it.

CAROL: It was a Raleigh
bike of England that I

wanted but I
couldn't afford those.

MIKE: This was a high
end bike back in its day. Um.

CAROL: That's what
Jim told me when I said I

think I want to get rid of it.

MIKE: How about thirty bucks?

JIM: We can do that.

MIKE: You know?

JIM: We can do that.

MIKE: I'd love to have it.
It doesn't look like much.

JIM: Especially since
I just told you that I got

it by the side of
the road for free.

MIKE: I know. All right, we'll
put that over here for now.

FRANK: See what this
is. Looks interesting.

That might have
been your display oil.

You remember
anything about this Jim?

JIM: I do actually and
probably don't want to

part with it because it's
one of, it's a memory I

had with my father.

MIKE: I mean we were
digging through all this

stuff and he was too.

He hadn't been
in there in years.

He was walking down
memory lane with us.

JIM: We were out in the woods
out near my grandparents'.

It was a fallen down
building and we came

across it and it, that
was in it and I helped him

carry it out of the woods.

MIKE: It was great that Jim was
having as much fun as we were.

[♪]

JIM: Steam shovel.

MIKE: Steam shovel.

[♪]

MIKE: They were
construction toys and kids used

them that way, in the dirt and
stuff so they're always broken.

They're always missing
the bucket and stuff.

Those things are hard to find.

MIKE: Is this
something you'd sell or?

JIM: Depending on
the price, you know?

MIKE: Twenty-five.

JIM: Oh. It's hard to put
a, it's hard to put a price on

a childhood memory but I
don't think twenty-five's enough.

MIKE: Okay. This was, this
was yours when you were a kid?

JIM: It was a toy
that I played with.

MIKE: Okay.

JIM: So, how about fifty?

MIKE: Fifty.

Uh fifty.

JIM: It's had inside
storage for all these years.

MIKE: Yeah I see that. Let me,
let me, let me think about that.

JIM: Okay.

MIKE: Okay.

MIKE: It was a really neat
piece but we couldn't get

together on it.

JIM: How much for
that? Five bucks?

JIM: Sure.

JIM: How about
this little clock thing?

Ten bucks?

JIM: Sure.

JIM: Little book. A little sign.

JIM: Yep.

JIM: All the tins here.

JIM: I'm just an impulse buy.

JIM: For sale?

JIM: Sure.

JIM: I already got three
things and I'm just like

hey what's that?

I go hey, how about
ten bucks on this?

FRANK: Ten bucks.

JIM: Done.

FRANK: All right.

FRANK: Wow. Why'd
I buy that, you know?

MIKE: It says whiz
belt compound.

Twenty bucks.

JIM: That's fair.

MIKE: Okay. Fifteen on the guy.

MIKE: It was almost
so much stuff that it was

overwhelming.

MIKE: This whole drawer
right here is padlocks.

MIKE: I kept finding padlocks.

And I'm like okay every
padlock I stuck in that cigar box.

Well all of a sudden
I've got fifteen of them in

this box.

It's kind of like going
on vacation and you're

walking down the beach
and you think that you gotta

have that seashell and
then you start collecting

them and then you take
them home and you're like

what am I doing with
all these seashells?

FRANK: That's
exactly what happens.

MIKE: Except I had to
pay sixty bucks for them.

MIKE: This place is incredible.

MIKE: I mean it's
just got so much stuff.

I mean this is kind of
place that we could come

back one, two, three times.

MIKE: Carol, you've got
a large collection of just

about every single
thing that's on our list.

CAROL: That's right.

If you needed something
we probably had it.

[laughs]

CAROL: I really enjoyed
myself and I'm just

waiting to tell all the
gals at work. [laughs]

[♪]

MIKE: I bought a bike, Franky.

FRANK: You bought
one? I bought one.

MIKE: I know.

[♪]

Thank you so much for
letting us look around.

Really. I mean you know what?

We get a lot of calls.
This was an amazing call.

We loved looking at everything.

CAROL: Well I'm glad you came.

MIKE: And we, we
appreciate you guys

selling us some stuff
because we look at so much

stuff and we can't buy it.

[♪]

CAROL: I think it was very good.

I'm glad they came. I really am.

FRANK: Tell ya what,
we're gonna put you on our

notebook 'cause we think
we could come back again

and find, you know what I mean?

This is hard to catch
it all in one shot.

CAROL: Nice to meet you.

FRANK: Thank you. Take care.

MIKE: At the end of the
day, you know, driving away

from that place, it's like
you hate to leave some of it.

FRANK: It's a home run
but today at Carol's I just

can't stop thinking
about that car of Galen's.

You know, it just keeps going
over and over in my mind.

FRANK: Would five
thousand dollars buy the car?

MIKE: Whoa.

FRANK: We should
at least give him a call.

MIKE: He had the Orient [♪]

FRANK: Check out that sign.

It says speed hump.
Is that what you do?

What's a speed hump mean?

MIKE: I think it
said speed bump.

FRANK: That's the
second sign. Speed hump.

MIKE: I haven't done a
speed hump since high school.

When you're making
love you gotta kiss for like

forty-five minutes.

FRANK: What? If I kissed
for forty-five minutes,

I'd have to have
three different partners.

FRANK: We're going through
the beautiful state of New

Hampshire, having some
fun, doing some twisty

turns and all of a sudden
out of the corner of my

eye I see this
Mobilgas oil sign.

FRANK: This looks good.

MIKE: Good eye. Hey you wanna?

FRANK: Yeah let's go, let's go.

I'll knock, I'll knock.
I'll knock it. I'll knock it.

MIKE: It's your turn.

FRANK: I'll knock it.

MIKE: We haven't been
shot yet so that's good.

Hey, how ya doing?

WARREN: Good. How are you?

MIKE: We're doing good.

Hey uh we stopped because
we noticed uh you had some

old outbuildings and the
door was open and you had

an accumulation of stuff
and we are looking for

that kind of stuff. I'm Mike.

WARREN: Mike. Warren Kimble.

MIKE: Nice to meet you.

FRANK: Warren?
Frank Fritz. Pleasure.

WARREN: Nice to meet you.

MIKE: Does this trip
anything, any triggers at all?

WARREN: Yeah there's
four or five things on there

that, what you're showing
here that are out there.

MIKE: All right. Yeah.
Let's look at it. I've love to.

FRANK: We hand him a
flier and he's like hey, by the

way, do you guys want
to do a shot of tequila?

FRANK: I'm ready right now.

WARREN: Thattaboy.

MIKE: I think that was
probably the first time in

twenty years of doing
this, the guy wants to do

a shot with us
when we get there.

MIKE: All right.

FRANK: Excellent.

FRANK: After we got
talking a little bit and

stuff with Warren...

MIKE: Smooth.

WARREN: That should
make the meeting go along

a little better.

FRANK: He said they
would like to move so when

people tell us they're
ready to downsize and

they're moving, that's
what we want to hear.

Right then we're like well
we are here to help you move.

We'll move some stuff
out for you right now.

MIKE: This is an
Orient engine, isn't it?

WARREN: Yes, that's an Orient.

It was made by a bicycle
manufacturer and he

obviously could see the
light and knew that he had

to take another direction.

MIKE: When Charles
Mets started making Pace

motorcycle bicycles for
track racers and then he

got in later on to making
motorcycles, he made the

first production American
motorcycle in nineteen

hundred, I mean three years
before Harley Davidson did.

MIKE: Is that something
that you'd sell?

WARREN: Uh I'd be
interested in selling that, yeah.

MIKE: Yeah. What would you,
what would you have to have for that?

WARREN: Oh I'm thinking
around twenty-five hundred.

MIKE: Okay.

FRANK: There's
your JD frames here.

MIKE: I look off to the
left and I can just barely

see a piece of a handlebar
of an early Harley.

As I started walking a
little bit closer behind

stacks of windows and
old doors and stuff, I could

see there was a Harley
JD frame from the twenties.

I mean this thing was amazing.

Usually we find one
piece, a handlebar, a fork, a

fender, anything.

There was basically a
whole Harley JD carcass

sitting there in front of me.

WARREN: One's a
twenty-seven and the other

one's a twenty-one.

MIKE: Would you do five?

MIKE: Hell, the fork is
worth five hundred bucks.

The control box
is worth three fifty.

The rear stand is two hundred.

The side kickstand is
three hundred and fifty.

I gotta have it.

[♪]

WARREN: Yeah that
sounds reasonable.

MIKE: All right. I'll do five.

WARREN: All right.

MIKE: We're gonna
pull it out of there.

We're gonna sell that to
somebody that's gonna make

that into a bike again
and put it back on the road.

[♪]

WARREN: I got a safety bicycle.

Would you be interested
in something like that?

MIKE: I'd be, I'd be
looking at anything bicycle.

I love bicycle stuff, yeah.

MIKE: And I saw he had the
Orient bicycle hanging there.

That's so incredibly
difficult to find.

My passion runs deep
for bicycles because it was

like my first form of
independence when I was a kid.

I've made a living off
them for such a long time

and I think they're artistic
pieces of Americana.

It had the original
head badge on it.

It's a wood rim
bicycle. It's early.

There's just a lot
of history there.

Charles Mets was a guy that
started Orient bike company.

They were out of
Massachusetts and when he

started making his wood
rim bicycles he started

making racing bicycles
and his bicycles were like

pounds lighter than
anything else on the

competition at that time.

MIKE: Is there any number that
would buy this thing, you know?

I mean I'm interested.
I'm a bicycle guy.

WARREN: If I was to toss
a number out, I would say

thirteen fifty.

MIKE: Oh really, that much?
Is that negotiable at all?

WARREN: Oh everything's
pretty much negotiable.

MIKE: That's a
lot of dough for it.

I mean it does need
a total restoration on it.

Would you do a thousand bucks?

I'd do a thousand bucks on it.

WARREN: Okay. I think
probably we could, yeah.

MIKE: Can we get
together on that?

WARREN: I think that'd
be, that's reasonable.

MIKE: Okay. All
right man. Thanks.

WARREN: Thanks so much.

MIKE: Thanks for
showing it to me.

I like it. I love it.
I'm a bicycle guy.

MIKE: If you had a
thousand dollars in your

pocket and you wanted to
buy one and you wanted one

so desperately, where are
you gonna find it, you know?

The time to buy one is
when you see it, man and I

was not gonna
miss that opportunity.

[♪]

FRANK: Uh oh.

WARREN: That look anything
like what you're looking for?

MIKE: When I walked into
that living room and saw

that high-wheel bicycle
sitting in there, I was

like oh my god.

My picking prayers
have been answered.

Maybe I can buy this thing.

FRANK: Is it a Victor?
What kind, Mike?

WARREN: I believe it's Columbia.

FRANK: Columbia?

MIKE: Yeah I was gonna say
it's either Columbia or a Rudge.

MIKE: Penny Farthing,
high-wheeler ordinary.

Those are all terms for what
I call a high-wheel bicycle.

Those were made in
the eighteen eighties.

The predecessor to that
was called the boneshaker.

A guy named Albert Pope
owned a company called

Columbia and if you
find a high-wheel bike it's

usually one of those
because it was one of the

biggest companies
in the world back then.

MIKE: I'd love to try it.

WARREN: Okay.

MIKE: All right.
Let's rock it. Franky.

[♪]

FRANK: The one's
kind of loose, yeah.

WARREN: Oh yeah. He's got it.

That's not an easy thing to do.

[♪]

You deserve a shot of tequila.

FRANK: Got it Mike.

MIKE: I got it baby.

[♪]

MIKE: All right. I gotta
ask, is this for sale?

[laughs]

WARREN: That's one of
the things I'd really like to

hang on to.

MIKE: I love that thing, man.

That's awesome. I
never get tired of those.

[♪]

What's that motor there?
Is that another Orient?

WARREN: Yeah that's an Orient.

That was the year prior
to that one that we have.

MIKE: Like Franky and I
basically tripped over the

Orient motor and when
I saw it I was like oh my

god, he's got an extra motor.

[♪]

MIKE: What would you do on that?

WARREN: Uh eight hundred.

MIKE: Yeah? Let
me see the side of it.

Oh it's missing a...

FRANK: Is it
cracked or anything?

MIKE: Missing the
time, all the timing.

WARREN: All the
timing stuff is gone.

MIKE: You don't have
any of those parts, do ya?

WARREN: Uh they are
on the other one, I think.

[laughter]

MIKE: You know, I jumped
on that thing right away.

I mean Orient stuff is, is
basically impossible to find.

I mean it really is.

There's guys reproducing
carburetors right now.

There was recently an
Orient motorcycle that

just sold for I think
seventy-five grand.

MIKE: How about five
hundred if it's missing all that?

WARREN: Uh...

MIKE: And I'm at a G with ya.

WARREN: All right.

MIKE: Okay. All right.

MIKE: You know, Orient
stuff's big money stuff

and anytime I have an
opportunity to even see it

in a barn or be able to
buy it then that's a great

frigging day picking, man.

[♪]

WARREN: Oh when you get
it going, you can bring it over.

[laughter]

I'll give ya, I'll give ya a
race with the high-wheeler.

[♪]

MIKE: Believe it or not,
someone's gonna take that

Harley carcass and
make it into a whole bike.

MIKE: That might even look
good hanging on the shop

wall, Franky.

[♪]

WARREN: Well I
think it all fit in there.

FRANK: Piece of cake.

MIKE: Yeah. All right. Thanks.

WARREN: Thanks
so much for coming.

FRANK: Nice to have met ya.

WARREN: Nice to meet you.

MIKE: The cool thing about
Warren was he had so much

early stuff.

I mean we can drive
forever around this

country and not find the
kind of things we found there.

And then all of a sudden
we find those in one location?

FRANK: All one area.

MIKE: Schwing!

FRANK: Man I just [♪]

FRANK: We were on the
road a couple extra days.

That car for some
reason kept haunting me.

FRANK: Man. I just can't
get that Plymouth Coupe

out of my mind.

I mean it just keeps
going over and over.

MIKE: Franky was all
wound up on this car because

he's a dreamer, man.

He actually sees himself
behind the seat of that

thing, his arm around
his girl and he's just

chilling out going
down the road.

FRANK: We should
at least give him a call.

Pull over here. Let me see.

I'm gonna call him right
now and see what, see what

his deal is.

[phone rings]

Hello Galen?

GALEN: Yes sir. How are you?

FRANK: Hey Galen, this is Frank.

Hey, me and Mike stopped
by the other day and I've

been thinking a little bit
about that thirty-nine Plymouth.

GALEN: I'd like to have
six thousand dollars for it.

FRANK: I tell ya what. I'll
take it for fifty-five hundred.

GALEN: Yes sir.
That would be fine.

FRANK: All right!

[♪]

FRANK: The pants my mom
used to give me when I was

a kid, they were called Huskies.

That means you're not
fat and you're not skinny.

MIKE: Is that how
you got your nickname?

FRANK: No.

MIKE: Husky?

FRANK: No. They used to call
me Frank the Tank, you know that.

MIKE: All those beer bongs?

FRANK: I never did a beer bong.

I like to sip my beer slow.

[♪]

[horn honks]

MIKE: Oh they got
one of those cars out.

MIKE: Yeah when we pull
up on site and Galen's and

Bobby were both there, I knew
we were in good hands, man.

Bobby Twig rocks.

You know, he's been
moving cars his whole life.

Those guys already
had one car out of there.

MIKE: I thought you guys
might be uh be done already.

[laughter]

BOB: We're waiting for
you guys to come to help.

FRANK: That's all
right. We're here.

GALEN: Straight ahead Bobby.

[♪]

MIKE: All right. Punch it!

GALEN: All right, push it.

BOB: Once we get close,
close to the wall Galen.

MIKE: Whoa. The top's scraping.

GALEN: I don't think
we're gonna hurt it, do you?

FRANK: He's like well
we'll just have to crease

it above the top.

Now I'm not liking that at all.

GALEN: Well if you stand
on the back bumper, it'll

take the pressure off of it.

MIKE: All right.

FRANK: We're fine.
We're past it now.

FRANK: The shock
absorbers went down.

We were able to
clear by that much.

MIKE: That is one of the
times that you being heavy

came in handy.

FRANK: Sucks.

MIKE: Looking good.

MIKE: Seeing it coming out the
hole there was, it was crowning.

It was like boom
right there, man.

FRANK: It was the first
time it'd seen sunlight in

thirty-eight years, you know?

[♪]

MIKE: How's it feeling Franky?

FRANK: So far, so good.

MIKE: They found the key!

FRANK: Got the key?

MIKE: That's awesome.

FRANK: All right.

FRANK: Man I could
probably, I could probably

rent that out back there, Mike.

Look how much room's back there.

FRANK: You know, one thing
nice about the Plymouth, a

huge trunk.

The reason for that is
that, you know, a lot of

businessmen used to
sell things and they had to

have great big huge
trunks in the back.

That's why there's no backseat.

FRANK: Oh here's the
dude now. Here he comes.

MIKE: Here he comes. Good.

FRANK: I think, I think
we're gonna be good.

Everything's coming
into view here.

[♪]

MIKE: All right kiss it goodbye.

BOB: There you
are buddy. All right.

FRANK: Thanks Galen.

GALEN: Thank you.

FRANK: I'll be
in touch with you.

MIKE: I know you
were having fun, Galen.

You were having fun. Admit it!

[laughter]

[♪]

MIKE: You know, I wanted
to hash out the car with

Frank but sometimes he
digs his heels in and then

he just won't let stuff
go so you know what?

It was his business decision.

You know, we're gonna
have to figure out what this

thing's worth once
we get it home.

When we bring stuff
home, I mean we can't know

everything about
everything, you know, and

we've been doing this
for so long that we've got

people that we can call
and rely on to come over

here and kind of give
us a soft appraisal on it.

FRANK: He's here. Cool.

MIKE: Dave boy.

FRANK: Now I got
some information.

MIKE: Dave's a great guy.
We've known him for years.

I mean, he has an
incredible eye and he's

known for buying quality
stuff and he's always had

great things and we've
learned a lot from him

over the years and
we've built this relationship

where we can call him
and say hey, come over here

and give us your honest opinion.

He's gonna see if we made
the right decision on this thing.

MIKE: First, first impressions.

FRANK: Can't be
made a second time.

DAVE: I like it a lot.

FRANK: Cool.

DAVE: I dig that
thing. It's cool.

FRANK: We're showing
you the good side here.

DAVE: I like the hood ornament.

The headlight bezels are
cool and I would leave it sweaty.

I guarantee it. Wait a minute.

MIKE: That's for sale.

FRANK: That's
nineteen sixty-six.

MIKE: That's for sale, Dave.

FRANK: Nineteen sixty-six.

MIKE: What do
you think it's worth?

[♪]

DAVE: I'm...

MIKE: Just guess.

FRANK: Pick something.

DAVE: I would say
three to five thousand.

MIKE: When he said
three to five, my heart sank

'cause we're into this
thing for fifty-five and

then we've got
transportation involved.

FRANK: We can see
that there's potential here.

I mean I can, it's there.

DAVE: I see it's in very
good condition but if you

did a ground up
restoration you're

definitely gonna have
more into it than it's worth.

In my opinion.

FRANK: I learned a lot
about this type of car and

the year and what
it takes to sell it.

DAVE: Did you learn
stick with what you know?

FRANK: Yeah.

MIKE: Sometimes we have
to pay for our education.

MIKE: The car was a bust.

Frank needs to learn that
he cannot have everything

and he needs to learn
when to walk away.

MIKE: Hey what are you doing?

FRANK: I'm cleaning
out this big rat's nest here.

It's a big mouse nest.

MIKE: If you want that
car, you're gonna have to

call some dealers.

I don't care what you do.

We're not paying Danielle
more hours to try to sell it.

We're not paying for ads.

Just, I don't know what to do.

I mean you always get your
own way on stuff, you know?

FRANK: All right I'll do
some checking on it, I'll

do some checking on it.

I'll do some checking.
I'm working right now.

MIKE: Is there any
money in there?

FRANK: There's nothing so
there's not even any money

for the car fund.

[phone rings]

FRANK: Hey is this
Mark's Hot Rod Shop?

Hey, how ya doing?

I bought a nineteen
thirty-nine Plymouth

businessman Coupe.

No, it's a two door.

I'm not real sure.

No, I'm not really
sure about that either.

I'm not sure what kind
of transmission's in it.

I think everything's
stock, I think.

Oh that's it?

Hello?

Hey is this Classic
Car and Fabrication?

Yeah I realize I'd have
to get a new gas tank.

[dial tone]

Hello.

Hey, is this Old
Cars and Fun Stuff?

Can you guys go through it,
just maybe like get it running?

What I paid?

Um I paid fifty-five
hundred for it.

Yeah well yeah I know.

We all make mistakes.

Hey. This is Hemmings?

Do you guys buy cars?

How much is it for a tow
'cause it doesn't run so

I'd have to have somebody
tow it from where I'm at

now to your shop.

This is getting out of it.