American Pickers (2010–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Fairlane Fever - full transcript
This time on American Pickers... Mike and Frank challenge Danielle to sell a vintage carnival ride. Meanwhile, they visit a carnival collector with amazing pieces but with crazy prices. It's a three-ring picking circus when they stop in at the International Clown Hall of Fame. And finally, a retired mechanic opens his garage to show them a smoking hot, 1967 Ford Fairlane muscle car. It's love at first sight for Mike, but will his emotions get in the way of getting a great deal?
MIKE: Wow, look at this place.
FRANK: You got
some neat stuff in here.
FRANK CARNIVAL: This
one-paid off in pretzels.
Put your nickel in
and you pull the crank.
FRANK: Mm hm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: And
if you got three pretzels, it
will allow you to get a
pretzel out of the drawer.
MIKE: This is the kind of
stuff that keeps us on the
road and keeps customers
coming back to our shop.
FRANK: I got a quarter.
KAREN: Ooh... whoa!
MIKE: Whoa!
FRANK: I couldn't believe
how cool this thing was.
MIKE: How much is it?
MIKE: Here I am-
staring down a clown.
He's giving me the hairy
eye. I was getting dizzy.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
MIKE: Ford Fairlane-
1967.390 GT. It's smokin' hot.
MIKE: I think I
got Fairlane Fever.
FRANK: You got Fairlane Fever?
MIKE: I got Fairlane
Fever, man. This thing's cool.
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: Today we're going
to a lead from Danielle.
This guy's name's Frank
and he collects toys,
games, and carnival
rides, and cars-everything.
FRANK: But I know we don't
need to buy any more carnival
rides because we still
got the last one we bought.
FRANK: We got to
get that thing sold.
MIKE: All I see now are
dollar signs sitting there.
FRANK: Sitting
there, doing nothing.
MIKE: You know what I'm saying?
FRANK: We need
to get rid of that.
MIKE: You know what?
We should call Danielle
and see if she can talk
to somebody, anybody.
FRANK: Let me call her.
[phone rings]
DANIELLE: Hey, what's up?
FRANK: Hey Danielle, we started
thinking, man, we still
got that carnival ride,
I mean, it's been like 8 months.
DANIELLE: Yeah.
FRANK: 8 months.
DANIELLE: I've been
trying to sell this carnival ride
for months now.
No takers.
FRANK: What do
you think you could
possibly do to get
rid of that thing?
DANIELLE: Well,
uh, it's a huge, huge,
huge piece of machinery, so...
FRANK: So was, so was the car...
Remember the car?
MIKE: Remember,
yeah, remember how, how
jacked up you were
and like you're all excited
about selling that Studebaker?
DANIELLE: Yeah.
DANIELLE: Thank you. Take care.
MIKE: We need
you to be that excited
about this carnival ride.
DANIELLE: Alright.
MIKE: We're talking
internet tsunami.
DANIELLE: Internet
tsunami. You got it.
DANIELLE: I know
someone'll buy it.
I have to wait for
the right buyer.
MIKE: If you sell
it, there might be
some more bubble
bath in it for ya.
DANIELLE: Oh, very nice.
FRANK: 10-4.
DANIELLE: Bye.
DANIELLE: Yup, because
I'm definitely low on
the bubble bath.
MIKE: Frank's a
collector of carnival items.
He's got some really old pieces.
MIKE: Look at that.
MIKE: Tons of carnival stuff.
Look at all the
tanks over there.
FRANK: Yeah.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Hello.
MIKE: Hey. Frank,
how's it going.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Hey, how y'all doing, guys?
FRANK: Good.
FRANK: Visually this
place looked fantastic.
FRANK: This guy's
turned his office and his
warehouse into a place
where he still can enjoy
his collection.
MIKE: Wow, look at this place.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
got a little junk in here.
FRANK: You got
some neat stuff in here.
This is awesome.
MIKE: He had a lot of
smalls and we love smalls.
MIKE: Oh wow.
MIKE: Sometimes you can
make just as much money
on a small piece as
you can a large piece.
FRANK: I remember
those even in my childhood.
Those little twirly things.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah,
you used to do like this.
FRANK: Yup. Yup.
See how that...?
MIKE: Oh yeah.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Now
if you do this, you can get in
the circus, you know?
FRANK: Yeah.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Hey, you want to try?
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL:
How long you guys have?
You might be a while.
MIKE: I'm there,
dude, is that it?
FRANK CARNIVAL: No, no.
FRANK: No, you got
to get it in the middle.
You got to get it in the middle.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
You're not even close.
FRANK: I don't think I,
maybe that's why mine
didn't last at home,
I don't think I had the
patience level on that.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I don't
think you really had one.
Are you kidding?
MIKE: Frank, let me
ask you this-is any of this
stuff for sale?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Well,
I'd probably sell it, if the
price is right.
FRANK: He likes smalls
just as much as we do, so
now the tough part's going
to be is getting together
on a price.
[♪]
MIKE: Are any of these
trade stimulators for sale?
FRANK CARNIVAL: An
elderly lady passed away.
She wanted me to have this.
MIKE: A trade stimulator
would have been sitting on
a counter of a bar or
restaurant, any place that
had customers back in the day.
Basically people would
put money in the machine,
spend money, and they
could try to win something.
FRANK: It's intended
to keep people around.
The more you keep people
around, the more money
they'll spend.
FRANK CARNIVAL: You know,
you put your, uh, a penny in...
FRANK: Mm hm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: You
click it and it throws the dice
up and then whatever,
whatever dice land, that's
what you win, that's how
much they pay you back.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: This
one paid off in pretzels.
I know you sat it on a bar
and you put your nickel in
and you pull the crank.
FRANK: Mm hm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: And
if you got three pretzels,
it would allow you to get
a pretzel out of the drawer.
MIKE: This trade
stimulator is unique.
They're almost impossible
to find and I've never
seen one like this,
shaped like a barrel.
This is the kind of stuff
that keeps us on the road
and keeps customers
coming back to our shop.
MIKE: How much is that one?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Um... I don't know.
I think I'd take
400 bucks for it.
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: I was thinking about 250.
That was the top rung
of the ladder for us.
MIKE: Alright, I'll
think about that.
MIKE: Usually when
people put a high price on
something, that means
they don't want to sell it.
FRANK CARNIVAL: You know...
FRANK: What about your
little overland guy here?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Hmm.
I'd have to think, I'd
get about 800 for that.
FRANK: The cast iron
horse carriage was made
by Overland Circus.
It was a toy that kids
actually played with.
FRANK: These look
to be the original.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
FRANK: It's a great piece.
FRANK: Most of
them lost the figurines.
This one had all of them,
but he was way too high
on his price.
MIKE: What about your
space rocket ship there
that's in the box?
MIKE: Anything in its original
box is worth a pretty penny.
I always tell my nieces and
nephews, you know what?
At Christmas, save one
of your toys in the box and
someday you're going
to make a lot of money.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I think
that's worth quite a bit of money.
FRANK: What's a lot of money?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Maybe 500.
MIKE: Ok, yeah, I
think we're out of that.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I've
never seen another one.
FRANK: Once again, I mean,
he was full blown retail price.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: Some
of this stuff came from Iowa.
MIKE: Man, you're
out picking our territory?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Well, I
went to Graduate School up
at Iowa State.
FRANK: We started building
up a rapport with this guy,
he started to warm up to us.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
This is a '57 Buick Special.
FRANK: Mm hm. You
drive all these, Frank?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Mm hm.
MIKE: What'd you got
going on here with this car?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
This is a '31 Model A.
FRANK CARNIVAL: This is a
'23 Buick Convertible Roadster.
FRANK: Ok.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
This is a '28 Model A.
MIKE: Frank's
showing us his old cars.
They are beautiful, but
we just don't invest in cars
already restored and polished.
MIKE: How about
that ice cream sign?
Is that a local company?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
That's from Iowa.
MIKE: That's from Iowa?
FRANK: Yeah.
MIKE: What, what
would it take to buy that?
FRANK CARNIVAL: About 50 bucks.
MIKE: Is it double
sided or one sided?
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
never looked at the other side.
FRANK: Looks one sided to me.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
It's double sided.
FRANK: Oh it is double sided.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
MIKE: The bottom of
it's pretty rusted out here.
FRANK CARNIVAL: But
it's from your hometown there.
FRANK: The ice cream
sign was really early, it was
double sided.
Anything ice cream or
soda fountain related is hot.
[♪]
MIKE: How about 40 bucks?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Alright, you can have it for 40.
MIKE: We'll bring it
back to Iowa for that.
FRANK: Alright.
We just broke the ice.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Oh boy.
MIKE: I was really stoked
to buy that ice cream sign.
Things were picking up for us.
MIKE: And then I see this
gorgeous arcade machine.
MIKE: Sky Raider.
FRA: It shoots flying saucers?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
Flying saucers go around.
FRANK: So you got 100
shots and you got to score 40.
MIKE: The rocket ships in
this game were printed on
plastic strips and
screwed into a metal drum.
If they're intact
and this thing works,
I'd take it in a heartbeat.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: It works
except for this one solenoid,
I hit it with a screwdriver
until I get it working.
FRANK: There we
go. Now we're working.
MIKE: It's doing something.
I can see a space ship in there.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Now, now you might have it.
You're shooting anyway.
MIKE: I can see the
space ship in there.
MIKE: It worked
for about 5 seconds,
then it crapped out again.
MIKE: Now what do you
want for something like this?
FRANK: She used it up.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Oh, I think
I'd, about 600 bucks, 700 bucks.
FRANK: It's a neat piece.
FRANK: You know, this
would have been wicked to get,
but we can't pay that much
for a machine that doesn't work.
MIKE: I was thinking
like 2 or 300 bucks, but we
were way too far apart.
I didn't feel like
talking him down.
MIKE: Well, hey, let's
talk business on your, uh,
your trade stimulator.
Where you at on that thing?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Well, I
gave you my price at 400 bucks.
FRANK: It looks like it might
be missing the back here.
MIKE: Yeah, it's
missing the back here.
There was pretzels in
there, so there's probably
a piece of glass
on the inside of it.
FRANK CARNIVAL: They
had glass on both sides.
MIKE: Someone's painted it too.
So you can see right
here, there's brush strokes
on the bottom of the wine keg.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Right.
MIKE: And then right
here you can see where the
paint just ran.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
don't know how that affects
the value of it...
MIKE: Well, that affects
the value of it quite a bit.
MIKE: This thing has
been painted, it's got some
condition issues, and it's
missing glass and these
are all legitimate reasons
for him to lower the price.
FRANK CARNIVAL: But,
wait, I will say one thing.
It's full of money.
FRANK: Hmm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: So
that is a variable there boys.
I have no key, but
it's full of money.
MIKE: There was a lot
of issues with the trade
stimulator, but the thing
is, you know, it exists.
I mean, this thing was so
old, it was like a time capsule.
I really want this thing,
so I'm hoping to talk him
down to a price
we can live with.
MIKE: How about
two bills on this?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Two bills?
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: He wanted $400
for the trade stimulator.
I thought to myself, I'm
going to use my old standby
by bundling things together
so I can get more for less.
FRANK: Now that, I like that.
I know that's not real
old, cause that's Esso.
I like automobile stuff.
Something like this,
for me, it'd be worth
probably around $50.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
I'll let you have it for 50.
FRANK: Thank you.
MIKE: Well, why
don't we do this?
If you do 50 on that,
would you do 200 on this?
You know?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
I'll let you have it for 200.
MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: Frankie the bundler's
bundle tactics worked again.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Now watch,
watch you have $200 of money in here.
FRANK: Oh inside there?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Alright.
MIKE: Alright man.
FRANK: We got our hands
on some really rare items
and we had a good
time with Frank.
FRANK: I bought the
thermometer for $50.
And I'm expecting
to easily double it.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
That's a one of a kind.
MIKE: It's a one of a kind.
You're good, man. You're good.
FRANK: This ain't
his first flea market.
MIKE: We bought the ice cream
soda fountain sign for 40 bucks.
FRANK: In a perfect
world, I'd like to double our
money on that.
MIKE: The beer barrel
trade stimulator was a
good buy at 200 bucks.
I'm hoping to
get $400 out of it.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: Come
back with a bigger truck next time.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
We'll do some business.
FRANK: Maybe some
more money, huh?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright man,
thank you so much.
FRANK CARNIVAL: It
was nice meeting you, man.
FRANK: Thanks for the
hospitality. Appreciate it.
FRANK CARNIVAL: No
problem. MIKE: Alright.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Alright. See you guys.
FRANK: You don't see too
many Franks around, you know?
It's kind of an old school name.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
It's a good name though, right?
FRANK: Darn right.
FRANK CARNIVAL: See you later.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
think they'll go a long way in
the antique world.
FRANK CARNIVAL: They
picked out most of the more
valuable stuff in
the junk around here.
DANIELLE: Ron, hi...
DANIELLE: Hey Mary.
DANIELLE: Um is, is this Rick?
DANIELLE: I've been
calling and calling,
staying late, but I
haven't sold the ride.
DANIELLE: I know
you collect carnival
stuff and we have this
beautiful carnival ride.
It is vintage.
DANIELLE: We could
probably let it go for 35.3,500.
DANIELLE: The guys paid 1,500.
So they want to at
least double their money.
DANIELLE: Are
you...? You're really
laughing that hard.
DANIELLE: So, I should
take that as a maybe?
DANIELLE: Everybody
thinks it's cool.
They want to look at it.
They want to ride it, but they
don't want to take it home.
It's like every bad
girl I've ever met.
DANIELLE: This is impossible.
MIKE: See anything good?
FRANK: Um, I don't know.
It looks like too many
satellite dishes right now.
MIKE: We are rolling large man.
Frank and I are
freestylin' and we are
looking for a
place to rock up on.
FRANK: I think we just
keep on this road here.
Oh, that looks like a good
sign pavement ends. Ready?
Wam.
MIKE: Oooh.
FRANK: Gravel.
MIKE: We're on it.
FRANK: What we
live for. Gravel roads.
MIKE: And little
roadside relics.
FRANK: Off the beaten path.
MIKE: Look at this
place. A dirt bike.
FRANK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
FRANK: It has a
for sale sign on it.
MIKE: If there's something
for sale on the side
of the road and the
place looks good,
me and Frankie are
going to roll up on it.
MIKE: Hey. How's it going?
NORM: Hey. Good.
MIKE: I see your for sale sign.
NORM: Yeah. I just put it out.
FRANK: You did?
MIKE: You did? What is this?
NORM: Uh, I think it's a '67.
FRANK: We're out
freestylin', you just
never know what kind
of situation you're going
to come in contact with.
But from the moment
we stepped on Norm's
property, he made
us feel right at home.
FRANK: It's a 90 CC?
NORM: I think it's 90, yeah.
FRANK: It looks
like it's about a 90.
NORM: Uh, we used it basically
for a Halloween decoration.
We put a witch on it.
MIKE: You did?
FRANK: The 90 CC Yamaha
Dirt Bike really peaked my
interest because I love dirt
bikes, and so does my clients.
But when I looked inside
the gas tank, my heart sank.
It's full of rust and that
tells me that it's likely
to have some more
mechanical problems.
FRANK: But the, uh,
the sediment in the tank,
it looks like it hasn't
ran for a while.
MIKE: It's pretty bad, Frankie?
FRANK: Uh, it's worse.
MIKE: Whoa. Oh my god. It's
like cocoa. It's like coffee grounds.
FRANK: That's pretty bad.
NORM: I'm not
into the bike's much.
FRANK: Ok.
FRANK: Norm has spent
his whole entire life working
on cars for Ford dealerships.
Lucky for us he wasn't
interested in motorcycles.
MIKE: It's pretty cool, I
mean, it's original paint.
FRANK: Does it have a title?
NORM: It's got a title.
FRANK: I have to have
the title to be able to
register the motorcycle.
That's a very important deal
maker or breaker, because
without being able to
register it, you can't drive it.
What good is it?
FRANK: You'd have a
quite a bit just to get the tank
cleaned out and get
the motor flushed out.
If it needs a clutch,
anything like that...
MIKE: 9,000 original miles.
FRANK: I see that.
FRANK: Do you have any
price you were thinking on it?
NORM: Uh... probably
around 1,000 bucks.
FRANK: Around 1,000?
Phew. That'd be up there.
We'd be, we'd
be pretty far apart.
FRANK: I was
thinking about 200, 250.
I could see that we
were too far apart, I wasn't
even going to try
to haggle him down.
FRANK: You got anything,
uh, how about any other
motorcycles or cars
or anything else?
MIKE: We'll buy anything
old, you know, we're
looking for advertising
pieces, we buy motorcycles.
We really like American
stuff, I don't know if
you've got parts around.
NORM: I got my old
Ford Tractor in there.
MIKE: Yeah, we don't
do much with tractors.
FRANK: Not too much...
NORM: I got an old car here.
FRANK: Ok.
FRANK: Whoa! MIKE: Whoa!
FRANK: Yeah, here we go.
MIKE: Man. Norm,
forget the motorcycle.
Forget the motorcycle!
MIKE: Dang. Norm.
You're holding out on us.
FRANK: You were holding out.
MIKE: This is a real beauty.
I'm talking muscle car here.
Ford Fairlane, 1967,
390 GT, it's smokin' hot.
FRANK: Wow. We're pumped.
Anytime you can buy
anything from a mechanic,
you know this guy's
treated it like his little baby.
FRANK: '67?
NORM: '67.
NORM: I bought this back in '73.
It's a 390 high performance
GT, four speed car.
MIKE: Is this original paint?
NORM: This is original paint.
FRANK: Original mags.
NORM: Look at this.
FRANK: What have we got?
MIKE: Ha ha ha.
FRANK: Aw, the 8 track player.
MIKE: Oh yeah, man. FRANK: Yeah.
[♪]
MIKE: Oh yeah. FRANK: Oh yeah.
MIKE: Is the motor
completely original?
NORM: The motor is completely
original except the heads.
MIKE: Ok.
NORM: Are 428... I put
them on there brand new.
FRANK: With
enlarged heads, it's got
a little bit more umph
than the 335, huh?
NORM: It's probably
got another 25 horse.
FRANK: Oh that's
a lot. 25's a lot.
MIKE: When he said the
motor was original in that
car, I got really excited,
but then he said he added
horsepower to it, I
was like, whoa, Frankie,
I got Fairlane Fever,
get me an ice pack.
[♪]
MIKE: Would you sell this?
NORM: I'm not going
to sell it for what I bought
it for, that's for sure.
MIKE: Hey, we
know what that's like.
We don't do that either.
FRANK: Na uh.
NORM: I would sell
it for the right price.
MIKE: Ok.
MIKE: Wow, when he said
he'd consider selling the
Ford Fairlane, I was like, oh
my god, this thing can be mine.
MIKE: Alright, let me
see here. Oh yeah.
MIKE: Oh man.
Dude, this thing's killer.
FRANK: How does
it feel? Pretty cool?
MIKE: Yeah. It feels
really cool, man.
MIKE: When I was
sitting in the Fairlane,
it was like sitting
in a time machine.
In the words of the famous
American Tom Waits,
I was cruisin' down
the boulevard looking for
the heart of Saturday
night in this sucker.
MIKE: You know what?
FRANK: What?
MIKE: I think I
got Fairlane Fever.
FRANK: You got Fairlane Fever?
MIKE: I got Fairlane
Fever, man. This thing's cool.
MIKE: I want to get this
car and flip it for some cash.
I mean, there isn't a guy
in America that wouldn't
like to sit behind the
wheel of this thing and
cruise down the road.
MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: I am not going to have
any trouble flipping this car.
NORM: Won't you
let me go get the keys.
MIKE: Okay. You get the
keys, and I'll tell you what,
a friend of mine, he knows
a lot about Fords and stuff,
I'm going to give him a call.
NORM: Ok.
MIKE: Richard is an old
friend and a true expert
when it comes to Fords,
especially Ford Fairlanes.
RICHARD: Hello?
MIKE: Richard, this
is Mike and Frank.
FRANK: He's got a mint
Ford Fairlane and he know
all the ins and outs of
every make and model.
RICHARD: The
most important things
about those cars
is the VIN number,
which you can
see under the hood.
The fifth letter
should be an 's'.
FRANK: An 's'.
RICHARD: S-Sam.
FRANK: Ok.
RICHARD: That's
what designates the
original engine.
If it's an original 4 speed
car, open the door on the
driver's side, and there'll
be a Ford warranty plate.
And it should have
number 5, which will
designate four speed.
MIKE: Ok.
RICHARD: If so, you've
got a very desirable car.
FRANK: When Richard says
something's desirable, you
know what he's really saying?
He's saying lay the cash down
on it and drive this puppy home.
MIKE: Richard, what
kind of number can you
give me on this thing with
what I've told you about it?
I mean, I know you
can't see the dang thing.
RICHARD: Well,
anything under 8,500.
MIKE: Ok. FRANK: Ok.
MIKE: So if we can come in
under 8,500, we are doing good?
RICHARD: Anything
up to that, leave
yourselves a few thousand
that way you get it for
under 10 with it running.
I'm sure when it's sitting
that long, you'll have to
fix the brakes and...
MIKE: Oh yeah.
FRANK: All that stuff.
RICHARD: Little
things that will add up.
But, no, that's a
very desirable car.
Your Ford
enthusiasts will love it.
MIKE: Alright.
Well, hey, we're,
hey we're loving it.
FRANK: We're not
even Ford enthusiasts
and we already like it.
MIKE: Now we know
exactly what to look for.
If the VIN numbers check
out on this car, it's game on.
MIKE: When we talked
to our buddy on the phone
he said there was a couple tags.
Can we look at
that kind of stuff?
NORM: Yup.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK: I checked the
Ford number plate on the
car door and it had
a number 5 on it.
And according to Richard,
that means it's a factory 4 speed.
MIKE: My stomach was churning.
I couldn't wait to get the hood
open and check this sucker out.
MIKE: One, two,
three, four, five.
That's an 's'. Is that an 's'?
FRANK: That's an 's'.
MIKE: Ok. That's an 's'.
FRANK: Alright, so those
are the two things that
he told us to look,
take a look at.
MIKE: Mm hm.
FRANK: And both
of 'em checked out.
FRANK: We got a 1967
Ford Fairlane, 390, GT,
4 on the floor, original
motor, here it is.
Right before us.
MIKE: The last piece
of the puzzle is how do
we get the right
price on this beauty?
MIKE: Ok, Norm, obviously
you've been around cars,
I mean, it sounds
like you're a Ford guy.
NORM: All my life.
MIKE: All your life?
NORM: Yeah.
MIKE: Tell me where
you're at with this thing,
I mean, obviously we
like it, we checked the VIN
numbers out, they're cool,
you know, I love the look
of it, you know, I know
a lot of guys who restore
stuff nowadays, but
I think it's cool just
looking at it like this, just
because you can see its age.
Norm, if I had this car,
I wouldn't even wash it.
NORM: Man,
you're a little crazy.
MIKE: You're like the
third person that's told
me that today.
Thinking on this thing?
NORM: I'm thinking about 8,000.
MIKE: Whew.
MIKE: Um...
MIKE: Would you
do 7 grand on it?
7 grand for the
car and the bike.
NORM: No.
MIKE: No way on that?
NORM: I'd go 75 for
the car and the bike.
MIKE: In situations like
this, I've got to remain
levelheaded.
I'm having an emotional
affair with this car right now,
but I cannot let
that get in the way of
me making a good
business decision.
MIKE: I, I don't want to
do 75 for car and the bike.
Alright, let's forget
about the bike, cause the
bike, I think we're
just too far apart on.
I would do 7,000
just on the car.
MIKE: I'm practically
drooling at this point,
but I've got to hold myself
back and stand my ground.
MIKE: You know, if
you want to sell it for that,
I would do that.
NORM: Yeah, let's do it.
MIKE: You want to do
it? NORM: Let's do it.
MIKE: Alright my
friend. FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Alright.
Hand me those keys.
NORM: There you go.
MIKE: Give me those keys,
man. Give me those keys, Norm.
FRANK: Woo! MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: We were in the heat of
the moment there for a little bit.
Norm had his poker
face on, but I think at the
end of the day, we
both got a good deal.
MIKE: You better check
my temperature, I, I really
do have Fairlane Fever now.
FRANK: Wow, you are on it.
MIKE: Alright buddy.
FRANK: Congratulations.
NORM: My savings
account is happy too.
FRANK: There you go.
Yeah, that'll give
you a little boost.
MIKE: Alright, man.
FRANK: We better start
making some phone calls now.
MIKE: Alright. I'm going
to shut this thing down.
FRANK: To get
this thing out of here.
NORM: From what I paid
for that Fairlane, I made
I think, a good amount of money.
And I'm very pleased.
MIKE: Woo!
MIKE: Alright Norm.
We brought the big guns.
MIKE: Alright. Here we go.
FRANK: Got it?
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: Dino! Yeah!
MIKE: When that flatbed
pulled that car out of the
garage, I mean, think
about it, that thing's
been sitting there since 1977.
Man, I was getting shivers.
MIKE: Yeah!
MIKE: This thing's going
to have a new lease on life.
MIKE: They're going
to get it running.
We're going to haul it over to
the those guys in Rapid City.
FRANK: We're not
out of the woods yet.
We still have to contend
with what the mechanic's
going to say.
He's likely to want a
couple grand to get this
sucker going, so we're
not really going to know until
we drop it off and he
gives us a straight story.
MIKE: Hey man. I
love it. I love it, Norm.
Absolutely love it.
It's awesome, man.
[♪]
MIKE: See ya, Norm.
NORM: See ya.
MIKE: Alright, man.
FRANK: Woo hoo. Woo! [laughter]
Man! We stopped
for a motorcycle...
MIKE: Today's a
good day to be a picker.
FRANK: and you buy, and
you buy a Ford Fairlane.
MIKE: Oh my god. Oh
my god. I can't believe it.
[♪]
MIKE: So you know what?
I still have not had
a cheese curd, dude.
FRANK: Cheese
curds are the best, man.
I'll tell you what you got
in cheese curds, here's
what you want to look for.
Squeaky. Ok?
If they're squeaky...
MIKE: I thought they fry 'em.
FRANK: No. No.
Cheese curds aren't fried.
[phone rings]
FRANK: Hello?
DANIELLE: Hello.
FRANK: Danielle, we're
talking about cheese curds.
You know anything about 'em.
DANIELLE: Yeah, I know
a lot about cheese curds.
FRANK: Cheese curds
aren't deep fried, are they?
DANIELLE: They can be
regular or they can be deep fried.
MIKE: See? Ha!
DANIELLE: My name's
Colby. I know all about that stuff.
FRANK: Hey, did you
sell the carnival ride?
DANIELE: I
don't, I'm not, it, it
takes a moment, you
know, you can't, you can't just
hurry a situation like this.
FRANK: So what's up?
DANIELLE: Um, I
just got off the phone
with a gentleman named
Greg and his wife Karen.
They got in touch with
me about the International
Clown Hall of Fame.
FRANK: What?
DANIELLE: Yes, that's right.
MIKE: What'd you say?
DANIELLE: I said International
Clown Hall of Fame.
MIKE: Ha ha ha.
DANIELLE: It's right
next to the Clown College.
FRANK: These are
professional clowns?
DANIELLE: Yes.
Professional clowns.
FRANK: They're not
just like amateurs like us?
DANIELLE: Exactly.
FRANK: Ok, so
what have they got?
DANIELLE: They just
moved to a new space.
It's actually more of a museum.
They have lots of excess stuff.
MIKE: That's awesome.
DANIELLE: They want
to give you guys an
opportunity to come in
and pick through it all before
they open it up to
the general public.
MIKE: The clown museum
is full of stuff we never
come across on a
pick in a regular barn.
DANIELLE: I hope
you're not afraid of clowns.
MIKE: Danielle,
quit clowning around.
DANIELLE: Get off
the phone so I can work.
FRANK: See ya.
MIKE: There it is.
FRANK: The International
Clown Hall of Fame was
founded in Delemont,
Wisconsin in 1987.
MIKE: After you, my man.
FRANK: Thank you.
MIKE: There it is.
MIKE: When we walk
into the place, this guy is
in a clown outfit.
GREG: Hey. Hey,
how are you guys?
MIKE: How're you
doing? I'm doing good.
MIKE: It was weird, man.
I didn't expect to see that.
KAREN: How are ya?
MIKE: I'm doing good.
I'm doing better now.
KAREN: Nice. I got,
here, have some things.
MIKE: Alright. FRANK: Alright.
KAREN: Yeah, it's awesome.
MIKE: What's your name?
KAREN: My name's
Karen. MIKE: Karen.
KAREN: Yeah. MIKE: Karen...
GREG: Greg. MIKE: Greg.
GREG: Greg.
MIKE: What's your
clown names though?
GREG: Oh here's the big thing...
KAREN: Karen... GREG: Greg...
FRANK: Wow. MIKE: That's it?
KAREN: Yeah.
FRANK: That's easy to remember.
KAREN: Circus clowns
are a little bit different, so
we don't always have
weird strange names.
MIKE: Ahh, ok,
I got ya. I got ya.
KAREN: You want
me to take those for ya?
MIKE: Yeah, we're
Mike and Frank.
FRANK: Look,
look. I think I got it.
MIKE: Oh my god.
GREG: Ooh.
KAREN: Now this is
what I'm talking about.
That's it. Keep it up.
MIKE: He never
messes up his hair.
Now I'm talking about
all four of 'em. Alright?
GREG: Should we go into
the other room? The big room?
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: Sure. Anything
you want to show us.
MIKE: Let's do it.
KAREN: Yeah.
GREG: Let's walk this way.
MIKE: Do we have
to walk this way?
GREG: Oh my god. Whoa!
FRANK: Oh Mike.
KAREN: So this is, yeah. Yeah.
MIKE: Look at these shoes, man.
KAREN: Aren't they awesome?
MIKE: How did you come across
so much clown memorabilia?
GREG: All this stuff?
Well, the clown museum
has been here since 1987,
so we've been acquiring
stuff, collections from
clowns and from their families.
FRANK: A year ago Greg
and Karen got involved in the
clown museum.
Now they're trying to
sell some stuff that's not
specific to their
clown collection.
FRANK: We've
got a lot to look at.
MIKE: I think one of the
great things about this
museum is that you're
going to make a connection
with a happy thought
from your childhood.
My happy thought
was Cooky the Clown.
[♪]
MIKE: I could not believe
that they had Cooky's
actual costume there.
MIKE: Oh my
god, this is so cool.
Let me touch his tie,
he always used to go like
this with his tie.
FRANK: One thing that
always amazed me about clowns
was how they could ride
those little itty bitty bicycles.
FRANK: We come around,
there's the little teeny bicycle.
FRANK: Mike is a bicycle guy.
He owned his own bicycle shop.
He knows everything
about bicycles.
MIKE: So you think I'm
automatically a contortionist?
FRANK: You think you'd
be able to ride that, Mike?
GREG: I think
you could ride that.
MIKE: Yeah.
GREG: I think we can
give you a little shot on that.
MIKE: Anything with a bicycle
is a total challenge to me.
I love bicycles. I
used to race bicycles.
I collect bicycles.
When they gave me
the opportunity to ride the
little clown bike, I was
like, I gotta do this, man.
MIKE: Do you think I can do it?
KAREN: Alright.
GREG: Give it a shot there.
KAREN: Give yourself some room.
FRANK: Get yourself
steady. Steady.
MIKE: I think I'm going
to pop a wheelie here.
KAREN: Here we are.
MIKE: Let me try one more time.
KAREN: You can do this.
GREG: Alright.
KAREN: Heels on
the edge. You got it.
FRANK: You're
on it. You're on it.
MIKE: I feel like I'm just
learning how to ride a bike.
FRANK: You're on it.
Ok, we're going to
pull the training wheels.
MIKE: Ok, push me
hard though. Push.
KAREN: Push it
hard. Push it hard.
MIKE: Wait. Wait.
MIKE: Ha ha ha ha.
FRANK: Alright,
you're a good sport.
MIKE: I was going for it, man.
FRANK: Thanks for trying.
MIKE: You know what? I
was almost the circus weasel.
FRANK: Almost.
KAREN: Weasel. Weasel.
MIKE: Weasel! Yeah!
KAREN: Yay! FRANK: Hey head.
KAREN: Yeah, hey head!
MIKE: Hey, how about
this? Swamp Donkey!
KAREN & GREG: Swamp Donkey!
MIKE: Yeah.
KAREN: I love it!
FRANK: Weasel!
MIKE: Woo!
GREG: Ladies and
gentlemen, it's Swamp
Donkey and Weasel!
KAREN: Weasel!
MIKE: Circus Weasel.
MIKE: We're cruisin'
around, we're getting a
little clowny with each
other, you know, there's
lots of cool things on the wall.
We walk into the other
room and right away...
I was taken aback.
[♪]
MIKE: I was looking at a
painting of my buddy Frank.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
GREG: You know who
that is? That's Dom Deluise.
MIKE: I never
thought of it before.
Frankie and Dom
Deluise-they're twins.
GREG: Wow.
KAREN: Yeah, look at that.
FRANK: Give me the nose.
MIKE: Here you go.
GREG: Here you go, now...
FRANK: When everybody
started busting my chops,
saying I look like Dom Deluise,
I was like, you know what?
That guy was funny.
I think I'm funny.
He was a famous clown,
famous iconic figure,
I'd love to be like him.
MIKE: Alright.
KAREN Now get
next to it. We got it?
GREG: I think that's...
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: Pretty close?
KAREN: Really close.
MIKE: It's really close.
GREG: It could.
FRANK: He was my idol.
Love ya!
KAREN: Aww.
FRANK: Ok, so everyone was
having fun, but you know what?
I took the hat off, ready
to take the gloves off.
Let's get down to business
here, Karen and Greg.
What have you got for sale?
FRANK: Alright.
KAREN: Uh oh. The
nose is coming off.
MIKE: Alright.
FRANK: The nose is coming off.
We're ready to get
down to business.
KAREN: Alright.
GREG: Walk this way.
FRANK: Ok. MIKE: Alright.
I think one of us
doing that's enough.
GREG: Come on in. Come right in.
MIKE: We walk into the
other room and you can
see some clutter.
I'm thinking, ok, this is
the place where we're
going to be able
to buy something.
GREG: We've got so
much stuff in the collection
that really doesn't have
a clown attached to it or it
really isn't integral
to our collection.
MIKE: Oh you got an
elephant there, that's pretty neat.
MIKE: This early child's
paper mache toy from
around the turn of the century.
It was in incredible condition.
[♪]
MIKE: How did you acquire that?
GREG: It came in a
collection with a lot of
other clown stuff, so
once I pulled the clown stuff
out, then I look at
what's left and go, ok,
elephants, trains...
MIKE: This early elephant
toy is something I can
sell to any toy collector.
MIKE: What do you want
for something like that?
GREG: Boy, I'm thinking
like in the $40 range.
MIKE: He said 40
bucks. I pounced on it.
MIKE: The paint
on it is incredible.
GREG: Yeah.
MIKE: I'd, I'd be
interested in it if you
want to sell it.
GREG: It's, it all goes to
the Clown Hall of Fame.
KAREN: Yup. Yup.
MIKE: I just made a donation.
GREG: Woo!
KAREN: What's that called?
Is that like the beginning?
What's the, what's the word?
MIKE: Ice breaker.
GREG & KAREN: Ice breaker!
GREG: Ice breaker!
[♪]
GREG: This is our excess.
We're going through it.
A lot of this stuff is
available for picking.
So diggy diggy.
[♪]
MIKE: That's an old
piece, isn't it? This costume.
MIKE: The first thing I
notice is that mannequin.
And that mannequin's
got this really early leather
Indian costume on it.
GREG: There's not a
whole lot of records on it, but
it's one of the early
mannequins that I think it
came in, in the 70s.
MIKE: You can look at
the piece and you can tell it
was really old.
The way the leather
was tanned, the detail on
the stitching, all
the bead work.
It was incredible.
MIKE: How much for it with
the mannequin? The base.
GREG: Oh let's
do, let's do 100 on it.
MIKE: 100 bucks!
KAREN: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: It's a great,
unusual item.
It's not the best of condition,
but the thing is, it exists.
[♪]
MIKE: I see this
case, I open it up.
It's an old saxophone.
It looks like it's in
pretty good condition.
MIKE: Oh it's got notes.
KAREN: Normally they don't
have messages. Let's see.
MIKE: This saxophone
was used in the circus.
Was left at a hotel for
payment, never came back for it.
MIKE: How much for
the clown saxophone?
GREG: Well we got to
settle up at the hotel now.
MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: How about 100?
GREG: Sounds like a deal.
MIKE: Ok.
KAREN: Oh I don't
know, that's so simple.
MIKE: I love this piece. I
thought it was awesome.
[♪]
FRANK: Started
looking around a bit.
There was a lot of
reproduction posters, but
I'll tell you what?
They really look old.
They were all circus
stuff. You know what?
They were already pre-framed.
FRANK: How about
5 bucks a piece?
That'd be 30 bucks.
GREG: 5 bucks a piece...
FRANK: 30? I'll take 'em.
FRANK: People like easy.
All you have to do is hang a
nail and hang it on the wall.
Great items.
GREG: We'll go back upstairs.
KAREN: Alright.
MIKE: Ok.
GREG: We got tons of stuff.
MIKE: I'm still looking
for that one unusual item.
The item that goes
down in picking history.
The one that people say, I
cannot believe you found that.
KAREN: Alright. We think
you're going to like this stuff.
MIKE: Alright.
GREG: This is too big
to even make the door.
MIKE: If it's big, we like it.
GREG: See what that is?
MIKE: Whoa! FRANK: Whoa!
MIKE: There's little babies
going around in a carousel.
The ticket counter's
there, it's got a big
clown in the front of it.
This is like clown
trade stimulator/ folk art.
FRANK: Oh.
MIKE: 25 cents. Oh
my god. I love this.
GREG: You got the
whole carnival here.
FRANK: Wow.
FRANK: When they pulled
back the cover, I couldn't
believe how cool this thing was.
MIKE: Any idea where it
came from or anything?
GREG: Uh, we really
don't have records that go
that far back as
to where this came.
MIKE: I think it looks
like something that was
from the 50s in a carnival.
Does it work?
GREG: I'm sure it does,
but see the plug here?
FRANK: That looks a little...
GREG: I would change that.
MIKE: Alright let me
check the situation here.
GREG: Stand back.
MIKE: Oh that's nothing.
FRANK: If it's nothing,
then plug it on in.
MIKE: Alright. Alright.
FRANK: If it blows...
MIKE: I plugged it in.
FRANK: I got a quarter.
MIKE: I'm still alive.
KAREN: Alright, let's
keep our fingers crossed.
FRANK: It's my last
one. I hope it works.
GREG: Fingers crossed.
MIKE: Hit it Swamp Donkey.
KAREN: Come on,
Swamp Donkey. And?
FRANK:
Anti-climactic, wasn't it?
KAREN: Ooh.
MIKE: Whoa!
KAREN: Whoa! Nice!
MIKE: Look at the horses moving.
FRANK: That is cool.
MIKE: Look at the little ticket.
KAREN: Oh the
lights are still going.
FRANK: It needs
a little, a little lovin'.
MIKE: Is this for sale?
GREG: This is for sale.
KAREN: Yes.
MIKE: We're looking for
things that are different,
funky, unusual.
This fit that bill.
MIKE: How much is it?
GREG: Uh... I must confer
with my Chief Financial
Officer here.
GREG: We're thinking...
15.
MIKE: 15 dollars?
That's not bad.
KAREN & GREG: 1,500 dollars.
MIKE: Oh 1,500 dollars. Oh ok.
MIKE: This item is really
cool, but when they said
1,500, I was like whoa!
That's way too much money.
FRANK: It's
definitely a cool piece.
MIKE: Well, you know,
I mean, it's, it's carnival,
it's folk art, I mean, someone
took the time to make it.
I can appreciate it. I
think it's really cool.
Um, you're at 1,500.
How about 500?
KAREN: How about 1,250?
MIKE: This negotiation
process was like the
Wimbledon of negotiation.
Here I am staring down a clown.
He's giving me the hairy eye.
MIKE: 700.
GREG: 1,000.
KAREN: Oh.
MIKE: 750.
MIKE: I mean it was back
and forth, back and forth,
back and forth.
I was getting dizzy.
MIKE: If we can't get
together on the price, you
know, I mean...
I'd like to have it.
I mean, we started at
$15, then you went to 1,500.
GREG: We did.
KAREN: It was crazy, you know.
It's this clown math.
GREG: Clown math.
[laughter]
MIKE: Alright. Would you
do... would you do 900 bucks?
MIKE: These clowns are
killing me, man, I mean
I'm negotiating with a
dude with a rubber nose on.
GREG: I like that.
KAREN & GREG: Yes.
MIKE: Alright.
KAREN: I think
that's a fair price. I do.
MIKE: Double shake,
Frankie. Double shake.
GREG: Double
shake. Double shake.
MIKE: Alright. FRANK: Alright.
KAREN: Shake a little bit.
MIKE: This was
an incredible find.
We're so lucky to have
such a unique piece.
I mean, this is something
we'd never come across.
GREG: Just make sure
it goes to a good home.
MIKE: Oh we
will. It already has.
GREG: Take care of it.
MIKE: Definitely.
KAREN: At a nice
price. That's awesome.
FRANK: I love it.
MIKE: When we walked
into the International Clown
Hall of Fame, I had no idea I
was going to have so much fun.
GROUP: 1, 2, 3.
MIKE: Ahh.
[♪]
KAREN: That's awesome.
MIKE: George Butt.
MIKE: I wouldn't come
back if I had that name either.
MIKE: The saxophone was $100.
I'm going to ask
two and a quarter.
KAREN: Watch out for deer.
KAREN: Muah! Muah! Muah! Muah!
That is how I say goodbye!
MIKE: I had fun.
Did you have fun?
FRANK: Yeah. Heck ya!
MIKE: I still can't believe I
touched Cooky's uniform.
MIKE: [laughter]
You think Danielle's
making any progress
on that ride?
FRANK: I haven't
heard anything from her.
ROBBIE: I have no clue
why Mike hasn't fixed this
bike and why am I out here
fixing it for free as usual?
DANIELLE: Mike's brother
comes and helps out around
the shop every once in a while.
He's cool to hang out with.
He fixes stuff around
the shop. He's awesome.
ROBBIE: Everybody does
things for free around here.
DANIELLE: Oh crap. I'll be back.
DANIELLE: Hey!
CHRIS: Hi.
DANIELLE: What
can I help you with?
CHRIS: Hi, I am
looking for a project.
I'm looking for something
to restore over the winter.
DANIELLE: Ok, are
you an electrician?
CHRIS: Uh, no, believe it
or not I'm an insurance agent.
I do this as a hobby.
DANIELLE: Oh nice. Nice.
CHRIS: Thank you.
DANIELLE: I have
some stuff outside.
CHRIS: Ok.
DANIELLE: This guy
showed up to the shop ready to
buy something big.
This could be my big moment.
DANIELLE: So this is
kind of like a graveyard out
here, there's all
kinds of good stuff.
So scooter over
here. It's very cute.
Are you looking
for a cute project?
CHRIS: Uh, no,
something a little bit bigger.
DANIELLE: Ok. This is one
of my favorite all-time pieces.
The carnival ride,
but it's huge, but it'd be
really cool to, to see running.
CHRIS: Wow, this is great.
DANIELLE: This is great?
CHRIS: Yeah. This
is right up my alley.
DANIELLE: Awesome.
DANIELLE: How perfect is this?
This dude just
comes in off the street.
I must have done something
good in a previous life.
Now hopefully I don't blow it.
CHRIS: What can
you tell me about it?
Do you know any history?
DANIELLE: Uh,
probably not enough.
But you know what?
I got Mike's brother, just give
me a second, I'll be right back.
CHRIS: Ok.
DANIELLE: I'm so
glad Robbie's here.
He used to pick with
Mike and he's a really good
smart handyman, so he can
talk guy stuff about the ride.
He can make the sale.
ROBBIE: Chris,
how are you doing?
CHRIS: Hi, how are you?
ROBBIE: Nice to meet you.
CHRIS: Nice to meet you.
ROBBIE: So you're
thinking about the ride, huh?
CHRIS: I am. It's a beauty.
ROBBIE: It is.
CHRIS: Can you tell
me a little bit about it?
ROBBIE: Well the guy
we got this from said the
thing was rebuilt when
he put it away, but, I mean,
the tag says it was 1990
when it was rebuilt, so
I'm sure you're going to
have to do a little work to it.
I know the cars are
kind of collectible.
They're really heavy, heavy
duty, uh, cast aluminum.
CHRIS: Is it complete?
ROBBIE: Uh, yeah.
There's two more cars.
We have two more cars,
back here that go with it.
I'd be willing to listen
to an offer on it today.
CHRIS: Would you take 2,000?
DANIELLE: The guys
paid 1,500 for this thing, so
they want to at least
double their money.
ROBBIE: Uh, 2,000, I
don't think it's going to get it
today, um... 35 would
probably be, you know,
right around that area
where Mike's got to be.
CHRIS: With the money
I'm going to have to put into
it to restore it, I think
that's still too high.
Uh, I'd be willing
to go up to 27.
DANIELLE: The
tension was killing me.
Go Robbie. Make the sale.
ROBBIE: I'll tell you
what, give me 3,000 today
and we'll load it up and
we'll get it out of here.
[♪]
CHRIS: Alright, 3,000,
I'd be willing to do that.
ROBBIE: Ok. Alright,
let's get her loaded up.
CHRIS: Thank you.
DANIELLE: Robbie's
my angel of the day.
ROBBIE: Pick it up, flatten
it out, and see what we got.
DANIELLE: So Frank
and Mike want to think that
I'm the saleswoman of the year?
I'll let them think
that. That's fine.
ROBBIE: Chris. Thanks.
CHRIS: Thank you.
ROBBIE: Appreciate it.
DANIELLE: Thank you.
CHRIS: Thank you Danielle.
DANIELLE: Nice to meet you.
CHRIS: Nice to meet
you. ROBBIE: Safe drive.
CHRIS: Thank you. Come
and see it when it's done!
ROBBIE: Alright.
CHRIS: I'm really
excited to get this piece.
It's a very, very cool piece.
I will probably be the
only insurance agent to
have their own carnival ride.
MIKE: Wow, it's a
beautiful day today, Frankie.
Here's my perfect day. Ok.
It's sunny and it's 110 degrees.
FRANK: Yeah.
MIKE: And then I'm picking
around and I get into a barn...
FRANK: That's air conditioned?
MIKE: No, it's 215 in there.
I can really loosen
up the muscles.
It's kind of like hot yoga.
It's like a hot yoga pick.
FRANK: I gotcha.
MIKE: The arms are
longer. I can be like this.
Downward dog pick.
FRANK: Hello? Frank Fritz,
Mike Wolfe here. Come on in.
DANIELLE: Hi. Frank
Fritz. This is Danielle Colby.
So finally after
struggling on selling this
carnival ride, hunting
down name after name,
collector after collector,
I have finally struck
gold and sold the carnival ride.
FRANK: You actually
sold the carnival ride?
DANIELLE: I actually
sold the carnival ride.
MIKE: Do you swear on
your burlesque garter belt?
DANIELLE: I swear on
my burlesque garter belt.
FRANK: Must have sold it!
MIKE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
FRANK: How much?
DANIELLE: 3,000.
MIKE: That's awesome!
FRANK: Good job. Alright! Woo!
MIKE: That blows my mind.
I've been trying to sell
that thing forever, man.
MIKE: Danielle is like this
genie in a bottle or something.
You just rub it and say,
please sell this and she, poof!
She does it.
MIKE: Good job, Danny D!
FRANK: See ya!
DANIELLE: Alright. Bye.
DANIELLE: Oh my god.
ROBBIE: Pulled it off.
Yeah. That'll be good.
DANIELLE: Suckers.
ROBBIE: Listen. If
they ever find out...
DANIELLE: They won't.
DANIELLE: It'll be me
and Robbie's little secret.
I'll owe him, but that's ok.
We'll work it out in the end.
DANIELLE: Do you want me
to buy you a soda or a beer?
ROBBIE: Oh is that
all I get is a soda?
DANIELLE: Ha ha ha ha.
MIKE: We dropped off
the Ford Fairlane with our
mechanic, John.
MIKE: He works on
a lot of muscle cars.
His family's been in the
business for a long time.
MIKE: Hey John.
What's up, my friend?
JOHN: Hello.
MIKE: How's it looking?
Looks good, looks good.
JOHN: I got some good
news and some bad news.
MIKE: You got good
news and bad news?
JOHN: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright, give
it to me straight.
JOHN: I got it running.
MIKE: How does it run?
JOHN: It runs good.
MIKE: Does it run good?
FRANK: Cool.
JOHN: Do you want the bad news?
FRANK: Yup.
MIKE: Alright, give
me the bad news.
JOHN: I had to start complete.
The brakes, the fuel system,
new oil cylinders, new brake
lines, new master cylinder,
rebuild the carburetor...
MIKE: How about the clutch?
JOHN: Clutch-had
to put a new one in.
MIKE: Oh my god.
JOHN: The thing that I
didn't have to touch was
the motor and the radiator.
MIKE: In the back of
my mind it's like, ok, you
know, you had to do
this to the car, but what's it
going to cost me?
MIKE: I guess the big
question is right now is,
uh, how much did it cost?
JOHN: Just a little
over 4,000 with it.
MIKE: 4 Gs.
MIKE: John had warned
me it was gonna cost more
than we hoped to
get this car running.
We are talking 4
thousand dollars here.
MIKE: This is at 11 Gs.
FRANK: 11 Gs.
FRANK: Right now, I've
got 11,000 into this car.
I mean that is
real style cramper.
My profit margin is shrinking.
MIKE: Thank you so much.
JOHN: You're welcome.
MIKE: Our friend Richard,
who we originally called
at Norm's place is going
to appraise this car for us.
MIKE: This guy is an
authoritative figure on
Ford factory race cars,
but the kicker with him is
he loves Ford Fairlanes.
MIKE: Richard, what's up?
RICHARD: Wow.
MIKE: Oh my god.
Hey man, thanks for coming over.
MIKE: The reason we wanted
you to come by is because
basically, you know, we
went to pick it up today
and, uh, it was, it was a
little bit more money than
I felt comfortable with
spending on getting it running.
FRANK: Yeah.
MIKE: You know?
RICHARD: I can already
see, you know, that's
original air cleaner.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
RICHARD: On 390,
obviously 390 GT.
RICHARD: The big key right here.
FRANK: He takes us
directly to the radiator's
shroud, that has the
factory numbers on it.
Then he starts explaining
the numbers, what they mean.
RICHARD: Your VIN number,
you'll have a 7, which is for 67.
MIKE: Ok.
RICHARD: The 42 says
this car is a 500, it's a GT.
MIKE: Ok.
MIKE: He was going
through the codes, he was
explaining everything and he
was getting us excited about it.
RICHARD: This next code
is, is even a little bigger.
It's, it's an 's'.
That says it's a 390
high performance.
FRANK: Oh ok.
RICHARD: Motor.
FRANK: That's good. So that's...
MIKE: I think we called
the right guy, Frankie.
FRANK: It's original
factory in this car.
Great news on our deal.
FRANK: That means
the engine numbers are
matching the frame
body here, right?
RICHARD: Right.
But I can already look
at it and tell you it's what
you call semi-survivor.
MIKE: Ok.
RICHARD: And the
only reason I say it's
semi-survivor is, you
know, the vinyl top is
missing, but, hey, this
is at a level that many
people would like to own.
MIKE: With the dust,
the dirt, and all that stuff,
he didn't care about the
grime, he cared about the car.
RICHARD: If you look
here, you know, it's the, it's
the real deal, you know,
this is the original upholstery.
It's an original interior car.
MIKE: The whole time
I'm thinking, you know, all
the cash I got going into
this thing and all I want
to hear is what is
this thing really worth.
MIKE: Ok. I got
11,000 bucks in this car.
I mean, is there any
money to be made on it?
RICHARD: I have friends
that, you know, brokers
and stuff that supply
me with cars through the
years and we discuss
the car at length.
Now I've seen it in person
and what we came up with
for a value of this
car is $14,000.
MIKE: Phew.
FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Alright man.
FRANK: That's good.
MIKE: When Richard
said there's a little bit of
room left on the thing,
I was like, oh my god,
I can sleep a little
bit easier tonight.
MIKE: I appreciate you
coming by. Seriously.
FRANK: Thanks Richard.
MIKE: Means a lot.
MIKE: When I'm driving
this thing down the road,
a Ford Fairlane 390
GT not even washed.
I'm going to feel like Joe Dirt.
MIKE: Let's hear this baby run.
I want to hear this thing run.
RICHARD: Well I
guess. I hope it...
MIKE: This thing's going
to suck all the oxygen out
of the air, man.
FRANK: I know.
[motor revs]
MIKE: Ha ha ha ha ha.
MIKE: How come mine
don't sound like that?
RICHARD: See ya.
MIKE: See ya Richard.
RICHARD: See ya guys.
MIKE: Man that
thing's healthy, isn't it?
FRANK: It sounds healthy.
MIKE: Oh my god,
that thing's righteous.
MIKE: I'm letting Frankie
take the Ford Fairlane on its
maiden voyage.
But I'm gonna watch
him like a hawk, I'm gonna
follow behind him in my VW
[motor revs]
MIKE: Easy on it, man.
FRANK: I'll take it easy.
MIKE: I got to follow
you in this thing, it's not
going to be able to keep up.
FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Fraaaaank!
Oh my God, I just got Franked!
FRANK: You got
some neat stuff in here.
FRANK CARNIVAL: This
one-paid off in pretzels.
Put your nickel in
and you pull the crank.
FRANK: Mm hm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: And
if you got three pretzels, it
will allow you to get a
pretzel out of the drawer.
MIKE: This is the kind of
stuff that keeps us on the
road and keeps customers
coming back to our shop.
FRANK: I got a quarter.
KAREN: Ooh... whoa!
MIKE: Whoa!
FRANK: I couldn't believe
how cool this thing was.
MIKE: How much is it?
MIKE: Here I am-
staring down a clown.
He's giving me the hairy
eye. I was getting dizzy.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
MIKE: Ford Fairlane-
1967.390 GT. It's smokin' hot.
MIKE: I think I
got Fairlane Fever.
FRANK: You got Fairlane Fever?
MIKE: I got Fairlane
Fever, man. This thing's cool.
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: Today we're going
to a lead from Danielle.
This guy's name's Frank
and he collects toys,
games, and carnival
rides, and cars-everything.
FRANK: But I know we don't
need to buy any more carnival
rides because we still
got the last one we bought.
FRANK: We got to
get that thing sold.
MIKE: All I see now are
dollar signs sitting there.
FRANK: Sitting
there, doing nothing.
MIKE: You know what I'm saying?
FRANK: We need
to get rid of that.
MIKE: You know what?
We should call Danielle
and see if she can talk
to somebody, anybody.
FRANK: Let me call her.
[phone rings]
DANIELLE: Hey, what's up?
FRANK: Hey Danielle, we started
thinking, man, we still
got that carnival ride,
I mean, it's been like 8 months.
DANIELLE: Yeah.
FRANK: 8 months.
DANIELLE: I've been
trying to sell this carnival ride
for months now.
No takers.
FRANK: What do
you think you could
possibly do to get
rid of that thing?
DANIELLE: Well,
uh, it's a huge, huge,
huge piece of machinery, so...
FRANK: So was, so was the car...
Remember the car?
MIKE: Remember,
yeah, remember how, how
jacked up you were
and like you're all excited
about selling that Studebaker?
DANIELLE: Yeah.
DANIELLE: Thank you. Take care.
MIKE: We need
you to be that excited
about this carnival ride.
DANIELLE: Alright.
MIKE: We're talking
internet tsunami.
DANIELLE: Internet
tsunami. You got it.
DANIELLE: I know
someone'll buy it.
I have to wait for
the right buyer.
MIKE: If you sell
it, there might be
some more bubble
bath in it for ya.
DANIELLE: Oh, very nice.
FRANK: 10-4.
DANIELLE: Bye.
DANIELLE: Yup, because
I'm definitely low on
the bubble bath.
MIKE: Frank's a
collector of carnival items.
He's got some really old pieces.
MIKE: Look at that.
MIKE: Tons of carnival stuff.
Look at all the
tanks over there.
FRANK: Yeah.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Hello.
MIKE: Hey. Frank,
how's it going.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Hey, how y'all doing, guys?
FRANK: Good.
FRANK: Visually this
place looked fantastic.
FRANK: This guy's
turned his office and his
warehouse into a place
where he still can enjoy
his collection.
MIKE: Wow, look at this place.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
got a little junk in here.
FRANK: You got
some neat stuff in here.
This is awesome.
MIKE: He had a lot of
smalls and we love smalls.
MIKE: Oh wow.
MIKE: Sometimes you can
make just as much money
on a small piece as
you can a large piece.
FRANK: I remember
those even in my childhood.
Those little twirly things.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah,
you used to do like this.
FRANK: Yup. Yup.
See how that...?
MIKE: Oh yeah.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Now
if you do this, you can get in
the circus, you know?
FRANK: Yeah.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Hey, you want to try?
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL:
How long you guys have?
You might be a while.
MIKE: I'm there,
dude, is that it?
FRANK CARNIVAL: No, no.
FRANK: No, you got
to get it in the middle.
You got to get it in the middle.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
You're not even close.
FRANK: I don't think I,
maybe that's why mine
didn't last at home,
I don't think I had the
patience level on that.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I don't
think you really had one.
Are you kidding?
MIKE: Frank, let me
ask you this-is any of this
stuff for sale?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Well,
I'd probably sell it, if the
price is right.
FRANK: He likes smalls
just as much as we do, so
now the tough part's going
to be is getting together
on a price.
[♪]
MIKE: Are any of these
trade stimulators for sale?
FRANK CARNIVAL: An
elderly lady passed away.
She wanted me to have this.
MIKE: A trade stimulator
would have been sitting on
a counter of a bar or
restaurant, any place that
had customers back in the day.
Basically people would
put money in the machine,
spend money, and they
could try to win something.
FRANK: It's intended
to keep people around.
The more you keep people
around, the more money
they'll spend.
FRANK CARNIVAL: You know,
you put your, uh, a penny in...
FRANK: Mm hm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: You
click it and it throws the dice
up and then whatever,
whatever dice land, that's
what you win, that's how
much they pay you back.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: This
one paid off in pretzels.
I know you sat it on a bar
and you put your nickel in
and you pull the crank.
FRANK: Mm hm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: And
if you got three pretzels,
it would allow you to get
a pretzel out of the drawer.
MIKE: This trade
stimulator is unique.
They're almost impossible
to find and I've never
seen one like this,
shaped like a barrel.
This is the kind of stuff
that keeps us on the road
and keeps customers
coming back to our shop.
MIKE: How much is that one?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Um... I don't know.
I think I'd take
400 bucks for it.
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: I was thinking about 250.
That was the top rung
of the ladder for us.
MIKE: Alright, I'll
think about that.
MIKE: Usually when
people put a high price on
something, that means
they don't want to sell it.
FRANK CARNIVAL: You know...
FRANK: What about your
little overland guy here?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Hmm.
I'd have to think, I'd
get about 800 for that.
FRANK: The cast iron
horse carriage was made
by Overland Circus.
It was a toy that kids
actually played with.
FRANK: These look
to be the original.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
FRANK: It's a great piece.
FRANK: Most of
them lost the figurines.
This one had all of them,
but he was way too high
on his price.
MIKE: What about your
space rocket ship there
that's in the box?
MIKE: Anything in its original
box is worth a pretty penny.
I always tell my nieces and
nephews, you know what?
At Christmas, save one
of your toys in the box and
someday you're going
to make a lot of money.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I think
that's worth quite a bit of money.
FRANK: What's a lot of money?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Maybe 500.
MIKE: Ok, yeah, I
think we're out of that.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I've
never seen another one.
FRANK: Once again, I mean,
he was full blown retail price.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: Some
of this stuff came from Iowa.
MIKE: Man, you're
out picking our territory?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Well, I
went to Graduate School up
at Iowa State.
FRANK: We started building
up a rapport with this guy,
he started to warm up to us.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
This is a '57 Buick Special.
FRANK: Mm hm. You
drive all these, Frank?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Mm hm.
MIKE: What'd you got
going on here with this car?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
This is a '31 Model A.
FRANK CARNIVAL: This is a
'23 Buick Convertible Roadster.
FRANK: Ok.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
This is a '28 Model A.
MIKE: Frank's
showing us his old cars.
They are beautiful, but
we just don't invest in cars
already restored and polished.
MIKE: How about
that ice cream sign?
Is that a local company?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
That's from Iowa.
MIKE: That's from Iowa?
FRANK: Yeah.
MIKE: What, what
would it take to buy that?
FRANK CARNIVAL: About 50 bucks.
MIKE: Is it double
sided or one sided?
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
never looked at the other side.
FRANK: Looks one sided to me.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
It's double sided.
FRANK: Oh it is double sided.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
MIKE: The bottom of
it's pretty rusted out here.
FRANK CARNIVAL: But
it's from your hometown there.
FRANK: The ice cream
sign was really early, it was
double sided.
Anything ice cream or
soda fountain related is hot.
[♪]
MIKE: How about 40 bucks?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Alright, you can have it for 40.
MIKE: We'll bring it
back to Iowa for that.
FRANK: Alright.
We just broke the ice.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Oh boy.
MIKE: I was really stoked
to buy that ice cream sign.
Things were picking up for us.
MIKE: And then I see this
gorgeous arcade machine.
MIKE: Sky Raider.
FRA: It shoots flying saucers?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
Flying saucers go around.
FRANK: So you got 100
shots and you got to score 40.
MIKE: The rocket ships in
this game were printed on
plastic strips and
screwed into a metal drum.
If they're intact
and this thing works,
I'd take it in a heartbeat.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: It works
except for this one solenoid,
I hit it with a screwdriver
until I get it working.
FRANK: There we
go. Now we're working.
MIKE: It's doing something.
I can see a space ship in there.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Now, now you might have it.
You're shooting anyway.
MIKE: I can see the
space ship in there.
MIKE: It worked
for about 5 seconds,
then it crapped out again.
MIKE: Now what do you
want for something like this?
FRANK: She used it up.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Oh, I think
I'd, about 600 bucks, 700 bucks.
FRANK: It's a neat piece.
FRANK: You know, this
would have been wicked to get,
but we can't pay that much
for a machine that doesn't work.
MIKE: I was thinking
like 2 or 300 bucks, but we
were way too far apart.
I didn't feel like
talking him down.
MIKE: Well, hey, let's
talk business on your, uh,
your trade stimulator.
Where you at on that thing?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Well, I
gave you my price at 400 bucks.
FRANK: It looks like it might
be missing the back here.
MIKE: Yeah, it's
missing the back here.
There was pretzels in
there, so there's probably
a piece of glass
on the inside of it.
FRANK CARNIVAL: They
had glass on both sides.
MIKE: Someone's painted it too.
So you can see right
here, there's brush strokes
on the bottom of the wine keg.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Right.
MIKE: And then right
here you can see where the
paint just ran.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
don't know how that affects
the value of it...
MIKE: Well, that affects
the value of it quite a bit.
MIKE: This thing has
been painted, it's got some
condition issues, and it's
missing glass and these
are all legitimate reasons
for him to lower the price.
FRANK CARNIVAL: But,
wait, I will say one thing.
It's full of money.
FRANK: Hmm.
FRANK CARNIVAL: So
that is a variable there boys.
I have no key, but
it's full of money.
MIKE: There was a lot
of issues with the trade
stimulator, but the thing
is, you know, it exists.
I mean, this thing was so
old, it was like a time capsule.
I really want this thing,
so I'm hoping to talk him
down to a price
we can live with.
MIKE: How about
two bills on this?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Two bills?
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: He wanted $400
for the trade stimulator.
I thought to myself, I'm
going to use my old standby
by bundling things together
so I can get more for less.
FRANK: Now that, I like that.
I know that's not real
old, cause that's Esso.
I like automobile stuff.
Something like this,
for me, it'd be worth
probably around $50.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
I'll let you have it for 50.
FRANK: Thank you.
MIKE: Well, why
don't we do this?
If you do 50 on that,
would you do 200 on this?
You know?
FRANK CARNIVAL:
I'll let you have it for 200.
MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: Frankie the bundler's
bundle tactics worked again.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Now watch,
watch you have $200 of money in here.
FRANK: Oh inside there?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Alright.
MIKE: Alright man.
FRANK: We got our hands
on some really rare items
and we had a good
time with Frank.
FRANK: I bought the
thermometer for $50.
And I'm expecting
to easily double it.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
That's a one of a kind.
MIKE: It's a one of a kind.
You're good, man. You're good.
FRANK: This ain't
his first flea market.
MIKE: We bought the ice cream
soda fountain sign for 40 bucks.
FRANK: In a perfect
world, I'd like to double our
money on that.
MIKE: The beer barrel
trade stimulator was a
good buy at 200 bucks.
I'm hoping to
get $400 out of it.
[♪]
FRANK CARNIVAL: Come
back with a bigger truck next time.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
We'll do some business.
FRANK: Maybe some
more money, huh?
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright man,
thank you so much.
FRANK CARNIVAL: It
was nice meeting you, man.
FRANK: Thanks for the
hospitality. Appreciate it.
FRANK CARNIVAL: No
problem. MIKE: Alright.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK CARNIVAL:
Alright. See you guys.
FRANK: You don't see too
many Franks around, you know?
It's kind of an old school name.
FRANK CARNIVAL: Yeah.
It's a good name though, right?
FRANK: Darn right.
FRANK CARNIVAL: See you later.
FRANK CARNIVAL: I
think they'll go a long way in
the antique world.
FRANK CARNIVAL: They
picked out most of the more
valuable stuff in
the junk around here.
DANIELLE: Ron, hi...
DANIELLE: Hey Mary.
DANIELLE: Um is, is this Rick?
DANIELLE: I've been
calling and calling,
staying late, but I
haven't sold the ride.
DANIELLE: I know
you collect carnival
stuff and we have this
beautiful carnival ride.
It is vintage.
DANIELLE: We could
probably let it go for 35.3,500.
DANIELLE: The guys paid 1,500.
So they want to at
least double their money.
DANIELLE: Are
you...? You're really
laughing that hard.
DANIELLE: So, I should
take that as a maybe?
DANIELLE: Everybody
thinks it's cool.
They want to look at it.
They want to ride it, but they
don't want to take it home.
It's like every bad
girl I've ever met.
DANIELLE: This is impossible.
MIKE: See anything good?
FRANK: Um, I don't know.
It looks like too many
satellite dishes right now.
MIKE: We are rolling large man.
Frank and I are
freestylin' and we are
looking for a
place to rock up on.
FRANK: I think we just
keep on this road here.
Oh, that looks like a good
sign pavement ends. Ready?
Wam.
MIKE: Oooh.
FRANK: Gravel.
MIKE: We're on it.
FRANK: What we
live for. Gravel roads.
MIKE: And little
roadside relics.
FRANK: Off the beaten path.
MIKE: Look at this
place. A dirt bike.
FRANK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
FRANK: It has a
for sale sign on it.
MIKE: If there's something
for sale on the side
of the road and the
place looks good,
me and Frankie are
going to roll up on it.
MIKE: Hey. How's it going?
NORM: Hey. Good.
MIKE: I see your for sale sign.
NORM: Yeah. I just put it out.
FRANK: You did?
MIKE: You did? What is this?
NORM: Uh, I think it's a '67.
FRANK: We're out
freestylin', you just
never know what kind
of situation you're going
to come in contact with.
But from the moment
we stepped on Norm's
property, he made
us feel right at home.
FRANK: It's a 90 CC?
NORM: I think it's 90, yeah.
FRANK: It looks
like it's about a 90.
NORM: Uh, we used it basically
for a Halloween decoration.
We put a witch on it.
MIKE: You did?
FRANK: The 90 CC Yamaha
Dirt Bike really peaked my
interest because I love dirt
bikes, and so does my clients.
But when I looked inside
the gas tank, my heart sank.
It's full of rust and that
tells me that it's likely
to have some more
mechanical problems.
FRANK: But the, uh,
the sediment in the tank,
it looks like it hasn't
ran for a while.
MIKE: It's pretty bad, Frankie?
FRANK: Uh, it's worse.
MIKE: Whoa. Oh my god. It's
like cocoa. It's like coffee grounds.
FRANK: That's pretty bad.
NORM: I'm not
into the bike's much.
FRANK: Ok.
FRANK: Norm has spent
his whole entire life working
on cars for Ford dealerships.
Lucky for us he wasn't
interested in motorcycles.
MIKE: It's pretty cool, I
mean, it's original paint.
FRANK: Does it have a title?
NORM: It's got a title.
FRANK: I have to have
the title to be able to
register the motorcycle.
That's a very important deal
maker or breaker, because
without being able to
register it, you can't drive it.
What good is it?
FRANK: You'd have a
quite a bit just to get the tank
cleaned out and get
the motor flushed out.
If it needs a clutch,
anything like that...
MIKE: 9,000 original miles.
FRANK: I see that.
FRANK: Do you have any
price you were thinking on it?
NORM: Uh... probably
around 1,000 bucks.
FRANK: Around 1,000?
Phew. That'd be up there.
We'd be, we'd
be pretty far apart.
FRANK: I was
thinking about 200, 250.
I could see that we
were too far apart, I wasn't
even going to try
to haggle him down.
FRANK: You got anything,
uh, how about any other
motorcycles or cars
or anything else?
MIKE: We'll buy anything
old, you know, we're
looking for advertising
pieces, we buy motorcycles.
We really like American
stuff, I don't know if
you've got parts around.
NORM: I got my old
Ford Tractor in there.
MIKE: Yeah, we don't
do much with tractors.
FRANK: Not too much...
NORM: I got an old car here.
FRANK: Ok.
FRANK: Whoa! MIKE: Whoa!
FRANK: Yeah, here we go.
MIKE: Man. Norm,
forget the motorcycle.
Forget the motorcycle!
MIKE: Dang. Norm.
You're holding out on us.
FRANK: You were holding out.
MIKE: This is a real beauty.
I'm talking muscle car here.
Ford Fairlane, 1967,
390 GT, it's smokin' hot.
FRANK: Wow. We're pumped.
Anytime you can buy
anything from a mechanic,
you know this guy's
treated it like his little baby.
FRANK: '67?
NORM: '67.
NORM: I bought this back in '73.
It's a 390 high performance
GT, four speed car.
MIKE: Is this original paint?
NORM: This is original paint.
FRANK: Original mags.
NORM: Look at this.
FRANK: What have we got?
MIKE: Ha ha ha.
FRANK: Aw, the 8 track player.
MIKE: Oh yeah, man. FRANK: Yeah.
[♪]
MIKE: Oh yeah. FRANK: Oh yeah.
MIKE: Is the motor
completely original?
NORM: The motor is completely
original except the heads.
MIKE: Ok.
NORM: Are 428... I put
them on there brand new.
FRANK: With
enlarged heads, it's got
a little bit more umph
than the 335, huh?
NORM: It's probably
got another 25 horse.
FRANK: Oh that's
a lot. 25's a lot.
MIKE: When he said the
motor was original in that
car, I got really excited,
but then he said he added
horsepower to it, I
was like, whoa, Frankie,
I got Fairlane Fever,
get me an ice pack.
[♪]
MIKE: Would you sell this?
NORM: I'm not going
to sell it for what I bought
it for, that's for sure.
MIKE: Hey, we
know what that's like.
We don't do that either.
FRANK: Na uh.
NORM: I would sell
it for the right price.
MIKE: Ok.
MIKE: Wow, when he said
he'd consider selling the
Ford Fairlane, I was like, oh
my god, this thing can be mine.
MIKE: Alright, let me
see here. Oh yeah.
MIKE: Oh man.
Dude, this thing's killer.
FRANK: How does
it feel? Pretty cool?
MIKE: Yeah. It feels
really cool, man.
MIKE: When I was
sitting in the Fairlane,
it was like sitting
in a time machine.
In the words of the famous
American Tom Waits,
I was cruisin' down
the boulevard looking for
the heart of Saturday
night in this sucker.
MIKE: You know what?
FRANK: What?
MIKE: I think I
got Fairlane Fever.
FRANK: You got Fairlane Fever?
MIKE: I got Fairlane
Fever, man. This thing's cool.
MIKE: I want to get this
car and flip it for some cash.
I mean, there isn't a guy
in America that wouldn't
like to sit behind the
wheel of this thing and
cruise down the road.
MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: I am not going to have
any trouble flipping this car.
NORM: Won't you
let me go get the keys.
MIKE: Okay. You get the
keys, and I'll tell you what,
a friend of mine, he knows
a lot about Fords and stuff,
I'm going to give him a call.
NORM: Ok.
MIKE: Richard is an old
friend and a true expert
when it comes to Fords,
especially Ford Fairlanes.
RICHARD: Hello?
MIKE: Richard, this
is Mike and Frank.
FRANK: He's got a mint
Ford Fairlane and he know
all the ins and outs of
every make and model.
RICHARD: The
most important things
about those cars
is the VIN number,
which you can
see under the hood.
The fifth letter
should be an 's'.
FRANK: An 's'.
RICHARD: S-Sam.
FRANK: Ok.
RICHARD: That's
what designates the
original engine.
If it's an original 4 speed
car, open the door on the
driver's side, and there'll
be a Ford warranty plate.
And it should have
number 5, which will
designate four speed.
MIKE: Ok.
RICHARD: If so, you've
got a very desirable car.
FRANK: When Richard says
something's desirable, you
know what he's really saying?
He's saying lay the cash down
on it and drive this puppy home.
MIKE: Richard, what
kind of number can you
give me on this thing with
what I've told you about it?
I mean, I know you
can't see the dang thing.
RICHARD: Well,
anything under 8,500.
MIKE: Ok. FRANK: Ok.
MIKE: So if we can come in
under 8,500, we are doing good?
RICHARD: Anything
up to that, leave
yourselves a few thousand
that way you get it for
under 10 with it running.
I'm sure when it's sitting
that long, you'll have to
fix the brakes and...
MIKE: Oh yeah.
FRANK: All that stuff.
RICHARD: Little
things that will add up.
But, no, that's a
very desirable car.
Your Ford
enthusiasts will love it.
MIKE: Alright.
Well, hey, we're,
hey we're loving it.
FRANK: We're not
even Ford enthusiasts
and we already like it.
MIKE: Now we know
exactly what to look for.
If the VIN numbers check
out on this car, it's game on.
MIKE: When we talked
to our buddy on the phone
he said there was a couple tags.
Can we look at
that kind of stuff?
NORM: Yup.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK: I checked the
Ford number plate on the
car door and it had
a number 5 on it.
And according to Richard,
that means it's a factory 4 speed.
MIKE: My stomach was churning.
I couldn't wait to get the hood
open and check this sucker out.
MIKE: One, two,
three, four, five.
That's an 's'. Is that an 's'?
FRANK: That's an 's'.
MIKE: Ok. That's an 's'.
FRANK: Alright, so those
are the two things that
he told us to look,
take a look at.
MIKE: Mm hm.
FRANK: And both
of 'em checked out.
FRANK: We got a 1967
Ford Fairlane, 390, GT,
4 on the floor, original
motor, here it is.
Right before us.
MIKE: The last piece
of the puzzle is how do
we get the right
price on this beauty?
MIKE: Ok, Norm, obviously
you've been around cars,
I mean, it sounds
like you're a Ford guy.
NORM: All my life.
MIKE: All your life?
NORM: Yeah.
MIKE: Tell me where
you're at with this thing,
I mean, obviously we
like it, we checked the VIN
numbers out, they're cool,
you know, I love the look
of it, you know, I know
a lot of guys who restore
stuff nowadays, but
I think it's cool just
looking at it like this, just
because you can see its age.
Norm, if I had this car,
I wouldn't even wash it.
NORM: Man,
you're a little crazy.
MIKE: You're like the
third person that's told
me that today.
Thinking on this thing?
NORM: I'm thinking about 8,000.
MIKE: Whew.
MIKE: Um...
MIKE: Would you
do 7 grand on it?
7 grand for the
car and the bike.
NORM: No.
MIKE: No way on that?
NORM: I'd go 75 for
the car and the bike.
MIKE: In situations like
this, I've got to remain
levelheaded.
I'm having an emotional
affair with this car right now,
but I cannot let
that get in the way of
me making a good
business decision.
MIKE: I, I don't want to
do 75 for car and the bike.
Alright, let's forget
about the bike, cause the
bike, I think we're
just too far apart on.
I would do 7,000
just on the car.
MIKE: I'm practically
drooling at this point,
but I've got to hold myself
back and stand my ground.
MIKE: You know, if
you want to sell it for that,
I would do that.
NORM: Yeah, let's do it.
MIKE: You want to do
it? NORM: Let's do it.
MIKE: Alright my
friend. FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Alright.
Hand me those keys.
NORM: There you go.
MIKE: Give me those keys,
man. Give me those keys, Norm.
FRANK: Woo! MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: We were in the heat of
the moment there for a little bit.
Norm had his poker
face on, but I think at the
end of the day, we
both got a good deal.
MIKE: You better check
my temperature, I, I really
do have Fairlane Fever now.
FRANK: Wow, you are on it.
MIKE: Alright buddy.
FRANK: Congratulations.
NORM: My savings
account is happy too.
FRANK: There you go.
Yeah, that'll give
you a little boost.
MIKE: Alright, man.
FRANK: We better start
making some phone calls now.
MIKE: Alright. I'm going
to shut this thing down.
FRANK: To get
this thing out of here.
NORM: From what I paid
for that Fairlane, I made
I think, a good amount of money.
And I'm very pleased.
MIKE: Woo!
MIKE: Alright Norm.
We brought the big guns.
MIKE: Alright. Here we go.
FRANK: Got it?
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: Dino! Yeah!
MIKE: When that flatbed
pulled that car out of the
garage, I mean, think
about it, that thing's
been sitting there since 1977.
Man, I was getting shivers.
MIKE: Yeah!
MIKE: This thing's going
to have a new lease on life.
MIKE: They're going
to get it running.
We're going to haul it over to
the those guys in Rapid City.
FRANK: We're not
out of the woods yet.
We still have to contend
with what the mechanic's
going to say.
He's likely to want a
couple grand to get this
sucker going, so we're
not really going to know until
we drop it off and he
gives us a straight story.
MIKE: Hey man. I
love it. I love it, Norm.
Absolutely love it.
It's awesome, man.
[♪]
MIKE: See ya, Norm.
NORM: See ya.
MIKE: Alright, man.
FRANK: Woo hoo. Woo! [laughter]
Man! We stopped
for a motorcycle...
MIKE: Today's a
good day to be a picker.
FRANK: and you buy, and
you buy a Ford Fairlane.
MIKE: Oh my god. Oh
my god. I can't believe it.
[♪]
MIKE: So you know what?
I still have not had
a cheese curd, dude.
FRANK: Cheese
curds are the best, man.
I'll tell you what you got
in cheese curds, here's
what you want to look for.
Squeaky. Ok?
If they're squeaky...
MIKE: I thought they fry 'em.
FRANK: No. No.
Cheese curds aren't fried.
[phone rings]
FRANK: Hello?
DANIELLE: Hello.
FRANK: Danielle, we're
talking about cheese curds.
You know anything about 'em.
DANIELLE: Yeah, I know
a lot about cheese curds.
FRANK: Cheese curds
aren't deep fried, are they?
DANIELLE: They can be
regular or they can be deep fried.
MIKE: See? Ha!
DANIELLE: My name's
Colby. I know all about that stuff.
FRANK: Hey, did you
sell the carnival ride?
DANIELE: I
don't, I'm not, it, it
takes a moment, you
know, you can't, you can't just
hurry a situation like this.
FRANK: So what's up?
DANIELLE: Um, I
just got off the phone
with a gentleman named
Greg and his wife Karen.
They got in touch with
me about the International
Clown Hall of Fame.
FRANK: What?
DANIELLE: Yes, that's right.
MIKE: What'd you say?
DANIELLE: I said International
Clown Hall of Fame.
MIKE: Ha ha ha.
DANIELLE: It's right
next to the Clown College.
FRANK: These are
professional clowns?
DANIELLE: Yes.
Professional clowns.
FRANK: They're not
just like amateurs like us?
DANIELLE: Exactly.
FRANK: Ok, so
what have they got?
DANIELLE: They just
moved to a new space.
It's actually more of a museum.
They have lots of excess stuff.
MIKE: That's awesome.
DANIELLE: They want
to give you guys an
opportunity to come in
and pick through it all before
they open it up to
the general public.
MIKE: The clown museum
is full of stuff we never
come across on a
pick in a regular barn.
DANIELLE: I hope
you're not afraid of clowns.
MIKE: Danielle,
quit clowning around.
DANIELLE: Get off
the phone so I can work.
FRANK: See ya.
MIKE: There it is.
FRANK: The International
Clown Hall of Fame was
founded in Delemont,
Wisconsin in 1987.
MIKE: After you, my man.
FRANK: Thank you.
MIKE: There it is.
MIKE: When we walk
into the place, this guy is
in a clown outfit.
GREG: Hey. Hey,
how are you guys?
MIKE: How're you
doing? I'm doing good.
MIKE: It was weird, man.
I didn't expect to see that.
KAREN: How are ya?
MIKE: I'm doing good.
I'm doing better now.
KAREN: Nice. I got,
here, have some things.
MIKE: Alright. FRANK: Alright.
KAREN: Yeah, it's awesome.
MIKE: What's your name?
KAREN: My name's
Karen. MIKE: Karen.
KAREN: Yeah. MIKE: Karen...
GREG: Greg. MIKE: Greg.
GREG: Greg.
MIKE: What's your
clown names though?
GREG: Oh here's the big thing...
KAREN: Karen... GREG: Greg...
FRANK: Wow. MIKE: That's it?
KAREN: Yeah.
FRANK: That's easy to remember.
KAREN: Circus clowns
are a little bit different, so
we don't always have
weird strange names.
MIKE: Ahh, ok,
I got ya. I got ya.
KAREN: You want
me to take those for ya?
MIKE: Yeah, we're
Mike and Frank.
FRANK: Look,
look. I think I got it.
MIKE: Oh my god.
GREG: Ooh.
KAREN: Now this is
what I'm talking about.
That's it. Keep it up.
MIKE: He never
messes up his hair.
Now I'm talking about
all four of 'em. Alright?
GREG: Should we go into
the other room? The big room?
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: Sure. Anything
you want to show us.
MIKE: Let's do it.
KAREN: Yeah.
GREG: Let's walk this way.
MIKE: Do we have
to walk this way?
GREG: Oh my god. Whoa!
FRANK: Oh Mike.
KAREN: So this is, yeah. Yeah.
MIKE: Look at these shoes, man.
KAREN: Aren't they awesome?
MIKE: How did you come across
so much clown memorabilia?
GREG: All this stuff?
Well, the clown museum
has been here since 1987,
so we've been acquiring
stuff, collections from
clowns and from their families.
FRANK: A year ago Greg
and Karen got involved in the
clown museum.
Now they're trying to
sell some stuff that's not
specific to their
clown collection.
FRANK: We've
got a lot to look at.
MIKE: I think one of the
great things about this
museum is that you're
going to make a connection
with a happy thought
from your childhood.
My happy thought
was Cooky the Clown.
[♪]
MIKE: I could not believe
that they had Cooky's
actual costume there.
MIKE: Oh my
god, this is so cool.
Let me touch his tie,
he always used to go like
this with his tie.
FRANK: One thing that
always amazed me about clowns
was how they could ride
those little itty bitty bicycles.
FRANK: We come around,
there's the little teeny bicycle.
FRANK: Mike is a bicycle guy.
He owned his own bicycle shop.
He knows everything
about bicycles.
MIKE: So you think I'm
automatically a contortionist?
FRANK: You think you'd
be able to ride that, Mike?
GREG: I think
you could ride that.
MIKE: Yeah.
GREG: I think we can
give you a little shot on that.
MIKE: Anything with a bicycle
is a total challenge to me.
I love bicycles. I
used to race bicycles.
I collect bicycles.
When they gave me
the opportunity to ride the
little clown bike, I was
like, I gotta do this, man.
MIKE: Do you think I can do it?
KAREN: Alright.
GREG: Give it a shot there.
KAREN: Give yourself some room.
FRANK: Get yourself
steady. Steady.
MIKE: I think I'm going
to pop a wheelie here.
KAREN: Here we are.
MIKE: Let me try one more time.
KAREN: You can do this.
GREG: Alright.
KAREN: Heels on
the edge. You got it.
FRANK: You're
on it. You're on it.
MIKE: I feel like I'm just
learning how to ride a bike.
FRANK: You're on it.
Ok, we're going to
pull the training wheels.
MIKE: Ok, push me
hard though. Push.
KAREN: Push it
hard. Push it hard.
MIKE: Wait. Wait.
MIKE: Ha ha ha ha.
FRANK: Alright,
you're a good sport.
MIKE: I was going for it, man.
FRANK: Thanks for trying.
MIKE: You know what? I
was almost the circus weasel.
FRANK: Almost.
KAREN: Weasel. Weasel.
MIKE: Weasel! Yeah!
KAREN: Yay! FRANK: Hey head.
KAREN: Yeah, hey head!
MIKE: Hey, how about
this? Swamp Donkey!
KAREN & GREG: Swamp Donkey!
MIKE: Yeah.
KAREN: I love it!
FRANK: Weasel!
MIKE: Woo!
GREG: Ladies and
gentlemen, it's Swamp
Donkey and Weasel!
KAREN: Weasel!
MIKE: Circus Weasel.
MIKE: We're cruisin'
around, we're getting a
little clowny with each
other, you know, there's
lots of cool things on the wall.
We walk into the other
room and right away...
I was taken aback.
[♪]
MIKE: I was looking at a
painting of my buddy Frank.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
GREG: You know who
that is? That's Dom Deluise.
MIKE: I never
thought of it before.
Frankie and Dom
Deluise-they're twins.
GREG: Wow.
KAREN: Yeah, look at that.
FRANK: Give me the nose.
MIKE: Here you go.
GREG: Here you go, now...
FRANK: When everybody
started busting my chops,
saying I look like Dom Deluise,
I was like, you know what?
That guy was funny.
I think I'm funny.
He was a famous clown,
famous iconic figure,
I'd love to be like him.
MIKE: Alright.
KAREN Now get
next to it. We got it?
GREG: I think that's...
MIKE: Yeah.
FRANK: Pretty close?
KAREN: Really close.
MIKE: It's really close.
GREG: It could.
FRANK: He was my idol.
Love ya!
KAREN: Aww.
FRANK: Ok, so everyone was
having fun, but you know what?
I took the hat off, ready
to take the gloves off.
Let's get down to business
here, Karen and Greg.
What have you got for sale?
FRANK: Alright.
KAREN: Uh oh. The
nose is coming off.
MIKE: Alright.
FRANK: The nose is coming off.
We're ready to get
down to business.
KAREN: Alright.
GREG: Walk this way.
FRANK: Ok. MIKE: Alright.
I think one of us
doing that's enough.
GREG: Come on in. Come right in.
MIKE: We walk into the
other room and you can
see some clutter.
I'm thinking, ok, this is
the place where we're
going to be able
to buy something.
GREG: We've got so
much stuff in the collection
that really doesn't have
a clown attached to it or it
really isn't integral
to our collection.
MIKE: Oh you got an
elephant there, that's pretty neat.
MIKE: This early child's
paper mache toy from
around the turn of the century.
It was in incredible condition.
[♪]
MIKE: How did you acquire that?
GREG: It came in a
collection with a lot of
other clown stuff, so
once I pulled the clown stuff
out, then I look at
what's left and go, ok,
elephants, trains...
MIKE: This early elephant
toy is something I can
sell to any toy collector.
MIKE: What do you want
for something like that?
GREG: Boy, I'm thinking
like in the $40 range.
MIKE: He said 40
bucks. I pounced on it.
MIKE: The paint
on it is incredible.
GREG: Yeah.
MIKE: I'd, I'd be
interested in it if you
want to sell it.
GREG: It's, it all goes to
the Clown Hall of Fame.
KAREN: Yup. Yup.
MIKE: I just made a donation.
GREG: Woo!
KAREN: What's that called?
Is that like the beginning?
What's the, what's the word?
MIKE: Ice breaker.
GREG & KAREN: Ice breaker!
GREG: Ice breaker!
[♪]
GREG: This is our excess.
We're going through it.
A lot of this stuff is
available for picking.
So diggy diggy.
[♪]
MIKE: That's an old
piece, isn't it? This costume.
MIKE: The first thing I
notice is that mannequin.
And that mannequin's
got this really early leather
Indian costume on it.
GREG: There's not a
whole lot of records on it, but
it's one of the early
mannequins that I think it
came in, in the 70s.
MIKE: You can look at
the piece and you can tell it
was really old.
The way the leather
was tanned, the detail on
the stitching, all
the bead work.
It was incredible.
MIKE: How much for it with
the mannequin? The base.
GREG: Oh let's
do, let's do 100 on it.
MIKE: 100 bucks!
KAREN: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright.
MIKE: It's a great,
unusual item.
It's not the best of condition,
but the thing is, it exists.
[♪]
MIKE: I see this
case, I open it up.
It's an old saxophone.
It looks like it's in
pretty good condition.
MIKE: Oh it's got notes.
KAREN: Normally they don't
have messages. Let's see.
MIKE: This saxophone
was used in the circus.
Was left at a hotel for
payment, never came back for it.
MIKE: How much for
the clown saxophone?
GREG: Well we got to
settle up at the hotel now.
MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: How about 100?
GREG: Sounds like a deal.
MIKE: Ok.
KAREN: Oh I don't
know, that's so simple.
MIKE: I love this piece. I
thought it was awesome.
[♪]
FRANK: Started
looking around a bit.
There was a lot of
reproduction posters, but
I'll tell you what?
They really look old.
They were all circus
stuff. You know what?
They were already pre-framed.
FRANK: How about
5 bucks a piece?
That'd be 30 bucks.
GREG: 5 bucks a piece...
FRANK: 30? I'll take 'em.
FRANK: People like easy.
All you have to do is hang a
nail and hang it on the wall.
Great items.
GREG: We'll go back upstairs.
KAREN: Alright.
MIKE: Ok.
GREG: We got tons of stuff.
MIKE: I'm still looking
for that one unusual item.
The item that goes
down in picking history.
The one that people say, I
cannot believe you found that.
KAREN: Alright. We think
you're going to like this stuff.
MIKE: Alright.
GREG: This is too big
to even make the door.
MIKE: If it's big, we like it.
GREG: See what that is?
MIKE: Whoa! FRANK: Whoa!
MIKE: There's little babies
going around in a carousel.
The ticket counter's
there, it's got a big
clown in the front of it.
This is like clown
trade stimulator/ folk art.
FRANK: Oh.
MIKE: 25 cents. Oh
my god. I love this.
GREG: You got the
whole carnival here.
FRANK: Wow.
FRANK: When they pulled
back the cover, I couldn't
believe how cool this thing was.
MIKE: Any idea where it
came from or anything?
GREG: Uh, we really
don't have records that go
that far back as
to where this came.
MIKE: I think it looks
like something that was
from the 50s in a carnival.
Does it work?
GREG: I'm sure it does,
but see the plug here?
FRANK: That looks a little...
GREG: I would change that.
MIKE: Alright let me
check the situation here.
GREG: Stand back.
MIKE: Oh that's nothing.
FRANK: If it's nothing,
then plug it on in.
MIKE: Alright. Alright.
FRANK: If it blows...
MIKE: I plugged it in.
FRANK: I got a quarter.
MIKE: I'm still alive.
KAREN: Alright, let's
keep our fingers crossed.
FRANK: It's my last
one. I hope it works.
GREG: Fingers crossed.
MIKE: Hit it Swamp Donkey.
KAREN: Come on,
Swamp Donkey. And?
FRANK:
Anti-climactic, wasn't it?
KAREN: Ooh.
MIKE: Whoa!
KAREN: Whoa! Nice!
MIKE: Look at the horses moving.
FRANK: That is cool.
MIKE: Look at the little ticket.
KAREN: Oh the
lights are still going.
FRANK: It needs
a little, a little lovin'.
MIKE: Is this for sale?
GREG: This is for sale.
KAREN: Yes.
MIKE: We're looking for
things that are different,
funky, unusual.
This fit that bill.
MIKE: How much is it?
GREG: Uh... I must confer
with my Chief Financial
Officer here.
GREG: We're thinking...
15.
MIKE: 15 dollars?
That's not bad.
KAREN & GREG: 1,500 dollars.
MIKE: Oh 1,500 dollars. Oh ok.
MIKE: This item is really
cool, but when they said
1,500, I was like whoa!
That's way too much money.
FRANK: It's
definitely a cool piece.
MIKE: Well, you know,
I mean, it's, it's carnival,
it's folk art, I mean, someone
took the time to make it.
I can appreciate it. I
think it's really cool.
Um, you're at 1,500.
How about 500?
KAREN: How about 1,250?
MIKE: This negotiation
process was like the
Wimbledon of negotiation.
Here I am staring down a clown.
He's giving me the hairy eye.
MIKE: 700.
GREG: 1,000.
KAREN: Oh.
MIKE: 750.
MIKE: I mean it was back
and forth, back and forth,
back and forth.
I was getting dizzy.
MIKE: If we can't get
together on the price, you
know, I mean...
I'd like to have it.
I mean, we started at
$15, then you went to 1,500.
GREG: We did.
KAREN: It was crazy, you know.
It's this clown math.
GREG: Clown math.
[laughter]
MIKE: Alright. Would you
do... would you do 900 bucks?
MIKE: These clowns are
killing me, man, I mean
I'm negotiating with a
dude with a rubber nose on.
GREG: I like that.
KAREN & GREG: Yes.
MIKE: Alright.
KAREN: I think
that's a fair price. I do.
MIKE: Double shake,
Frankie. Double shake.
GREG: Double
shake. Double shake.
MIKE: Alright. FRANK: Alright.
KAREN: Shake a little bit.
MIKE: This was
an incredible find.
We're so lucky to have
such a unique piece.
I mean, this is something
we'd never come across.
GREG: Just make sure
it goes to a good home.
MIKE: Oh we
will. It already has.
GREG: Take care of it.
MIKE: Definitely.
KAREN: At a nice
price. That's awesome.
FRANK: I love it.
MIKE: When we walked
into the International Clown
Hall of Fame, I had no idea I
was going to have so much fun.
GROUP: 1, 2, 3.
MIKE: Ahh.
[♪]
KAREN: That's awesome.
MIKE: George Butt.
MIKE: I wouldn't come
back if I had that name either.
MIKE: The saxophone was $100.
I'm going to ask
two and a quarter.
KAREN: Watch out for deer.
KAREN: Muah! Muah! Muah! Muah!
That is how I say goodbye!
MIKE: I had fun.
Did you have fun?
FRANK: Yeah. Heck ya!
MIKE: I still can't believe I
touched Cooky's uniform.
MIKE: [laughter]
You think Danielle's
making any progress
on that ride?
FRANK: I haven't
heard anything from her.
ROBBIE: I have no clue
why Mike hasn't fixed this
bike and why am I out here
fixing it for free as usual?
DANIELLE: Mike's brother
comes and helps out around
the shop every once in a while.
He's cool to hang out with.
He fixes stuff around
the shop. He's awesome.
ROBBIE: Everybody does
things for free around here.
DANIELLE: Oh crap. I'll be back.
DANIELLE: Hey!
CHRIS: Hi.
DANIELLE: What
can I help you with?
CHRIS: Hi, I am
looking for a project.
I'm looking for something
to restore over the winter.
DANIELLE: Ok, are
you an electrician?
CHRIS: Uh, no, believe it
or not I'm an insurance agent.
I do this as a hobby.
DANIELLE: Oh nice. Nice.
CHRIS: Thank you.
DANIELLE: I have
some stuff outside.
CHRIS: Ok.
DANIELLE: This guy
showed up to the shop ready to
buy something big.
This could be my big moment.
DANIELLE: So this is
kind of like a graveyard out
here, there's all
kinds of good stuff.
So scooter over
here. It's very cute.
Are you looking
for a cute project?
CHRIS: Uh, no,
something a little bit bigger.
DANIELLE: Ok. This is one
of my favorite all-time pieces.
The carnival ride,
but it's huge, but it'd be
really cool to, to see running.
CHRIS: Wow, this is great.
DANIELLE: This is great?
CHRIS: Yeah. This
is right up my alley.
DANIELLE: Awesome.
DANIELLE: How perfect is this?
This dude just
comes in off the street.
I must have done something
good in a previous life.
Now hopefully I don't blow it.
CHRIS: What can
you tell me about it?
Do you know any history?
DANIELLE: Uh,
probably not enough.
But you know what?
I got Mike's brother, just give
me a second, I'll be right back.
CHRIS: Ok.
DANIELLE: I'm so
glad Robbie's here.
He used to pick with
Mike and he's a really good
smart handyman, so he can
talk guy stuff about the ride.
He can make the sale.
ROBBIE: Chris,
how are you doing?
CHRIS: Hi, how are you?
ROBBIE: Nice to meet you.
CHRIS: Nice to meet you.
ROBBIE: So you're
thinking about the ride, huh?
CHRIS: I am. It's a beauty.
ROBBIE: It is.
CHRIS: Can you tell
me a little bit about it?
ROBBIE: Well the guy
we got this from said the
thing was rebuilt when
he put it away, but, I mean,
the tag says it was 1990
when it was rebuilt, so
I'm sure you're going to
have to do a little work to it.
I know the cars are
kind of collectible.
They're really heavy, heavy
duty, uh, cast aluminum.
CHRIS: Is it complete?
ROBBIE: Uh, yeah.
There's two more cars.
We have two more cars,
back here that go with it.
I'd be willing to listen
to an offer on it today.
CHRIS: Would you take 2,000?
DANIELLE: The guys
paid 1,500 for this thing, so
they want to at least
double their money.
ROBBIE: Uh, 2,000, I
don't think it's going to get it
today, um... 35 would
probably be, you know,
right around that area
where Mike's got to be.
CHRIS: With the money
I'm going to have to put into
it to restore it, I think
that's still too high.
Uh, I'd be willing
to go up to 27.
DANIELLE: The
tension was killing me.
Go Robbie. Make the sale.
ROBBIE: I'll tell you
what, give me 3,000 today
and we'll load it up and
we'll get it out of here.
[♪]
CHRIS: Alright, 3,000,
I'd be willing to do that.
ROBBIE: Ok. Alright,
let's get her loaded up.
CHRIS: Thank you.
DANIELLE: Robbie's
my angel of the day.
ROBBIE: Pick it up, flatten
it out, and see what we got.
DANIELLE: So Frank
and Mike want to think that
I'm the saleswoman of the year?
I'll let them think
that. That's fine.
ROBBIE: Chris. Thanks.
CHRIS: Thank you.
ROBBIE: Appreciate it.
DANIELLE: Thank you.
CHRIS: Thank you Danielle.
DANIELLE: Nice to meet you.
CHRIS: Nice to meet
you. ROBBIE: Safe drive.
CHRIS: Thank you. Come
and see it when it's done!
ROBBIE: Alright.
CHRIS: I'm really
excited to get this piece.
It's a very, very cool piece.
I will probably be the
only insurance agent to
have their own carnival ride.
MIKE: Wow, it's a
beautiful day today, Frankie.
Here's my perfect day. Ok.
It's sunny and it's 110 degrees.
FRANK: Yeah.
MIKE: And then I'm picking
around and I get into a barn...
FRANK: That's air conditioned?
MIKE: No, it's 215 in there.
I can really loosen
up the muscles.
It's kind of like hot yoga.
It's like a hot yoga pick.
FRANK: I gotcha.
MIKE: The arms are
longer. I can be like this.
Downward dog pick.
FRANK: Hello? Frank Fritz,
Mike Wolfe here. Come on in.
DANIELLE: Hi. Frank
Fritz. This is Danielle Colby.
So finally after
struggling on selling this
carnival ride, hunting
down name after name,
collector after collector,
I have finally struck
gold and sold the carnival ride.
FRANK: You actually
sold the carnival ride?
DANIELLE: I actually
sold the carnival ride.
MIKE: Do you swear on
your burlesque garter belt?
DANIELLE: I swear on
my burlesque garter belt.
FRANK: Must have sold it!
MIKE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
FRANK: How much?
DANIELLE: 3,000.
MIKE: That's awesome!
FRANK: Good job. Alright! Woo!
MIKE: That blows my mind.
I've been trying to sell
that thing forever, man.
MIKE: Danielle is like this
genie in a bottle or something.
You just rub it and say,
please sell this and she, poof!
She does it.
MIKE: Good job, Danny D!
FRANK: See ya!
DANIELLE: Alright. Bye.
DANIELLE: Oh my god.
ROBBIE: Pulled it off.
Yeah. That'll be good.
DANIELLE: Suckers.
ROBBIE: Listen. If
they ever find out...
DANIELLE: They won't.
DANIELLE: It'll be me
and Robbie's little secret.
I'll owe him, but that's ok.
We'll work it out in the end.
DANIELLE: Do you want me
to buy you a soda or a beer?
ROBBIE: Oh is that
all I get is a soda?
DANIELLE: Ha ha ha ha.
MIKE: We dropped off
the Ford Fairlane with our
mechanic, John.
MIKE: He works on
a lot of muscle cars.
His family's been in the
business for a long time.
MIKE: Hey John.
What's up, my friend?
JOHN: Hello.
MIKE: How's it looking?
Looks good, looks good.
JOHN: I got some good
news and some bad news.
MIKE: You got good
news and bad news?
JOHN: Yeah.
MIKE: Alright, give
it to me straight.
JOHN: I got it running.
MIKE: How does it run?
JOHN: It runs good.
MIKE: Does it run good?
FRANK: Cool.
JOHN: Do you want the bad news?
FRANK: Yup.
MIKE: Alright, give
me the bad news.
JOHN: I had to start complete.
The brakes, the fuel system,
new oil cylinders, new brake
lines, new master cylinder,
rebuild the carburetor...
MIKE: How about the clutch?
JOHN: Clutch-had
to put a new one in.
MIKE: Oh my god.
JOHN: The thing that I
didn't have to touch was
the motor and the radiator.
MIKE: In the back of
my mind it's like, ok, you
know, you had to do
this to the car, but what's it
going to cost me?
MIKE: I guess the big
question is right now is,
uh, how much did it cost?
JOHN: Just a little
over 4,000 with it.
MIKE: 4 Gs.
MIKE: John had warned
me it was gonna cost more
than we hoped to
get this car running.
We are talking 4
thousand dollars here.
MIKE: This is at 11 Gs.
FRANK: 11 Gs.
FRANK: Right now, I've
got 11,000 into this car.
I mean that is
real style cramper.
My profit margin is shrinking.
MIKE: Thank you so much.
JOHN: You're welcome.
MIKE: Our friend Richard,
who we originally called
at Norm's place is going
to appraise this car for us.
MIKE: This guy is an
authoritative figure on
Ford factory race cars,
but the kicker with him is
he loves Ford Fairlanes.
MIKE: Richard, what's up?
RICHARD: Wow.
MIKE: Oh my god.
Hey man, thanks for coming over.
MIKE: The reason we wanted
you to come by is because
basically, you know, we
went to pick it up today
and, uh, it was, it was a
little bit more money than
I felt comfortable with
spending on getting it running.
FRANK: Yeah.
MIKE: You know?
RICHARD: I can already
see, you know, that's
original air cleaner.
MIKE: Oh yeah.
RICHARD: On 390,
obviously 390 GT.
RICHARD: The big key right here.
FRANK: He takes us
directly to the radiator's
shroud, that has the
factory numbers on it.
Then he starts explaining
the numbers, what they mean.
RICHARD: Your VIN number,
you'll have a 7, which is for 67.
MIKE: Ok.
RICHARD: The 42 says
this car is a 500, it's a GT.
MIKE: Ok.
MIKE: He was going
through the codes, he was
explaining everything and he
was getting us excited about it.
RICHARD: This next code
is, is even a little bigger.
It's, it's an 's'.
That says it's a 390
high performance.
FRANK: Oh ok.
RICHARD: Motor.
FRANK: That's good. So that's...
MIKE: I think we called
the right guy, Frankie.
FRANK: It's original
factory in this car.
Great news on our deal.
FRANK: That means
the engine numbers are
matching the frame
body here, right?
RICHARD: Right.
But I can already look
at it and tell you it's what
you call semi-survivor.
MIKE: Ok.
RICHARD: And the
only reason I say it's
semi-survivor is, you
know, the vinyl top is
missing, but, hey, this
is at a level that many
people would like to own.
MIKE: With the dust,
the dirt, and all that stuff,
he didn't care about the
grime, he cared about the car.
RICHARD: If you look
here, you know, it's the, it's
the real deal, you know,
this is the original upholstery.
It's an original interior car.
MIKE: The whole time
I'm thinking, you know, all
the cash I got going into
this thing and all I want
to hear is what is
this thing really worth.
MIKE: Ok. I got
11,000 bucks in this car.
I mean, is there any
money to be made on it?
RICHARD: I have friends
that, you know, brokers
and stuff that supply
me with cars through the
years and we discuss
the car at length.
Now I've seen it in person
and what we came up with
for a value of this
car is $14,000.
MIKE: Phew.
FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Alright man.
FRANK: That's good.
MIKE: When Richard
said there's a little bit of
room left on the thing,
I was like, oh my god,
I can sleep a little
bit easier tonight.
MIKE: I appreciate you
coming by. Seriously.
FRANK: Thanks Richard.
MIKE: Means a lot.
MIKE: When I'm driving
this thing down the road,
a Ford Fairlane 390
GT not even washed.
I'm going to feel like Joe Dirt.
MIKE: Let's hear this baby run.
I want to hear this thing run.
RICHARD: Well I
guess. I hope it...
MIKE: This thing's going
to suck all the oxygen out
of the air, man.
FRANK: I know.
[motor revs]
MIKE: Ha ha ha ha ha.
MIKE: How come mine
don't sound like that?
RICHARD: See ya.
MIKE: See ya Richard.
RICHARD: See ya guys.
MIKE: Man that
thing's healthy, isn't it?
FRANK: It sounds healthy.
MIKE: Oh my god,
that thing's righteous.
MIKE: I'm letting Frankie
take the Ford Fairlane on its
maiden voyage.
But I'm gonna watch
him like a hawk, I'm gonna
follow behind him in my VW
[motor revs]
MIKE: Easy on it, man.
FRANK: I'll take it easy.
MIKE: I got to follow
you in this thing, it's not
going to be able to keep up.
FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Fraaaaank!
Oh my God, I just got Franked!