American Pickers (2010–…): Season 3, Episode 8 - Keep Out! - full transcript

MIKE: Oh, look at
this dude! Major, major.

FRANK: Whoa, look at this guy!

MIKE: Keep out sign...

FRANK: Uh oh. Stay out
of here, that means you.

MIKE: I'm gonna stand back
in case the guns come out.

We walk up those stairs,
for sure I'm thinking to

myself, there's gotta
be something in here that

he's gonna sell us.

What about this bicycle piece?

RANDY: Let me
think about it a little bit.

MIKE: What do you
want for the soakies?



RANDY: I just don't know.

MIKE: Does he really wanna sell?

FRANK: What can
you tell me about this?

JOE: A Motoscoot
scooter. Take 15 bills for it.

FRANK: How about eight fifty?

MIKE: The tension was hot.

FRANK: Have I lost my mojo?

MIKE: One of the things I
like to do is amuse myself

at Frank's expense.

FRANK: I'm not doin' that!

MIKE: Are you ready?

JUNIOR: That's
good for your back.

MIKE: [laughing]

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.

FRANK: Slow down a little
bit, it's kind of foggy here.

MIKE: I know. Well, you
watch your side, I watch my side.

FRANK: I always do. Ooh,
there's some bicycles-no,

they're not quite old enough.

MIKE: We're here
in Tennessee in the

Appalachian mountains
drivin' some backroads,

we're doin' some freestylin',

freestylin' is a little bit
tough right now because

it's really foggy,
it's early morning.

You know what, seriously,
when we're down here,

really gotta kick in to
the Frankie Bobby mode.

FRANK: Really?

MIKE: I'll get back
in to the Mikey Ray.

Whaddaya gotta say when
you're ready to buy somethin'?

FRANK: Fixin' to
shoot you a price.

MIKE: And then
you gotta also say.

FRANK: How y'all doin?

MIKE: Yep, how y'all doin',
when we go to the door-

look at this dude!

Major, major!

FRANK: Whoa,
whoa, look at this guy.

This guy's got a lot of stuff.

MIKE: Major situation!

The only reason we spotted
this property is because

it was right up on the road.

MIKE: Major-

FRANK: Be careful
when you're pullin' in here,

this looks like-

MIKE: You're not kiddin'!

FRANK: Be careful here.

MIKE: Wow.

FRANK: Why wouldn't we stop?

This guy's got stuff
hangin', he's got signs.

MIKE: This place is killer, man.

The pickin' gods were
shinin' down upon us

through the fog.

'Keep out' sign, dude.

FRANK: Uh oh. Keep out,
that means you, no trespassing,

no trespassing, no trespassing.

A little tricky when we
first pull up and it says

stay out of here,
that means you.

MIKE: That doesn't pertain
to us, though, does it?

FRANK: Not to me.

MIKE: Here's what I'm thinkin'.

You've had three cups of coffee?

You've never proven
yourself as a bearded

charmer in Tennessee before.

This is your chance
to prove yourself.

FRANK: I can put the
bearded charmer on this

guy in two minutes.

MIKE: I'm gonna stand
back in case guns come out.

JUNIOR: How y'all doin'?

FRANK: Hey, how's it goin'?

MIKE: Hey, how you doin'?

FRANK: Soon as he come up,
this guy looks like a big teddy bear.

Hey, we were just drivin'
by here, we seen you got

lots of stuff on your, um-
my name's Frank, this is Mike.

JUNIOR: Nice to meetcha.

MIKE: Hey, nice to meet you too.

The bearded
charmer strikes again!

FRANK: We're pickers.

JUNIOR: Oh, are you?

FRANK: This is some
of the stuff that we buy.

MIKE: We, hey, to be
honest with you, we were a

little, uh, intimidated
by all the keep out signs.

JUNIOR: Well, I have a
lot of people comin' by, they

think it's a store.

FRANK: When you see a
keep out sign, it doesn't mean

keep out to everyone.

When people meet us,
they can see we're very

passionate about our jobs.

MIKE: I had to put a sign up
out there on this gate to, uh-

FRANK: Detour some
of the riff raff, huh?

MIKE: It looks like
you've bought everything

in this county.

MIKE: So this is all your
doin', all the hangin' on stuff?

JUNIOR: Yep, this
is all my hangin'.

MIKE: We were speakin'
Junior's language, we were

like, hey you really
appreciate this kind of stuff.

When we see old signs,
old tools, old car parts,

this is our kind of place.

We're in Tennessee, but
me and Frankie feel at home.

MIKE: Let me ask you this,
though, here's the biggie-

do you ever sell anything?

JUNIOR: Sometimes,
you know, I sell somethin'.

Look around, see
what you can pick out.

FRANK: Okay. It's
a lot to look at here,

it's a lot to take in.

MIKE: This is so cool!

I mean, this guy is the
Jeremiah Johnson of junk!

JUNIOR: You can
look inside there, kind of

watch your head when you go in.

FRANK: I never have
to watch my head.

[♪]

MIKE: Wow.

One of the first things
I saw was pump,

that red gas pump.

It had the original
signage on it, original

paint, very nice piece,
the porcelain was nice.

JUNIOR: Yeah, you move
this thing around here.

FRANK: Oh yeah, okay.

FRANK: Give you a little
extra room so you can go

around to the other side.

MIKE: I've never seen
a pump like that, that

rotates from side to
side, so you can pull up on

either side to fill up your car.

Very cool piece.

[♪]

JUNIOR: Well, I've already
got an offer on that pump

for $800.

MIKE: He said, yeah, a
guy offered my $800, all I

have to do is a phone
call, boom, it's gone.

So this guy's at 800
bucks, you got a standing

offer of 800.

JUNIOR: $800.

FRANK: I was like, okay.

Well, that sets the tone
for where this is goin'.

MIKE: Alright. So you're
sayin' I could buy it for 801?

JUNIOR: Yeah.

MIKE: Are you serious?

MIKE: Alright,
801. Alright, man.

It's, like, sold, I'll
take 801, I'm like,

alright, man, and that's cool.

I didn't have to go to nine,
I didn't have to go to 850.

I mean, he was just, let's
do the deal, let's move on.

See anything, Frankie?

It was really apparent
for us that Junior likes the

same kind of stuff we like, man.

MIKE: He likes the
rusty stuff, the dirty stuff,

the sun baked stuff,
what we call mantiques.

This is our kind of place.

Dukes of Hazzard trash can!

FRANK: It's cool!

MIKE: It's cool. Hey man.

JUNIOR: Right here's the tray.

Did you see that tray?

MIKE: You've got the
TV tray? That is cool.

FRANK: We could use
this in the motel room.

MIKE: What better to find
in the hills of Tennessee

than two Dukes of
Hazzard original pieces.

The garbage can
and the TV tray. 1981.

FRANK: That's a
matching set there, dude.

MIKE: We were still in
high school then, dude.

[♪]

MIKE: Daisy Duke, Luke
Duke, Bo Duke, I mean,

come on, this stuff is cool.

This stuff's from the
late 70s, early 80s.

Color's great on this piece.

All that stuff is hot, all
this pop culture stuff.

Oh yeah, I like that,
that is a matching set.

What have you gotta
have for these, Junior?

JUNIOR: Uh, probably, uh...

I'd probably have to have
fifty bucks for both of 'em.

MIKE: Fifty bucks? How
about, uh, thirty bucks for both?

JUNIOR: Well, 35.

MIKE: I'm in at thirty.

JUNIOR: Yeah.

MIKE: Alright. As a picker, you
have to think outside the box.

We're not just lookin'
for old car parts, we're not

just lookin' at gas pumps.

We see Dukes of Hazzard
stuff and we're in the

middle of Tennessee,
we're gonna buy it.

I like how you got your
overalls fixed, did you see that?

JUNIOR: I lost my button
and I ain't got nobody to

sew it on there, so
I just put a nail in it.

MIKE: That's awesome.

Junior was a gift from
the picking gods, man.

I mean, this guy
dropped right into our laps.

FRANK: Hey, so far,
there's a lot to look at,

that's for sure.

MIKE: Wow.

I saw the outboard
motor sign, I lit up, man.

Mercury Outboard
sales, Bristol Tennessee.

Because those are really,
really rare, they're unusual.

Right now, guys like to
collect outboard motors.

Junior, what are you thinkin'
on something like this?

JUNIOR: I'll let you have
that for, uh, fifty bucks.

MIKE: Fifty bucks?

Alright, I'm your Huckleberry.

When he said fifty
bucks on the sign, I wasn't

gonna haggle at all.

You know what, I mean,
he's lettin' us on his property.

Thanks man, I like that!

This was great piece,
still had some color left

on it, and it had the
name of the dealership in

Bristol, Tennessee
on the bottom.

Now let me ask you this,
I mean, you got all this

stuff, um, is there a
reason why you've kind of

decided to sell
a little bit of it?

JUNIOR: Well, my wife
died in, uh, August of last

year, and you know,
this stuff really don't mean

a lot now because
she's gone and-

MIKE: Yeah.

JUNIOR: My wife, she
was kind of a homebody, she

enjoyed talkin' to people
about this old antique

stuff, you know,
just sit on the porch.

MIKE: It sounds like she
was a real people person,

as far as like, she
liked a lot of the stuff just

because people would open
up and want to talk about it.

JUNIOR: Oh yeah, just
conversation pieces, you know.

FRANK: I mean, she
probably got excited too when

you came home, like, what'd
you get, what'd you find?

MIKE: It was a really
special moment, 'cause you

know what, it was an honor
for us to walk through his

property and look
at these things.

I mean, these are things that
they found precious together.

I'm glad that he told us,
and I'm glad that we stopped.

FRANK: Now we're talking.

MIKE: Wow.

FRANK: We'll catch all
the area over here. Impala.

JUNIOR: Impala.

FRANK: Oh yeah.

Mike, look at this
old exercise machine.

MIKE: Oh yeah, that's
gonna make you exercise,

it's got a motor on it.

FRANK: That's what I
need, I could be doin' that in

the back of the van while
we're goin' down the road.

MIKE: Exercycle.

[♪]

JUNIOR: I've had it a long
time, I used to have it up

at the house to exercise
on, then I brought it down

here, I got a lot of
exercise out of it.

MIKE: It looks like it's
all there. It works, right?

JUNIOR: Yeah, it
works like it does.

MIKE: This thing
made extremely well.

Haven't seen one for
sale in a long time, but the

kicker for it is that it works.

Hey, uh, is this
somethin' that you'd sell?

JUNIOR: Oh yeah, I'd
sell it if you can get it out.

MIKE: How much would you
want for somethin' like that?

JUNIOR: What would
you give for that?

MIKE: Alright, I'm thinkin',
uh... a hundred bucks.

JUNIOR: It's yours.

MIKE: [laughing] It sounds
like I should've said fifty.

I couldn't wait to see
this bike working, and

I figured the best guy to
try it out would be Frankie.

There you go, alright.

JUNIOR: That puts you way down.

MIKE: Alright, get in there.

JUNIOR: You're gonna
have to put our feet in there,

you might wanna
take your shoes off.

MIKE: You need to
be strapped in, dude.

FRANK: I can't get 'em in!

MIKE: Alright, let
me get out of the way.

FRANK: Hold up. Is this
thing gonna shock me?

Is it grounded. Okay, let's see.

MIKE: [laughing]

FRANK: Alright, that's good.
That's good... there you go...

Ooh yeah.

MIKE: Crank it to 250
and see what it does.

FRANK: Okay, hold up.

MIKE: Let's crank it up.
One of the things I like to do

is amuse myself at Frank's
expense, and right then,

I saw a opportunity to do
that. Let me help you out here.

Grab it, now grab
it! Are you ready?

FRANK: I'm not doin' that!

JUNIOR: That's
good for your back.

MIKE: [laughing]

FRANK: Go! Turn the sucker
off, I ain't doin' it that way,

you jerk.

MIKE: [laughing]

When Frankie's feet
flew off the stirrups,

it was crazy, man, I'm
talkin' the grand national

rodeo championships.

FRANK: Alright.

MIKE: I tell you what,
this is $500 worth of fun

for a hundred bucks.

This is awesome, man.

FRANK: Tell you what,
you better know where the off

switch is as 'cause this
has got a mind of its own.

I'm in the sign land over here.

How about your
PET ice cream sign?

FRANK: I was like,
wow, that's pretty neat.

Ice cream stuff's kind of hot.

What's the story on that?

JUNIOR: Well, I don't
know if it's got the other side

like that or not.

We'd have to take it
down and look at it.

FRANK: Okay.
What's the price on it?

JUNIOR: I tell you what I'll do.

If it's not got both
sides, I'll take fifty.

If it's got both sides,
I'll take a hundred.

FRANK: You know, I
tell you, here's the story.

I'd do fifty on it just by
lookin' at it right now.

If it's got both sides,
you're sayin' it's another

fifty, and my experience
with signs is if it does

have both sides, the bad
side's on the other side.

MIKE: So are you
takin' the gamble?

Are you takin' the
bet? He's bettin' ya.

FRANK: I'll take it.

If it's got both sides,
I'll give you a hundred.?

So I'm thinkin', uh oh,
I'm gonna pay a hundred

and the other side's
gonna be terrible.

MIKE: You got fifty bones
ridin', you know what that

is, don't you?

FRANK: It's a tank of gas.

MIKE: That's what I'm sayin'.

It don't matter what
the other side looks like,

as long as it's
got another side.

FRANK: I know,
that's my problem.

MIKE: You ready?

FRANK: Are you ready?
Here's the situation.

MIKE: Is it? Oh, it's a
hundred bucks, Frank!

FRANK: You know
what, let's take a look at it.

Alright, this is the
side that I seen,

and this is the side
that I bet fifty on.

Doesn't look that bad.

The backside was
prettier than the front side.

I'll take that all day for a
hundred dollars. I'm happy.

MIKE: Alright.

[♪]

MIKE: So Frankie and I
are rootin' around in some

boxes to look for smalls,
and I open a button container.

No way.

I saw the civil war
belt buckle in there.

MIKE: Look at that, man.

With the bullet piercing
it and then not going all

the way through.

When you're a professional
junk treasure hunter like

I am, the story is everything.

I mean, imagine that dude.

Someone fires that gun, it
knocks him to the ground.

This belt buckle says it
all, man, I mean, this is

a major part of American
history and I'm holding

this thing in my hands.

What would you
have to have for this?

[♪]

JUNIOR: Fifty bucks.

MIKE: Fifty bucks for it?

MIKE: When he said fifty
bucks, I was like, oh man,

a piece of American
history for fifty dollars.

Yee haw!

FRANK: That's awesome!

MIKE: I like it.

This is my favorite thing
that I've found on this pick.

Hell, this might even
be my favorite thing that

I find this month,
I love this piece.

[♪]

MIKE: Well, what do
you think about us gettin'

some of this stuff loaded up?

JUNIOR: Okay.

MIKE: The Mercury
sign, I paid $50 for.

I'm gonna ask 150 bucks.

FRANK: I paid $100 for
the PET ice cream sign,

it's a double sided
porcelain sign.

I think I can get
$200, great item.

FRANK: Lift on
that thing, 1, 2, 3.

MIKE: Alright. 1, 2, 3!

[♪]

MIKE: Junior, thank
you so much, man.

MIKE: One of the things
that I've thought about,

bein' a picker and bein'
on the road, is seeing all

these all these amazing
places and meeting all

these amazing people,
guys like Junior, they're

fading away fast, and when they
go away, their stuff goes away.

He is the local historian
as far as I'm concerned.

He's done a huge thing
here in this community.

JUNIOR: Hey, I got somethin'
you guys can remember me by.

MIKE: Alright, what's he got?

FRANK: Oh, keep
out, that means you?

JUNIOR: I've got you, I
painted this thing myself.

MIKE: You painted that?
This is yours, Frankie,

'cause you're the one
who knocked on the door.

FRANK: I did knock on it.

MIKE: Bearded charmer'd
it, that's awesome.

Thanks a lot.

JUNIOR: Hey, thank you.

MIKE: Hey, thanks
buddy, I appreciate it.

FRANK: See you later.

MIKE: Alright, see you later.

FRANK: Take care.

JUNIOR: I enjoyed both of 'em.

They were real nice guys
and I gave 'em a good deal.

You could be here
today and gone tomorrow.

See you guys.

FRANK: See you later! Take care!

MIKE: But you know what
was the best part of the day?

When you ripped out your
rotator cuff on that exercise bike.

You were like this.

You looked just
like John Travolta

from Urban Cowboy, dude.

FRANK: That's funny.

MIKE: [laughing]

[♪]

[phone rings]

MIKE: Danny's callin'.

FRANK: Hello.

MIKE: Hey Danny!

DANIELLE: Hey, how you doin'?

FRANK: We're doin'
good, what's up?

MIKE: We're doin'
better now that you called.

DANIELLE: Hey, I have
an awesome lead for you.

MIKE: Alright, bring it.

FRANK: So this
ones really special.

This guy just decided he
wants to start selling his

stuff and just called me
because he wants to give

you guys first pick of
this amazing collection.

FRANK: That's good
and bad, though.

I mean, the first one in
can be good 'cause you're

like, wow, you're seein'
stuff that no one else has

really been able to buy,
and the flip of the coin is,

hey, um, I need 18,000
for that, you know?

DANIELLE: His garage is
filled with perfect condition cars.

MIKE: That's cool.

FRANK: We like cars.

DANIELLE: Old comic books,
toys, awesome memorabilia,

all kinds of stuff from
when this guy was a kid.

FRANK: I mean, that sounds good-

MIKE: So this is-sounds
like this guy's been a

lifelong collector, all of a
sudden now, the rubber's

hittin' the road, he's,
reality's settin' in,

he's thinkin' he's
gotta sell some stuff?

DANIELLE: His dad's health
is getting worse, so I think,

you know, he's trying to
downsize his collection.

MIKE: Okay, I gotcha.

FRANK: Alright.
I'm sorry to hear that.

DANIELLE: And he also,
of course, has tons and tons

of automobile advertising.

It sounds like a potential
honey hole to me.

Just go, have fun.

FRANK: Alright, give
us the coordinates.

DANIELLE: Alright, bye.

FRANK: Bye.

MIKE: Later. This
sounds cool, dude.

He's got garages and
garages full of stuff,

not just one garage.

FRANK: Yeah, I heard that part.

MIKE: Danielle said
Randy had tonnage, but she

warned us, he's
pretty attached to his

collection, so it sounds
like Frankie and I have

our work cut out for us.

Alright, we're gettin' close.

Oh yeah, look at the size
of this guy's barns, Frankie.

1, 2, 3, 4.

FRANK: Hey, you Randy?

RANDY: Hey, how you doin'?

MIKE: Hey, we're doin' good.

The first thing we noticed
when we came up with, uh,

all the buildings you got.

RANDY: Well, you've
gotta have buildings for junk.

FRANK: Hey, nice
pad out here. I love it.

MIKE: Your own piece of heaven.

Can we take a look around?

RANDY: Sure, sure. Come on down.

FRANK: He takes us
into the first building

and ala, there it is.

MIKE: Oh my god.

Danielle said you'd
been collectin' for a while.

FRANK: Nothin' but mint cars.

All high end stuff.

MIKE: This is nice.

RANDY: '35 Ford
Cabriolet convertible.

MIKE: Frankie and I are blown
away by this guys collection.

Everything all shined
up, beautiful, on display.

I'm thinkin' to myself,
does this guy really wanna

sell this stuff?

I mean, this is,
like, part of his life.

RANDY: Yeah, I love
the cars and I love the

jukeboxes and I like
all the things that I have

collected over the years.

I've been mullin' it over,
that at some point I maybe

need to trim down and
get rid of some things.

MIKE: Alright Randy,
where's the dirt and the dust?

RANDY: Well, there's a little
of that in here somewhere.

Oh, hey, this, this is
a monster right here.

MIKE: Oh lord.

RANDY: It's an original
two pull Galaxie R-Code.

FRANK: The Ford
Galaxie is a really rare car.

A lot of people
would like to have it.

[♪]

MIKE: We are lookin'
at some amazing cars.

Amazing cars sittin' there
with this much dust on 'em,

laying in the dirt, man.

I mean, cars that most
people would polish, shine

and think the world of,
Randy had 'em stacked like

cordwood in this barn.

Wow.

FRANK: This is the
one I want. I'll take it!

RANDY: I wanna say up
front, I don't wanna sell it.

FRANK: Unfortunately,
Randy just wasn't

interested in sellin' it.

MIKE: I tell you, first guys in.

He wants to sell stuff
but we're first guys in.

FRANK: Now we're talkin', Randy.

MIKE: We walk up those
stairs and the whole room

just exploded.

Tons of stuff all junked up.

Piles of stuff, boxes of stuff.

For sure, I'm thinkin' to
myself, there's gotta be

something in here
that he's gonna sell us.

This old Roadmaster.

How about this bicycle
piece, this is from Morrow.

RANDY: That came from
the Economy Auto store

here in Tennessee.

MIKE: Another thing that
Randy had that was very

cool was a Morrow
bicycle parts cabinet.

This thing was probably
from the forties, had some

graphic advertising
on the outside.

[♪]

MIKE: What've you
gotta have for this?

I'm a bicycle guy.

RANDY: Let me
think about it a little bit.

I'd probably sell it,
let me just study on a it

a little bit while
we're looking.

MIKE: Okay. I'm trying to
break the ice any way I can,

and I like funky stuff.

I notice there's
a box of Soakies.

Okay, here's Batman Soakie.

Soakies are cool items.

They were actually soap
bottles that a kid would attach

to his bath and he could
play with them in the tub.

How about your Soakies?

What do you want
for the Soakies?

RANDY: Uh... I just
don't know, I really don't.

MIKE: Alright, here's
where I'm at on 'em.

I'm gonna stand
tall on these things.

I'm gonna be at 15
bucks a piece on those.

Man, he scratched his
head for, like, five minutes.

MIKE: Randy, you're
the one who called us,

you're interested in
selling stuff. Remember?

RANDY: I probably can't do 15.

MIKE: Right now, I'm
about to lose my mind.

MIKE: Being the first guy
in sometimes is extremely

difficult.

It's a big decision for
Randy to call us, but it's

even a bigger deal to
come to realization that, hey,

these guys are here,
do I really wanna do this?

Thirty bucks.

RANDY: Can't do thirty.

FRANK: What'd you
get for somethin' like this?

The back's off.

RANDY: I don't know
that I would sell it.

I found my heart racing
and little beads of sweat,

I'm thinking, I can't sell
these things, I'm not ready.

[alarm clock ringing]

MIKE: Randy, you
know what time it is?

It's time to sell, my friend.

It's time to sell.

FRANK: Oh, that's kind of cool.

MIKE: Oh, what's here,
what's this? Oh lord.

It's a mechanical piece that
was used for a store display, right?

RANDY: Yeah.

MIKE: It's just odd. Okay,
here's where I'm at with this.

Alright, ten bucks.

He has no hands, he's
wearin' a hospital gown

that's dirty, and his
face is burned off.

He's on his way to ER.

How much do you, I'm at
ten, you come back at me.

RANDY: Well, let
me think, let's see.

MIKE: If being unwilling
to sell were a wave, Randy

would be a tsunami.

It's a tough piece for
you, I can see that.

RANDY: Well, I know
you're thinking that everything

I own, I'm sentimental about.

Oddly enough, I do
remember that when I was a kid.

Out of thousands of things
upstairs, it seemed that

everything that they
picked out and they liked,

it was just things that
I had a really great

sentimental attachment to.

MIKE: What are you thinkin'?

RANDY: Oh, uh-

MIKE: Alright, what about that?

RANDY: It's really been hard.

MIKE: What about that?

RANDY: Well, I
kind of hate to sell it,

that might be somebody's sister.

MIKE: It's one thing to
say that you're ready to

sell, but when two guys
rock up on your property,

they've got cash, they
wanna buy, sometimes

that's hard to get to.

Here I am, thinkin' this
is gonna be a complete

wasted trip, but when
you're pickin', you've got

to remain optimistic
and never give up.

Oh my god.

I pull back the weeds
and then I see this sign.

Oh man, that is nice.

I love these signs, I
mean, these are actually

the dealer signs that
came from the dealership an

hour and a half from here.

I mean, this stuff's
double sided,

it was neon at one
time, it's porcelain.

MIKE: We love advertising.

To find a sign like
this, it's incredible.

And I'm hopin' Randy
doesn't see how much

I'm drooling 'cause I
wanna buy this sucker.

Is this somethin' that
you'd consider selling?

RANDY: I might.

MIKE: Well, that's a start.

Um, would you do 15 on it?

RANDY: No, no,
I couldn't do that.

But I guess I'm
somewhat attached to it.

I just couldn't do 15, no.

MIKE: Okay.

I'm thinkin' I'm not gonna
be able to buy this sign

'cause Randy doesn't
wanna sell anything.

Here's what I'd do. I'd
do 2 grand on this sign.

I mean, at 2 grand, that's
where I'd feel good on

this thing.

RANDY: Well, I tell you,
you're makin' it tough,

you really are.

Uh-oh boy

MIKE: I could see that
Randy's mind was beginning

to cave in.

I mean, I could see
it in his eyes, man.

He was almost at the
point where he was willing to

sell his sign.

RANDY: Oh boy. Oh man, Mike. Mm.

MIKE: What else have
you got, you got anything to

sweeten the pot?

RANDY: Well, I've got
another sign back here

you might wanna take a look at.

You wanna take a look at it?

MIKE: I wanna look at
anything you wanna show me.

Rrr!

Alright.

Oh man this is cool.

How long's this
been sittin' in here?

RANDY: I put it in here
when the building was

built, and that was
about 25, 26 years ago.

MIKE: This is cool,
Randy. This is really good.

RANDY: Thank you.

MIKE: This is a nice piece.

I really have to cement
this deal or the whole

afternoon is a waste.

Would you consider
sellin' this sign?

Dude, you can't keep everything!

Sometimes you have to move on.

RANDY: I'm realizin' that I
just can't keep everything.

I might.

MIKE: Here's where I'm at.
4000 bucks for both signs.

That's where I
need to be on 'em.

RANDY: Oh gosh.

MIKE: It's solid, man.

RANDY: I tell you what.

I hope I don't regret it,
but I, I'll take 45 for the pair.

MIKE: 45, you wanna
do 45? Alright, 45!

[♪]

All of a sudden, it was
like a light switch went on.

MIKE: Alright, another
thing: can you help me get

it out of here?

RANDY: Oh yeah.

MIKE: Alright! Letting go of
these signs was the first step

for Randy to start sellin'
some stuff, but for me to

be the first guy in there,
it was an honor to buy

these things from him,
because, you know what,

he was a cool guy, he
had a great eye, today

I found two home runs.

MIKE: I bought the two
signs for 45 hundred dollars.

I'm hoping to make a couple
thousand dollars on 'em.

MIKE: Okay, here's
what I'm thinkin'.

You get the signs in there
and Frankie's not gonna

freak out 'cause he's
been givin' me a lot of crap

lately about him
loadin' all my stuff.

RANDY: It won't be a
problem, I'd be glad to help.

MIKE: Alright, cool. This one-

RANDY: Just as long
as we don't get caught.

MIKE: [laughs]

I wanted to get these
signs in the van right away.

Thanks for helping
load this stuff.

This is our little secret.
Don't tell Frankie what we did.

RANDY: Not a word.

It's a shame that Frank
missed out on the two big

sales of the day.

He's probably gonna get
a real shock when he looks

in the back of the van later on.

MIKE: I'm thinkin' about
we'll go get somethin' to eat,

maybe we'll call
you in a little later and

maybe we can come back.

How's that?

RANDY: Well, that'd be fine.

MIKE: Alright? Alright,
great. Thanks Randy.

FRANK: Alright. Thanks, Randy.

MIKE: I cannot wait for
him to see these signs and

somethin' gonna break
loose in his shorts.

FRANK: See you, Randy.

MIKE: See you later, Randy.

FRANK: He was a hard
nut to crack, I tell ya.

MIKE: Oh my gosh.

FRANK: I mean, every
time we asked him somethin',

he just went, um...

that big pause.

MIKE: Oh, I'm tellin' ya.

[rattling sound]

FRANK: What's that?
Where'd you get those at?

MIKE: I got 'em from Randy!

FRANK: How did you
get somethin' from him?

Wow.

MIKE: Me and Randy loaded 'em!

FRANK: Randy loaded 'em?

For once, I didn't
have to load the signs.

[♪]

MIKE: When Frankie and
I are on the road, we love

pickin' on each other.

I mean, it makes the
miles go by so much easier.

Okay, so then remember when-

FRANK: Remember when
you crushed my dreams?

MIKE: When?

FRANK: You crushed my
dreams, I was a sophomore

in high school and I said,
you know what, I had this

concept, I'm gonna sell
bottled water, and you're

like Frankie, you
can't sell bottle water,

bottled water's for free!

Now lookit. I could've
been a multibillionaire.

[telephone rings]

MIKE: There, grandma's callin'.

FRANK: Hello?

DANIELLE: What's happenin'?

FRANK: Nothin'. We
were just talkin' about how

Mike crushed my
dreams on bottled water.

MIKE: Who knew?

FRANK: He crushed my dreams.

MIKE: Listen, this is,
like, in 7th grade, I was

in a bad place, I had a
crush on our biology teacher.

DANIELLE: This may be
the most boring conversation

I've had in my life

MIKE: Whaddaya got going on?

DANIELLE: There's a
gentleman named Joe, and

he's an old railroad guy.

So he has fifty motorcycles.

He has Harleys,
Indians, on and on and on.

MIKE: You've got our
attention, girl that sounds great.

That sounds better than
Frank's bottled water story.

FRANK: Yeah, I'd've been
a multitrillionaire. Anyway-

DANIELLE: If you guys
get some good stuff, out of

this, I expect a pedicure.

MIKE: How much
does a pedicure cost?

DANIELLE: I want one
of those pedicures with the

little tiny fish that,
like, tickle your feet.

FRANK: Can't you just
get that wart removal stuff

and just spread that on?

DANIELLE: So you get
on this and I'll get on that

and we'll, we'll meet
in the middle. Bye!

FRANK: Bye!

DANIELLE: Pedicure.

MIKE: Dude, this
guy sounds great.

He's got a bunch of motorcycles.

MIKE: He's been riding
motorcycles for sixty years!

That's longer than
we've been alive!

This must be his place, Frankie!

FRANK: Looks like it.

MIKE: Hello! Hey, you Joe?

FRANK: What's up?

JOE: I'm workin'
on a little junk here.

MIKE: We speak
the same language.

JOE: Yeah, junk.

MIKE: How are you
doing, my friend?

JOE: Good, good.

MIKE: Danielle said you are
the sweetest man in Tennessee.

She said you've been
collecting a long time.

JOE: 36 years.

MIKE: Oh lord. She said you
had a real passion for anything

that's run by steam.

JOE: Yeah, railroad
engines and steam engines.

MIKE: Cool. I mean, if
you've been collectin' this long,

I mean, why have you decided
to sell some of this stuff now?

JOE: You get so much
that you can't get around to

gettin' everything built.

MIKE: Oh yeah?

FRANK: Well, hopefully we
can, uh, we might be able to-

MIKE: We could lighten
your load a little bit.

When Joe said he's at
a point in his life when he

wants to start sellin'
stuff, that's perfect,

that's music to a picker's ears.

JOE: We got a lot to look at.

MIKE: Alright, let's do it.

JOE: We got a lot to
look at, we gonna look.

MIKE: Am I gonna
get dirty? I hope so!

FRANK: 35 buildings! Alright!

[♪]

MIKE: It was amazing
to see that much stuff,

I mean, he had old train
cars, he had old stream

engines, he had
old architectural stuff.

It's incredible.

MIKE: So Joe, tell me bout this-

JOE: A forty mile
Czechoslovakia train from

WWII come out of
switch yards in Germany.

FRANK: No kiddin'.

JOE: And uh, it's
been here 25 years.

MIKE: Can we
look up inside there?

JOE: Sure thing.

MIKE: Awesome.

[♪]

This is it, man.
Feel the power, bro.

An old original train? We
were like big kids, man.

JOE: Well, ever since I
was a small kid, I loved

railroad engines and
seein' 'em, and I love

runnin' em, and it's just
somethin' that, well, that

ain't everybody got want,
but I wish they did have.

Because steam built America.

[♪]

JOE: Steam was alive, you know?

MIKE: Has there ever
been anything so big that you

wanted to buy that you
were afraid to move?

JOE: Oh no. The
bigger, the better.

FRANK: I see that, I see that.

MIKE: Frankie and I are
havin' a blast here, man.

We're diggin' through a
junkyard, how cool is that?

Joe, you got anything
in this trailer right here?

MIKE: I've got some
toys in there yeah.

FRANK: Toys, heck yeah!

MIKE: Let's check that out. Man!

So Joe takes us into this
trailer and I'm like a one

eyed dog at meat factory.

This place is amazing.

I'm having flashbacks
here, I had all these guys

when I was a kid.

Here's Evel Kneivel.

These are the same era
of toys that I played with

when I was a kid.

A lot of guys, they wanna
make that connection,

they wanna have the
toys from their past.

Oh, Planet of the Apes thermos!

FRANK: That's goin'.

MIKE: A lot of guys collect
lunchboxes, but you know what,

nine times out of ten,
the thermos is missing.

I need to find the guy
that's got the lunchbox

that needs the thermos.

MIKE: I'm putting a
little pile here. My pile.

After diggin' around
in the trailer, I put

together a box of smalls.

Comin' on out! Joe, I
scored in here, man.

I got a Planet of the
Apes thermos, it's missin'

the lid, though.

This thing's cool
'cause it's full-on space.

FRANK: 1977.

MIKE: And that's a
little space look to it.

Look it, you've got
creature from the

Black Lagoon, you've
got Frankenstein.

I'm thinkin', on the whole box,

15 bucks.

JOE: Give me 25.

MIKE: Twenty.

JOE: 22 and a half.

MIKE: Twenty.

Joe is a really tough
negotiator, I mean,

this guy's been around
the block many times.

JOE: Give me 22 dollars.

MIKE: How about twenty?

JOE: Why don't we just trade it?

MIKE: Okay, thanks.

He's a tough bargainer,
but I bought the whole box

of toys for twenty bucks.

This stuff is probably
from the late fifties,

early sixties, but the
icing on the cake was that

Planet of the Apes thermos.

Now all I need to do is
find a lunchbox to go with it.

[♪]

JOE: Mike and Frank they
remind me, of, you know

when I was young.

They were my kind of people.

MIKE: Oh my god!

JOE: And they don't
care for gettin' dirty!

FRANK: Ah, barbed wire!

JOE: I love 'em.

MIKE: We're cruisin' around
and I see a barber pole,

it's broken.

Busted, Joe!

I see an old Godzilla
guy, he's missin' his hand.

Joe, say it ain't so!

And then I pull out
a box an acrylic spun

spaghetti lampshade.

I'm feelin' this, and you
know, when you feel it,

you gotta have it,
and I'm thinkin'...

I'm thinkin' twenty.

JOE: 22.5 and you can have it.

MIKE: How about 22?

JOE: Oh, it's yours.

MIKE: Alright. I feel like
I'm gettin' a good deal here.

Frankie, what do
you think of this thing?

Oh my god, look at this!

Alright Joe, is there
anything upstairs?

Woo-hoo-hoo!

MIKE: I'm lookin' around
the barn and I notice he's

got a Planet of
the Apes lunchbox.

Hey Joe, I got the
thermos already!

I am the caretaker right now
of a Planet of the Apes thermos!

This is perfect!

This is marriage made in heaven.

[♪]

MIKE: Alright, so what,
how much have you gotta

have for this?

Remember, I got the
thermos, I'm your guy on this.

FRANK: Ya you've got him.

JOE: Well, what
are you lookin' at?

It's in good shape, ain't it?

MIKE: Yeah, decent.
I'm looking at, uh...

I'm looking at 15 bucks.

JOE: I'm lookin' at about 35.

MIKE: 35? How about 25?

Am I the only guy that's
ever asked about it?

JOE: No! I met a guy
who's been begging for that

box for a long time.

MIKE: We're negotiatin'
on the price, he told me

there was another
guy lookin' at it.

How about thirty?

We're only five dollars apart.

JOE: 32.50.

MIKE: I lived in Tennessee
too, alright-32.50?

JOE: 32.50.

MIKE: Thirty! Wanna flip for it?

JOE: Nope, 32.50.

MIKE: 32.50, alright.

Frank, it's rough in here!

I paid up for it, but I
have two pieces together,

awesome buy!

[♪]

A lot of stuff here, Joe!

Oh yeah.

FRANK Oh yeah.

MIKE: When Frankie and
I cruise into any barn and

there's a bunch of old
motorcycles in it, that's

a good day to be a picker.

FRANK: What's the story
on your motorcycle here?

JOE: It's a Harley frame-

FRANK: Yep.

JOE: And a chrome
750 engine, it was fuel

injection on there.

FRANK: Mm-hmm.

JOE: And that bike,
uh, runs like a top.

FRANK: Like a top?

I thought, here we go he
has a Honda 750 chopper.

I am really into 1970s
motorcycle pieces like that.

[♪]

FRANK: When was the last
time it was licensed, Mike?

MIKE: No plate on it.

FRANK: No license,
you got a title on it?

JOE: No title, I traded that.

Some of these
bikes ain't got no title.

FRANK: Well, if they
don't got titles, they're just

pretty much parts
bikes, you know.

Something without a
title is a definite no-no.

If you don't have a title,
it sometimes it create

just a big hassle.

The item could be worth
200, it might cost you 500

to get a title for it.

What have you gotta
have for somethin' like this?

JOE: I couldn't take no less
than about 55 hundred for it.

FRANK: 55 hundred?

JOE: Mm-hmm.

JOE: Take 55 hundred.

FRANK: When he said 55
hundred dollars, I thought

I was gonna have to
get the smelling salts out.

Those bikes retail
for $2500 at best.

No way we could
pay that kind of price.

[♪]

I'm not having
any luck on this trip.

I need a break.

That's when I
spotted the Motoscoot.

Ooh, this is cool. What
can you tell me about this?

JOE: A Motoscoot scooter.

Made between WWI
and WWII out of Chicago.

FRANK: Wow, that's cool.

JOE: Yeah, it's old.

[♪]

FRANK: No seat. The
Motoscoot is a very rare scooter.

They were made by a
very small little company in

Chicago during the
depression, and not many

of them were made.

Push it out a little here,
Mike, let's see what

you're lookin' at.

MIKE: Whaddaya got here?

FRANK: Oh man.

MIKE: This thing had
an awesome look to it.

FRANK: What's the
tank look like, Mike?

Fresh as the day it was made?

MIKE: It's pretty clean.

FRANK: Pretty clean, okay.

MIKE: 99 percent of it was
there, we had to try to buy it.

FRANK: What are you thinkin',
are you ever gonna use it?

JOE: I want, uh...

I'd take 15 bills for it.

FRANK: Oh, I
could never do that.

You know, Joe has some
really nice items, but the

problem was, what he
had that he thought was nice

was very overpriced.

I mean, if it had some
nice paint on it, if it

had the seat, I mean,
the controls are so rusted.

Look it, you can't
even move 'em.

I think 15's everything,
even if it ran.

MIKE: Man, the tension
was hot when Frankie and Joe

were goin' at this negotiation.

Yeah, who's chicken?

FRANK: How about, how about 850?

JOE: I can't do that. 15, 15.

FRANK: 15 hundred?

JOE: 15 hundred.

FRANK: Well, there's-

JOE: 15 hundred dollars.

MIKE: Joe was at 15,
Frankie was at 850,

I mean, it was funny seein'
Frank go up against a guy

with so much knowledge and
had been doin' this for so long.

FRANK: I mean, I like
it, Joe, it's cool, I mean,

I see a lot of things
here I don't know if you're

doin' anything with.

MIKE: Any line that
Frankie threw at him,

Joe had heard it before.

FRANK: It's gettin' dark,
I've been bit by mosquitos

all day long.

This is it.

MIKE: This is the best
part of the pick; the dance.

FRANK: I'll do a thousand
dollars on it, and that's

my best offer.

JOE: I don't know about that.

FRANK: I mean, I'm at a
thousand or I'm checkin'

off down the road.

If I don't make this
deal on this Motoscoot,

I'm gonna have to hear about
it all the way back to Iowa.

That's cash.

JOE: It's the only one I've
ever seen. 75 years old.

But I'm gonna trade with you.

FRANK: We'll do a thousand?

JOE: Thousand.

FRANK: Finally, I catch a break!

MIKE: Alright, Frankie.

FRANK: Is that delivered?

At the beginning, I didn't
think he was gonna go

for the thousand
dollars, but at the end,

I was really glad he did.

Yeah! I love this scooter.

It's early and you
just don't see 'em.

MIKE: I like it.
It's got nice lines.

FRANK: I bought the
Motoscoot for a thousand dollars.

I'm thinkin', to the
right guy, 1700 to 2200.

MIKE: This is incredible.

FRANK: I know, I love this.

MIKE: I paid 32.50 for
the lunchbox, I've got the

thermos to put in it.

Now I'm gonna ask
a hundred dollars.

MIKE: This is where all the
magic happens, Joe. Right here.

Joe was a great character, man.

I mean, he was the kind
of guy that I liked to talk

to when I was a little kid
because he had so many

stories and he'd been
collecting so long that he

had some great old stuff.

The old stuff is getting
harder and harder to find.

Joe, thank you so much!

JOE: Thank you,
thank you. Come back.

MIKE: Alright, we had a
good time. We'll be back.

FRANK: We had a
good time. Alright, Joe.

MIKE: I'll see you later.

FRANK: You know, when
we're on the road, I mean,

we've only got so much
room, and any time we can

get rid of somethin'
before we get home, that

just gives us room
to buy more stuff.

MIKE: Frankie and I aren't
far from our friend Corky's.

This guy loves old
advertising signs,

so we're gonna head
over there and see if he's

interested in buyin' 'em.

FRANK: Hey, this
is it, loading only.

MIKE: Corky!

FRANK: You know one
good thing about Corky?

You know check
ain't gonna bounce.

MIKE: Corky!

CORKY: Hello! What
are you guys doin' pickin'

down in my area, man?

FRANK: We were about
two hours away, but we get

everywhere, you know that.

MIKE: If we can sell these
to Corky today and keep

'em local, we'd be
doin' right by Randy.

FRANK: There we go.

CORKY: That's good
enough that's good enough.

MIKE: Look at that.
That's awesome!

CORKY: This will
restore and wax up.

You would not
want to repaint this.

What you would do, is
you might do the end caps,

new sheet metal,
and then all neon.

But that's a pretty
good amount of money.

MIKE: Well, here's
what I'm thinkin'.

I'm thinkin' 4000 bucks
on the Ford dealer sign.

2500 on this one.

CORKY: Hey, I'm your buddy, man!

FRANK: That's delivered, now.

Not unloaded, just delivered.

MIKE: Here's the deal,
on that sign right there,

I mean, in the condition
that it's in-I know if

the neon was workin',
all shined up, it'd be major

money, so that's why I'm
pricin' this at 4000 bucks

right now, this at 2500.

MIKE: So basically, that
one's probably worth 65 alone,

buy one, get one free.

FRANK: It's like
buy one get one free.

CORKY: You take six grand?

MIKE: I'm at 65.

CORKY: 65.

MIKE: Hey, you know,
the way we price this stuff,

I mean, I'm pricin' this
to sell it, and I think it's

cool it'll still be left in
this state because the

guy that sold me
these things, I mean, he

cherished 'em and it'd
be great if they ended up

here with you because I
know you'll do the same

and a lot of
people will see 'em.

CORKY: Oh, we'll fix
'em and put 'em up and

everybody'll see 'em.

MIKE: So what's 500
dollars between friends?

CORKY: 500 bucks
between friends?

MIKE: That's nothin', man.

CORKY: That's nothin', so why
not you just take the six grand?

MIKE: I can't
do it. I can't do it.

CORKY: Well
let's do it, let's do it.

MIKE: 65?

CORKY: 65, let me go
get some guys to unload it.

FRANK: Alright, good deal.

CORKY: Thanks, buddy.

Let me go get some
guys to unload it.

FRANK: Yeah!

MIKE: One of the best
parts about sellin' these

signs to Corky is
he's a local guy.

Let me get outta the way!

FRANK: I got this for ya.

MIKE: Oh, that'll make
it clean up pretty good.

CORKY: The porcelain's
good, it's got a little

bit of rust on the sides,
but they'll restore up

and they're be
really cool pieces.

[♪]

CORKY: Lemme tell you,
when you come back to

Tennessee, you gotta call
ahead of time, and I'll go

and get a fresh possum
off the road for you and we'll

have a barbeque.

FRANK: Yeah.

CORKY: I promise you, next time.

MIKE: You promise?

CORKY: Promise.

MIKE: Thanks man.

CORKY: Thanks buddy.

[♪]

MIKE: What are you doin'?

FRANK: I'm just eatin'
one of these bars that

Danielle put in.

MIKE: You're eatin' those bars?

FRANK: Yeah.

MIKE: Dude, did you read it?

FRANK: Why, what does it say?

MIKE: Look, I'll
tell you what it says.

FRANK: It says no calories.

MIKE: It says, specially
formulated for women.

Danielle put these bars
in here to mess with us.

FRANK: They taste
pretty good, though.

MIKE: How do you feel?

FRANK: I feel, uh, fresh.

MIKE: [laughing]

[♪]