Mills Golf Ball on American Restorations

[Dave]

Did anyone see the American Restorations episode which featured the Mills Golf Ball machine.

He charged $8,000 and said it would be worth $15,000 - $20,000 when done.

I bought a really nice restored one of these at VCA about a year ago for under $5,000!

What is worse, the machine on the show was a bastardized Page Boy (which Rick did tell him).

When the final product was shown I am pretty dang sure it was not the same machine.

The golf ball storage area was totally wrong on the original machine and they didn't show that area on the final machine.

In addition, the inside cabinet on the final product looked to me like it had original stickers and the one to being with did not.

The hole on the first one which dispensed the golf balls was in the wrong spot and was in the correct spot on the final product.

At the end he told the customer he had a 100% totally original Golf Ball machine.

Like WTF???? How can it be totally original with reproduction strips? Let alone the fact that it started its life as a Page Boy.

His slot expert didn't say much. He just said he would clean up the mechanism and put on golf ball strips. I am betting the slot guy said off camera that no fricken way can this machine be made into an original golf ball machine.

The electromechanical stuff was going to be done by the pinball guy who made it appear that it was true rocket science to get the thing working. In reality, all he had to do was find a stepper switch which shouldn't be too hard for a pinball guy.

At the end the owner said man this thing is beautiful, hard to believe it is the same machine.

[subsailortrainman]

I watch that show all the time and it never ceases to amaze me. I am in the pinball business and I laugh every time they say a machine is worth 2 or 3 times what it really should sell for. As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as a reality show. They are all manipulated to portray what the producers want them to. Rick should have said the golf ball slot looks like it did originally, not that it was restored to original condition. Just remember the show is for entertainment and not for accuracy.
My 2 cents!
Dave

[buzzojoe]

The crap with American Restorations started years ago when the Pawn Stars guys took him an old soda machine and at the end of the episode the machine that he "restored" was a COMPLETELY different brand and type!!! It was like dropping off a Model A and picking up a 57 Chevy!
I quit watching that show because I got tired of yelling at the TV every week when he would tell someone that a $150.00 Hershey's candy machine is worth $3,000.00 or that a roll a top is worth $12,000.00....
And it's not just coin op stuff. It was just as bad with things like pedal cars.

I am a little concerned about the attitudes of some of the people here on this site though. In my opinion it's dangerous to start making statements about things "never being made" or "never painted that color".
Back when Dick Bueschel (whom I miss greatly) was alive, he would jump all over a coin op "mystery", and MANY times would find an old flyer, letter, or article that showed that something DID indeed exist or that an oddball variation of a machine HAD been made. I own a manufacturing company, and I can tell you that if we need to ship out an order and find ourselves out of the "standard" widget for a machine, but have one that is a little different but fits and works perfectly well, we will make the substitution in order to ship out the product. And I can pretty much guarantee that in the 1930's things were a lot less controlled than they are today. SO I always wince when I hear someone say " The Atlas "blank" gumball machine was NEVER produced with the 8 sided globe!"
It's fine to say that you have never seen one or that it's probably not original, but unless you were actually AT the Atlas factory on that Friday afternoon in 1933 when they were trying to finish up the last 10 machines to put on a truck that was waiting for them, I don't think it's prudent to say that they "NEVER" made such a thing.
Whenever I hear or see those statements I can see Dick up in heaven shaking his head and saying "Now NOT SO FAST! Let me dig into it a little bit before we "poo poo" it".

[WS65711]

And it's not just coin op stuff. It was just as bad with things like pedal cars....

That's when I quit watching that show. I recall he had an old kinda-beat-up pedal car... real similar to one I had when I was a kid in the late 50's early 60's. When he finished with the car it looked like it just rolled off the assembly line in China . . . Not my idea of the way to "restore" stuff.

[buzzojoe]

I have no doubt that Rick can and does do amazing restoration work. But both for the sake of the show and also to justify his existence he needs to inflate the values of things.
If a woman brought Rick her husband's old Tonka truck and wanted it restored, and Rick told her "I'm going to have 30 hours in it which will cost you $3,000.00, and when I'm done the Tonka will be worth $150.00", no one would ever use him.
I always try to keep in mind the sentimental value of having the actual toy or bicycle that you had as a kid as opposed to one "just like it". But I can't see that sentimental value being worth TEN TIMES the actual value of something....

[Dave]

I have no doubt that Rick can and does do amazing restoration work. But both for the sake of the show and also to justify his existence he needs to inflate the values of things.
If a woman brought Rick her husband's old Tonka truck and wanted it restored, and Rick told her "I'm going to have 30 hours in it which will cost you $3,000.00, and when I'm done the Tonka will be worth $150.00", no one would ever use him.
I always try to keep in mind the sentimental value of having the actual toy or bicycle that you had as a kid as opposed to one "just like it". But I can't see that sentimental value being worth TEN TIMES the actual value of something....

So it is OK for him to lie to a customer about what a machine will be worth in order to get the job?

I have had many people contact me with a slot and they ask about restoring it. In almost all cases I tell them they will never get the cost of the restoration out of the machine. The latest example was last week when a person asked me to restore a trade stimulator. The machine was really rough and I told her just to sell it as is because she would never recoup the cost of the restoration.

It is one thing to have a machine restored for sentimental reasons. If the customer wants to pay $1,000 to restore something that will not go up in value by that much then that is their right as long as they know that ahead of time.

Maybe what I should do is charge the customer more than what a restored machine would sell for. Then go buy it already restored and give the customer that one and keep the one that was supposed to be restored.

[slotcolector]

That golf Ball machines was Bought as a replacement. I know because I saw it for sale at a dealer in So Cal that is huge. He has 10,000+ machines in his building and when I went back and it was gone I asked him who he sold it to. He smiled and said just watch for it on TV. I could not get any more info even though I have bough many machines from them. I guess I could ask again because that was 8 month ago. Maybe he is ready to talk now.

[Dave]

HA!!! I knew it!

Do you remember what he was asking for it?

[Dave]

Actually, the customer ended up with a lot better machine.

He got a real Mills Golf Ball instead of a bastardized Page Boy.

I think he was charged $8K for the "restoration". I think $8K is pretty much retail for that machine these days.

I wonder how much American Restorations had to pay for it.

I wonder how often this happens on the show.

[slotcolector]

When it was in his office He wanted 10K for it. I think it was $8000 when he got bored of it and put it out in the lobby for sale. If I remember the show correctly Rick said he found the correct lower casting and ball casting but never said it was a whole new machine. Does anyone remember when they did a coke machine and it started out as a square machine and it ended up as a round top. On that one he said he replaced the door. How does a round top door fit on a square machine ??? Or how about that Ricks brother was a customer on one of the first machines that brought in an item to restore!!!!! SAD SAD SAD