Mills Golf Ball on American Restorations

[Dave]

Yeah, Rick said he found the correct lower casting. Before I realized it was an entirely different machine I was thinking, how in the hell did he find a bottom casting? I was wondering if he had it recast from an original.

[kentdun]

I remember A / R restoring a sheet metal stamp machine. Very generic looking. The guy had found it in the desert as a kid. Lots of surface rust. They reproduced the graphics and repainted the cabinet. It looked like new when it was done. I think the price tag was $500. I doubt you could get that for one if it was NOS.

[slotcolector]

I forgot the most important part. The machine was restored by the company in So Cal. So I guess all rick did was roll it out. As it looked the same as the last time I saw it.

[altort]

This is not reality tv it should be called fantasy tv, I stopped watching it because of this.
I realize that there would be some staging for ratings but that show is absolutely ridiculous, not only is he over charging but to give over inflated valuations of the restored piece is deceiving the viewing public. I cant count on how many times I read an ad for a machine for sale and the seller is making reference to american restoration having restored one just like his and it was valued real high, now any one that knows better wont pay that amount for it, but now what about your average Joe that watched the same show and dose not know any better any pays way to much for the piece, he just got burnt because of that show.

[SLOT DYNASTY]

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.

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.

NO DAVE, You can't just go buy a restored machine, and give that one to the customer. There isn't very many people that know how to restore correctly. Most are either waaaaay-overdone, or half-assed. We have our
reputations to protect, and don't want to pass off something that we really had no part in restoring.

And Yes Al, American Restorations is truly a FANTASY SHOW. It should be renamed "Almost American BS-torations". I only watch the show from time to time, if I see a coin machine project, just to hear all the BS that
comes out of Rick's mouth. Even though many of their jobs turn out looking fantastic, they are not really Restored, they are just 'Redone'. Items like pedal cars, Buddy-L trucks, etc., were never powder-coated, and so
shinny, you could comb your hair in the finish. That is not 'Reality' in any sense of the word. There was once a so-called restorer, that always put a finish on every Victorian Upright that looked like Glass. He was also
not too keen in the mechanical dept. as well. He once did a Victorian Counter Wheel machine for a well-known collector, except for the wheel. It was missing. The mechanism was then shipped to me, along with a bad
wheel from another machine. After welding the current holes closed, and relocating the new, in getting the wheel set-up to mark the stops, before the painting process began, the wheel was hitting extra-long screws,
and other parts, that were not done correctly. After those items were corrected, I could now mark the stops, and finish the wheel. After the mechanism was ready, and having to redo the problems it arrived with, instead
of sending it off, I requested that the case be sent to me, for installation of the mech. Damn lucky we did this, as there were more replaced extra-long screws in the case that were hitting the wheel. If I had not done this,
and sent the mechanism back to him, and he installed it, and played the machine, the wheel would have been destroyed with the play of the first coin. Therefore, one should not call themselves a Restorer, if they don't
know the first thing about the meaning of the word. I have seen a multitude of so-called restorations over the years, that look like they belong in a circus tent.

There are also other shows on the History channel, that are Fantasy creations as well. Why some of them are on the 'HISTORY' channel is beyond me. That is NOT HISTORY.