“I Give You Cash” Rick Dispenses Big Bills | Compilation | Pawn Stars

Pretty good.
What do we got here?
This is the most beautiful acoustic guitar you have ever seen– a Gibson Custom Shop SJ 200.
Oh, what’s so nice about this?
No, whoa, whoa. OK.
No.
Let me handle that.
What are you guys tripping on?
This guitar was built by a man named Ren Ferguson, and he is one of the most respected guitar luthiers in the world, and this was actually the very first Master Museum.
This is serial number 1.
Master Museum series is a collection of acoustic guitars, really high end, really ornate.
BIG HOSS: So it’s serial number 1.
Master Museum series, built by Ren Ferguson.
Yep.
CHUMLEE: What’s so special about that?
[chuckles] LANDON: It’s about as special as it could be for a guitar.
It’s really rare that something like this actually comes in.
I buy and sell a lot of guitars.
It’s what I do for a living.
It’s a collectors guitar.
It’s– it’s an art piece, basically, probably the most beautiful acoustic guitar you’ve ever seen.
It’s perfect.
BIG HOSS: Do you mind pulling it out?
I don’t want to touch it, but. LANDON: Yeah, no problem.
BIG HOSS: Yeah.
[music playing] All right.
See, here we’ve got pearl and abalone inlays on the pick guard all the way up the ebony fret board.
You can see the sparkle sunburst purfling there– they call it purfling– around the edges.
Maypole, back and sides.
Got a sick spruce top.
Ebony bridge, like I said, ebony fret board.
CHUMLEE: Have you ever played this?
Once.
I played it once for about two minutes, and then I put it back in the case.
How’s it sound?
It is the best sounding guitar I have ever played.
We’ve had a ton of Gibsons come in the shop over the years, but we’ve never had anything this fancy or ornate.
I mean, they literally made it as a museum piece.
If this is really serial number 1, it could be huge.
So were you looking to sell it or pawn it, or?
LANDON: Looking to sell it.
All right.
Um.
How much do you want for it?
[suspenseful music] Looking at 50 grand.
50 grand?
Do you mind if I have a buddy of mine come take a look at it?
Is there any particular reason?
You know, if I’m going to come up with a number, it’s gonna be from him.
LANDON: OK, that’s fair enough.
We can do that.
CHUMLEE: All right. Chum, come with me.
I don’t trust you around it. [music playing] Don’t trust me?
BIG HOSS: You’re just clumsy, dude.
I don’t know if it’s necessary to call in another expert.
It’s– uh, it’s what I do for a living, so I know what I’m talking about.
Need I say more?
[chuckles] That’s rad.
It’s a Ren Ferguson, dude.
That’s cool.
Looks like it’s a ’91.
Yep, 1991.
Ren Ferguson is, like, the best of the best as far as builders go.
I mean, it’s pretty significant that this is number one of the Master Museum series.
It’s not like number 1 of 20 that are just like it.
It’s the only one.
It’s an individual piece of art.
The Master Museum series that Gibson started was kind of like a showcase to show off the caliber of work that their workers can do.
They gave each one kind of a different theme, and they do a few a year.
[guitar music] Wow.
Sounds as good as it looks.
It does.
[laughter] You can see all the mother of pearl work.
All this stuff was done by hand, all this binding that you see around the sides.
I mean, come on, it’s got gold flake in the binding.
You know, that’s something you don’t see every day on a guitar.
This is as good as it gets– this is the Rolex Presidential of– of, of Gibson guitars.
So uh, I guess the– the million question.
You want to know what you– what you should get into it for?
BIG HOSS: Yeah.
I mean– uh, what– what are they selling for?
JESSE: The average Master Museum averages about 30 grand.
This one, being the first one, man.
I mean, easily 50 to 60 grand, I would think.
Dang.
[laughter] It’s– it’s the right guy guitar, ’cause you got to find a guy that’s really into this kind of an instrument, but it’s the coolest of the bunch, you know?
Well, right on, my man. Appreciate it.
No problem, dude.
You know, a guitar of this caliber usually ends up in a rock star’s hands, or a really high end collector.
You said you wanted 50, man.
I mean, I got to make money on it.
[suspenseful music] – Yeah, I can understand that.
Would you go 40?
LANDON: Um.
I will give you $100 bills.
[chuckles] I really don’t want to come off of that asking price.
BIG HOSS: You know, man, I’m afraid that I’m going to buy it off you, then I’m going to have it for two years, and I’m gonna sell it for 50 grand.
I got to make something.
43.
[landon sighs] 48?
BIG HOSS: 45.
LANDON: I can’t do it, man.
You can do 45.
LANDON: You gotta remember, this is serial number 1.
I’m hesitant even to drop to 48.
(STAMMERS) I really don’t want to move from my price.
All right, deal.
[sighs] Chum, you wanna go write him up?
[rock music] I wasn’t expecting to drop that much, but it’s such a nice guitar.
I’m banking on getting at least 60,000 for it when I sell it.
Otherwise, I’m not going to make a dime on it.
CHUMLEE: All right.
I just need your ID.
Kinda having some second thoughts, man.
[suspenseful music] You gonna sell it or not?
[huffs] CHUMLEE: Hey, Corey!
Come here.
This guy’s having second thoughts.
BIG HOSS: Counting the money, man.
I don’t think I can sell it, man.
BIG HOSS: You sure?
I don’t think so.
BIG HOSS: Have you seen the new $100 bills?
They’re– they’re beautiful.
Have you ever seen a hundred of them?
Looks great, but– [chuckles] –man, this is– this is my baby.
You want 50 for it?
[huffs] I just– Hey, that’s what you came in here wanting.
I know, man.
I just don’t think I can part with it.
No, man, I can’t force you, but you change your mind, I’ll be here. All right?
All right. I’m sorry, man.
Take care.
CHUMLEE: Big Hoss, I’ll have some of that money.
[slow rock music] I think this is the first time where I’ve ever actually backed out on a deal that I thought was– you know, a fair price.
When I shook his hand, and my heart just sank, and I just– man, I couldn’t do it.
When I got over to the counter, I had to come clean.
RICK: Hey, how can I help you?
Hey.
I got a 1918 Federal Reserve note.
RICK: OK.
This is pretty cool.
Most people don’t realize this note right here, you know, it’s $1,000.
But in 1918, this could buy a lot.
This could buy a small house.
RICHARD: If could buy a large house back then, son.
RICK: No.
It couldn’t buy a large house back then.
It could buy a small house back then.
Large house.
[music playing] ROBERT: My grandmother collected all kinds of things and she just gave me a whole box and the note was actually in it.
I think the bill is interesting.
You’d definitely be balling if you had a couple of these back in 1918 in your pocket.
Believe it or not, you can still spend this cash today and everything like that.
It’s worth more than the face value, so I wouldn’t suggest doing it.
But– ROBERT: Well, I haven’t seen $1,000 bill before.
Why did they actually start making those?
RICK: It just was a lot more convenient.
You needed larger bills.
You have to realize, this is 1918.
There’s not credit cards.
There’s not ATMs.
RICHARD: And, in fact, if you bought something, you paid cash for it.
Let me see it, son.
These old bills are pretty cool but I prefer the new ones.
Nothing better than a crisp $100 bill.
Most people don’t realize the Federal Reserve is not part of the federal government.
Believe it or not, it is a pseudo private organization.
1913, it was Morgan Chase and some other bankers got together, and they basically came up with the whole idea of the Federal Reserve, wrote the bills and everything, and presented them to Congress and got it passed.
It’s sort of like this really shadowy, weird thing, which I don’t dig.
But– [laughs] that’s what prints all of our money and who was printing it back then.
Wow.
RICK: I’ve seen lots of old high dollar bills like this go for tens of thousands of dollars.
Since this one isn’t graded, it’s hard to tell exactly what I can get out of it.
But I’m thinking $4 to $5 grand.
What are you going to get out of it?
Well, I saw $10,000 on– online.
I know it’s not in the best condition, but how about six?
How about no?
Me and my father have dealt with these for years.
I know all about them.
With these things, condition is everything.
It’s been folded a few times.
It looks like it’s been folded and they ironed it back out to make it look flat.
But they are rare.
Remember, it is $1,000 bill.
Very few people were walking around with these things, so there’s not a lot in circulation.
I’ll give you, like, $2 grand.
Can you do $3,500?
On of the difficulties in selling these things, when you start giving collectibles that are a lot of money, the group of people that can afford them is a lot less.
I’ll tell you what.
I’ll go $2,500 bucks and I won’t go no more.
If you say 26, I’m going to tell you to leave.
$2,500 cash?
Cash money.
– OK. – All right.
It’s a deal, man.
Every buy at the shop is a risk, especially in things that need to be graded.
I’m hoping it’ll come back graded as a 15 to 20 out of a possible 70.
If it does, it should be a nice little profit.
RICHARD: You want to see something you’ll never see again?
CHUMLEE: What?
RICHARD: $1,000 bill.
CHUMLEE: Oh, sweet!
A G-note.
Imagine having a stack of these.
RICHARD: That would be nice, Chumlee.
RICK: Those, you don’t want to spend, Chum.
Those– that’s worth a lot more than its face value.
That’s $1,000 bucks!
Hell, yeah, I want to spend it.
RICK: No, it’s– I just paid $2,500 for $1,000 bill.
CHUMLEE: Well, that’s your fault.
Why would you pay $2,500 for $1,000?
That don’t make sense.
I mean, it’s been folded, like, all over the place.
RICK: I know.
Even been that one being folded, I think, is probably worth $4,000 to $8,000, probably.
Probably?
My dad always pulls this crap.
He’d be real mad if I spent that kind of money on something that wasn’t graded.
But now that I’m a partner, I stand to lose money, too, if he messes us up.
You definitely should have had somebody look at it first.
Well, it’s not something you just have someone look at.
You have to send it in and get them graded.
COREY: Oh, so you’re a professional grader now.
RICK: No.
I bought– I’ve bought and sold currency my whole life.
COREY: You should have called somebody.
RICK: I don’t need to call anybody.
RICHARD: Corey, you can’t call an expert every time.
You got to go with your gut once in a while.
COREY: There was no gut here.
I knew exactly what I was doing.
Now that Corey’s a partner in the shop, he thinks he can question every decision I make.
I don’t need my snot nosed son telling me what’s a good buy and what’s not.
What if it’s only worth $1,200 bucks?
Then we lost money. But– CHUMLEE: What if it’s a fake?
–at $1,200, I’ll buy it.
RICK: At 12– if it’s only worth $1,200, I will give this to Chumlee for his paycheck.
Hell, yeah.
Plus my regular one?
RICK: Plus your regular paycheck, Chum.
CHUMLEE: That’s a bold statement.
RICK: I’m sending it off to get graded.
It’s going to come back.
It’s going to be worth– it’s– it’ll be fine.
I’m just– COREY: Well, I guess it’s worth at least $1,000 bucks.
Right?
RICK: Will you guys please go back to work?
Well, you’re about to find out of that $2,500 was well spent.
RICK: I guarantee you it was well spent.
Let’s see.
[music playing] Are you ready?
What is it?
It is more bubble wrap.
[laughs] RICHARD: Open the damn thing, Rick.
It’s fake.
[laughs] I’m kidding.
[laughs] COREY: What did it come back as?
RICK: It’s a 25, very fine.
Perfect would be a 70, which would make it worth, like, $100,000 probably.
But this is far from that.
So I’m thinking, like, $7 grand, it’s worth.
RICHARD: Trying to give me a damn heart attack.
COREY: All right.
RICK: I want you to apologize to me.
I’m not going to apologize.
I never said you did anything wrong.
I just said you should have found out what it was worth before you paid for it. – No.
You basically called me an idiot, and I think you should apologize.
COREY: I didn’t call you an idiot.
I’m just saying you didn’t know what it was worth when you bought it.
RICHARD: Oh, shut up, all of you.
Give me that thing, Rick.
Give it up!
There you go, Dad.
RICHARD: I’m going to sit here and examine this for a while.
You two [bleep] get back to work.
COREY: I don’t know why you’re examining it.
It’s already been graded.
– Hey, Rick, you want to come check this out?
– Hey, how’s it going? – How you doing?
– That is cool. I’m just assuming it’s a Peter Max? [laughs] – That it is.
– Pretty interesting.
Peter Max has got a really weird, storied life.
You know, I mean, this guy was born in, like, Nazi Germany, but his family doesn’t go like, to the States or England.
They go to China.
[laughs] – The painting is a Peter Max painting originally painted in 2010. It’s the Statue of Liberty series. I got the painting from a family friend, who actually got it from Peter Max himself at an auction in New York. I’m looking to sell the Peter Max painting to invest money into my new company.
– Yeah, I mean, Peter Max. I mean, really interesting guy. You know, he started painting sort of like this, you know, in the 60s. He loved comic books when he was a kid, so that’s why he sort of liked this art, and in the ’70s he started doing the Statue of Liberty. He worked with Lee Iacocca to restore the Statue of Liberty, because literally, in the early ’80s, there was big, gaping holes in the Statue of Liberty, ’cause the whole thing is made out of copper, and it’s really not sealed or anything, and it just sort of slowly started falling apart.
Peter Max has a very distinctive style, and he’s still popular today.
He’s done posters for the Olympics, the Grammys, and a host of other things. His work has been known to sell for over $100,000.
If this thing is real, it’ll be a great item in my shop.
So you want to sell this? – Yeah, I’m interested in selling it, yeah. – How much were you looking to get out of it? – Based on what the market is, I’m trying to get about $35,000.
– Whoa.
Um…
I mean, it’s interesting.
This looks like it’s an original and all that. You got paperwork with it? – Yeah, I do have paperwork. – Okay. Let me have someone look at it.
I mean, the problem with Peter Max is, he has so much stuff out there, okay?
I’m not taking away– I mean, he’s real– I mean, mega iconic. People absolutely love him. But I don’t know exactly what the market’s like at the moment. So can you hang out for a little bit? – Sure, absolutely.
– I’m gonna go give someone a call. – Okay.
I think an expert coming is great. I’m looking forward to what he thinks of the piece.
This is it. The Peter Max. – Peter Max. He’s one of those few artists that, you know, when you see him, you know it’s a Peter Max.
This is a nice work. He’s also very much into American jazz, and he was one of the very first artists that would paint to music.
He would actually, you know, play the music, and you can see that his work, even to this day, has a real lyrical quality. You can almost imagine the jazz music playing in the background as he applies the colors. Peter Max is a very interesting artist.
He’s probably the most omnipresent artist you’ll find.
His work can be found on the side of cruise ships, on album covers, you know name it.
Ever since the ’60s, he’s been identifiable for his semi-psychedelic and just very fluid abstract compositions.
What I’d like to do is just take a closer look. I just want to see, maybe, if it’s a printed base that he embellished, or if it’s a completely one-of-a-kind work.
A lot of times, the image of the Statue of Liberty would be a lithograph, and then he would add dollops of acrylic on top of it.
I don’t think that’s the case with this one. I think the visage was applied with a stencil, but I don’t think it’s a print. – Okay.
– And then he added the acrylic, all the different colors, and the embellishments around the sides. So it’s definitely an original, and it’s certainly a one-of-a-kind.
– Okay.
So, I mean, what’s the market on this thing?
I just–because I know there’s a lot of them out there.
– Right, right. Yeah, the good news is this is a fairly iconic image. You know, the Statue of Liberty, he’s identified for that, so that’s a good thing. The bad thing is, you know, he’s done a lot of them.
He’s probably done over 1,000 of these type of images over the course of his career. The other thing is, he’s still a living, working artist, so he’s producing more of these as time goes on.
In a gallery situation, you might see this same work for $50,000, but they’re so prevalent, you might find the same work selling for $10,000 on the internet.
So that’s the conundrum.
So I think an appropriate value for a work like this would probably be in the $25,000 range.
– All right, well, thanks man. – Rick, hey, it’s a pleasure. – Appreciate it. – Willie, that’s a nice work. – Thank you.
Nice to meet you. – Thank you, nice meeting you.
If the shop is able to negotiate, Peter Max, he’s a living icon, so I think they’re gonna have an audience for it here at the shop.
– I mean, what would be the best price you’d take? – I’m pretty firm on my $35,000 price. – I mean, I– it’s tough. – Mm-hmm. – [sighs] I mean, I’ll give you 10 grand. – [sighs] I mean, he said it’s worth 25.
Can you do 15?
– I’ll go 12 grand.
That’s cash money. You can walk out of here. I am stuck with it. I hang it on my wall, and if it doesn’t sell, it’s my problem, and you walk away with cash.
– All right, you got a deal. – Sweet, man. Follow me, and we’ll do some paperwork. – Sounds good. – This way. – I’m taking the $12,000 offer, because I think with those funds I can do some real things for my business that I want to do.
How can I help you today?
Well, sir, I got something that was handed down from my great grandfather– original receipt from Andrew Jackson from the Civil War.
RICK: No, this is during the War of 1812.
Do you know when the War of 1812 was fought?
– Yeah. – When?
1812, son.
RICK: OK.
[laughter] GREG: I decided to come to the pawn shop today to try to sell my Andrew Jackson authentic letter.
I think that it’s some type of receipt for a purchase of guns.
I’m hoping to get maybe about– maybe about 400 or 500.
RICK: Andrew Jackson became really, really popular during the War of 1812.
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and England.
The main reason was the English kept on just taking our sailors off merchant ships and saying, hey, you’re now in the English Navy.
Next thing you know, we’re caught up in a war with England.
“The Quartermaster General will pay $80 to the amount of the above account for eight muskets.
And it’s signed Andrew Jackson.
GREG: Yeah.
That’s his signature right there.
He beat the hell out of the British.
For over a month, Jackson held off a British invasion to seize New Orleans.
He instantly became a national hero, and that helped him get elected as the seventh president of the United States.
So what did you want to do with this?
I want to go ahead and sell it.
I really don’t have any use for it right now.
RICK: I mean, it looks old, but there’s a few little weird things here.
There’s two kinds of ink.
And Andrew Jackson’s a pretty damn common name.
I’m pretty sure that’s the real Andrew Jackson.
RICK: I mean, it’s obviously received sometime during the War of 1812, OK?
I just want to make sure someone didn’t add these things to it at a later date, because they were faking stuff 100 years ago.
They could have put– well, we add Andrew Jackson to it, and that’d make it really cool.
This document is definitely old, but I have to be careful.
I have questions about the signature, and I can’t make an offer until I have an expert check it out.
Let me get someone in here just to make sure this is all legit.
GREG: OK. – We’ll go from there.
We’ll go from there. Sound good to you?
That’s fair enough.
RICK: All right, thanks a lot, man.
GREG: OK.
Hey, Dana.
This is what I called you about.
OK, what are your concerns?
RICK: It appears to be two different types of ink.
I don’t know if it was added later.
DANA: All right.
I’m Dana, president of Early American History Auctions.
And I specialize in rare coins, currency, Americana, and historic early American artifacts.
It’s a receipt for eight muskets.
It’s dated March 30, 1813, at New Orleans.
GREG: Yes.
During this period of time, Andrew Jackson was in New Orleans, and he would have been buying muskets for his troops.
And what I think this is, where you have two different kinds of writing, I think that Andrew Jackson himself made these changes to the receipt.
It looks totally authentic to me.
And it’s a period piece with his signature and handwriting.
This is a wonderful item.
Good.
Yes.
DANA: And that would be estimated somewhere between $4,000 to $6,000.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
All right.
Thanks a lot, Dana. Appreciate it.
– You’re more than welcome. – Have a good day.
Good seeing you again.
I feel really good because I found out that this was real and it was worth a whole lot more money than I actually thought it was.
That’s great.
That’s really great. RICK: You want to sell, right?
GREG: Yes, I want to sell.
RICK: How much you want?
What can you give me?
I’ll give you 2,500.
GREG: Come on, it’s real.
I can go to the Smithsonian and get– The Smithsonian– no, no.
They take donations.
They don’t pay cash.
[laughs] At least 3,000.
At least 3,000, at least.
I’ll meet you in the middle at 2,750.
Oh, man.
You ain’t going to find it nowhere else.
I’m at 2,800 bucks.
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
All right, I’ll tell you what.
I’ll give you 2,900 bucks.
Quit bending, Rick.
2,900?
It’s cash money. $100 bills, right now.
29?
I’ll take it. 29.
RICK: All right, let’s go do some paperwork.
Yeah, OK.
I’m super excited right now.
I’m super excited because I made a lot of money on that today.
And I’m happy.
I’m really happy today.
Yes.
– My buddy Derek who owns the D Casino downtown is thinking about selling his Sigma Derby Racer.
This is one of the coolest machines ever made for Vegas.
So I’m going to go see if I can buy it.
– Here it is.
This was like the coolest thing in the world back in the 80’s.
Me and my buddies used to play this thing all night long.
– Rick, can I borrow a couple bucks?
– [Rick] I got hundreds.
– That will do.
– Bring me change.
– Yeah, I’m going to get two rolls of quarters.
Or 10.
– Sigma Derby is a slot machine that 10 people could play together.
This is a machine that has a life unto itself.
A lot of people believe if you come to Vegas and make your first bet on Sigma Derby, it’s good luck for the rest of the weekend.
– Back in the day, I absolutely loved these things.
You and all your buddies could play the thing And it only cost a quarter.
You know, it limited the amount of money you could lose.
You have to wait for all your buddies to make a bet, and then you’ve got to wait for it to go around.
It’s not like a slot machine that takes two seconds.
– That’s right, it’s a community slot machine, you can have a drink here and everybody’s in it together.
– Did you win, Chum?
– No!
(laughing) – This machine’s pretty iconic here in Vegas.
There’s only a couple of them left and I know it could be worth a ton of money.
I just got to see what he wants for it.
So, you thinking about selling it maybe?
– You know, we’ve had it up here a couple years, I love this game but I’m open.
– Okay, how much you want for it?
– [Derek] This thing’s pretty special.
I probably need about $80,000.
– I have no idea if that’s a good price.
Let me call a buddy of mine and let me have a look at it, all right?
– All right.
I’m so proud of this machine that if Rick can bring an expert in, I’m excited about it because I think he’s going to see what great shape this one’s in.
So, what do you think?
– I like it.
Let me tell you a little bit about the machine.
Sigma was created by Masayuki Watanabe back in the 60’s and he learned quickly that to compete in the slot machine industry, you need to make machines that are not like everybody else is making.
So he made this and just about every major casino in town back in 1985 had one of these.
But this particular machine is really nice to see because it works.
That was the biggest problem with these is that they were always breaking down.
Well, what do you want to know?
– Does it run right?
Apparently it runs right.
And what do these things go for?
– It’s very rare to find one of these really working and he’s got all 10 stations that are running.
I’ve seen them as low as $7,000 in unrestored shape.
In this shape, probably at least 30, 40,000.
– Okay, cool, thanks man.
– You’re welcome, very nice to meet you.
– Good to meet you.
– Hey, Nick.
– Yeah?
– Before you leave, can you change the setting so I can win?
– I would love to but that would be cheating.
A collector would want this because it’s unique but first of all, you’ve got to have a place to put it and then you had the right buyer that’s going to invest their basement space for this.
Yeah, I mean, if they get a good price for it, it’d be a good buy.
– So how much did you want for this thing?
– You know, for me, I needed 80.
– [Rick] That’s not going to happen.
I guess I can’t make you an offer.
There’s just no money here.
But thanks, man, thanks for showing it to me.
– Rick, thanks.
– Brings back memories, come on, Chum.
– Hold on, I’m waiting on this last race.
– [Rick] Chum.
– I’ll meet you in the car.
I’m one minute behind you.
– Okay, if you’re not out there in two minutes, I’m leaving without you.
You’re walking to the shop.
– You know, for us it’s still something really special I think at the price that the expert put out there, it’s worth a lot more to us on the floor.
– Yeah! Woo!
Hold on, Rick, let me cash out.
(coins clinking) – [Corey] Couldn’t buy the Sigma Derby machine?
– No, I think he just wanted to get an idea of what it’s worth.
– Ching, ching! Counting my scritch scratch.
Yeah, just won a bunch of money!
– [Rick] You mean, you won my money.
– [Chumlee] I lost that hundred bucks.
– Let me get this straight.
You lost my money but you won your money?
– Yeah, when I put up another $20, it went crazy.
Dude, jockey’s got to be the easiest job in the world.
– I’d be a better jockey than you guys.
– Ha! You’re the size of four jockeys.
– [Rick] Have you ever rode a horse?
– Three times, boom.
– [Rick] Does not exactly make you an expert.
– But look at my jockey form.
This is like perfect.
– I tell you what, if you guys ride a horse, I’ll feel sorry for the horse.
– Can you ever say anything nice about me?
– [Richard] Well, your head’s really shiny.
(laughs) COREY: What do you got?
PAUL: I got something in the car guy just can’t live without it, and it’s a Sun tune up tester.
And it doesn’t fit through the front door?
Well, it would be quite a challenge to get it through that front door.
Man, why don’t you bring it to the back?
I got a storage place back there.
PAUL: OK, great.
Come on, Dad.
I’m not sure this guy has.
But I am a car guy, so we might as well look at it.
Haven’t these things been replaced by a laptop?
No.
I think they’ve been replaced by a smartphone.
[laughs] PAUL: I came to the pawn shop today to try and sell my Sun tune up tester.
I need to sell it because I just don’t have the room for it.
I’d like to get $600 for it, but I might consider a little less.
COREY: Where’d you get this thing?
Back in the day I was a tune up mechanic and used one of these.
And about 10 years ago, I tried to find one.
And I found a community college that had 10 of them in a lot.
So you wanted one of these pretty bad.
Why?
Every once in a while you run into a problem and you just can’t figure it out.
So you can either replace all the whole ignition system or you can take a scope like this and put it on there, and you could fix exactly what the problem is.
RICK: I mean, back in the day this was a really big deal.
You really needed one of these to work on a car.
Machines like this were a great innovation.
It saved mechanics a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong with the car.
Pretty futuristic stuff for the time.
So how does this thing work?
It’s pretty simple.
List measures volts and ohms.
OK?
This measured how much vacuum you were getting off it, and a tachometer.
And is that an actual oscilloscope?
It basically is an oscilloscope, yes.
RICK: It’s a lot different nowadays.
I mean, literally you can just plug into the car and it’ll tell you, the coil pack is bad on cylinder number seven.
But, back in the day, you needed all this stuff.
There wasn’t as easy to test a motor.
This thing is pretty outdated in terms of technology.
But on old cars, some mechanics can actually use this.
Should we just hook it up to the car to see what it does?
Do you mind? PAUL: No.
I’d be glad to.
So this arm swings out.
COREY: I feel like we’re about to go into surgery or something here.
Oh, nice engine.
All right.
This goes on the number one plug wire.
And on a Volkswagen, it’s up here.
This goes on the wire to the coil, which is right here.
This goes to ground.
And then this goes to the coil.
All right.
If I can get somebody to start the engine up– [engine revving] All right.
You’re seen where the points are opening and closing, and this was the coil that’s firing.
And we can see the spark plugs and they’re all pretty even.
That’s pretty good.
Now if we want to see– if we suspect one cylinder is bad, we could turn one cylinder off.
COREY: When you’re pressing these buttons, are you actually killing cylinders in the car?
PAUL: Correct.
And you can turn the car off from this?
Sure.
COREY: I’m impressed.
It’s definitely cool that this thing still works, but it’s still a tough sell.
I got to find a guy who still uses equipment like this.
So how much do you want for it?
I’m thinking $600 is the bargain of the century for you.
Oh.
I’ll give you $200 bucks for it.
It’s so outdated.
There’s so few people in the world– Why would even pay $200 for it?
RICK: Because there’s those old guys out there like Danny, who refuse to learn the new stuff, that might still be interested in it.
PAUL: If you have it in your shop and people come by, they’ll think you’re the coolest mechanic in the whole world.
How about $400?
RICK: I mean, I just don’t know if it’ll sell.
And it takes up so much space.
PAUL: How about $300?
I mean, I gave you a free diagnosis on your engine and– RICK: $275.
Well, as long as you promise not to tease me when I cry when I have to leave this here, it’s a deal.
RICK: All right. No problem.
Thank you. COREY: You’re insane.
What do I even call this thing?
It’s a son Sun tune up tester.
It’s right there on the front of it.
All right, man, follow me.
PAUL: We made a deal on $275.
And since I’m in the middle of moving, it’s going to come in more than handy.
RICK: Earlier, I bought an old Sun tune up tester for $275.
Corey thinks I’ve made a bad deal, and he’s been giving me crap ever since.
It was the stupidest thing you’ve ever bought.
RICK: It is not stupid.
OK?
The entire thing’s been replaced by a laptop.
If I brought my car somewhere and they were using one of those I would leave. – OK– What the hell are you two talking about?
OK.
I bought, like, a 1970s, 1980s old school car analyzer.
COREY: Might as well go throw it in the trash.
RICK: To be a small business owner, you got to have imagination.
And these guys have none.
They give be crap every time I buy something just a little outside the box.
But at the end of the day, I always end up making money, so I don’t know why they even bother.
I have a buyer lined up.
COREY: Who?
Danny.
Why would– Hey, what did you pay for the damn thing?
$275 bucks.
At times, your a freaking idiot.
COREY: My dad keeps lecturing us on how we need to buy more stuff and how great unusual stuff is and blah, blah, blah.
But this time he’s wrong.
I don’t understand why I never get any love in this family.
It’s ridiculous.
RICHARD: You don’t deserve any.
Good to see you, Corey.
Good to see you, Rick.
Always.
What did you guys call me down for?
I got something really cool.
I want to come and check it out, just behind me.
All right.
All right.
Come on, Chum.
DANNY: The guys usually call me to come down and check out either a car or a motorcycle or anything automotive or truck related.
You don’t see this every day, brother.
Today that kind of flipped the script on me.
Rick said, come on down.
I got something for you to look at.
I figured, OK, it’s going to be another car.
No.
Piece of equipment this time.
This is cool, man.
It looks like something out of a laboratory.
It talks to old cars.
I like that.
You can check your compression on each cylinder with this, as well.
It helps you tune your carburetor.
COREY: All right.
Million dollar question– you want to buy it?
RICK: Hey, I was easing him into that.
All right?
OK.
So that’s why you called me.
Does it all work?
It’s cheap enough and it does work.
What’s your definition of cheap enough?
$500 bucks.
This thing literally had to cost, like, $6,000 or $7,000 when it was new.
Well, yeah, but, you know, so did a Yugo.
[laughter] What will you give me for it?
How about $100 bucks?
I’ll be honest with you, Danny, I paid $275 bucks for it.
Give me a profit.
You may have overpaid for this.
CHUMLEE: By about how much?
By about $175 bucks.
[laughter] RICK: $280.
I’m only making $5 bucks and I’m buying drinks tonight.
How about this, man?
How about $100 bucks cash right now and I’ll buy the drinks tonight.
Just admit it.
You paid way too much for this thing.
I’m never going to admit anything.
I’ll see you tonight. – Thank you, brother.
I’ll see you tonight, man. We’ll have a good time.
RICK: OK.
Sometimes you gamble and lose, but I doubt if I’ll ever hear the end of this.
I guess I just got to wait a day or two until my son screws something up, and everyone else forget about it anyway.
So what do we got, man?
It’s a 1920s heavy porcelain, cast iron hand dryer.
CHUMLEE: That really blows.
DAN: Yeah.
COREY: [laughs] DAN: I decided to come to the pawnshop today to sell my antique electric hand dryer.
I thought I’d want to restore it, but it might be too much work.
So I decided to sell it.
I personally prefer hand paper towels.
But it’s still a neat piece.
COREY: So Where’d you get it, man?
I bought it off a guy out in Reno, Nevada.
He said it came out of a train station up there.
It’s a 1920s, and it’s extremely heavy, well-built, obviously, and brass plates with the push button brass knob on the front.
COREY: They really save corporations money.
Anything to help the bottom line, you’re going to do.
So if you’re spending $1,000 a year on paper towels or 20 bucks a month in electricity, it only makes sense to get the electric one.
Some of the first public hand dryers were put in government buildings way back in 1915.
They were definitely a lot more sanitary than the cloth towels used back then.
I don’t think it’s from the ’20s.
OK.
The main reason being is in the 1920s, even though this cord had already been invented and patented, most people were still using Edison light socket cords.
Pretty much when they first invented electricity, the first thing they did with it was light.
So it was light bulbs.
Well, everybody that had electricity in their house didn’t have the little AC plug on the ground, so they wouldn’t make the cords extra long, and you had to get up on a ladder, unscrew a light, and then plug that cord into the light.
This dryer may not be as old as this guy thinks it is, but it’s still old.
And with that vintage look in those cool brass fittings, I guarantee you some decorator out there who wants to give their bathroom that cool retro vibe will fall in love with this thing.
So what were you looking to do with it?
DAN: Sell it.
And what do you want to get out of it?
650.
COREY: $650.
I’d go like 200 bucks.
DAN: Nah.
Let’s be realistic here.
Half my customers are tourists.
I got to be able to ship this to them.
This thing’s heavy, bulky.
It takes up real estate.
There’s a lot better stuff I could put in that real estate than a hand dryer.
How about 600?
I’ll go up to 350.
I can’t go any higher.
All right, man, 350.
COREY: All right, deal.
All right.
COREY: Chum, you want to help him out?
All right, wheel it up to the front counter.
OK.
I’m glad I sold it for $350.
I only paid $25 for it.
I’m feeling great.