JERSEY JON: Alright, alright, what do you mean?
I gave you my name three times already.
Okay. Jonathan...
Sebastian...
Szalay.
Yeah, that's right.
(Mike laughs)
JERSEY JON: Yeah... right...
Alright, thank you. Have a great day, bye.
MIKE: What was that?!
JERSEY JON: They wanted my full name,
my middle name is Sebastian.
MIKE: That's a power name, man!
You gotta use that. JERSEY JON: No.
MIKE: Where did that even come from?
Where did your parents get that?
Is that a family name? JERSEY JON: It was a nun's name.
In Catholic school, I went to Catholic school,
and this was Sister Sebastian.
MIKE: Sebastian Szalay...
JERSEY JON: Yeah. MIKE: ...is a name.
Think about that, you want your antique motorcycle
restored by Sebastian Szalay.
(Jersey Jon laughs) JERSEY JON: Okay, Reesa.
(laughing)
(bright music)
MIKE: See, this is my favorite part of California.
I like this more than the beach.
JERSEY JON: What? Why? MIKE: Because it's just so...
JERSEY JON: It's like endless almond trees, man,
they're just, I mean, look.
MIKE: I don't know, I like the repetition of almond trees,
I like that they're all in straight lines.
I like that, very rarely,
do you see somebody on these roads.
(phone ringing)
MIKE: Dani D, what's up? JERSEY JON: Hey.
DANIELLE: Yeah, good morning.
So I've been in contact with this guy named Marc
for a few years now, and he owns some farm land.
MIKE: A few years, what's up with that?
DANIELLE: Any time y'all have been out there, he hasn't been around.
When I called him this time, he told me that his farming
isn't really like bringing in the money that he used to,
so he's looking to sell off some of his collection.
So it's perfect timing right now.
MIKE: What's he got?
DANIELLE: He likes big stuff.
Large military trucks, helicopters, train cars.
MIKE: Really?! DANIELLE: Also there's smalls,
but it's inside the big stuff. JERSEY JON: Sounds great, man.
MIKE: Very cool. JERSEY JON: Sounds great.
DANIELLE: Alright, you guys have fun.
JERSEY JON: Dude, I've always wanted a helicopter!
DANIELLE: You make sure to behave yourselves.
(laughing)
MIKE: There it is. JERSEY JON: There's a tank, dude.
MIKE: Where? JERSEY JON: Right there, look it!
MIKE: Oh, yeah. JERSEY JON: Whoa.
MIKE: Dang man. Can you imagine buying stuff like that
and moving it? There's another tank right there.
JERSEY JON: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Guy's got some legit stuff.
JERSEY JON: Oh, there's a helicopter!
MIKE: I was just going to say that.
JERSEY JON: That's a monster. MIKE: ...friggin' helicopter, man.
MIKE: I don't think this guy deals in smalls.
JERSEY JON: Hello! Hello, hello, hello.
MIKE: Marc!
MARC: Yeah! MIKE: Hey, man. What's up?
MIKE: Talked to Dani on the phone?
MARC: Oh yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Yeah, I guess we're finally catching up with ya.
MIKE: Hey, I'm Mike. Nice to meet you.
JERSEY JON: How're you doing, man? Jon. Nice to meet you.
MARC: When I was 13 years old, I salvaged a '60 Chevy Impala.
Ever since then, I just keep dragging stuff home.
MIKE: That's a '59?
MARC: Yeah, we found this in an old bone yard.
MARC: My mind never stops.
MARC: We found this in a backyard,
just the body and the bed.
We're actually going to put it together and go have
some fun at the drag strip.
MARC: You build one, you sell it,
you go onto the next project.
MARC: I love building customs. This was going to all OD green.
We're gonna throw some stars on it and make a World War II
staff car out of it. MIKE: Really. JERSEY JON: Cool!
MIKE: This is like a laboratory of creative ideas.
I mean, he's working on old cars,
with new ideas, and still loving the history.
MARC: I got my foot in the door in Hollywood now,
so recently started renting stuff to the movies, so...
MIKE: Really? JERSEY JON: It's so cool that he has the insight
to do that, and the ambition to do that.
He's a young guy, and he's not wasting his time.
MIKE: What was your favorite movie you worked on?
MARC: Captain America, The First Avenger.
This truck right here was actually used in the film.
MIKE: Oh man, look at that.
JERSEY JON: That's cool. MARC: That's the old Hydra logo,
the German science elite.
MIKE: Yeah. JERSEY JON: Very cool.
MIKE: It's not like Marc's business is in Hollywood
or Burbank. He's in the middle of nowhere.
MARC: People love comic books and stuff,
and this is the real deal from the movie.
MIKE: That's awesome!
MIKE: This is a perfect example of how impactful
your business can be online,
if you know how to market it correctly.
MIKE: Is that sign a local sign?
MARC: Oh yeah, that's actually from the town up the street.
That's the Shafter Motel.
MARC: Growing up on a small farm in rural Kern County, you know,
all the small towns around here are kind of historic to me.
MARC: They tore that old hotel down when I was a freshman
in high school, and that was sitting at the city yard
in the weeds. And they moved locations and called me,
and, heck yeah, I took it in a heartbeat.
MIKE: This is what it takes, younger people
that connect with history in their own way.
Marc is doing that through advertising signs,
cars, he's keeping local history alive
and pushing those stories forward.
MIKE: Where'd you get the Kelly Tire sign?
MARC: Ah, that came from Preston Tire Service
out of Shafter also, so... MIKE: Really?
MARC: A lot of small town histories.
I love that kind of stuff. MIKE: No way.
MIKE: Kelly Tires is one of the oldest tire companies
in America. They've been around for like 130 years,
and eventually got swallowed up by Goodyear.
MIKE: So that came how far down the road here?
MARC: Oh, just up the road a few minutes,
and a little tire shop,
started way back in the '50s.
Matter-of-fact, I found a receipt in their office
from 1957
with my great-grandpa's signature on it.
MIKE: Really! MARC: Yep.
MIKE: This is a porcelain sign, way before the 1950s.
MIKE: How much is that? JERSEY JON: Yeah, how much is that?
(sharp inhale)
MARC: Yeah, I'd probably do about 1,800 on that.
JERSEY JON: Huh.
MIKE: I'll give you 2,000 bucks. JERSEY JON: Yeah.
MARC: You know what? I-I think I would do that.
MIKE: Okay. (laughs)
JERSEY JON: Definitely dude. MARC: That would help out...
JERSEY JON: Good for you. MARC: That would help out the family farm.
MARC: One of the reasons why I called you guys,
is family farming out here, especially the small guys,
it's just not the same anymore.
MARC: Small family farms are going out of business.
It's time to sell a few things off and keep the bills paid.
MARC: Cheap labor in other countries...
MIKE: Yeah. MARC: ...we can't compete.
MIKE: Growing up in Iowa, I can empathize with Marc.
There are a lot of factors
that affect the small family farm.
But he's taking his passions and using them to help out.
MIKE: I love your wood rail.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, that's a wood rail.
MIKE: That's very cool. JERSEY JON: The graphics are cool.
MIKE: Not a lot of peeling or anything.
JERSEY JON: This tank is cool, what's going on with this thing?
MARC: Yeah, that's an old oxygen tank
from a World War II fighter. JERSEY JON: What?
MARC: And matter-of-fact, somebody made it
like an overflow coolant tank.
MIKE: Oh, wow. MARC: So check out the award
that's on the cap.
This was on like an old salt flat racer at one time.
MIKE: Wow. MARC: And that's one of his...
JERSEY JON: Southern California Timing Association.
JERSEY JON: What a life this tank has had.
It was an oxygen tank from a World War II airplane.
It's got the S.C.T.A. sticker on it,
the Southern California Timing Association sticker,
which tells me that it's a legitimate tank from a hot rod.
JERSEY JON: Vooph! MIKE: Yeah, yeah.
MARC: Yeah. It's all racing history.
MARC: Southern California is huge with salt flat racing,
drag racing, dirt track racing.
JERSEY JON: You want to sell this?
MARC: Oof... (Mike chuckles)
MARC: I think I'm going to hang onto that one, yeah.
MARC: I love drag racing, I love salt flats.
JERSEY JON: I get it. Alright. Let me see what else you got.
MARC: I hope you guys got your walking shoes on,
'cause there's acres and acres of stuff to look at.
This is an operating horse ranch,
it was built back in the '80s.
And we keep it up and running as a horse ranch,
and we have a horse arena.
MIKE: Okay. So did you haul these in?
MARC: Yeah, actually, all three of these were getting ready
to get crushed. These are old freezer cars,
check out how thick these things are.
JERSEY JON: Like, how old are they?
MARC: Late '30s, '40s. So these are old...
MIKE: Oh, yeah. MARC: ...cold storage cars.
They really, you know, they hold their temp--
JERSEY JON: They put ice in these things?
MARC: Yeah, they hold their temperature really well.
JERSEY JON: What are the flaps up there for? What's that?
MARC: Depending on which direction this train was going,
they'd open up the vents, and there's ice blocks
at both ends, and that ice would keep everything really cold.
Vegetables, fruit. JERSEY JON: That's amazing.
JERSEY JON: They got air scoops in the front on both sides,
the air goes over the ice, goes through the box car
and refrigerates produce.
MIKE: Sunland, where's that at?
MARC: That's an old Sunland gasoline sign right there.
MARC: That actually came from Taft, California
up the road in the hill.
And it was on an old service station.
MIKE: What are you thinking on the gas sign?
MARC: Ohh...
it's got a little, a little surface rust there,
but it's straight. But... MIKE: Yeah. A little bit, yeah.
JERSEY JON: 29.9 for a gallon of gas.
MIKE: Just seeing the price of gas on this sign,
obviously makes you realize how old it is.
MARC: Oh, I'd probably...
a couple of hundred bucks.
MIKE: How much? MARC: Couple hundred bucks.
JERSEY JON: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...
MIKE: Whoa, something just crawled back here.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, dude. MIKE: You see that?
JERSEY JON: Yeah exactly, I did. MIKE: It was a rat.
MARC: We got wild animals out here, man.
JERSEY JON: Ooh, I like this too.
(chuckles) MIKE: A big rat, man,
is what was. Let's see the other side.
MARC: Is that one double-sided? I thought it was, but...
MIKE: Yeah, it's about the same, same condition.
I just want to see the other side of it.
MIKE: You can just imagine a 1960s Impala
rolling up to an old service station on Route 66
or the Lincoln Highway,
whatever, you know? I mean, when I see this thing,
that's what I'm thinking about.
MIKE: Alright, I'll do 200 bucks on it.
MARC: Yeah. 200.
JERSEY JON: What about this? Fan.
MARC: Throw me an offer? JERSEY JON: Um... 50 bucks.
MARC: Sure. JERSEY JON: Alright, cool.
MIKE: Let's see what else we got.
(upbeat music)
MIKE: What's that sign over there?
MARC: Oh...
JERSEY JON: Agh!
MIKE: Yeah, there you go, get it.
JERSEY JON: Ooh!
Welding Hard Facing and Blacksmithing.
Oh, yeah, it's great.
Double-sided.
This is cool, it's like a hand-painted sign,
or maybe they made stencils or something on it, you know?
There was a... a sign underneath that was hand-painted.
MARC: Yeah. That's the old blacksmith's shop
that was in Shafter, California, down the road.
JERSEY JON: Looks like it's from the '40s.
MARC: It's got to be early '40s, yeah.
JERSEY JON: You want to get off it?
MARC: Ohh, that's a... (chuckles)
Local history right there.
JERSEY JON: Alright, I'll put it back, man.
MARC: Tugging at the old heart here.
JERSEY JON: This is cool, it's a mining cart, man.
MIKE: There's a couple of them.
JERSEY JON: Was there mining in this area?
MARC: Yeah, gold... JERSEY JON: That thing is super cool, man.
Look at the riveting on there. (Mike chuckles)
JERSEY JON: You got the track.
MARC: You know, the whole California Gold Rush,
everybody on the West Coast wants gold mining equipment.
JERSEY JON: So this is like 1890s, 1900s?
MIKE: Jersey's been away from Jersey too long,
he's been in the California desert,
he hasn't had his clams, his oysters, his scallops.
JERSEY JON: Yeah!
MIKE: You know, he's losing it.
MIKE: He's turning into Yosemite Sam!
MIKE: So like, what's the value of something like that around here?
MARC: I mean, thousands.
JERSEY JON: So this is not for sale?
MARC: I'm going to keep that, yeah, I looked for years,
I finally got my mining carts, I'm good.
MARC: It took me too many years to get that stuff,
so I couldn't let that stuff go.
MIKE: Look at this, man.
JERSEY JON: Holy mackerel, man!
MIKE: Woo, dude! What's going on?
JERSEY JON: It goes out to the horizon!
MARC: This ranch was bare 15 years ago.
MIKE: Alright, you got some problems, man.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, this is... MARC: Yeah...
MIKE: None of this, none of this was here?
MARC: None of this was here. MIKE: Oh my gosh...
JERSEY JON: You created this? MARC: It was an empty ranch.
MIKE: Dude... JERSEY JON: Wow...
(train horns blows)
MIKE: So when you moved here, there was nothing on this property.
MARC: No. MIKE: Oh my God, bro! Dang!
JERSEY JON: I can't even see the end of it.
It's just like an old Western, man.
Like we're going into town.
(tense Western music)
MIKE: Dude... JERSEY JON: Wow...
MARC: There's a lot of military vehicles to the right,
and all the classic car parts to the left.
JERSEY JON: This is a pretty massive collection.
I mean, I can't believe this guy did this
in 15 years or so.
MIKE: This is the militaria.
JERSEY JON: Military stuff is cool.
MARC: Yeah, everything got surplused after the wars,
and guess where it ended up? Ranches and farms.
JERSEY JON: Sure. MARC: So this stuff is all--
JERSEY JON: It was still, working trucks. MARC: Right.
MARC: A lot of this stuff is just out and about,
and a lot of times, I get stuff given to me for free.
MIKE: This is a nice ride right here, what's left of it.
MARC: What's left of it, yeah. MIKE: Yeah. This is a '59.
MARC: '59 Impala. MIKE: Damn.
Have you had people approach you about this one?
MARC: Yeah, yeah. And I just kind of, I've hung onto it.
MIKE: Have ya? MARC: When I was 16,
my very first car was a '59 Impala,
4-door hard-top. So I was the only kid--
MIKE: Get outta here! Your first car.
MARC: First car was a '59 Impala.
MIKE: Dude, you were rolling!
MIKE: People that are born
with an old soul are few and far between.
To want a 4-door '59 Impala
at the age of 16,
he's definitely part of the club.
MIKE: God, these are cool cars. MARC: Yeah.
MIKE: So great that... Anybody else would have maybe scrapped this.
It's great you're saving it.
MARC: A lot of these have been saved
right before they ended up at the scrapper.
MARC: I'll intercept scrap guys
and try to buy this stuff before it gets crushed.
I mean, it's all history, it all needs to be saved.
MARC: Even if it's rough, I still think there's parts
that are worth saving.
You know, somebody out there's looking for a particular part.
MIKE: Marc has a huge heart,
and we're walking through proof of that.
MIKE: Can't believe this place was empty 14 years ago.
Blowing my mind. JERSEY JON: Yeah, that is crazy.
MIKE: You know, I think you're an old romantic, dude.
(laughs)
MIKE: And I understand what he's saying,
because I've pulled the rustiest
piece of nothing almost
out of a creek bed or something, just because it had
the head tube lug,
something so far gone
that most people would step over it, you know,
if you've got that big heart
and you love history and you're like,
I know exactly what that is,
even though it can't look
the way it looked when it was new,
I still gotta bring it home.
MIKE: What was this, for like a circus or something?
MARC: Yeah, this was an old giraffe trailer for a circus.
I guess they used it in quite a few movies.
JERSEY JON: There's no roof on it.
MIKE: Was it really for giraffes? Dude.
This thing's killer, man. (Jersey Jon laughs)
MIKE: I love this.
JERSEY JON: The giraffe car just gives an example
of the diversity of Marc's collection.
JERSEY JON: It's got no roof on it.
MARC: So the giraffe's can stick its head up there.
JERSEY JON: Right, giraffes in it.
MIKE: You don't know how tall the giraffe's gonna be.
JERSEY JON: A giraffe trailer. MIKE: Crazy.
MIKE: When's the last time you saw one of those?
Does it have a value? I don't know.
JERSEY JON: I mean, there's still giraffes,
make it home somehow, right?
MARC: Everybody likes the circus.
JERSEY JON: Everybody loves the circus.
MIKE: This is American circus history.
MARC: Here, let me show you guys in here.
MIKE: Oh, yeah, Jersey.
MARC: This container actually came from a local drag racer.
MARC: I actually bought the contents
and the container from an estate sale.
MARC: When I got the trailer home, I opened it up
and all his old drag racing stuff was in here.
MARC: A lot of early drag racing trophies from a local drag racer
named Tony Waters.
JERSEY JON: These were his trophies here?
MIKE: Look at this with the wing on the car.
How about this one? 300.
MARC: Oof...
MARC: I really couldn't part with one.
MARC: I'm going to have to keep this collection together.
MIKE: Agh! MARC: Just out of respect for the...
MIKE: Yeah. MARC: ...for the racer he was.
MIKE: Okay, well then, what are you thinking
on the collection?
Some of them are cool and some of them aren't so cool.
MARC: Right. MIKE: 1,500 for the trophies.
MARC: It was a crazy number, I thought.
MARC: I'm going to actually hang onto
this trophy collection, guys. MIKE: Argh.
MARC: Argh... it's gotta stay here in Bakersfield, California.
MARC: Drag racing history in Bakersfield,
it's been around a long time. MIKE: You gotta get 'em
out of here and shine them up.
MIKE: I thought there were only two power houses
that ever came out of Bakersfield, Buck Owens
and Merle Haggard. But now,
we're understanding there's three, Tony Waters.
MARC: There's nothing in here, I don't think.
There's yeah, some old... MIKE: Old toilet.
MARC: ...there's an old cash register, just...
There's a few things. MIKE: Yeah...
JERSEY JON: Frying pan?
MIKE: Here, this is cool. How about this box
with this star on it and a little horseshoe on it?
MARC: Yeah? MIKE: Yeah.
MIKE: A long time ago, an old picker told me,
don't step over something worth $5
because you're looking for something worth $50.
MIKE: 20 bucks.
MARC: You know what? Yeah, I'll do that.
MIKE: Alright, cool. Shake his hand, Jersey.
MARC: Alright, dude, thanks bro.
MIKE: Check out these poles, Jersey.
JERSEY JON: Huh? MIKE: See these poles?
JERSEY JON: Oh, those are cool.
MIKE: I'm picking up pieces of wood
with cast-iron ornate handles.
The handles is really what I'm looking at,
but the fact that the wood has robin-egg blue paint on it,
that's a plus.
MIKE: How about these two boards?
Ten apiece. What do you think? MARC: Yeah...
I guess I'll do that. MIKE: 10 apiece or 20 bucks.
JERSEY JON: Me and Mike are having a great time
at this pick, Marc's a great guy,
but the one thing we're missing... (ringing cowbell)
JERSEY JON: ...is a little more cowbell.
How much? MARC: 20 bucks.
JERSEY JON: 20 bucks? Haha!
JERSEY JON: Mississippi Queen!
MIKE: What are you thinking on that?
MARC: Do 30 bucks on it. JERSEY JON: 30 bucks.
MIKE: I'll do 30. JERSEY JON: 30?
MIKE: Yeah. JERSEY JON: Is it bronze?
MIKE: Yep.
MARC: Sometimes I forget what I have, you know?
JERSEY JON: Yeah, for sure.
MIKE: People are looking for these pulleys,
because they're actually going to make lighting out of them.
Or if you have an old shop
with an old beam and you want to hang
a motorcycle engine...
then you want to get an old rope,
and you want to get some old pulleys,
and you want to hang it like that.
MIKE: Alright, what do you got on this stuff?
MARC: I guess Mike has a thing for pulleys.
So he started getting into my pulley collection.
And... I...
I didn't want to stop the guy.
MARC: 200 for the pile. MIKE: Whoa!
MARC: Well, I mean you could throw me an offer
and hopefully it won't hurt my feelings too bad.
MIKE: Alright, 100 bucks. MARC: Ouch!
(Mike laughs)
MARC: You want to split it? 150.
MIKE: I mean, there's not a lot of money left on that. Okay...
MIKE: Give me... 100... 125.
MARC: Might as well. It'll help me out.
MIKE: Alright. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
(clucking)
MIKE: Damn... look at these, Jersey.
Are these parts for the other one that you got over there?
MARC: Yeah, yeah. JERSEY JON: He's got the helicopters,
huge helicopters;
he's got the box cars, huge box cars;
he's got big trucks, big trucks.
Marc's not afraid of going big, man.
MIKE: Now where would you buy something like this? Like is that...
MARC: These came-- MIKE: What swap meet would have this?
(Marc laughs) MARC: These actually came out
of the bone yard down in Tucson, Arizona.
JERSEY JON: What do you, polish them up and sell them?
MARC: Yeah, I've already sold one to a collector in San Diego.
We rebuild them and find other parts--
MIKE: Like a complete one or one like this? MARC: Complete.
MARC: This is what they start as, and we just have to run down all the parts.
JERSEY JON: This is Vietnam Era? MARC: Vietnam Era.
There's guys hanging off the side of these things with machine guns,
like an M-16 machine gun. JERSEY JON: Right, yep.
MARC: It was a troop carrier, it was a medevac.
JERSEY JON: I mean, these are Sikorsky helicopters.
These were like the tractor trailers of the air.
They moved a lot of material.
MIKE: Ah, Jersey, look at this one.
JERSEY JON: Oh, yeah.
MARC: So this one's a cool one,
because it's an actual Marine bird, know what I mean?
JERSEY JON: Marines, man, yeah, baby. Woo!
JERSEY JON: This guy, there's like no fear.
MIKE: Look how light this stuff is.
MARC: Yeah, so he's moving the whole tail.
JERSEY JON: I'm picking the whole damn thing up.
MIKE: Damn, something dead in there.
JERSEY JON: He sees potential in a lot
of really strange things.
MARC: These are kind of rare nowadays.
MIKE: I'm sure. Oh, yeah, look at that.
JERSEY JON: What got you going on this?
MARC: My grandfather was in the Pacific during World War II
and got me started on that history.
Full tour, '41 to '45. MIKE: Oh, wow.
MARC: And he would always tell me stories when I was little
and that's what got me going
with the whole military history thing.
And so I started collecting.
It's kind of ballooned into all era's,
the Korean War, the Vietnam War, even in Desert Storm, so...
JERSEY JON: That's cool. MARC: Having my grandfather in the military,
I started collecting, you know, helmets, uniforms.
When I got out of high school, I started collecting vehicles.
And then it went to a little bit bigger things
when I got older, so aircraft,
and then it's restoring aircraft to go fly again.
MARC: I have my own BT-13
that's about halfway restored. So I--
JERSEY JON: You're gonna fly it? MARC: I like flying,
I love flying, yeah.
MARC: It's a dream come true, and there again
it's a connection to that history and story.
MIKE: Dude, I love how much you're into it, you're the--
MARC: Just the... MIKE: You're the historian,
you're the curator, man.
MIKE: We've all been told stories
and we've all been read stories.
But Marc is one of those guys
that just soaks it up like a sponge.
He retains it, and then it becomes
part of who he is, it's part of his life.
All the stories that his grandfather told him
about World War II, really resonated with him.
You know, again, young guy, old soul.
MIKE: You know, and that's what we need in this industry;
that's what we need in this country,
for younger people to be interested in our history.
(explosion)
Marc's a hands-on history guy.
MARC: You know, gas pumps, they pop up on these farms
and ranches around here, and a lot of times the old...
MIKE: Yeah, yeah. MARC: ...the old guys just want them gone.
MARC: I've always liked the old gas pumps,
and I've always drug them home.
MIKE: Too bad that this one's so roached.
MARC: Yeah, that's a Sunland right there,
the gasoline logo there, still. MIKE: Yeah.
MARC: Honestly, I have so much from gas stations,
I probably should build a gas station
to rent out to the movie studios.
MIKE: How much is this one?
MARC: You can throw out an offer, it's a little rough.
MIKE: Yeah, I know, it's rougher than a cob.
MARC: 400.
MIKE: I'm going to do it. You know what I'm going to use it for?
We do...
We do a little bit of prop rental.
We're in Nashville... MARC: There you go.
MIKE: ...music videos and stuff.
MARC: Put it to good use. MIKE: Well yeah, absolutely.
MARC: Yeah. JERSEY JON: I gotcha, bro.
(Mike chuckles) JERSEY JON: Whoa!
MIKE: Okay, ah... JERSEY JON: Watch it, buddy.
JERSEY JON: Don't chip it. MIKE: Oh, yeah...
MARC: My grandmother always said I was an old soul,
and I must have come back from a previous life.
MIKE: Dude. JERSEY JON: Good day.
MARC: Nice meeting ya. MIKE: Love your passion for local history.
MARC: It's all about the history.
MIKE: Hell yeah, buddy. You got it, it's all about that story.
MIKE: I'll tell you what, you're writing a pretty big one yourself.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, you are.
MIKE: The great thing about today,
is that the whole experience was brought to us
by a younger guy
that loves history just as much as we do.
MIKE: Come to Nashville, I'll buy you a beer.
MARC: You got it. JERSEY JON: Alright, buddy.
MARC: Hey, you guys drive safe. JERSEY JON: Yep.
MIKE: Marc is a hands-on hard-working, big dreamer.
I wanted to buy a lot more,
but it was really cool to see him
love things so much that he didn't want to sell it.
(honks horn)
JERSEY JON: Hasta Luego!
MARC: See you later! JERSEY JON: See you later!
MIKE: I can respect that.
JERSEY JON: So give me some more details, where are we going?
MIKE: Okay, I don't have a lot of details.
I mean, this is a guy, his name's Mike,
long grey-haired dude,
met him at Davenport years ago.
You probably might even know him.
JERSEY JON: There's a lot of long grey-haired
dudes in Davenport, dude.
JERSEY JON: Okay man, he's got long grey hair,
and he's got like a black motorcycle jacket on.
That's everybody at an antique motorcycle swap meet, dude.
There's like a thousand guys like that running around.
JERSEY JON: What's his last name?
MIKE: I don't know, I mean,
he just gave him his name, Mike, and he's never...
When he comes down for it, he never...
he never sets up, so I don't know what kind of bikes he has.
JERSEY JON: The swap meets that we go to,
to buy all these antique motorcycle parts, man,
they're like the Woodstock for us, I mean,
that's like we find all the great parts,
it's like a hangout, but you meet characters at these places.
MIKE: But he said he's got, get this, an Indian 4-cylinder.
JERSEY JON: No way, dude! MIKE: Skirted 4,
like a '40 or a '41,
said he'd be interested in selling it.
JERSEY JON: Really? MIKE: Yes!
JERSEY JON: Indian 4-cylinders,
they're like the Duesenbergs of antique motorcycles.
JERSEY JON: Did you get any pictures? Did you see it?
MIKE: He hasn't sent me anything. He just said he's got a bike
that he probably would sell.
JERSEY JON: Dude. Let's do it.
MIKE: That's what I'm saying. JERSEY JON: Yeah!
(upbeat music)
MIKE: So what's the GPS saying here? Okay, so we go this way.
MIKE: Alright, this is a dead-end circle.
JERSEY JON: I thought you knew where you were going, dude,
we took a wrong turn again. MIKE: I'm following the G--
I'm following the GPS, dude.
I mean, you just don't-- JERSEY JON: Alright, then, where are we going?
MIKE: We're going right here.
JERSEY JON: This is not even a road, it's somebody's driveway.
MIKE: Yeah, I just went down that road, I know.
JERSEY JON: Dude, we're going to get shot at, dude.
MIKE: So there's a big gate. Holy crap, look at the size of these gates!
(honks horn) JERSEY JON: Wow.
MIKE: No way. JERSEY JON: That's not a gate, dude.
(laughing)
That's like the entrance to Jurassic Park.
MIKE: Holy crap! (laughing)
JERSEY JON: Look at this guy. MIKE: Who's this guy?
JERSEY JON: That's the guy? MIKE: No, that ain't the guy.
Ask him.
(tense music)
JERSEY JON: Hey. MIKE: Hey, what's up, man?
JERSEY JON: How are ya? CHARLIE: Alright. Who are you looking for?
JERSEY JON: Guy named Mike here? CHARLIE: Yeah, you're looking for Mike?
MIKE: Yeah. Okay. CHARLIE: He's right over here.
CHARLIE: Park right here, I'll show you...
MIKE: Alright. JERSEY JON: Dude, look at this place,
it's like going into the... MIKE: Look at this, this is you!
JERSEY JON: Kingdom of Junk. MIKE: Look at all these tools,
there's you, that's you, dude. JERSEY JON: Yeah.
MIKE: That's totally you. JERSEY JON: Jacks.
This is great.
MIKE: Hey, what's up, man? CHARLIE: How's it going?
MIKE: Hey, I'm Mike. JERSEY JON: How you doing, man?
CHARLIE: Charlie. MIKE: Nice to meet you, Charlie. This is Jersey Jon.
CHARLIE: Jersey Jon, where are you from, Jersey?
JERSEY JON: Dude!
That ain't a California accent, man. What's up with you?
CHARLIE: No, no, it's not. MIKE: They're sizing each other up,
they're like a couple of dogs that are like...
sniffing around, checking the zip code or something.
(Mike laughing) They were...
This is going to be an interesting day.
JERSEY JON: Where are you from? CHARLIE: Ozone Park.
JERSEY JON: Oh, Queens? CHARLIE: Queens.
JERSEY JON: I thought Joe Pesci died in '86
right after Goodfellas. No, here he is.
MIKE: What are you doing out here, dude?
CHARLIE: I help him out all the time, doing nothing.
MIKE: No kidding. CHARLIE: Yeah. Fisher!
JERSEY JON: Wow... MIKE 2: Yeah!
CHARLIE: Over here, some guys are here to see ya.
MIKE: Hey, what's going on?
MIKE 2: Hey Mike, good to see ya.
MIKE: Yeah, good to see you too. Here's my buddy, Jersey Jon.
Do you recognize him? MIKE 2: Hey, how are you doing?
JERSEY JON: Yeah man, you look, I met you before in Davenport.
MIKE: I was telling him that you never set up
at Davenport, but you're always there.
MIKE 2: Yeah, yeah. MIKE: So have you seen
Jersey before at Davenport?
Have you ever, ever seen him there?
(tense music)
MIKE 2: Um...
Maybe! (group laughing)
JERSEY JON: You look familiar. MIKE: That was a maybe, Jersey.
JERSEY JON: It's a maybe. (laughs)
MIKE: So tell me about the 4-cylinder.
MIKE 2: I was thinking about getting rid of that 4.
MIKE: Okay. JERSEY JON: That's cool.
MIKE: If you're a motorcycle collector,
at some point in your life, you want to hear those words,
"I have a 4-cylinder I want to sell."
MIKE: What shape's it in?
MIKE 2: Shape of a motorcycle.
(laughing)
MIKE: That's what's happening today.
MIKE 2: Why don't I just show you?
MIKE: Okay. MIKE 2: I'll show you around
here a little bit. MIKE: I'd like to look around.
JERSEY JON: I'd love to see this place.
MIKE 2: This is my rusty fence.
MIKE: Alright, is there any motors--
JERSEY JON: It's a rusty garden, man.
MIKE 2: No motorcycle parts.
JERSEY JON: I like the locomotive jacks up there.
MIKE 2: Yeah. JERSEY JON: It's your locomotive. That's cool.
MIKE: So are these like mining cars?
MIKE 2: Some of them are,
but most of them came out of the orchards.
JERSEY JON: So pulling fruit out of the orchards with those things?
JERSEY JON: Like a railroad tracks in the orchards?
JERSEY JON: That's a lot of fruit, man.
MIKE: Are you the one that laid this out?
MIKE 2: Oh yeah.
MIKE 2: You know what, a lot of people accuse me
of being an artist. I don't draw or anything,
but I've succumbed to the fact that yeah,
I probably am an artist.
MIKE: Look at all the, Jersey, he did all these wrenches.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, that's brilliant. What a great idea.
JERSEY JON: Gorgeous stuff. MIKE: Yeah, very cool.
JERSEY JON: This is cool. MIKE: It's got the dinner bell.
(bell dings) JERSEY JON: Wow. He used a lot of blacksmithing tools.
I'm seeing tongs, I'm seeing hammers,
I'm seeing forge dyes.
Mike's creativity is everywhere.
MIKE: So you from this area?
MIKE 2: Yeah, I'm from California.
MIKE: Okay. MIKE 2: I bought this about 40 years ago.
MIKE: No kidding.
MIKE 2: When I bought the place,
there was nothing here. No buildings,
outbuildings, structures.
And I retired about two years ago,
and my passion has been really just
to develop this into more of an art property.
MIKE 2: I engineered and designed
all the buildings here.
MIKE: That's cool, I love that. JERSEY JON: It's beautiful.
JERSEY JON: The man door, amazing. I mean, look at that, Mike.
MIKE: Oh, yeah. JERSEY JON: Where's the door?
MIKE: Yeah, very cool.
MIKE: As collectors, we create our own worlds.
We surround ourselves with all of these things
we love, we put the on display,
gas pumps, pottery, textiles.
You know, but Mike has taken that to the next level.
MIKE: The pinwheels are very cool.
MIKE: He's doing architectural elements
that tie into his collection.
You know, the guy, he is an artist.
He's truly an artist.
MIKE: So do you have any old signs...
MIKE 2: I don't have any signs...
MIKE: What about bicycles?
JERSEY JON: Early bicycles. Like early bikes.
MIKE 2: Yeah, I have a couple. Indians.
MIKE: Indian bicycles? MIKE 2: Uh-huh.
JERSEY JON: A lot of people don't even realize,
Indian made bicycles as well.
JERSEY JON: You have an Indian bicycle?
MIKE: Where are those at? MIKE 2: In the office.
MIKE: Can we look at those? MIKE 2: Yeah, head down that way.
I'm going to get my Segway.
MIKE: Motorcycles and early bicycles,
go like this, hand-in-hand.
Yale, Excelsior, Harley,
Indian, Flying Merkel,
all of those are motorcycle companies
that also dipped their toe in the bicycle world.
MIKE: Check him out, dude, here he comes, look at him.
Yeah!
(Jersey Jon laughs) MIKE: That's a 2-wheel drive.
(Mike 2 laughs) JERSEY JON: That thing's bad-to-the-bone, man.
MIKE: So both wheels move, it's got posi?
MIKE 2: Yeah, uh-huh.
MIKE: The evolution of transportation is so fascinating.
Because it went from the horse,
to the bicycle, to the motorized bicycle,
to the car.
MIKE: How fast will it go?
MIKE 2: 12-and-a-half miles-an-hour.
MIKE: You know, all of this is intertwined.
MIKE: What about this Indian sign here, man?
What's going on with that? Who made that?
MIKE 2: I don't know who made it.
MIKE: Oh, there's the bottom of it, or the top of it.
It's this part.
JERSEY JON: It's not plywood, it's like on redwood.
MIKE: How long have you had it? MIKE 2: I don't know.
MIKE: Forever? MIKE 2: Yeah. Forever.
MIKE: Would you sell it? MIKE 2: You want that?
MIKE: Why not, man?
MIKE: It's cool, I mean, it's really weathered
and beat-up and broken down. JERSEY JON: It's weathered, it's got the look.
MIKE: Since 1847. MIKE 2: No, I think I want to keep that.
MIKE: Dude, I don't blame ya. JERSEY JON: We never should've said anything about it.
MIKE: I don't blame him. I mean, it's cool.
MIKE: So did you do this with all these pulleys?
MIKE 2: Oh, yeah. MIKE: Would you sell any of this stuff?
MIKE 2: Uh... no. MIKE: Ugh.
JERSEY JON: All the pulleys in here are...
MIKE: So you hung all this stuff up on here like this.
MIKE 2: Every bit of it, yeah. MIKE: Wow, look at this, Jersey.
Did you carve that? Who carved that?
Did you carve that one?
MIKE 2: No, no.
MIKE: Did you carve this? MIKE 2: No.
Now that pulley, I had that made.
MIKE: Oh my God... JERSEY JON: Oh, great.
MIKE: That's like the laughing Indian. MIKE 2: Yeah.
MIKE 2: I hosted the Antique Indian Motorcycle Rally
for like 15 years.
One of those years, I went to Bali
and I gave 'em a little sketch
of the laughing Indian head,
and I had about 15 of them made.
MIKE 2: So you want that, Mike? MIKE: Yeah.
What do you want for it, how much?
JERSEY JON: It's really nicely done.
MIKE 2: It is nice. JERSEY JON: Really nicely done.
MIKE: 100 bucks. MIKE 2: Alright.
(laughing) JERSEY JON: It's cool.
MIKE 2: You got it. MIKE: It's awesome, man!
MIKE: You got this custom-made. MIKE 2: Yeah.
MIKE: God, that's super cool, man.
JERSEY JON: Amazing how skillful that's done. Amazing.
MIKE 2: Those guys are awesome. MIKE: This is your office.
MIKE 2: Yeah. I got a couple of bikes in here,
you want to look at 'em? JERSEY JON: This is where the bicycle is?
MIKE: Jersey, you wanna see it? JERSEY JON: Yeah, I do.
MIKE: Alright, come on in, dog.
JERSEY JON: Alright, let me in there.
Hi, come on. Come on, baby. MIKE: Wow, this is cool!
JERSEY JON: I ain't never seen an office like this, man.
This thing is off the hook. JERSEY JON: The inner sanctum.
MIKE: Ooh... JERSEY JON: Very cool.
JERSEY JON: It's like Disney World
for guys like me and Mike.
MIKE: Oh, wow... JERSEY JON: Woo!
MIKE: Oh, yeah, there you go. JERSEY JON: Man... nice bike.
MIKE: So this Indian bike right here...
MIKE 2: That's a new one. MIKE: That's British.
JERSEY JON: But this one's not, this is made in America.
MIKE: Yeah. JERSEY JON: That one's sold by the Indian dealers.
MIKE: Would you care if we pulled that down?
Can we look at it? MIKE 2: Sure.
MIKE: Alright Jersey, you got it?
JERSEY JON: I don't know. MIKE: Dude, you handle this?
JERSEY JON: This one's gonna come off, it's gonna be a little harder.
MIKE: Let me help ya. JERSEY JON: That'd be nice, Mike.
MIKE: Okay, well I'm just... Alright, here we go.
JERSEY JON: We have to find out what model this is.
MIKE: Here, push it outside.
JERSEY JON: It looks like it's from early '20s,
but they made the same kind of style
from 1917 to 1928,
and they're all different varieties.
JERSEY JON: Wow, this thing is cool.
MIKE 2: Jersey's really liked the bicycle,
he liked it a lot.
And myself, I'm not into them.
I mean, I hang it in my office
for I don't know how many years.
JERSEY JON: Wow...
MIKE 2: You know, I... don't know anything about them.
MIKE 2: That's barn fresh... find, yeah.
JERSEY JON: Mike, look at... MIKE: No, it's insane.
JERSEY JON: Decals. MIKE: The stenciling on it.
JERSEY JON: Stenciling on here. MIKE: It's got Indian on the down tube.
JERSEY JON: I've never seen one with this fancy stenciling.
MIKE: Yeah, I've seen a couple, not very many.
It depends on the year. JERSEY JON: She's a beauty.
MIKE: Look at this, it says Indian script in the red pedal block.
JERSEY JON: Oh, it's got the aluminum pedal blocks.
MIKE: Yeah, it's cast aluminum.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, it's got the right pedal crank.
MIKE: The paint on it's nice.
What part of the country did it come out of?
JERSEY JON: Clad rims. Yeah. MIKE 2: I got it
just up in the foothills. MIKE: Okay. It's a California bike.
JERSEY JON: California bike.
JERSEY JON: It's got the right pedal cranks,
it's got the right paint, it's got the right fenders,
it's got the right chain, it's got the right hubs.
MIKE: It's got the glass jewel on the back.
This was obviously added.
This was an Indian spotlight, though.
JERSEY JON: The condition of the paint
is really phenomenal.
It's got the decals on it, it's got the right color,
it hasn't been repainted.
It's in its original condition.
JERSEY JON: That's Person's Manufacturing Company...
That's the correct seat for this bike.
MIKE 2: Is it? JERSEY JON: Person's Manufacturing,
they're from Massachusetts, from Worcester.
JERSEY JON: And they made the seats for Indian.
MIKE 2: He was going around it, all around it,
looking at all the fine details of it.
And he knew way more about it than I did.
MIKE: The lines of it, with that straight down tube,
man, and that little camel back bend there.
JERSEY JON: And also how it's got the reinforced fork,
like the motorcycle does. MIKE: Yeah, absolutely.
JERSEY JON: When you're dreaming about that original paint bike
that you want to find, this is it.
JERSEY JON: So, what's the story, man?
MIKE 2: I've had it for years.
JERSEY JON: Well, I mean, you want to get rid of?
MIKE 2: Ahh...
Maybe. Give me some time to think about this, I-I...
I called you on the 4-cylinder. JERSEY JON: Yeah.
Oh, I definitely, I want to see that 4.
MIKE: What's going on with that? MIKE 2: It's up the hill.
MIKE: It's up the hill? Okay. JERSEY JON: Up the hill, huh.
MIKE: So how many bikes do you have?
MIKE 2: Oh, 20 or so.
MIKE: Do you really? MIKE 2: Left, yeah.
MIKE: No kidding. Left, he's got 20 left, he said.
JERSEY JON: Ha! MIKE 2: I collect a lot of things.
Motorcycles...
Uh, Volkswagens...
Ex-wives.
(laughs)
MIKE: You got any Knuckleheads?
MIKE 2: I got a couple. MIKE: Okay.
JERSEY JON: Ooh. MIKE: What year?
MIKE 2: Uh... a '38 and a '46.
MIKE: Oh, nice.
MIKE 2: I mean, in the past,
I've done very little selling.
But I started to sell now.
I have a lot of stuff,
and my daughter is not going to want to mess with it.
MIKE: Where's the 4 at?
MIKE 2: Uh, the 4 is... that one.
(laughing) JERSEY JON: What?!
MIKE: Oh, man. JERSEY JON: Holy mackerel, dude!
MIKE 2: That went through a fire, in 1992.
MIKE 2: That was one of the bikes that I lost in the fire.
I lost 15 kick-start bikes in a fire.
JERSEY JON: You didn't say that, dude.
MIKE: He didn't tell me!
MIKE: So it's on a pole.
MIKE: Now I know why you didn't send me a picture!
(group laughing)
MIKE: It's been in a fire, and um... it's a piece of art.
MIKE: Is that for sale, really?
MIKE 2: Yeah. JERSEY JON: It's a 4-cylinder,
it's a 4-cylinder frame.
It's a 1940 4-cylinder frame.
MIKE 2: When I had it, before it was in a fire,
it had the original paint on it,
original script, Indian script, tires.
MIKE: Really, it was all original paint.
MIKE 2: All original paint. MIKE: Oh my gosh.
MIKE 2: 38,000 miles on it.
MIKE: Oh my gosh.
JERSEY JON: The 1941 Indian 4-cylinder
probably one of the rare antique motorcycles in the world.
I mean, it's a great bike, it's a skirted fender bike,
they are beautiful machines going down the road,
they're stylish, they sound wonderful,
and they really function well.
MIKE 2: That came from New Hampshire.
MIKE: Really? JERSEY JON: Is this thing going to fall over?
MIKE 2: Maybe. MIKE: Look at the handlebars...
(laughing) Look at the handlebars.
They're all like curled up. Is that from the heat?
MIKE 2: Stuff fell on it.
MIKE: How long has it been up there?
MIKE 2: Uh... 20 years.
MIKE 2: Actually, I've been, there's been numerous people
have wanted to buy that,
that bike in that condition.
But I just wanted to look at it.
JERSEY JON: The tubing's not rotted, Mike.
You could see it clearly, it's not rotted away.
MIKE: Let's see the other side of it.
The tanks are... the tanks are shot.
MIKE 2: It's in definitely worse shape now than it was.
The tanks were in fairly good condition
when I put them up there, but they're rusted through.
JERSEY JON: Very cool, the rear rack is the cast-iron rack,
Mike, that's not going nowhere, that's good.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah, look at that.
MIKE: Seeing this for the first time,
I mean, obviously, you're knocked back on your heels.
But then Jersey's up there looking at it and he's like,
hey, there's no cracks in the frame,
it looks solid, you know,
it looks like it's pretty much all there.
MIKE: It's got the toolbox on it.
JERSEY JON: The fenders are there, they're not rotted away.
I've worked with worse on early bikes.
MIKE: Yeah, definitely, man.
MIKE: I mean, we have found
motorcycle frames over the years
that I've had to chip out of frozen chicken crap.
DANIELLE: There's a dead chicken above your head,
look at it! Ah! MIKE: Here, you want a leg?
MIKE: We've dealt with a lot of different types
of motorcycles, you know,
they were like literally sitting in the dirt.
MIKE: Ya-hoo!
MIKE: But, you know, Jersey's the man
when it comes to frame repair
and he's looking at it going,
this ain't that bad.
JERSEY JON: Wow cool. Alright so...
MIKE: So what are you, what are you thinking on that?
MIKE 2: 20,000? (laughs)
(group laughing)
MIKE: Look at your dog, your dog even fell over.
(laughing)
MIKE 2: Make an offer.
MIKE: Yeah, I mean...
JERSEY JON: Well, I mean, I'm interested in that bicycle.
So maybe we can like, make a deal work.
MIKE 2: Make a package deal.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, like a package deal.
MIKE: Look at the front fender, Jersey,
it's all warped from the heat.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, for sure.
Definitely, Mike, it needs some help.
MIKE: Gotta kinda looks bent up there from the heat,
and Jersey, this is no big deal for Jersey.
MIKE: Well, here's the deal.
I have...
a '41 Indian
4-cylinder engine.
MIKE 2: Oh, you do. MIKE: I have a complete engine.
MIKE 2: Oh, there you go.
MIKE 2: You got the hard part done.
JERSEY JON: No, the hard part's up there.
MIKE: Boom, right in there.
MIKE: I just bought an engine.
You know, and the engines are around, you know,
people took the engines and they used them to run
a pump or a corn sheller, whatever it was,
the chassis is...
is so hard to find.
MIKE: This is a great project to restore.
MIKE: Like, how are you gonna get it down?
MIKE 2: I got a forklift.
JERSEY JON: You got a forklift-- MIKE 2: Easy.
MIKE: If you get the forklift, then why don't we just
pull it down, I can look it over really good.
(Jersey Jon laughs)
MIKE 2: Dude, we're going to have a deal before I pull it down.
MIKE: Oh, you want a deal before you pull it down.
(sighs)
JERSEY JON: This 4-cylinder motorcycle
is one of the rarest motorcycles in the world.
We're not going to walk away from this chassis on a pole.
MIKE: Why don't we just pull it down, I can look it over really good.
MIKE: I want to pull it down, really examine it,
before we make an offer on it.
MIKE 2: We're going to have a deal before I pull it down.
MIKE: He's like, no, that's not coming down
unless it's bought before it comes down.
So that's kind of an interesting spin here.
JERSEY JON: I'd get it. MIKE: Ahh...
Jersey, you interested in the bicycle?
JERSEY JON: Absolutely, yes.
MIKE: So, um...
JERSEY JON: It's amazing that we have an opportunity
to even find this bike in the wild.
You just don't see these things.
I mean, this is an Indian 4-cylinder,
on a pole, in California.
It's surreal.
(sighs)
MIKE: 10,000 bucks.
MIKE 2: For this?
MIKE: 10,000 bucks for this...
JERSEY JON: And...
Two grand for the bicycle.
MIKE 2: 2,200 for the bicycle.
MIKE: Okay. JERSEY JON: So 12.2.
MIKE: Delivered, to here.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, get that off of there, right here.
(Mike laughs)
JERSEY JON: Right? MIKE 2: Okay, yeah.
Yeah, I can do that.
(laughing) MIKE: Thanks, man.
JERSEY JON: Thank you, buddy. Dude, this is working out
really good. It's a good day. MIKE: This is cool.
JERSEY JON: This is fantastic. MIKE: Holy crap.
JERSEY JON: I didn't know what I was going to be this morning, man.
And here I am getting an Indian 4-cylinder frame off a pole.
JERSEY JON: I can't tell you the last time
I even had an opportunity to buy
a 1941 Indian 4-cylinder chassis.
They don't show up. I mean,
I don't think I've ever seen one for sale.
MIKE: Alright, it's that one dude again.
(laughs)
Here, come over here.
MIKE: Here comes the random guy with the forklift.
And we're like, let's just get on this, Jersey.
MIKE: We're both getting on it? JERSEY JON: Yeah, yeah.
MIKE: Alright. JERSEY JON: (Bleep)!
MIKE: Whoa! Whoa! JERSEY JON: (Bleep)! Easy, buddy.
(indistinct shouting) MIKE: Whoa, whoa, whoa!
(laughing) MIKE:It's so... um...
We're on top of the forklift.
MIKE: Whoa! Okay! JERSEY JON: (Bleep)!
MIKE: And we don't even know this guy that's driving this forklift!
JERSEY JON: Alright, hang on.
MIKE: Whoa... JERSEY JON: (Bleep)! Easy!
(Bleep)!
JERSEY JON: That's good.
MIKE: That sign, that's going to have to come down.
JERSEY JON: Okay... MIKE: I got this side.
JERSEY JON: Put it on the lift. MIKE: I am. Okay.
JERSEY JON: Lay it down. MIKE: You gotta lower us down really slowly.
CHARLIE: Okay. JERSEY JON: Wait--
MIKE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
(indistinct chatter)
JERSEY JON: Alright, you ready? MIKE: Okay, yeah.
JERSEY JON: Come off, come off. MIKE: Alright.
MIKE 2: Let me take that off of there.
CHARLIE: Okay, go ahead. MIKE: Here, lay it down.
Hey, how much is this sign?
JERSEY JON: Yeah, we want the sign too. 100 bucks.
MIKE 2: No, (bleep), you! (laughing)
MIKE: How much is it? How much is it?
MIKE 2: I don't know, 300 bucks.
MIKE: Ugh... 300 bucks. JERSEY JON: Done, man.
JERSEY JON: Yeah. We'll take it. MIKE: We got it.
JERSEY JON: Good, good, dude. MIKE: Alright.
JERSEY JON: This is fun. MIKE: Now that the sign is bought,
Charlie gets on it, he goes up there,
and I can see that the plate
that was welded on the bottom of the motorcycle
has a post in it, and he stuck that post in the other one.
MIKE: Hey, he's got it, he's got it!
MIKE: So all he has to do is get that forklift under there
and lift it up.
MIKE: Lower it down a little bit.
JERSEY JON: Let's see. CHARLIE: Kill it, Mike.
MIKE: No way, dude!
MIKE: Now we could actually see it, we could put our hands on it.
MIKE: Let's see if we can get on it.
MIKE: We're looking it over and it just, it looks pretty cool.
MIKE: Whoa!
MIKE: I'm engaged now, you know,
I'm locked in, okay, I'm already in for 10 grand,
so it's like, I'm hoping this is going to be
what I think it's going to be.
JERSEY JON: The speedometer's still there. The Corbin speedo.
(Mike laughs)
MIKE: And it looks so much better
and so much more beautiful, looking at it eye-to-eye.
MIKE: You've seen bikes worse than this restored.
MIKE 2: Oh, yeah. JERSEY JON: Oh, yeah.
JERSEY JON: To restore a motorcycle like this,
is probably going to cost 80,000 to restore a bike
like this, to take it apart, put it back together again.
It doesn't matter, I mean, these bikes are exceeding $100,000 now.
MIKE: Alright, so what do we got to do then? We're gonna cut that off
or how do you want to do it? We can just cut this.
MIKE: Imagine the life that this bike has lived.
30-something thousand original miles, original paint.
(metal saw cutting)
(Mike chuckles)
MIKE: New Hampshire, rugged country,
running wild through the mountains.
(metal saw cutting)
MIKE: Comes to California, gets burned out,
its soul ripped from it, it's on a post.
And then boom, now it's being lowered,
and now we're cutting the bolts from the anchor
that it's been chained to all these years. We're rolling it off.
MIKE: Yeah, she's free. Jersey, you got the front?
JERSEY JON: Yeah, hold on, hold on, hold on... Argh!
MIKE: There we go. There we go.
MIKE: You know, we're giving it a new life,
we're breathing air into this thing,
and I just love this moment.
MIKE: Here, let's sit, let's put it on the center stand,
will that move? I'll lift it up.
JERSEY JON: That stand ain't going to move.
MIKE: I bet it will. Lift the stand.
JERSEY JON: That stand ain't going nowhere, dude.
MIKE: With your leg? Kick it. JERSEY JON: No, it ain't going nowhere.
MIKE: Really? JERSEY JON: It's rusted solid, dude. Come on.
It's been on a post for the last 40 years. (Mike laughs)
JERSEY JON: What's wrong with you?
MIKE 2: I think Mike might find out that there's more
to that than he thinks.
He's probably going to have to take that whole frame apart.
Although, Jersey picked up on it.
Mike wasn't too concerned about that.
MIKE: I've bought a lot of motorcycles before,
but this is probably one of the most exciting times
that I've ever bought a motorcycle, because we're on a forklift,
the bike is in the air, we're checking it out,
I got to buy it before I even get the bike down,
there's grinding. You know, I'm seeing it
for the first time, and it's kind of... urgh!
You know... the back end's over here
and the fork's going this way. But it doesn't matter.
It's an Indian 4-cylinder,
it's a '41 skirted fenders, plunger frame.
I already have the engine.
Come on, it's a no-brainer, right?
MIKE: Yeah!
(laughing)
(thudding) JERSEY JON: Whoa...
MIKE: Urgh!
JERSEY JON: That's it. MIKE: Woo. Okay.
JERSEY JON: That's it, it's in. MIKE: Let me see the bike here.
MIKE 2: They're very knowledgeable, and I found
that I didn't know as much as I thought I did.
JERSEY JON: Dude... MIKE 2: There's the sign.
MIKE 2: Yeah, it was nice being able to talk
the same language with them.
MIKE: Oh, yeah, you got her, you got her?
Here, give it here. Ugh.
JERSEY JON: Just goes to show, that you never know
where your day's gonna end up.
JERSEY JON: What a day, huh?
JERSEY JON: I never would've thought
that a lead that Mike picked out of his back pocket today
would have been the best lead that we had in a decade.
JERSEY JON: I don't ever remember finding
an Indian up in the air like that.
MIKE: Dude. JERSEY JON: This is killer.
MIKE: It's epic, man.
MIKE: One of the things I love
about the antique motorcycle world,
is that there are always someone out there
that's willing to take something
to the next level.
MIKE: Thanks, buddy. JERSEY JON: Thanks, buddy.
MIKE 2: Okay.
MIKE: This bike is beginning
a new journey with Jersey Jon and I.
Mike made sure it was preserved
until someone like us crazy guys came along.
MIKE: See you down the road, buddy!
MIKE 2: Alright.