JERSEY: So, dude, it's your birthday.
MIKE: I know. I don't want to talk about it, man.
JERSEY: Happy birthday, man.
MIKE: I don't want to. I'm in the club.
JERSEY: Dude, you're in the club now. I know.
I'm 61 and you're 60 now, man.
MIKE: I know man. JERSEY: The sixes.
MIKE: I know. I need to celebrate it. I just...
JERSEY: It's a privilege getting old. You know what?
Because we know more.
I'm realizing that I'm the mentor.
I had old guys that I would talk to.
Now I'm the old guy. MIKE: Yeah.
JERSEY: It's funny because now they're asking me
for my advice.
MIKE: On what? JERSEY: Like finishes, man.
Like how to get that aged finish on a piece of furniture.
MIKE: Oh. Like the chemicals. JERSEY: I got some recipes.
I got mason jars filled with really cool stuff.
MIKE: Okay, so you're like the warlock of wood.
JERSEY: And also metal.
MIKE: What's the weirdest thing you put on a piece of metal
to age it?
People tell me sometimes they just take it out
and they pee on it. JERSEY: What?
MIKE: Yeah, because it, like, it ages or puts ammonia on it.
JERSEY: Dude, that's a corncob thing in Iowa, dude.
(phone ringing)
MIKE: Dani D, what's up?
DANIELLE: Good morning.
Hey, did you guys make it across Texas yet?
MIKE: We're right outside of Houston.
DANIELLE: Oh, perfect. Okay, I'm going to send you
to meet Erline and her son, Jesse.
So Erline's late husband, Jesse Sr., was a major collector.
This dude collected so much. He collected bikes and--
MIKE: Motorcycles or bicycles? DANIELLE: Bicycles.
JERSEY: Cool. MIKE: What time period?
DANIELLE: Babe, I have no idea. That's your job.
I find the addresses. I send you there.
You find the stuff. You tell me what it is.
MIKE: Okay.
DANIELLE: So Jesse Sr. actually ran the family business.
That is three generations
of selling window treatments and blinds.
MIKE: Oh, wow. JERSEY: Okay, cool.
DANIELLE: But on the side, his passion really was art.
This man created art out of anything he could find.
He'd find something, and then he would make found art out of it.
Shadow boxes. He painted.
This dude would take an old vacuum cleaner
and make a robot out of it.
JERSEY: Wow, I love robots.
DANIELLE: Yeah, it's all really cool stuff,
but the best part is, the most exciting part for you?
His passion was bicycles.
MIKE: Awesome. JERSEY: Cool, cool. Awesome.
DANIELLE: You're not going to believe
all of the bike parts this guy has.
Because not only did he
create artwork with these found parts,
but he also loved bikes just for loving bikes.
MIKE: Yeah, yeah.
DANIELLE: I really wish that you would get a chance
to meet Jesse Sr., but unfortunately, he's passed.
But you get to take a look at his incredible collection.
So they've taken the past few years to kind of sit
with their feelings and organize and go through everything,
but they're ready to sell now.
I think you're gonna see a lot of neat stuff in there today,
I think you guys are gonna have fun.
MIKE: Awesome. JERSEY: Sounds like it.
MIKE: All right. Send us the address.
JERSEY: Thanks, Dani. DANIELLE: Will do, guys.
I'll see you soon. Have fun.
(energetic music)
JERSEY: I think it's up here.
MIKE: This is it, right here.
JERSEY: I'm going to grab a flyer.
(honk, honk)
MIKE: Alright. Look at that.
It's got red, white, and blue on it, man.
JERSEY: Yeah, man. That's a beautiful truck.
MIKE: Hey, hey. JERSEY: Hello.
MIKE: Are you Jesse? JESSE: Yeah. Hey. Welcome.
MIKE: I'm Mike. This is Jersey John.
JERSEY: How are you, man? JESSE: Jersey John, Jesse.
JERSEY: How are you? Nice to meet you.
MIKE: Nice to meet you, man. Flyer, Jersey.
JERSEY: Hello. ERLINE: Oh, hi.
MIKE: Hi, I'm Mike. ERLINE: Hi, Erline.
MIKE: Erline, nice to meet you. This is Jersey Jon.
JERSEY: Hi, I'm Jon. ERLINE: Hey, good to meet you.
MIKE: I know, Danielle probably went over some of this stuff.
You know, anything from early Halloween, to rugs, to wagons.
Jersey loves wagons.
He works on wood. He's a wood guy.
ERLINE: Okay. Okay.
MIKE: Yeah, Dani was saying that your husband was an artist.
ERLINE: Yes.
MIKE: She said he was doing something with vacuum cleaners.
JERSEY: Robots. Like robots and stuff.
ERLINE: Yeah, rocketeer backpacks.
MIKE: Oh, is that what he was doing?
ERLINE: Art was his passion, but it's not something
he wanted to do for work.
He said, "It gives me more joy as a hobby
versus having to bring revenue and income to the family,
the stress of that."
And our best friends are in the vacuum business,
so he would go by there, "Got any cool vacuum parts?"
MIKE: Yeah. So what's going on with this?
JERSEY: What's with this truck? Yeah, this truck is cool.
It's a '46?
ERLINE: Well, because of the war, the title is a '47.
MIKE: He painted this and everything?
ERLINE: He did everything.
MIKE: Okay. In this shop, he painted it in here?
JERSEY: This GMC pickup truck is beautiful.
It's all original parts.
There's no modifications. I love that.
I've got a 1946 Chevy panel truck, so right away,
I can relate to this guy.
ERLINE: He was making a service call
to one of our really good clients,
and he looked across the field, and he called me.
He's like, "Hey."
And I said, you know what you're doing, buddy? Do it.
MIKE: So would he usually call you on any purchase?
ERLINE: No, it didn't bother me, because I loved what he loved.
He always had a project going on in the garage.
Sometimes it was really hard to get him to come in for dinner.
He was always doing something that needed to be repaired,
worked on, that he could bring back to life.
JESSE: So we have the truck, but there's other bikes in here
that he kind of started with, if you want to come take a look.
MIKE: Yeah, Danielle said he was like a major bike collector,
and I asked her what time period.
She's like, "That's up to you guys. I don't know."
JERSEY: This garage is like bicycle mania.
There is stuff all over the place,
with bicycles hanging from the ceiling, from the rafters,
from the walls.
This is great.
MIKE: Jersey, look at that thing. The Outlaw.
JERSEY: That's like a Briggs & Stratton motor on there,
like a lawnmower engine.
MIKE: Can you pull it out? Pull it out, Jersey.
JERSEY: Let me see if I can get it...
ERLINE: It hasn't been on the road for a long time.
MIKE: Jersey Jon and I are both motorcycle collectors.
So the motorbike time period is very interesting to us.
There were so many different motorcycle manufacturers
that had a bicycle out.
Harley Davidson, Indian,
Flying Merkle, they were building the bicycles
to actually emulate the early motorcycles.
JERSEY: What is the bicycle frame?
JESSE: That's a Hiawatha.
JERSEY: Look how he built a platform in there
so he could have a place to mount the motor.
JESSE: So he built this thing from scratch.
ERLINE: Yes. Yes.
JERSEY: Why did he name it the Outlaw?
JESSE: Our last name is Outlaw.
JERSEY: Is it really? MIKE: That's cool.
JERSEY: That's unusual. MIKE: Really?
ERLINE: When I first met him, I said, "That is not your name."
MIKE: I know, right?
ERLINE: And he always said, "A name you can trust."
MIKE: Yeah. (laughs) ERLINE: The rest is history.
(phone ringing)
ROB: Hey, what's up, Dani D?
DANIELLE: Robbie! Ah, how's my lone Wolfe doing today?
ROB: I know.
It feels pretty good to be on the road by myself.
DANIELLE: You sitting there listening to your Molly Hatchet?
Is that keeping you company?
ROB: No, no, no, no.
Don't you ever just drive down the road
and not have the radio on?
That's what I'm doing right now. Complete silence.
DANIELLE: Nah, that's a luxury for people
who don't have to manage two Wolfe boys.
I don't get quiet time.
ROB: I got my quiet time. So what do you got for me?
DANIELLE: Oh, well, I'm here to make your day then.
I'm going to send you to Byron Clark.
Do you remember we picked him like 10 years ago?
I mean, they got a lot of stuff. They got like a phone booth.
They got advertising. But here's the deal.
Byron has doubled down.
And when I say more,
that guy has so many signs, so many poles, so much.
ROB: It's a sign pick?
DANIELLE: This is an advertising pick.
ROB: You're giving this to me, the lone Wolfe?
DANIELLE: Yeah, Mama Colby takes care of her Wolfe boys.
I don't know what to tell you. ROB: I'm loving it.
I like a guy that doubles down.
DANIELLE: Listen, you have fun. Tell Byron I say hey.
Don't throw your back out.
ROB: Hey, listen. Try and go get five minutes of peace today.
Solitude. Silence is king.
DANIELLE: Okay. Well, you have fun. I'll take five minutes.
I'll talk to you later. ROB: Thanks, Dani.
DANIELLE: Bye. ROB: Woo!
ROB: Coming into Delta.
ROB: Dang. These guys got cars and signs and gas pumps.
Dani D took care of me. Wow.
ROB: You Byron? BYRON: Hey, man, I am!
ROB: How you doing? BYRON: What's your name?
ROB: Rob Wolfe. BYRON: Rob Wolfe.
I didn't know who it was driving up here.
ROB: Good to see you. I'm going to hit you with a list
because that's got the good stuff on it.
BYRON: Good stuff. Well, I got old toys,
a little bit of fishy stuff.
ROB: Danielle said you doubled down the last 10 years.
BYRON: I probably have. ROB: It looks like it.
Looks like you got every pole sign in the country around here.
What are you doing with this thing?
BYRON: Well, this is a Howard Hughes truck.
Helicopter division. I bought it about 18 years ago.
And this one hauled jet fuel.
BYRON: We spent probably $30,000, $40,000 on it,
restoring it, and I guess we'll keep it, wouldn't be for sale.
Howard Hughes was a great innovator in aviation.
It's just a cool piece of history.
ROB: Wow. You aren't kidding here. This place is packed!
BYRON: It is. I got a lot of junk in here.
ROB: Wow. So what's the obsession?
As I'm looking around here, I'm seeing all these Amoco signs.
BYRON: Yeah. I bought out a Pollock Collin's Oil Company
in Anderson, Alabama that started in the '30s.
ROB: You bought out the entire...?
BYRON: Yes. ROB: So it was bulk plant?
BYRON: Bulk plant, yes. ROB: Wow.
What attracted you to that brand?
BYRON: I like the flame and everybody else does, too.
BYRON: I bought out distributorships
and probably six to eight collections total.
ROB: That for sale?
BYRON: I'd sell that one, yes, sir.
When I bought it, this plastic
was really not worth a lot at all.
ROB: It wasn't worth anything.
BYRON: But I've hung onto it all these years
and accelerated prices.
So I think $1,500 for it.
ROB: You're pretty proud of that piece of Lexan.
We call that Lexan.
Down in the South, they call it plastic, don't they?
BYRON: That's right. They call it plastic. It is Lexan.
ROB: Plastic is something that is flimsy and breakable.
Where Lexan came out, and it was actually a hardened material
in its early days, the longer it sat in the sun, though,
it became warped and actually would become brittle.
BYRON: It does have a crack back here on that top part now.
Uh-oh. ROB: That's the only part.
You know, the thing with Lexan signs,
I don't even know how these survived.
It's gotten so brittle because of the sun.
BYRON: Oh yeah, absolutely.
ROB: 10 years ago, Mike and Frank picked this place.
MIKE: Hey, you Byron? BYRON: I am.
FRANK: How you doing?
ROB: And all these Lexan signs,
those guys probably walked over them because back then,
they weren't worth a lot.
BYRON: You couldn't hardly give them away years ago.
ROB: Oh, this thing was worth 200 bucks on its best day.
BYRON: That's right. Absolutely. The best day.
ROB: Porcelain signs have skyrocketed through the moon.
But earlier collectors
are buying these and lighting them up.
BYRON: Well, it's different now. People like the light-ups,
which I like them too, but they really like the light-ups.
ROB: The fact that it's got that crack in it, though.
Look at that crack. BYRON: Yeah, it's right there.
And when you pull it together, most of that hides up,
but it does have a crack in it. ROB: Right there. Let me see.
BYRON: I'll discount it because of that crack.
What are you thinking?
You're thinking too hard here.
ROB: 900.
BYRON: Oh, my goodness.
ROB: Crack.
BYRON: Yep. What about 1,200? ROB: How about 1,000 bucks?
BYRON: We'll get the ball rolling.
ROB: All right.
BYRON: It made me feel pretty good that the first item
that we looked at, we sold it to him, kind of broke the ice.
That's what Frank used to say.
ROB: All right. Cool. Thank you.
BYRON: Yes, sir.
MIKE: What have you guys decided to do with something like this?
I mean, this is something that he created.
You said he was an artist.
I mean, this, to me, this is art.
JESSE: That's kind of this whole area
is stuff that he found and go ahead and fix it up
and make it an envision that he had.
MIKE: I'm excited that her husband was a bicycle guy
and an artist.
Because when I look at my bike collection,
I look at it as industrial art.
The lines, the colors, the design.
It's function and form joined together in a beautiful way.
So have you guys decided what you're going to do with this?
JESSE: Not really. I mean, my dad passed away four years ago.
ERLINE: He was the best husband.
He brought joy and laughter to all occasions.
It was an honor and privilege to have 39-plus years with him.
We still miss him every day.
JESSE: There's a lot of sentimental value
to certain pieces, but not everything.
JESSE: The Outlaw Bike is a creation,
not necessarily a restoration.
And that's probably why we won't look to sell right now.
ERLINE: What's really cool is the history on these things.
MIKE: Yeah, the Corvettes.
ERLINE: All the lights, the Delta, the Rocket Ray.
MIKE: Look at you. I love that you just said Rocket Ray.
aJERSEY: There's a selection of bikes here
from a lot of different eras of bicycling.
MIKE: This is kind of like all the motorbike era,
what they called.
And then they got into balloon tires.
JERSEY: But what I'm not seeing yet
is a lot of turn-of-the-century bikes.
That's the stuff I really love,
because it has a connection with early motorcycles.
MIKE: This is what they call a B10E.
This was actually Schwinn's first balloon tire bike.
It was a big transition because they were coming from
a metal-clad wood rim, or metal rim.
ERLINE: Right. Yeah, yeah.
MIKE: With a pneumatic tire that was a tube and a tire in one.
And then they went to this balloon tire,
and it was a big game-changer.
The exciting thing about the Schwinn B10E
is that it was Ignatius Schwinn's
first balloon tire bicycle.
It was a smaller wheel, but a fatter tire.
This is 1933, 1934.
They were trying to emulate the motorcycles at that time.
And then this has a toolbox tank on it
where the tank actually opens up.
ERLINE: That's amazing.
MIKE: And if you look across here, there's another one
that's got a toolbox tank,
and another one that's got a toolbox tank.
There's a Deluxe. And then this one's a Hawthorne.
What's interesting about the Deluxe
is it's got the Western Union badge on the front of it.
So that's a crossover, and that's got a larger tank on it.
The tank on the bike wasn't just a dead space.
There was a door on the side, you could carry a comic book,
carry your baseball cards, you could carry tools.
That's what's so cool about these bikes.
Was this a bike that he restored?
ERLINE: Yes, I believe so.
MIKE: Okay. He cared to have someone do the saddle correctly.
ERLINE: Correct.
MIKE: It's got a different rim on it.
This is not the correct pedal.
The paint job on this bike is nowhere near
what it would have been originally.
It's not a correct restoration. ERLINE: Okay. Not museum...
MIKE: That's not museum quality.
That's why I think he was restoring stuff.
JESSE: He wanted to ride it.
MIKE: He wanted to ride it, he wanted to get it done,
he wanted it to be presentable. The B10E,
it's an interesting bike, and it's a historical bike,
but again, he built it and restored it as a rider.
So I would do seven on this one,
seven on that one,
350 on this one.
That's, what, 1,750.
ERLINE: I think the best I could do for all three would be 2,200.
MIKE: That one at 350...
ERLINE: It's kind of low. MIKE: Not really.
The Hawthorne Flyer has the wrong wheels on it,
so that's the wrong rim, the wrong hubs.
It's got the wrong pedals on it.
The bike has been repainted,
and it's more of an amateur paint job.
He was building these bikes to ride them,
and the only way to enjoy them sometimes
is just to change the wheel set out.
ERLINE: Um. How about 1,800?
MIKE: I can see out of the corner of my eye
an early motorcycle frame,
and I know as soon as I do the deal on these bikes,
Jersey is going to be all over that.
What do you think, Jersey?
JERSEY: I think you should go for it.
JESSE: That's MSRP. That's MSRP.
ERLINE: Thank you, Michael. MIKE: Thank you.
All right, we're doing it!
ROB: Is this something you built?
BYRON: No, this is a company over in Sylacauga, Alabama,
and I didn't know this until I got it,
but they manufactured amusement rides.
So this was Rocket. I thought it was cool.
My hobby is collecting.
I don't hunt or fish or play golf,
so I get to meet a lot of different people
all across the country.
ROB: Cigar boxes. BYRON: Cigar boxes, yeah.
BYRON: Some of my best friends are people I've met picking
or buying signs
or merchandise.
It's just great.
Part of it came from that store in Tennessee I bought out.
Actually, 21 years ago,
they were going to tear that building down,
and those stores were widening the road.
So I walked in the store, and the man said,
"Let me see all this stuff in here."
I said, what do you want for it? He told me in 15 minutes,
I bought the whole store out.
ROB: Byron, not too many people walk in a building and say,
"I'll just take it all!"
BYRON: That's right, we bought it all.
In 2014 is when we bought the schoolhouse.
ROB: You bought a schoolhouse? That was full of stuff too?
BYRON: It was just full of school stuff.
We had to clean it all out and then made an antique store.
The building was built in 1933.
My daughter, Tajuana, she runs it on Saturdays
and half day on Sundays.
ROB: I like climbing. BYRON: Oh, man. But be careful.
(sighs)
ROB: Hey, do you have any of these you want to sell?
I know you've got a lot of poles out there.
BYRON: I do. I've got a set of those,
and I've got some of the round ones.
ROB: There's some round ones.
BYRON: I'll take 125 for a set of them.
ROB: You think you've got another one here?
BYRON: I do. ROB: Let's see here.
Oh, I see what you're talking about right there.
BYRON: Yes, sir. ROB: All right.
BYRON: Got right here some more.
ROB: That one right there.
BYRON: Yes sir, that's a good one. That's a good set.
ROB: Yeah, because they go like that on the pole.
BYRON: That's right. ROB: Alright.
I ain't even going to beat you up.
I know how hard they are to come by.
BYRON: I used to have some blue ones one time,
but I know they're a lot more rare.
ROB: Oh, yeah. Heck, yeah. You don't have any blue ones?
BYRON: I don't have any blue ones.
I've got a couple down here, the big ones.
They're kind of a gray color, but they're a matching set
of the big ones.
It may not be gray. It's kind of gray.
But I had the pole for them.
It's a different color.
ROB: They're blue. BYRON: Okay.
ROB: They're blue. BYRON: Oh! Oh, my goodness...
ROB: They're blue. These are blue right here.
BYRON: Golly, they are blue. I was really surprised.
I didn't know they were blue.
ROB: You got the poles for these?
BYRON: Well, that's just a two-inch pole.
ROB: Right. So these would have been island lights.
BYRON: That's exactly right. But I got them somewhere.
I don't know where they are. ROB: Water, air?
BYRON: I've got some of those out there, yes, sir.
ROB: Wanna sell these with those?
BYRON: I would, yes, sir. ROB: Everybody wants to
replicate an old gas station.
The air water meter goes in between the two gas pumps.
This light sits on top.
There's a water spigot on one side,
and there's an air hose on the other.
BYRON: Let's just do this right here.
I'll take $750 each for the pole and the light.
ROB: If you got the pole. BYRON: Yeah.
ROB: So $750 for these. BYRON: That's right.
ROB: And $750 for the real poles?
BYRON: For the two poles, that's right. Yes, sir.
ROB: All right. BYRON: Good deal.
ROB: I want to see the poles, though.
All right, let's go look at the poles.
JERSEY: What's going on here?
ERLINE: That's his Marsh-Metz frame.
JERSEY: Yes! In this sea of bicycles, I spot something
a little heavier, a little bit clunkier, a bigger-sized frame.
It's not a bicycle frame. It's an early motorcycle frame.
ERLINE: He swapped the guy for a Wizard for that.
JERSEY: What? ERLINE: Yes.
MIKE: For the frame or a bike?
ERLINE: There were parts of it
and skeletons of a motor.
MIKE: This is a cool company because Marsh-Metz,
the name Metz, is a big deal
when it comes to early motorcycles
because prior to this he was with Orient.
And they also were making Metz automobiles as well.
JERSEY: Marsh-Metz came from two different motorcycle companies.
Charles Metz had marketing expertise.
He knew how to manufacture.
The Marsh brothers had experience
in making high-performance motorcycles,
and they merged together in 1906.
This was a motorcycle brotherhood.
How long did he work on this thing?
ERLINE: He got the frame when our daughter was one,
and she just turned 39 yesterday.
JERSEY: This has been a long-term project,
and I know that feeling.
ERLINE: He had the patience of Job.
JERSEY: Is this something you guys would consider selling?
JESSE: Uh, I mean, potentially.
The parts are kind of all over the place.
JERSEY: Yeah, do you have the rest of the parts?
I mean, this is just a frame that's got...
We need a lot of parts to make this thing.
MIKE: Yeah, even, like, the head badge.
Every little piece is a big deal.
ERLINE: I would think that it's got to be here somewhere.
JERSEY: This is a perfect example of how
the restoration process works.
We find these bikes in these old garages and barns,
and they're all in pieces, they're scattered about.
MIKE: Jersey! JERSEY: Yo!
MIKE: I found the front wheel of the Marsh!
JERSEY: Really?
JERSEY: And there's somebody's dream,
the project that's not been completed
or it's been dispersed.
MIKE: Found the handlebars!
JERSEY: Whoa! Are those original?
MIKE: Yes!
JERSEY: And it's our job to harvest these projects,
to bring them back into the light.
MIKE: Wow, it's even got the rockers on.
JERSEY: Yeah, look, it's got the hourglass hub.
MIKE: That's what I'm saying.
JERSEY: That's pretty nice. MIKE: And then I found this.
JERSEY: Oh, wow, look at them. MIKE: The brackets are great.
JERSEY: Yeah, the brackets are cool.
JERSEY: Oh, yeah, look at that. This is the original rims.
MIKE: Here's those handlebars we found right here.
JERSEY: Oh, yeah, man. That's nice.
MIKE: Like, you're mentally trying to retrace his steps
and, like, where would he put something?
Because I know Jesse Sr.
would not cross-pollinate these motorcycle parts
with bicycle parts.
JERSEY: That's Marsh-Metz for sure.
MIKE: Jersey! JERSEY: Yo!
MIKE: All right, here. You ready?
JERSEY: Yep. Whoa.
MIKE: I'm going to bring those parts down I found.
JERSEY: I'm going to pull this frame out. Watch that oil tank.
Once I see this Marsh-Metz frame,
I want to just take this whole building apart
and find all those parts.
Rear fender. Yeah, and there's the fork.
This is a reproduction tank. MIKE: It is?
JERSEY: Yeah. Matt Smith from Antique Motorcycle Works
makes these. He makes them, yeah.
My buddy Matt Smith from the Antique Motorcycle Works
in Oregon, his whole family's been making motorcycle parts
for generations now.
They're one of the top suppliers of parts for bikes like this.
JESSE: Here we go. What do we have?
JERSEY: That's the idea, anyway.
MIKE: Have you seen the engine yet?
JERSEY: No. JESSE: There is an engine.
MIKE: Okay, so engine.
We need the rear wheel, the pedal cranks,
the chain ring.
JERSEY: Clutch. JESSE: That I don't know about.
MIKE: What else is in there, Jersey?
So here's a toolbox.
JERSEY: Yep, and there's a muffler.
MIKE: That's a muffler. I have an original muffler.
JERSEY: Do you?
MIKE: This is one of Smith's mufflers.
Here, Jersey, check this out.
JERSEY: Oh, that's the clutch piece.
MIKE: Anything we find is exciting. Oh, dude.
JERSEY: What do you got? MIKE: Here's the linkage.
This stuff is so hard to find. Here's the pedal crank.
JESSE: We got it. MIKE: Right there.
MIKE: I don't care what it is. I don't even care if it's
the screws that hold the head badge on. You know?
It's like, we're going to try to find it.
JERSEY: Oh, cool. Look at all the little parts.
MIKE: And then, dude, here's a nice set of bars.
JERSEY: Oh, yeah. Look at that. Yeah, these are Matt's bars. So.
The dream of any restorer is to work
with only original parts.
MIKE: Jersey, look at that. JERSEY: Oh, that's cool.
That's a nice original part.
But sometimes we have to make a part
because we can't find an original.
MIKE: And look at this. JERSEY: Oh, the rear stand.
MIKE: The rear stand. JERSEY: That's neat.
MIKE: There it is, dude. JERSEY: Yep.
This is a reproduction from Matt Smith.
It's electrically welded.
Now it's my job to find out what the original parts are,
what reproduction parts are there...
MIKE: There's another seat post.
JERSEY: What parts even go to this bike?
MIKE: He did the best he could and sourced a lot of it.
That's the original pedal, even.
JERSEY: Yes. That's the original pedal.
MIKE: Dude, that's sick. That's awesome.
Let's see if I can find the rear wheel.
JERSEY: We can't expect Erline and Jesse
to know what these parts are.
Wow, that's part of the crank.
JERSEY: It's just really fortunate for me
that I'm working on the same exact motorcycle
in my shop right now.
MIKE: All right, Jersey. JERSEY: No kidding. Cool, man.
I knew you could find it.
MIKE: Somebody made the wooden belt sheath on it.
JERSEY: Oh, yeah. MIKE: Look at that.
And then look at these. He saw these up there.
JERSEY: Those are the original rims. Those are 26-inch rims.
MIKE: Is that a 28? JERSEY: This is 28-inch rims.
MIKE: Okay.
JERSEY: Look at the difference in size.
MIKE: That's huge. Yeah. JERSEY: Yeah, so...
MIKE: Cool.
JERSEY: This bike's supposed to have 26-inch rims,
and these are 28-inch rims. I don't know why.
If you're going to have a 28-inch rim,
you need a 28-inch frame.
So I have to be very careful what's going on here.
I've got to make sure that Jesse did his homework
and all these parts are compatible.
ERLINE: Oh, my goodness. This is great!
JERSEY: We're going to need some...
I don't think you got it. Oh, here we go.
MIKE: There. JERSEY: Here we go.
MIKE: There we go. ERLINE: Wonderful.
MIKE: And we got this going on here.
ERLINE: Fantastic.
JERSEY: What gets me, Mike, is, you see how this piece is new?
He might have converted this to a 28-inch.
I'm getting pretty excited here, because I'm finding a lot
of parts that are correct and viable.
JERSEY: Do you have a motor? JESSE: We have it somewhere.
ERLINE: Let's go see the studio.
JERSEY: The studio? Okay.
MIKE: Listen, you've got so much stuff up there
that I haven't even seen yet.
Can I go up there and look around?
ERLINE: Absolutely. You're more than welcome.
MIKE: Jersey, I'm going into Bicycle Land!
BYRON: Some of these, I'm all set up down the driveway.
ROB: How do you even find any of the stuff out here?
It looks like it's been here for 100 years.
BYRON: Well, it's been here for a while.
ROB: You've got more poles than anybody I've seen,
I can tell you that much right now.
There's got to be 200 poles in a pile here.
BYRON: I think those poles here.
ROB: Right here?
BYRON: Well, no, they're not here.
Well, we're going to have to find them.
I thought I knew where they were.
The last time they came, Frank and Mike,
all that stuff was out here in the yard.
It was truly a junkyard. So we cleaned that up last year.
And so we put it out there in the woods.
It may be up there with those other ones.
I thought they were down here. Well, what do I know, though,
my nephew put them here.
So they hid them good, didn't they?
ROB: I'm starting to get nervous.
Byron's got over 300 acres here.
BYRON: Yeah, I don't think the pole up to the tree fell over.
It may be over with those other ones.
I thought they were here. We lost the light pole.
ROB: Right here.
BYRON: I think we found the light pole.
ROB: Um... That's a round one right here.
BYRON: Both of those would match.
ROB: Those would match that set.
BYRON: And you could add the water and the lights to that.
ROB: Oh, you could easily add it.
The original ones were fluted. These are smooth on the outside.
So I'll have to add the water spigot to the one side
and add a little coiled-up air hose to one side.
But the fact that they're painted,
they're in great shape,
they're going to make this whole deal work.
BYRON: They don't have the water. I thought they did.
ROB: Yeah. We'll just add in the cost.
BYRON: What if we did $600 on these two instead of the $750?
ROB: 600 bucks on a pair. BYRON: Yeah.
ROB: Okay, I'm doing that. I'll do that.
All right, I appreciate you on that.
BYRON: Yes, sir. Ain't no problem at all.
He was wanting it with a water spigot.
And the ones that I had didn't have it.
So I cut the price a little bit.
BYRON: We're going up here, and we're looking for more stuff.
ROB: All right.
MIKE: Some of the most beautiful,
well-designed bicycles were made during the Depression.
And that's why a lot of this stuff is so hard to find.
So when I'm up here looking through these parts,
I'm looking for certain chain guards,
certain fenders, certain headlights,
the streamline stuff, the airflow stuff,
the hard to find parts.
JESSE: Why would he save all these frames
and fenders and wheels and spokes?
MIKE: Because he knew they had value.
ERLINE: Any of those forks are all lined up?
There's, like, 40 of the forks. I mean, that's, any desirable?
That's unique? MIKE: Yeah, I mean,
there's nothing there that really stands out too much.
ERLINE: Nothing's unique? Okay. MIKE: Nothing too crazy.
These are all pretty common.
But you get into a situation where you have
this kind of quantity, I mean, that's a tremendous amount
of work to get rid of this amount of stuff.
To sell it to one person for a number
is, to me, smarter.
I wish I was that guy.
I can give you names of guys... JESSE: That's what we need.
MIKE: That will buy volume.
ERLINE: See, I just didn't want to go to the junkyard with this.
MIKE: No, no, no. Nothing up here is junk. Nothing is.
JESSE: Hearing his recommendation
of how to approach a collection like this, that was invaluable.
My dad had another bike that he always would talk about.
It's the Elgin Bluebird. MIKE: Yeah! Oh, my gosh.
A lot of bicycle collectors consider the Elgin Bluebird
the most streamlined, airflow, beautiful bicycle ever made.
I'm trying to figure out what he was doing here.
Oh, my gosh. This is an Elgin Robin frame.
He was going to use this down tube,
and he was going to use that bottom bracket shell.
See, because there's nothing here.
And then the frame is broken right here.
This is like one of the most expensive, airflow,
rare balloon tire bicycles there is.
This was made during the Depression
from 1935 to 1937.
This bike would have been $45 back then.
Someone's salary for like three weeks.
I mean, it's one of the most coveted bicycles they made.
JESSE: Oh yeah. He very much indicated that.
MIKE: This is crazy.
If there was like a Mount Rushmore of antique bicycles,
the Elgin Bluebird would be right in the center.
So here, I'm looking at one that's like broke in half,
and it's just laying outside of the garage!
So let's grab this...
The first Elgin Bluebird was made in 1935
from the brilliant mind of Juan Raydolphus Morgansky,
AKA John Morgan.
Oh, my gosh. Look at this.
This is part of that whole design revolution in the 1930's
of who was going to build the coolest, most bad to the bone,
airflow, streamlined bicycle.
So look at the way they made this.
This is basically like a fuselage, okay?
This tank isn't clamped onto, or into, the frame.
It's actually part of the frame.
But this is interesting to me because this is cut off here.
See? And then look it. That's cut off.
And this is cut off.
Right here, too, there was something welded here.
JESSE: I'm pretty sure we have more parts to this.
And I also have a picture of my brother with this bike.
I think it has more to it. So let me go get it.
MIKE: Okay. There was a plan here
because he's got this cadaver frame that's a donor
where he can use the downtube.
He can use the bottom bracket shell
with the grease zerks in it.
Nice.
ROB: Holy cow!
BYRON: This is a little bit better.
ROB: This is like the building that just keeps on giving.
BYRON: It is. It just keeps on going.
ROB: Byron is, like, holding out. There's more stuff in here.
Every square inch is decorated.
ROB: Is that an original countertop?
BYRON: It is.
ROB: Original dealership from Mopar?
BYRON: It came out of the Limewell dealership.
And I got all the books with it.
ROB: That looks new old stock. BYRON: It is new old stock.
And those two right there, I would sell one of them, $5,500.
ROB: Yeah. You're right there on the money.
I have a feeling that this is Byron's personal room,
and he's enjoying it.
And I understand that.
Three fine entertainers to make your drive more enjoyable.
BYRON: This was a Chevrolet dealership item, 1956.
And it actually, I got the antennas
that just hooked to a battery so they could try out which radio
they wanted in the car in the dealership.
ROB: He's got baseball in here.
He's got a concert going on over here.
I've never seen one before, to tell you the truth.
BYRON: I'd take $1,600 for it.
ROB: One thing I learned a long, long time ago,
when you see something that you have not seen
and it's in great shape,
then you have to at least try buy it.
I like it. My brother's got a Chevy dealership.
I want to say it was opened in the 1940's.
So it's in downtown Columbia, Tennessee.
And this would be a cool piece to have in there.
What did you say you're going to have on it?
BYRON: Well, I said $1,600, but make me an offer.
ROB: 900 bucks.
BYRON: I'll tell you what I'll do.
For this and those two original plastic Chevy and Pontiac,
I'll do $1,200 for all three pieces.
ROB: Do $1,000.
BYRON: $1,000.
I'll do that. ROB: All right.
BYRON: Thanks. ROB: Appreciate it.
BYRON: Yes, sir. Mike having that Chevrolet dealership,
I got thinking, you know, when they had those other two pieces
over there, they're General Motors.
I like to see things go somewhere it kind of belongs to.
ROB: Where's the scratch and dent aisle?
BYRON: I got a whole shed outside of scratch and dent.
ROB: You got a whole other shed outside? Let's go check it out.
BYRON: All right, sir.
JESSE: He's right here.
MIKE: Oh, okay.
JESSE: And a photo of my little brother
in his heyday right here.
MIKE: Okay, I see what's going on here.
See, there was a bar welded to here.
They cut the seat tube out to put this engine in it.
They've removed the chain stays here
to take this piece of iron
all the way across into here, it looks like.
So here's the rear rack. Look at this thing, man.
This is nuts.
See, look how massive this bike was. Think about it.
I mean, it's almost like a praying mantis look to it.
You know, it's like a shark. I mean, it even has gills, man.
Oh, man, this is so cool. Look at that.
And this has got even some of the original paint.
Look at this. Look at that.
So that's the blue right there, and then that red pinstripe.
What he has here, this is the crown jewel.
This is it.
I mean, it don't get any better than this,
unless it was together and it was rideable,
and it had original chrome,
and original leather on the saddle, and it had a saddle,
and it had pedals, and a crank...
Then it would be better.
But right now, at this moment, this is as good as it gets.
JESSE: There you go.
MIKE: Look at that, man. It's like industrial art.
Seriously. Can I make you an offer on it?
JESSE: Sure.
MIKE: Depending on the level of restoration,
$9,000 to probably to $12,000
is where people usually sit on these things
when they're complete.
That's how rare this bicycle is.
3,000 bucks.
MIKE: Can I make you an offer on it?
JESSE: Sure. MIKE: 3,000 bucks.
I mean, it just needs so much work.
It needs someone that understands
the importance of it and then has the skills
to complete this kind of metal work,
and that helps it a lot.
JESSE: So you want that with it as well?
MIKE: Absolutely.
JESSE: Think you could do $4,500?
MIKE: No, because it's got probably $3,000 to $4,000
in metal work to be done.
And then on top of that, you still have to have the speedo,
you still have to have the horn and light button,
you still have to have the battery top.
You're going to find wheels.
If we can't find the handlebar stem, that has to be bought.
Pedal cranks, the chain ring.
There's a tremendous amount of work here.
It's not like you're working with a complete bike
that's all there and you're just going to restore it.
JESSE: What could you come up to?
MIKE: I mean, I feel like I'm being pretty legit with you guys
in regards to an offer on it, you know.
Um...
$3,200.
I'd like to have a copy of that photo because that explains...
JESSE: This is a $300 photo.
MIKE: Yeah. (laughs)
That explains the whole situation though.
JESSE: Let's do it. MIKE: You want to do it?
JESSE: Yeah. MIKE: All right, man, thank you.
JESSE: We're not going to be able to put this all together,
and it's just another chance to see a project come to fruition.
MIKE: It's so unbelievable.
ROB: Yeah, you've got pole signs in here.
BYRON: That's right, yeah.
ROB: I need a lean-to like this. Everybody needs catch-all here.
BYRON: Don't do it like me. Don't fill them all up.
ROB: These are actually pretty cool.
BYRON: Yeah, those came from there. Those are original.
ROB: It's got the look. BYRON: It's cleaned up too.
It's dirty, dusty. Give me $500 for both of them.
ROB: This one's got a big smash in it. The trim's gone.
300 bucks.
BYRON: I'll do $400 for both of them. And I got the add glass.
ROB: That goes in here? BYRON: Yes.
ROB: $400. I can do $400.
Leaves a little. Leaves a little on the end.
These are the front of a Bennett pump.
A lot of guys are using these in bathroom displays.
What they're doing is they're putting the original thing
on the wall and putting a mirror behind it.
What else you got to show me?
JESSE: So, we talked about it earlier, my dad.
The stuff out in the barn, the junk.
This is the finished product, if you will.
JERSEY: Whoa! Look at this place.
MIKE: Whoa. JERSEY: Look at the robots.
MIKE: This is off a Rector set wheel.
JERSEY: Right, and these are gas line pieces.
MIKE: That's a taillight.
Did he ever have a show? Did he ever have an art show?
JESSE: He did.
JERSEY: The skill he had in both worlds
and how he brought them together,
that's what's amazing to me.
MIKE: Oh, my gosh, Jersey. (laugh)
Here, put that on. I'll help you, man.
JERSEY: This goes like that.
MIKE: Yeah, there you go.
ERLINE: See? See, right there?
JESSE: We need to figure out a plan as far as
how we can organize it, showcase it.
MIKE: Whoa.
You need to be holding this while you got the pack on.
JERSEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
MIKE: Look at that. That's hot.
JERSEY: Boom!
MIKE: Here, wait. Let me take your picture, man.
JESSE: Not necessarily sell it, but just have people appreciate
the stuff my dad did because the original thing he wanted
to do in his life was be an artist,
and this is a way to make that full circle for him.
MIKE: And then he made the guitars, too?
JESSE: Yeah.
MIKE: Look at that bicycle pedal jersey.
JERSEY: Oh, yeah. It's moving.
ERLINE: Those are Venetian blind tassel cords.
JERSEY: It's so cool. He spent some time doing that.
MIKE: Wow.
His father was an incredible artist.
Oh, my. Look at that! Is this something you'd sell?
ERLINE: No. MIKE: No?
I mean, I truly believe that he could have made a living
making things like this and selling them.
JERSEY: He painted that? ERLINE: Yeah.
All of these are his, he did everything.
MIKE: Look at that jersey. That's his, too.
'74 he painted it.
MIKE: Now that I see his art,
I can see the connection with the bicycles.
JERSEY: Strap kink Harley. MIKE: This is an early Harley.
So many bicycle collectors.
We look at our bikes as true works of art because they are.
MIKE: I would love to buy this. ERLINE: Not going to happen.
JESSE: 5 grand.
(laughter)
ROB: What the heck, dude?
BYRON: Guy down in Ashland.
That old chicken house that we tore down.
Put 160 foot back up.
ROB: And you filled it up with signs.
BYRON: That's right. Made it a little bit taller.
ROB: Man, I got to ask. Woo! The Frontier.
ROB: Bam. What's in front of me?
A Frontier gasoline sign.
The most iconic gasoline sign in the industry.
BYRON: I bought that online in a Texaco pole.
And I would take $14,000 for it.
ROB: Dude, this is probably one of the best
gas and oil signs that's out there.
BYRON: Oh, absolutely. ROB: I mean, hands down.
The Frontier gasoline sign was made in two different versions.
This is the round version.
The other one is a keyhole version.
That sign is the most desirable with the pole.
ROB: These were always made single-sided.
They actually had two of them in a pole back to back.
BYRON: In the can. That's right.
ROB: Yeah, in the can. A little bit of condition issues.
A couple little things. But nothing that's crazy.
Would you do 12.5?
ROB: It's just such an iconic sign.
BYRON: It is.
ROB: This is a Frontier gasoline sign.
The most iconic gasoline sign in the industry.
BYRON: I would take $14,000 for it.
ROB: Would you do 12.5?
BYRON: Robbie, you know, you already bought
a good bit of stuff from me. Uh, I'll do 12.5.
ROB: Dude. BYRON: Yes, sir.
ROB: I'm happy as can be. BYRON: I know that.
ROB: I figured I had to get at least one good sign
bought out of the pile. This is the good one.
BYRON: Yes, sir. Probably the best.
ROB: All right, man. That's awesome.
ROB: I was so blinded by the Frontier sign,
I didn't even see the short box truck in the room.
I got to ask about this. BYRON: That's right. Yes, sir.
ROB: Was it a '74? BYRON: It's a '73.
ROB: '73. Wow.
BYRON: I bought this truck 10 years ago or more.
When our son turned 40,
Tim, he actually passed away seven years ago.
Had a massive heart attack.
ROB: Sorry to hear that.
BYRON: We gave that to him for his 40th birthday.
BYRON: Tim never had an older vehicle,
but he just loved it when we gave it to him for his birthday.
BYRON: He's an Alabama fan. ROB: Alabama all the way.
BYRON: He's an Alabama fan. ROB: All day long. Roll tide.
BYRON: He got a red shaker in the seat of that truck.
And on Saturday morning, he'd have that shaker going
ready for roll tide, you know. (laughs)
It's just a special truck.
And maybe some of the grandkids might want it later.
This is where I need to start crying.
(laughs) ROB: Oh, yeah. I don't know.
You probably, you know, for as many pole signs
as you've got, Byron,
I don't think this one's going to put a dent in any of them.
BYRON: Maybe not. ROB: There we go.
Roll 'er in there.
BYRON: I'll tell you, they're a lot alike.
They're both real friendly and nice.
They're fortunate to have each other for brothers.
Absolutely.
And I'm sure they get a little scuffle every once in a while.
(laughs)
I did help this time, didn't I? ROB: I know you did.
You did. You did. I like that.
Buddy, I can't thank you enough. BYRON: Thank you too, brother.
ROB: Send me pictures when your grandson's driving that truck.
BYRON: I will. ROB: Appreciate it.
BYRON: Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Yeah.
ROB: Byron's been doing this for over 50 years.
The fact that the guy still has the passion
for all this stuff, hopefully that's me someday.
BYRON: Keep in between the ditches.
ROB: Come see us in Iowa. BYRON: Okay, I will!
ERLINE: Okay, guys. Let's look for the motor. Right this way.
MIKE: All right, Jersey.
ERLINE: See that gray tape?
JERSEY: Oh, I see it. There it is. Yeah.
Pull it out of there Mike.
MIKE: I got you. ERLINE: It's heavy.
MIKE: I got you. Ah!
MIKE: Whoa. Is this table gonna hold it?
JESSE: Uh... There it should be.
MIKE: There you go, Jersey. Oh, that's nice. Dang.
JERSEY: Pull the bottom out. MIKE: All right. There we go.
Dang, man. That's really nice. Woo! It's like jewelry.
JERSEY: You could tell from the condition of this motor
that it was professionally restored.
MIKE: So the motor being done so nice, dude,
it's kind of like you'd have to either age it
or it just inspires you to have to do the whole bike.
JERSEY: Yeah. I mean, somebody did a really amazing job
with this restoration on this motor.
They polished the cases. They originally were polished.
They were just like this when they came out of the factory.
This bike is going to take six months of work,
working on it every day to bring it home, to finish it,
to make it work.
I'm working on these right now in my shop.
So I understand them. I appreciate them.
I'm kind of hyped up on them right now.
He's gotten pretty far on the project.
MIKE: Their main goal is to find somebody
to bring the bike to fruition,
to complete the bike
just like Jesse Sr.
would have wanted it done.
He's a good guy because he can do all this himself,
where a lot of guys have to keep writing the checks.
ERLINE: We've been there, done that.
JERSEY: Yeah, right. Right.
JESSE: What's a freshly restored Marsh-Metz go for?
JERSEY: You know, totally restored,
beautiful, fresh paint.
They only go for like $32,000.
Sometimes, you know, a little bit less.
MIKE: Yeah, you might see one creep up to about $35,000.
JERSEY: Every little reproduction parts,
the value goes down. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
MIKE: When you think about, like, okay, what is it
going to take to get it to the next level?
If it was mocked up and, like, get it so it actually looks
like something, it's probably worth
$12,000 to $15,000.
JESSE: Because it's not all original?
JERSEY: Not only that, but it's still got a long journey to go
to put this bike back together again
as a beautifully restored bike.
You know, this motor is actually there.
This motor is ready to rock and roll. It's beautiful.
MIKE: So what he's talking about now is making the rest of it
look like this.
JESSE: We can scuff it up for you if you want. (laughs)
JERSEY: No, I don't think that's the way to go with this motor.
MIKE: I think to sell it to Jersey in the condition it's in
is meeting their goal.
Because at the end of the day, they want it complete.
And he's a guy that can obviously do that.
JERSEY: I'm certainly interested in it the way it is
as a big pile, a big project.
But we've got to come up with a number that makes sense to me.
JESSE: All right, so what are you thinking?
JERSEY: You know, 10 grand.
That's where I've got to be on it.
JESSE: That's the motor and all the pieces of it?
JERSEY: Yeah, all the parts and pieces, all the motor,
the rusty parts too. I think that's a very fair offer.
JESSE: It was good to hear the reality of what the bike
was worth versus what we had always just kind of not known.
MIKE: Sounds like you're buying it.
JERSEY: I don't know. Am I buying it?
ERLINE: Yes, you are.
MIKE: Ah!
JERSEY: (laughs) ERLINE: Thank you.
JERSEY: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
JESSE: Thanks for taking it on. JERSEY: No, absolutely.
I thank you so much. It means a lot to me.
JESSE: He would want this done.
JERSEY: It's going to the right place.
And I think that he's smiling right now, you know.
MIKE: Alright, you grab the engine.
And we'll grab the rest of the stuff.
JERSEY: Alright, let's get out of here. Yep.
MIKE: Alright, man. This is awesome.
JESSE: It was cool to see them put together the blueprint
that he had laid out
that we would have never been able to figure out on our own.
ERLINE: And take it to completion.
ERLINE: We know that they can take it to the finish line.
MIKE: Alright. We did it. Hey. JESSE: This is great.
MIKE: I love that you guys are keeping some of this stuff.
That's very cool. ERLINE: Thank you, Mike.
MIKE: Your husband had a beautiful eye.
ERLINE: Yes, he did. MIKE: In more ways than one.
ERLINE: Oh, well, thank you. Thank you.
MIKE: I love that they're keeping so many of the things
that meant so much to him and them.
JERSEY: The Marsh-Metz is going to a good home.
JESSE: Yeah. Thank you. God bless. See you in Iowa.
JESSE: I want to see the Blue Bird.
MIKE: And I love that it's important to them to find homes
for these projects and finish them
the way Jesse would want them to be.
JERSEY: Hey, come see us. JESSE: Alright. We will.
ERLINE: Thank you. JESSE: See ya.