Thread: American Pickers..

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Originally Posted by robot

How real can this show be? Let's see...two guys in a Sprinter type vehicle drive from Iowa to Florida/California/Texas/way far and buy low priced junk to resell for a few hundred measly profit....and they have a facility back in Iowa with a full time clerk. Hmmmm....they must stop at a lot of casinos and win. This business model stinks.....I can see a guy "picking" locally and keeping his expenses down....but it would be a boring TV show.

Now, the Auction TV shows......a couple of us from work have gone to two storage auctions. The first was at a storage facility near the local Air Force base.....maybe some good stuff. At least 100 people showed up. The two of us had more teeth than all of the others combined. The nine units all had CRAP.....household junk like old clothes, mattresses with lots of stains, junk knock down furniture, tube type TVs, etc. Some went for $500......wow. The second month, we went to another auction....same result except there were a lot of people in tank tops with saggy tattooed boobs....and they were guys!!! Same junk.....in all, we saw perhaps 25 units sold but zero had anything remotely worth carrying away if it were free. So much for finding the NOS 32 fenders, a Model 12 Winchester and stuff like that.....unless I rent a unit and put my own stuff in it.

mike in tucson

Guys,
Let me help you out here. A couple of weeks ago we went to LeClaire, IA just to see Pickers. Trust me, my garage is bigger. The stuff you see is shot with a very narrow camera lens, just like on a Hollywood set. The Nash sits about 40' from the front of the store and the parking lot is between it and the building. There's probably room for 5 or 6 cars to park in their lot. The building is down an alleyway and the inventory leaves a lot to be desired. There are no deals and the sales (they were making) were for coffee cups, tee shirts and caps with the "Picker's" logo. Lots of people though and most of them were disappointed. I heard a lot of groans and some were very boisterous. I thought it was histerical. It's a freaking TV show for goodness sake and like all TV shows, the more BS the better it sells. Picker's, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, etal are a lot of fun to watch but just remember, they're entertainment. How many shows would you watch if they conducted their business like all other businesses? Think about it, in Picker's case, you'd probably see one person nosing around an estate sale at 7:00 AM and ultimately buying a rocking chair for $4.00. Then they'd take it back to their shop, put a $25.00 price tag on it and it would sit for a couple of months. Are we talking ratings here?

I've gone to a couple of storage auctions and the one unit I kick myself for passing up was a 10 x 20 that was jammed full of Edsel parts. The guy must have either been a serious collector or in the business. There was everything from complete dashboards, to engines, to doors, hoods, seats, boxes of misc parts, and in one corner a standing stack of chrome side trim that must have been 3 feet around.

It didn't go for a lot, maybe $ 700 if I recall, but I just kept telling myself I was going to have to move all that stuff and where was I going to put it. But in hindsight I should have bought it, done research on what fit what, and sold each individual piece on Ebay. I could have made some good money, I bet.

But it was 95 degrees out and it looked like more work than I wanted to get into.

Don

I think most people want to spend lots of money betting they'll hit it big like on t.v., making most auctions not worth what you'll end up with, but 700 on Edsel parts sounds worth it if you have the time and energy to store, catalog and list all that stuff. I like the cookoo clock you scored on that one unit last year Don! I guess the risk and potential can make it fun sort of like gambling!

Is the cookoo still cookoo ing, Steve? I always hate to sell stuff to friends.

I would have had to become an Edsel expert if I bought that unit. Edsel had various years and various models so you would have to know what chrome piece went where on what one. The unit was so full there was a little path down the middle and that was it, the sides were jammed with every part imaginable. I wish now I had done it.

Don

clock is working great. I had a crazy uncle who decided in the 60's Edsels would be worth a fortune, he invested in 7 brand spankin new ones, had them parked up and down his street. Kept getting parking tickets, until he finally sold them for pennies on the dollar. Did the same thing with lionel railroad cars and engines, had them everywhere. The funny thing, is they all did go way up, he was just not there for the payoff.

The guy on american pickers name is Mike Nail of eldorado Kansas. If you google him it will pull up his work number. Just talked to him on the phone about some things he h
as for sale.

Originally Posted by rich1971

The guy on american pickers name is Mike Nail of eldorado Kansas. If you google him it will pull up his work number. Just talked to him on the phone about some things he h
as for sale.

And that post was worth digging up a 4+ year old thread?


.

guy is a bail bondsman . must be slow .
the guy on the show is mike wolfe

the Wife is a big fan but I am not and mainly because it's scripted and produced and that, in it'self, turns me off on a show of this nature

Em

Originally Posted by rich1971

The guy on american pickers name is Mike Nail of eldorado Kansas. If you google him it will pull up his work number. Just talked to him on the phone about some things he has for sale.

Rich, what you're seeing is that the show visited Ed Dorado, and one of the places they visited was the Hot Rod Cafe owned by Mike Nail and his wife. Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz ended up buying a few things from the Nail's.

Originally Posted by mrmustang

And that post was worth digging up a 4+ year old thread?

Gotta agree, Bill, not sure what digging up the thread from 2011 added here....

I have a good friend that his parents and grand parents own some old businesses in the town of Grundy Center. Before the pickers had their show, they came to my friend Mike's family businesses and tried to buy a lot of stuff. It wasn't a pleasant experience for the store owners. They ran them out of there. That's all I can say about them, I've never met them before. They do find some unique stuff, and see a lot of old junk. It would be a cool way to make a living though!

Originally Posted by mrmustang

And that post was worth digging up a 4+ year old thread?
.

Maybe it's just me but.. we have a new member to the forum who wanted to share some info. Instead of saying thanks.. good to see you here..maybe start an intro thread??

Nope, he gets chastised for commenting on a old thread. Wonder how long he'll hang out with us? Did it change anything in the world that he shared a comment? Nope..

But I'm pretty certain the way this thread "ended" we'll change his opinion..sorry if I am out of line.. it just stikes me wrong that "we" treated a new guy badly.

my spider senses go off when someone drags up an old thread (which they had to search for )only to plug something else. new member , first post , 4 year old thread , from same area and is guiding you to another business . just seems like spam to me.

Mike, I didn't notice the first time post. Hope that Rich isn't overly offended with us pointing out the error in names.

Sometimes we just want to talk, not necessarily say anything, just not be alone.