Modern Vespa

Those guys have ruined more deals .I traveled over a hundred miles to look at a nice VBB. The guy gets three calls other than mine and raises his price $500 after I was on my way. Everyone now thinks their scoot is "rare" and under priced. Screw those guys. Sorry for the rant, I feel better now.

I dunno, a couple summers ago I was parking my rusty Sprint in front of my work and people were asking about it about once a day and mentioning American Pickers.

Not one of them came up with my $4,000 asking price.

Yeah, raising the price while you're on the road is just a dick-move.

Yep. Ive been dealing with the Austin dude and the 2 jets for a month now. As of 2 weeks ago I offered him what he wanted and I had a guy and truck standing by.

He gets back to me and says the family committee is considering ebay for more money due to the amount of interest in the bikes.

I told him my sizable offer or suck an egg.

I don't have time for hold outs wanting to maximize their sale.

Sell what you advertise or take a hike.

I was picking blueberries yesterday and the woman who owns the farm says: "ohh, that's a nice scooter. I learned all about those on that show that I just loovvvee, American Pickers". I thought: "great, there goes any hope of finding that sweet machine that's been covered up for 30 years in a barn somewhere....".

Yeah, the guys on my oil can forum also hate them.

On the upside -- the increased awareness probably means that far fewer bikes will be taken to the scrapyard. Thus leaving a bigger pool of parts in the future.

Tell me about it. I've been quite fond of collecting old rotary phones, but now people from Craigslist or even Goodwill seem to think rotary phone = rare (lol) and try to charge $60+ for even the most mass produced plastic hunk of crap.

It cuts both ways. On the one hand, it makes every Tom, Dick, and Harry think his beat-to-hell bike is worth a mint.

On the other hand, it helps deter some of you with less-than-complete scruples from making off with that $100 GS160 from that poor old lady who otherwise might not know any better.

Pot, kettle. Don't like American Pickers? Maybe you should look in the mirror.

I've had that same thought, Jess. And it is true, to a point. On the other hand, what is the true value of a GS160 or an SS180 that needs a complete mechanical rebuild? Once you take into account the cost of all the parts needed, and the labor necessary, probably not as much as some people think. I've always spent more rebuilding bikes than they're worth, especially if you think your labor is worth anything more than Taco Bell wages.

Jess, I guess I can see your point, there are some scum bags out there that would think nothing of ripping off some little old lady. Personally when buying, I try to figure out what I have to put into it. I try not to get in too deep so if need be I can sell and hopefully break even. Sometimes I win, but I usually lose. No biggie. So when buying, I usually let the seller know what I think I will have to put in it and what it is worth to me based on what a running scooter of that model would be going for in that area. Most are reasonable, some not - like the experience I had today. The guy raised the price after we had talked on the phone on the advice of friend that knows nothing about scooters but can watch TV and could magically come up with a higher number. Not based on any research of course, because I asked him when I got there after 2 hours of driving.
I guess it kind of irked me that he raised the price while I was in transit. And then I came on here and vented. Bad form of course. If I offended anyone, I apologize, I should have kept this to myself. I just find it curious that on the picker show that it always goes " ooh, I going to pay $xx and I'm going to sell for $xxxx". This is fantasy to think that a profit will always be made. If anything, the pickers are the ones ripping some one off. But I'm sure that gets settled off to the side, off camera. Rant done, thank you for allowing me to come on here at all. I cherish this forum and the hard work it takes to keep it going.

I think that's the rub of it - people think their crap is worth a ton, but it's also helping ignorant people avoid giving away something truly valuable for a dime. Eh... I don't feel too strongly about it, because it might be annoying in the short term, but eventually scooter prices will have to drop in the face of shy buyers for not particularly rare models.

Those guys know a lot about some very specific niche markets (oil cans and ), but as for scooters they know just the obvious stuff. He knows that an SX200 is valuable. he doesn't know how valuable though.

I actually bought my Ape from him right before he signed the contract for the TV deal. He asked for $1K over whatever he needed to pay and I agreed. He had my 6 grand in his pocket when they filmed the "ending" segment where some scooter guy told it was worth 10k (which was about right considering its condition). He had no idea there was one on Italian ebay, restored, with a 60,000 Euro buy-it-now price tag. He honored his original deal and I consider him a resource. Next time he finds an Ape I hope I will be the first name on that list.

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror ... I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways

Fair enough. But there are enough unobtanium parts on both of those bikes to make them worth quite a bit more than $100.

No question about that.

+1

thanks...!!

I had read a few years back that Murikan Pickers will rent old bikes and cars off CL and wheel them into a barn so they can film it being 'discovered'. I read that Amer Restoration hires other shops to restore old pieces that they film on the show. Pawn Stars has some staged moments as well, I recognized an actor from a webseries on an ep trying to pawn some NES games.

What? Reality TV is not actual reality? My world is crashing down around me!

The Pickers also always mention that they have to make a profit. Not our fault that they seem wide spread on the percentage margin they are willing to make. Every time I watch that show I'm convinced the only money they make us off the show. 2 stores, minimum 4 employees, all overhead and gas for that tank... Trust me, they are screwing that little old lady off camera or not making a dime.

$100 for a GS. That's likely wrong. $5-600? I'm fine with it. Don't know what you are getting into til you're in it!

Vintage dildo... $500, all day long.

I think my Vchip blocks that channel...

that little beardy ones a shifty looking fucker

The show is not real.

Oil can forum....


Haha

Yes. That's a given. Nor are any of the other reality shows on TV.

The overhead to drive that big truck from state to state , food etc.... It just does not add up . The profit margin is so slim .

they're getting money from the network too now. they are probably paid to go the extra mile for TV. I was watching the episode of American Restoration the other day where the Pickers AND the Pawn Stars were on the show. You know the network set up a big three-way episode for the viewers. It's kind of fun but also kind of gross to know you're being fed canned TV

Has it ever been different in the US?

I think there is a move away from the name "reality tv" toward something like scripted reality or directed reality.

For me its all called below union scale.

Um, there ever has been any reality TV. Anyone who believes there is/was got duped.

Not so true. My dad was in the Korean war and some of his buddies regarded Mash as reality tv long before "reality tv' was a coined term.

But yes, not much today is 'reality tv'.

Believe me.........I work in it.

I'll check.

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Yep, sure does.

Last edited by TCC on Sun Aug 18, 2013 6:46 pm; edited 1 time in total

Just noticed your forum name - that sounds so suss.

Sure there is. Professional wrestling.

I mean, duh.

I almost forgot about Edward Władysław Spulnik aka Killer Kowalski.

COPS?

Kind of "Reality TV" - one of the first, probably.

A film crew in a car usually the 2nd or third car, or later, on the scene of a call and definitely lots of editing and unseen footage. Having ridden with LV Metro I guarantee a lack of reality, and still a bunch of overly edited sound bites. IME.

Cops was somewhat both reality and staged......and heavily edited.

There was a special about the creator of the show.

He got a lot of heat for relying heavily on footage of black men with their shirts off commiting crime or in handcuffs or being chased.

It was cops and local media that gave South Central the stigma that it has to this day. Also one of the reasons that thru local letters to the media that the the neighborhood adopted South Los Angeles.

Anybody that knows anything about LA knows that South Central neighbor hoods lost value during the eighties and ninties because of this.

I used to live on the edge of 43 and Main around 88'.

Yea the creator Cops admitted that his edited footage brought veiwers and advertising dollars and he also admitted that black men with their shirts off in handcuffs were more sensational than white kids on bicycles being chased.

I'm almost positive that was an exact quote from the dude......word for word.

Fuck American tv.