American Pickers Looking For A Studebaker Expert

[JBOYLE]

Its just more reality TV or not for real.Tom

Take it from a guy who used to work in TV....nothing is real in "Reality" television.

But getting back to the show, I'd love a pair of those Gulf oil horseshoe magnets.
I do remember them back in the day.
They's be great on a period muscle car...

[PlainBrownR2]

Most certainly it would have to be:

I think they'd also need somebody who grew up during the time the actual production facility was still operating as well, and who could still remember buying the cars off of the dealers lots(IE, a little more age and wisdom than us in the teen and twenty year old bracket).

(Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna high tail it back to my corner rather quickly after whizzing on that campfire)

[rockinhawk]

Now this is funny.

I think Matthew knows the difference between a 50 and a 51! If he doesn't, I sure wasted a lot of time on him. NT

[WannaDaytona]

My sixteen year old son (who likes old cars and thinks bulletnoses are cool too) and I saw the show the other night. The car looked to be solid and complete save for a rotten spare tire well in the trunk floor. I don't know that I'd have paid $2K for it, but I don't know anything about values for bullet nose Champions so I just might be a cheap-*ss non Stude owner. MHO is that they probably paid a tad bit too much but they didn't get as upside down as they did with that Plymouth.

What it did point up was that these guys don't know much about cars. Their "expert" was some Chip Foose wannabe who showed up in a rodded '41 DeSoto business coupe and called it a "50 or 51" like JBoyle said. I dunno about you guys, but if I was going to "appraise" a car on national basic cable television I'd at least tell the cameraman not to start taping me until I could hit the Googlenets to find some pictures so I could at least nail down the model year and sound like I knew what I was doing. My guess is that they'll send it to some guy like their "expert" to drop a SBC into it and make it look like the JC Whitney catalog threw up all over the interior. It's a shame, though-that car would make somebody a very nice project.

[Bamajak]

The second place thay stopped (the place with the trailer) is just a few miles outside of Charlotte. I have never found anything worth buying at that place. But from time to time he had some Studebakers.

[Bamajak]

One more thing thay went to Ryan Newman's place but did not talk to him about growing up in South Bend or his father assembling Avanti's.

[whacker]

It was a $1200 car. Lots of promise, a good project for somebody. It was a 50.

[johnod]

What is american pickers please,and where is it, I've never heard of it.

Thanks

[bams50]

Monday nights, History Channel.

[WannaDaytona]

What is american pickers please,and where is it, I've never heard of it.

Thanks

Like bams said, it's a Monday night TV show on the History Channel. The premise is that the camera follows around two "pickers"-scavengers who buy old junk and whatnot from people and then resell it to antique dealers, the people who decorate Cracker Barrel restaurants, auction houses, collectors, and so on. Each week the show follows the guys as they travel from their home base in Iowa around the country to dig in folks' basements and barns so they can buy for cheap whatever stuff they think they can make a quick buck (or fifty) off of.

The show is interesting if you're the kind of person who likes to go rooting through basements and junkpiles (and face it-if you weren't, you probably wouldn't be an old car person). The things they find are often pretty neat but the guys are kind of off-putting. I don't know what it is, but MHO is that they seem to be acting like they're a couple of smart fellas putting one over on the rubes. Other posters here and in other threads have also remarked on that. Like most folks around here I have no problem with capitalism and know that the guy who buys to resell needs to make a profit. But these fellas just have what my grandmother would describe as "a touch of nasty" about them-if they showed up on my front steps I'd run them off.

[Son O Lark]

Has anyone in Iowa contacted them about NEXT time they need an appraisal? Isn't there a club member within a reasonable distance of them?

[johnod]

Like bams said, it's a Monday night TV show on the History Channel. The premise is that the camera follows around two "pickers"-scavengers who buy old junk and whatnot from people and then resell it to antique dealers, the people who decorate Cracker Barrel restaurants, auction houses, collectors, and so on. Each week the show follows the guys as they travel from their home base in Iowa around the country to dig in folks' basements and barns so they can buy for cheap whatever stuff they think they can make a quick buck (or fifty) off of.

The show is interesting if you're the kind of person who likes to go rooting through basements and junkpiles (and face it-if you weren't, you probably wouldn't be an old car person). The things they find are often pretty neat but the guys are kind of off-putting. I don't know what it is, but MHO is that they seem to be acting like they're a couple of smart fellas putting one over on the rubes. Other posters here and in other threads have also remarked on that. Like most folks around here I have no problem with capitalism and know that the guy who buys to resell needs to make a profit. But these fellas just have what my grandmother would describe as "a touch of nasty" about them-if they showed up on my front steps I'd run them off.

Ya I'm guilty as charged about rooting around in junkpiles.
I like your grandmother's quote, it fits a certain type of person perfectly.

Thanks

[Retired]

Remember it's "show biz". Editing, behind the sceans telephone calls to the "experts". Buyers list of already wanted items. Note U-Hall truck(s) in the back ground of some "shots", camera crew and space to haul most items purchased. Go on line and pull up The Quad City Times for 6 June 2010 and the 1st or 2nd of June for coverage of the pickers.

[WannaDaytona]

Remember it's "show biz". Editing, behind the sceans telephone calls to the "experts". Buyers list of already wanted items. Note U-Hall truck(s) in the back ground of some "shots", camera crew and space to haul most items purchased. Go on line and pull up The Quad City Times for 6 June 2010 and the 1st or 2nd of June for coverage of the pickers.

Oh, I know. I just don't like the way these guys treat some of their "vendors". Thanks for the info about the festival.

[Sdude]

I thought they paid a bit too much for it too. I also think that if they are going to be spouting off inappropriate values of Studebakers, I was glad to see them err on the high side.