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Pawn Stars

  • Thread starter Deleted member 8987
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Deleted member 8987

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So, these guys are getting as bad as American Chopper did.
But....tell me a couple of things here.

When someone comes in with a really special pice, like the Geo. Washington signed lottery ticket, and they call in an expert, who says at one of his auctions it would draw, oh, ten grand, why the seller agrees to oh, less than three grand for it, when he could have just handed it to the "expert" to sell and made maybe triple his money?

Next, howintheheck does the restoration guy look at a 57 Chebby and quote off the top of his head $70GRAND for a restoration?
SEVENTY GRAND?

You see the restoration guy's coffee shop sign, where he restored one side, left the other in "original patina" and wanted TEN GRAND for it?

Holy Bat Poop.
 
TOC said:
...When someone comes in with a really special pice, like the Geo. Washington signed lottery ticket, and they call in an expert, who says at one of his auctions it would draw, oh, ten grand, why the seller agrees to oh, less than three grand for it, when he could have just handed it to the "expert" to sell and made maybe triple his money?...
Click to expand...

The operative word there is <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">maybe</span></span></span>.

<span style="font-style: italic">If</span> the it's the right auction,<span style="font-style: italic"> if</span> the right buyers are there and <span style="font-style: italic">if</span> it's the right day then <span style="font-style: italic">maybe</span> he could get that (minus the auction's cut).

Verses cash, right here, right now.


TOC said:
... howintheheck does the restoration guy look at a 57 Chebby and quote off the top of his head $70GRAND for a restoration?...
Click to expand...
If he's done a lot of them he'll have a pretty good feel for it.

A 57 Chevy's probably the easiest thing to estimate with reasonable accuracy. It's a well known quantity. Lot's of them are restored to a high level by full-time professional craftsmen. Parts are 100% available (you could build one from scratch).


TOC said:
...SEVENTY GRAND?...
Click to expand...
It's very easy to put that into <span style="font-style: italic">any </span>car when you pay somebody else to restore it. It comes from the hours of work put into it, not the resale value or original purchase price.



pc.
 
All that crap is scripted.

One of which I know for a FACT!

Funny thing is, my drunk asre buddy said about 15-20 years ago.

"Ya know what, we aughta make a show about repos, about a pawn shop...."

He want through and named EVER reality show that's on now.

I'd like to do one about our race team but the boss would never go for it.
 
TOC said:
...

Next, howintheheck does the restoration guy look at a 57 Chebby and quote off the top of his head $70GRAND for a restoration?
SEVENTY GRAND?

....
Click to expand...

1,000 hours @ $70/hour.

An Austin Healey runs about 1,200 hours to restore, assuming everything needs to be done.
 
I don't know. I wouldn't give seven bucks for a 57 shoveitorleaveit.
All the "experts" quote auction and retail figures, if these folks want the cash, sell it, don't pawn it.
 
The guys at the shop repeatedly say the same thing: the estimates given are usually retail prices or at-auction prices. At an auction a good portion of the price will go to the auction house as commission, plus listing fees, advertising, etc. A $10,000 "at auction" price doesn't mean the seller walks home with a $10,000 check. They might get away with $7000 and the pawn shop is going to start their offers at less than half that.

A "retail" price is what the pawn shop is going to sell it at. They have to sit on a lot of those items for at least 30 days without even showing it in the store, then they may have to get it professionally appraised and authenticated, and any other associate costs. They're not going to do all that for a few percent profit margin.

We're only getting half the story anyway. Someone that brings a $10,000 item to Vegas doesn't walk away "happy" because they got $1500 (or less) for it: they either needed the money badly, got the item for free so $1500 seems like a lot, or they have a need to chuck their money on the roulette wheel. I don't for a minute believe some guy lugged something thousands of miles to sell it for pennies because he "just wanted someone else to enjoy it".

As for the '57 Chevy thing - that was so obviously orchestrated and produced for a special show. The idea of getting the car might have been genuine but the rest was all done for the TV audience.
 
TOC said:
You see the restoration guy's coffee shop sign, where he restored one side, left the other in "original patina" and wanted TEN GRAND for it?
Click to expand...

It's TV. That's the same "Uncle Phil" that sold a '32 Lincoln to the pawn shop awhile back. He wanted $100k and held firm, they ended up getting $95k in gold for it.

Apparently he buys stuff, but who knows how much of that is staged.

While I'm on a roll here's another tidbit about the Pawn Stars show: when a seller comes in the interaction is typically staged. The filming involves several people (I've read 5), and when someone comes in with something interesting they'll set up for the shoot and stage it as if it's in real-time.

It's not fake, but it's TV :wink:
 
The better show is "Hardcore Pawn". Another family run operation, totally unscripted, based in Detriot. The place is enormous. It's almost hard to watch. A woman tried to sell her, umm, used lacy bits. She got angry when the shop refused to make her an offer.
 
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