Post by juke46 on Jun 21, 2019 10:21:17 GMT
We, sometimes, purchased a few 1950's music machines back from a fellow junker we had somehow met in Missouri. These trips were our vacation and always an exciting adventure with a small enclosed trailer in tow. Most machines were located locally through friends and a little bit of advertising here and there. The long distance trips were great and exciting “Pickin” long before the current “American Pickers” TV show was around.
I called or perhaps I was called about a Seeburg “R” in Arizona City. This model is a really beautiful machine from 1954. A wonderful, light up grill with glass inserts and chrome waterfall castings and a sparkling gold grill cloth. Designed to give the appearance of a band shell, they are attractive. Excellent sounding and reliable as all Seeburg machines of the day were. I was told the glass grill was too vulnerable and operators complained. The next year Seeburg made a machine a lot like the “R” but gone was the beautiful grill. The grill was replaced by a large steel rectangular panel. OK, but far from being what the “R” was (my opinion). That did make the grill strong and probably made sense for operators.
We already had a decent Seeburg “R” but they are a nice machine to own and restore. The owner, who called, was crabby and wanted too much but I probably told him I would be interested at a lesser cost. In several weeks he called again and the price was now affordable so off Anna and I went to Arizona City, some miles from Sun City, AZ (we call Sun City the Geritol Ghetto with all of us retired folks hanging around).
We located his home and there the machine was, sitting in an open garage. We rang the doorbell repeatedly but there was no one home. We bravely, wandered into the open garage for a closer look at the Seeburg. Next to the machine was a highly modified Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Everything seemed to be customized and chrome. The name Polly's was beautifully painted on it.
Soon an old truck showed up and a grouchy, gnarly looking old guy (older than I anyway) got out. He did have some speech impediment but was understandable. He was still kind of crabby but as we made the deal he became much more friendly so I asked about the Harley. I was just curious who had built and customized it so beautifully. Anna and I had restored a lot of old Cushman and Mustang scooters and a couple of motorcycles some years back.
He told us of Polly. Polly was his wife and they had toured all over the Country on that motorcycle. He rebuilt it as a tribute to his deceased wife.
He explained one day a truck in front of them lost a large tarp near Flagstaff, AZ. This tarp got caught up in the bikes front wheel and there was a severe crash. Polly died in that crash and he suffered severe head injuries. When he was finally able to return home, from the hospital, he rebuilt the motorcycle, to its current state and still rode it occasionally. He explained that he had been an auto body repairman all his life so doing the bike was not a big deal.
Polly had wanted him to restore the Seeburg but he had lost interest with her death. He presented us with a lot of restoration parts Polly had purchased in hopes of having her jukebox looking beautiful. Polly died before any restoration work was done. He helped us load it and off we went. We still have it, we will until the end and we tried to do a little better job than usual on Polly's jukebox in her memory. I hope she likes it. - juke46, Peoria, Arizona
I called or perhaps I was called about a Seeburg “R” in Arizona City. This model is a really beautiful machine from 1954. A wonderful, light up grill with glass inserts and chrome waterfall castings and a sparkling gold grill cloth. Designed to give the appearance of a band shell, they are attractive. Excellent sounding and reliable as all Seeburg machines of the day were. I was told the glass grill was too vulnerable and operators complained. The next year Seeburg made a machine a lot like the “R” but gone was the beautiful grill. The grill was replaced by a large steel rectangular panel. OK, but far from being what the “R” was (my opinion). That did make the grill strong and probably made sense for operators.
We already had a decent Seeburg “R” but they are a nice machine to own and restore. The owner, who called, was crabby and wanted too much but I probably told him I would be interested at a lesser cost. In several weeks he called again and the price was now affordable so off Anna and I went to Arizona City, some miles from Sun City, AZ (we call Sun City the Geritol Ghetto with all of us retired folks hanging around).
We located his home and there the machine was, sitting in an open garage. We rang the doorbell repeatedly but there was no one home. We bravely, wandered into the open garage for a closer look at the Seeburg. Next to the machine was a highly modified Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Everything seemed to be customized and chrome. The name Polly's was beautifully painted on it.
Soon an old truck showed up and a grouchy, gnarly looking old guy (older than I anyway) got out. He did have some speech impediment but was understandable. He was still kind of crabby but as we made the deal he became much more friendly so I asked about the Harley. I was just curious who had built and customized it so beautifully. Anna and I had restored a lot of old Cushman and Mustang scooters and a couple of motorcycles some years back.
He told us of Polly. Polly was his wife and they had toured all over the Country on that motorcycle. He rebuilt it as a tribute to his deceased wife.
He explained one day a truck in front of them lost a large tarp near Flagstaff, AZ. This tarp got caught up in the bikes front wheel and there was a severe crash. Polly died in that crash and he suffered severe head injuries. When he was finally able to return home, from the hospital, he rebuilt the motorcycle, to its current state and still rode it occasionally. He explained that he had been an auto body repairman all his life so doing the bike was not a big deal.
Polly had wanted him to restore the Seeburg but he had lost interest with her death. He presented us with a lot of restoration parts Polly had purchased in hopes of having her jukebox looking beautiful. Polly died before any restoration work was done. He helped us load it and off we went. We still have it, we will until the end and we tried to do a little better job than usual on Polly's jukebox in her memory. I hope she likes it. - juke46, Peoria, Arizona