A humble start restoring Coke machines has transformed into a lucrative business and global stardom for Rick Dale, owner of Rick’s Restoration. Debashine Thangevelo got to tour his shop in Nevada, Las Vegas, and chatted to the reality TV star about his small screen exploits that have been going on for six seasons now…
IT was lunch time and Las Vegas was scorching. Nonetheless, fans were lined up outside Rick’s Restoration to get their tickets for a tour and to meet the easy-going Rick Dale – the star of American Restoration.
Today, of course, he had his hands full with a group of visiting media.
He greets us at the entrance to his workshop, where pictures of all the characters in the series are hanging on the wall.
As we snake our way through the passageways, lined up on both sides with antique stuff, from bicycles to petrol pumps to a really old telephone booth, paintings and so on, Dale’s obsession with all things vintage became more apparent.
After a quick tour of the workshop, which is on the back end of the tourist shop, we meet the whole gang: wife Kelly, her son Brettly, Dale’s son Tyler and Rick’s younger brother, Ron.
Sporting a tan, Kelly, dressed in heels and white shorts, was only too happy to field questions.
Dale points out: “All the marketing is Kelly.”
On his shop always being packed with tourists, he says: “It is very important to take the tour and have fans involved. It’s like going to Disneyland for the first time for them. And their friends are coming, too. And we create more fans.”
And they get about 1 000 visitors on any given day.
He laughs: “Sometimes, it is just so slammed in there.
“During filming, you always see me working. But I always like to run up and say: ‘Hey!’ I like to be available and approachable, but during the end of filming, to get the season done, it gets way hectic.”
Although over the moon about the show’s reception in several countries, he offers: “I want to keep on doing what I’m doing. But I also want to come up with new ideas on what to build and so on so that they keep watching even more.”
It is never daunting for him because he always keeps his cool. He is most fascinating when showing off his MacGyver-like skill in figuring things out.
The big talking point last season was Billy Joel stopping by. He needed his old bike restored.
This created a fair amount of competition between Dale’s sons and his brother, who all wanted to meet the celebrity. So he decided to make things interesting by giving them a challenge.
Dale recalls: “Everyone wanted to go to see Billy. I am very fair to my family. So I sent them on a run because I didn’t want them there whenever Billy showed up. But in my mind, I knew the kids needed the experience. But I pretty much knew I was taking Ron. Ron has put in his dues. I needed to show the kids how much work is involved in getting something that is sellable.
“As far as having Billy’s item shipped in, it showed up and then they called. Production heard about it last. The anticipation from the time it was sitting there was about two weeks. I wanted to open it. I didn’t think it was a bike. I knew he did bikes. When he showed up – and I’m not a star-struck person and I have met a lot of people – I was nervous.
“He is the most normal guy I have met, though. He had questions about everything. Billy grew up not wealthy at all. He pointed to a pedal car and said: ‘That was for rich kids’. And it cost $29 back in the day.”
While viewers become completely immersed in every restoration, Dale had one incident where he just couldn’t get it right.
He shares: “One day a gentleman came in. He was deaf. While he could talk, it was really hard to under-stand him. He was accompanied by his wife, who was also deaf. He worked for a vacuum company and brought in this vacuum – it was like a canister vacuum. He wanted it restored. He brought it in two pieces and wanted it made into one. It was built in 1945 for the US Navy Ships and did two things: it sucked and purified the air. It was cheaply built and there were only two available in the entire world. He had new and old parts included – but he didn’t tell me about it.”
Of course, when they put it together the best way they could, Dale immediately knew at the big unveil that they didn’t get it right.
He adds: “We get it all done in a certain colour. Everything was so precise. I get it out there in the reveal and I knew it wasn’t right. I knew he didn’t like it, but he didn’t want to let me know his true feelings on camera. We get done with the scene and he starts going off on me. I felt this small. And it was probably the worse restoration. I gave him back his money.”
As for the selection process of what he chooses to do, he reveals it is often a mix of blind estimates with stuff that people post on the website of History.
Although their schedule is crazy between shooting and conducting tours, Dale and Kelly are hoping to start an apprenticeship programme as well as release DIY DVDs.
Amid all the restorations, though, Coke machines remain his favourite for sentimental reasons.
“That’s how I started,” he explains. “I love metal and painting. I think because I have been doing it so long. I can put together a Coke machine with my eyes closed. I can tell you every single model – there are about 300. You can bring me a screw and I will tell you where it goes. I have done about 70 000 Coke machines. And the show has now brought me to this level of intelligence. I like to get in there and I will go, ‘this goes here and boom’, boom’…”
In this season, he has several interesting restorations – a rare 1940s Mobil Pegasus, a 1970s popcorn machine, a 1970s wet bike, and a 1950s Cushman ice cream cart, a 1964 Nasa Jet Pack, a 1960s Electric Mini-Car, a 1900s Electro-Shock clock, a 1960s Volkswagen Beetle and a 1920s haunted house car, among others.
What viewers also enjoy is the storyteller element. Funnily enough, so does Dale.
• American Restoration 6 airs on History (DStv channel 186) on Thursdays at 8.30pm.