If you get that show in your area, suggest to give it a try. It takes place at a pawn shop (in Las Vegas I think), and is about the sorts of unusual used items the shop gets offered. There’s a certain amount of flea-market like negotiations, and a comedy element, both make it a fun-watch. However it is entirely possible I’m the only person watching, who knows? The few episodes I’ve seen have had some interesting cars. The last episode, the seller was claiming their 1940 vintage car belonged at one time to Fidel Castro. Of course there was no evidence for this claim. But it was still a pretty cool looking car.
Edit: I just looked it up on Wikipedia, discovered its been on tv for 16 years already … lol …
Counting Cars is one of the spin offs and is still going. Danny (owner of Counts Kustoms) would be called in when the pawn shop was being asked to buy a certain car. Some owners did not appreciate it when Danny would tell the shop that the car wasn’t nearly as nice as the seller claimed.
Counting Cars features a variety of projects and cars found “randomly” while they drive around looking for project cars. Most likely already found by the production team since there was always an owner expecting them.
American Restoration was another spin off featuring Rick Dale who they’ would call in for gas pumps and similar items. http://www.ricksrestorations.com/
I like Pawn Stars and their spin-offs quite a lot. Vehicle sales never go well for the seller unless Rick wants the car for himself. People don’t seem to grasp that a pawn shop will not pay retail for anything, they pay wholesale because it is the only way they can make any profit.
I remember a 3 wheeled motorcycle a guy wanted to sell that he’d spent over $100,000 having a shop build. Danny burst his bubble when he pointed out there was less than $30k worth of parts involved in the trike. Needless to say, the sale did not go through.
Mr. Shadow is correct but there is another possibility for the Pawn Shop .
I had tools and lawn equipment but not enough for a yard sale ( never having another one just was a miserable experience ) , I took it all to a Pawn Shop the was geared to tools and they took it all and gave me enough that I was rid of it and they could make money with it.
I watched Pawn Stars when it first aired for a few years. It’s OK…but you have to know that a lot of it is staged. Watch some old episodes and you’ll see the Brother of Rick Dale (American Restoration) bring in a Coke machine to be appraised. So Pawn Stars calls Rick to appraise the Coke Machine that Rick’s brother brought it.
I do like Counting Cars.
I also like American Restoration. Not sure why they decided to change the format and different builders. But the new format only lasted 1 season.
Again a lot of it is staged, but it is entertaining.
Agree with Mike, not exactly a “reality” show but entertaining anyway. I read that a duplicate shop was created as a set to be used with the show because filming disrupted business at the actual pawn shop.
I’ve bought and sold a few things to pawn shops over the years. I needed a generator and I had a gas powered air compressor. I worked a trade with a local pawn shop for a generator and a little cash.
The shop had a pile of UPS boxes for shipping. A lot of their sales of smaller stuff was sold over Ebay.
I’m way behind the times tv-wise it seems. I haven’t had cable tv for 25 years, so no History channel. I guess prior years of “Pawn Stars” has been offered on some syndication channels for us no-cable viewers now. Chumly is my favorite character of course …
The automobile sellers I’ve seen on the show wanted considerably more than the shop owner wanted to pay, and none of those deals were successful. I agreed w/the shop owner each time, seller wanted too much $$$.
Last night’s show, a seller offered up a top of the line Marlin sports rifle, 1894 edition I think. Seller wanted $45,000. Shop owner offered $20,000. Bargaining ensued, they finally agreed at $21,000. I thought $21,000 was a pretty good deal for the seller. I’m happy the shop has the gun, and I still have $21,000 … lol …
Yeah, it’s pretty clear the show’s segments are staged somewhat. I think that modification is necessary b/c a lot of the stuff that’s brought to pawn shops by sellers wouldn’t be of much interest to tv viewers. Around here there’s a lot of electronic test equipment, which most tv views would have no idea what its value would be, or what it is used for. That would make for one boring show.
