Pawn Stars Review: November 5, 2012

Tonight, we are done with reruns as there are two new episodes of Pawn Stars. 
Tomorrow is election day in the United States.  While this blog is conservative, I hope that no matter views you have, please go out to vote.  It is one of the few times we ordinary citizens have a voice in our government, be at the local and state level or at the federal level.
We are having our Indian Summer right now in Las Vegas, with highs around around 83 but come Friday or so, we are back in the low 60's.
To those who live on the East Coast, I wish you well in trying to recover from Hurricane Sandy and the upmoning Nor'easter coming your way later in the week.
In the first episode, the story revolves around Chumlee's 30th birthday, which is a carryover from last season, when the guys at the shop bought him a used motorcycle.which they and Danny from Custom Counts are fixing up.

The first guy brought in a some original blue prints of the battleship, the U.S.S. Maine.  http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq71-1.htm

There were three different blueprints but Rick said they were preliminary designs, before the measurements were added and the guy wanted a total of $25,000 for all three.  Time for an expert.  The expert, Craig, Gottlieb, came in. He said the Maine was the cause of the Spanish-American War and the ship blew.  He said the prints were from the wrong date and that the documents were propaganda documents and printed after the ship was blown up and worth about $300 apiece.  The customer did not agree and let Craig know about it.  There was no sale and watch for them on E-bay.

The next guy a brought in a large wooden propeller from a 1940's Fahlin airplane.  http://www.modernwoodenpropellers.com/fahlin.htm

The propeller was handmade by Ole Fahlin.  The guy wanted $1100 and Rick offered $700 and the guy came back with $980 and Rick offered $800 and $850 was the selling price.

Danny brought in Chum;lee's motorcycle, an all black Harley motorcycle.  Chumlee had to do a bunch of  errands and cleaning that day so they could prank him.  Chumlee was quite depressed at the end of the day but it turned out they had a surprise party waiting for him.  Time for a trip to Sturgis.  It was quite a sight to see Chumlee's totally white skin, shorts and socks next to the dark black motorcycle- quite a contrast.

They also have a new way of asking trivia questions about the shop.  Now, they have a guy read the questions and the questions are against a backdrop of an old wood fence/sign.  And the questions are very stupid.

The next guy brought in a razor Gillette that used to belong to the Shah of Iran.  It was pretty much made out of brass and gold.  Rick thought it was made in 1910.  The guy had no proof that it was belonged to the Shah.  The guy wanted $2000 but because Rick didn't buy it because he has had bad luck selling items related to the Shah, so no sale.

Corey, Chumlee, Rick, Danny and Chumlee are going to Sturgis and Rick was going to bring his motor home and trailer to Sturgis.  Well, at least Rick was going to take the motor home.  This leaves the Old Man and Olivia as the only cast members left at the shop.

In the second episode, the story revolves around the trip to Sturgis, South Dakota, a well known motorcycle rally: http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/  COPs have done a few shows from Sturgis and the TV show, Full Throttle was filmed there: http://www.trutv.com/shows/full_throttle_saloon/index.html   and  http://www.fullthrottlesaloon.com/

The drive is about 1051 miles, via Mapquest.  Chumlee had his new motorcycle, Danny had his Chopper and Corey brought his Harley.  None of them had any gear on the motorcycles for such a long trip.

Rick brought his motor home and the Old Man made quite a few phone calls, most of which were irritating.  Rick went antiquing and went to a place name Hurricane, Utah.  Rick was interested in a player piano.  The guy wanted $10,000.  The owner had an antique Samurai helmet  which was being sold for $300 but was worth about $2500.  Rick offered $1250 and the guy got greedy and wanted $2000 and the selling price was $1650.  Not bad for being sold for $300 a few moments ago.

Rick beat the other guys to Sturgis in his motor home.  Rick went to Gypsie Vintage Cycle, which sold old antique motorcycles.  They spent a bunch of time talking about Honda motorcycles, especially a 1966 Honda.  The guy wanted $5,500 for the refurbished motorcycle and Rick offered $4.500.  The owner wanted to take it to auction..  The owner then offered $5000 and that was the selling price.

At a local bar-Stanfords, they met Rick Dale from American Restoration and the two guys, Mike and Frank, from American Pickers, to have a beer/soda and a birthday cake for Chumlee. 

 

Rick then wanted to go to Mount Rushmore and Chumlee went with him.  Chumlee said that the heads of the 4 presidents looked very small and that is what I said when I went to see Mount Rushmore: http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm

It also looks like Rick has lost some weight.

At the end, The Old Man demanded that the guys, mainly Rick, come back to the shop and work.  Seriously?  The guys rarely work at the shop anymore, especially since they hit the big time.  For one reason, every time they come out to the shop floor, they are mobbed.

So, this ends the first two new episodes of the season.  Thanks for stopping by.