Auction Hunters: Season 2, Episode 14: “Diesel Digs.”
Ton and Allen drove to the heart of Industrial LA for nine units that were up for auction. Industrial LA makes everything from clothes to car parts.
Fact: Industrial LA extends 20 miles from downtown to the ports of Long Beach.
The auctioneer announced that the auction was now down to only one unit. The Haff-Ton disappointed, but the locker was well worth the trouble.
Fact: During the industrial revolution, L.A.’s population grew from 5,000 to 2 million.
As the duo paid for the unit at the office there was announcement that another storage unit was available for auction. Half the crowd had left. Easy buy for the Haff-Ton team.
Heavy Equipment Unit
Allen and Ton paid $1,200. Fork lift tires and some heavy industrial equipment. The tires were worth $1000. Also found an old heavy duty welder. It was twenty or thirty years old, but was still worth about a grand.
Fact: Forklift tires are solid robber and will never go flat.
They found four sheets of diamond plate worth $600. Ton made the big discovery
. In the back of unit he found a Bobcat. It’s a construction vehicle that can do just about anything. Brand new the Bobcats are worth about $40,000.
They took the Bobcat and welder to Oscar and Paul, junk yard owners. They were impressed with the shape the Bobcat. They needed to see it in action first.
Fact: The Bobcat can lift 2,500 lbs. without tipping over.
Ton got into the Bobcat. Aimed for a car in the junkyard. Smash and crash, baby!
Oscar and Paul bought the Bobcat and welder for $6500.
Fact: Metal Inert Gas [MIG] welders produce temps hotter than the surface of the sun.
Extra Unit
The second unit was packed with boxes, plastic bags, lots of furniture, old clothes, and old electronics. Ton thought the unit would be more trouble than it was worth. Allen however was intrigued and bought the locker for $150.
Allen dug a bunch of comic books out of a box that were worth about $125. They also fo
und a guitar, but it was broken, so Ton had some fun playing rock star and smashing it.
Fact: The Who’s Pete Townshend was the first to popularize guitar smashing on stage.
Ton found a flail, a modern reproduction in bad condition, with little to no value.
Fact: “Mace” and “flail” are often incorrectly used as interchangeable terms.
Ton used the flail to smash and trash old furniture.
Fact: The “flail” was prized for its ability to strike around an opponent’s shield.
Haff-Ton team found two old military phones. They were broken and fairly common. Valued at $80.
Duo also discovered a WWI French Helmet as well as a mace. They took the items to Joe, a weapons expert. The helmet was in horrible condition. Worthless.
Fact: The first steel military helmets appeared in WWI.
The mace however was a WWI German trench mace. Joe bought it from them for $375.
Fact: Maces originated in ancient times, but reappeared in the trenches in WWI.
Ton regretted he didn’t get to smash and trash anything with the mace. Joe set up a watermelon. Ton put the French Helmet on top of it. Smash and trash, baby!
Fact: A mace swing to a human skull exerts twice the force of a dead fall from standing.
Smash and trash day for Ton.
Auction Total:
Paid $1350
Sold: $8575
Profit: $7225
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