Mike

If you know someone who has a working Seeburg jukebox in their kitchen, you might already know Mike. He will invite you in and play you a tune, immediately you like him and want to know more.

While chatting with Mike I discovered that he has been repairing and restoring coin operated machines for most of his life. He has been surrounded with collections of jukeboxes, pinball machines, pop and candy machines and vintage advertising and that continued throughout his house. There were lots of fun things everywhere.

I asked him how he got started and he told me about his grandpa who lived on a 2,000 acre homestead and owned his own sawmill. Mike described him as a “mechanical genius” and it’s obvious how much he admired him. Mike would shy away from the compliment, but I suspect he has become something of a “mechanical genius” himself.

While touring his house I saw what looked like something from the front of an old car, surrounded by old soda advertising. He recalled that his grandpa used to let Mike drive his Studebaker down the long drive to the mailbox; Mike was just 6 years old. That was the bullet nose cone from that very Studebaker hanging on the wall at the center of his collection. It is not far from another prominent piece, a fully restored gas pump, the very one he filled-up the tractor he drove to work the fields when he was 12 years old. That Studebaker bullet nose cone is featured in this painting.

Oil on cradled wood panel