ben486•6d ago

Found a guy at the flea market who restores vintage parking meters

I was at the Alameda flea market last weekend and saw this booth where a guy was rebuilding old parking meters from the 1960s. He had like 30 of them lined up, all working with real coins. Has anyone else tried restoring old street hardware? I'm kind of tempted to buy one for $40 but no clue what I'd do with it.

2 comments

2 Comments

benlewis6d ago

Alameda flea market is actually on the first Sunday of the month at Alameda Point, not every weekend. The 1960s meters he's selling are usually repainted and gutted inside. Most of them don't actually take real coins anymore, they just have a slot that clicks down. I bought one a few years back from a similar guy, ended up using it as a doorstop in my garage. $40 is fair if it's fully mechanical and the clockwork still turns, but check if the coin mechanism actually accepts dimes or if it's just a fake spring.

zara4476d ago

Never really thought about the coin mechanism being fake, but that makes total sense.