This page proudly sponsored by:

My Soda Machines

I bought the Pepsi machine as a gift to myself for college graduation and my 7up machine I purchased again as a gift to myself after I got my promotion and raise at work (about a year after graduation). I believe the Pepsi is a Vendo 120 and the 7up is a Vendolator, but I'm not certain what model. Moving the Pepsi machine was really a chore, it is much heavier than the 7up, and when I first got it I had some crazy idea about putting it in my bedroom, upstairs in our house! My friend Mark helped me haul it up the 7 steps into the front room of our house. When I realized that the Pepsi machine stood taller than the front door, I knew if wouldn't work inside. So, it was wheeled through the living room, dinning room and kitchen out onto the back deck and then down three stairs to the patio and into the garage. My father and I did some rewiring to add an outlet for it, and after careful positioning, the Pepsi had found a home.

The 7up machine is much smaller and I was able to maneuver it into the garage by myself. I knew going into the 7up purchase that I'd put it in the garage, there was no question about that. However, it is a nice small model that I hope to bring inside at some point.

An interesting note about each machine and my purchase process. I bought them alone when my parents where gone and I even tipped them out of the pickup by myself. Probably not the safest thing to be doing as each could have probably crushed me to death, but I managed.

The doors open shows the inside of the machines and the bottles in the Pepsi racks. Soda can be difficult to find in glass bottles, but I have several sources for many varieties. I can't find Pepsi in glass 16 ounce bottles at a reasonable price. Do you remember it? In the glass long-neck bottles with the cap you had to use a bottle opener for? They used to refill the bottles and they came in 8 packs. They still bottle Pepsi that way in Mexico, and it can be had over the internet, but at a cost of close to $2 a bottle. So, other gourmet soda in bottles will work. I did however manage to get Pepsi, 7up and some other Pepsi products in glass 10 oz. bottles from the bottler in Astoria, Oregon. I took a drive out there and bought 9 cases, 24 bottles to a case. My cousin David, who has 5 machines himself, got 3 cases from me. The Astoria distributor is exactly 100 miles from my house. I checked the milage.

This view of the first outer door open shows the working coin mechinisms, and the plastic cap catchers. The handles for the full doors are also visable. Perhaps the most important part is the coin box, usually full of quarters, dimes, and nickels. I charge 75 cents each, it helps to cover my costs, but of course I've got the key, so often times I'll just open the door and grab a cold one off of the rack.

I have plans to repaint the 7up machine. I purchased some decals to put on after it is finished. I will need to buy another sheet as it only has one of the large 7up squares as is shown in the photo above. The machine originally had all the lettering painted on, but decals are the easy way to restore. The 7up runs well enough, I might have my good friend Ryan (who conveniently is a refridgeration repairman by trade) service the compressor and recharge the freon. As I alluded to earlier, I want this machine to be an indoor machine.