SOMEONE IS STEALING LARGE, FUN ANTIQUES He’s not backing down
Old soda machines, pumps, a scale hit by thieves
Brazen criminals in a pickup truck are pulling up to homes and businesses around here and driving off with antique soda machines, gas pumps and other large collectibles displayed outside.
Vern Dahl has been hit three times since December and wants it to stop.
Relying on the grapevine that links collectors, the 78-year-old has contacted three other victims and is piecing together clues from witnesses, surveillance video and some papers left behind at his Cudahy home.
His detective work has led to a theory about who is taking this stuff, though I told him newspapers are reluctant to accuse people who haven’t been charged.
Sure the police are involved, too, but they don’t seem to share Dahl’s sense of urgency.
“I’ve been collecting this stuff for years. You work for your money. I didn’t get it for someone to steal,” he told me.
Dahl used to have 27 classic cars. He has downsized to 14 now, favoring convertibles for rides with his Pomeranian pals, Popeye and Foxy.
He collects gasoline pumps from the mid-20th century, the ones with ornamental globes on top. He lost one pump and two globes to the thieves, who worked as a pair, according to neighbors who spotted them.
He also lost an antique nickel-operated Coke machine, though he still has others. His collection also includes numerous Coca-Cola and gas station signs, jukeboxes, cigarette machines and whatever else grabs his nostalgic fancy.
He used to display some of these treasures outside so everyone could enjoy them, but no more. His losses stand around $5,000.
Dahl doesn’t give up easily. He survived cancer and open heart surgery. He sold furniture on the north side, including 30 years at Sloane’s on 12th and Vliet until three years ago.
He called the Journal Sentinel to shine a light on the antique stealers. He said a woman in St. Francis lost a soda machine lovingly restored by her late husband. A gas station in South Milwaukee lost an old-time air pump and various signs. And Country Lion Antique Mall, 4330 S. Howell Ave., in Milwaukee, lost a 450-pound antique scale that was chained up out front.
The woman in St. Francis didn’t want to talk, and the gas station operator didn’t want me to use his name but told me the neat old air pump was mainly for display but still dinged when it reached the desired inflation.
“It’s sad. Instead of hoarding it, you put it out on display for other people to enjoy, and someone sees it and decides they want it for themselves,” he said. “I don’t know if the person is on drugs and has someone willing to buy it. Or if it’s someone who is collecting this stuff and has someone stealing it.”
Bruce Gniot opened Country Lion two years ago after traveling the Midwest in search of interesting collectibles. A surveillance video from about 10:45 p.m. Jan. 2 shows one man cutting a chain and rolling the Toledo grain scale to a pickup truck and driving away with the scale hanging off the back.
The 6-foot-tall working scale from the 1940s was popular with Gniot’s customers. The estimated value is $550.
“Everybody would come here and they would weigh themselves on it. It was a cool thing to have,” he said. “My first guess is that it was going to be scrapped. I was in the scrap business for 38 years. At every scrap yard I know people, so I called every scrap yard in Milwaukee and talked to them, but it never showed up.”
As you can tell, these collectors don’t part with their treasures without a fight.
Investigation but no arrest
Cudahy police Lt. Chris Blunt said officers have interviewed potential witnesses, but no one has been arrested yet.
From reports he received from neighbors, Dahl says the vehicle that carted away his belongings is a beat-up maroon Ford with a black tailgate. He thinks it belongs to a north side junk dealer that cases neighborhoods by day and steals at night. He fears someone will be hurt by the truck speeding away from crime scenes.
Even as he approaches age 80, Dahl continues to buy and sell collectibles with help from his son, Jason. He proudly showed me a photo of his 1933 Ford that was used in the movie “Public Enemies.” His Halloween and Christmas decorations are still up.
“People my age like that stuff from the ’40s and ’50s,” he said. “Everybody’s got to have a hobby.”