DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Fan's quest for grill ends in sweet victory

Wayne Mancino has a small office with a red awning on Market Street in Boardman. If you ever drive by Ohio Carpet, you'll see it next door. He sits behind a huge desk in front of the window, with his partner Leonard Sainato within earshot.
Two things make visiting Wayne interesting -- he doesn't look much like a certified public accountant, dressed casually, hair a bit messy, tipped back comfortably in his chair -- and his cramped quarters smell like grilled hot dogs.
Wayne's a collector of sorts. Not of hot dogs -- bear with me.
Since 1997, Wayne's been hunting something he found in a Coca Cola memorabilia catalog. A Victor Kooler-Grill. (You should hear the swell of angels' voices here. By the look on Wayne's face, he did. Now, please don't ask why. It's not a question Wayne can answer. He just saw a picture of it, wanted it and began to pursue it.)
While it wasn't exactly a quest for the holy grail, only four of the Kooler-Grills were known to exist, and the price tag on them was in the 20-thousands.
Sought out others
Having cornered an old Coke vending machine at a garage sale a few years earlier, Wayne had already embarked on a minor Coke machine quest. He found them, bought them, renovated them a bit, then put them in his office.
The original price tag on the Kooler-Grill was $1,199. It was patented as a "cooler and luncheonette unit," and was introduced in 1954. An article Wayne shows off states flatly, "I'm sure it would rank as perhaps the single greatest Coke cooler of the '50s."
Coca-Cola red, with rounded corners and a visible hot dog grill, the griller has quite a history. Another article Wayne provides says, "The compact Kooler-Grill, with its revolving halo sign, electric 'Roll a Grill' for hot dogs, and refrigerated compartment for 510 bottles of ice-cold Coca-Cola" doubled at least one variety store's profits.
But no matter how terrific The Coca Cola Bottler magazine's writer thought the Kooler-Grill, it's hard to imagine him realizing Wayne would pay $25,000 for it in the year 2002!
"I just wanted it. It was so rare," he said. If you ask, Wayne will show you the bun warmer, chili warmer and stainless-steel compartments for condiments.
A little nostalgia may be at work here. Wayne also owns a '65 Mustang convertible he acquired for a hundred bucks in 1971. A few years ago, he did a bumper to bumper renovation and is just about to have it painted. "It's probably worth $25,000 now," he said.
Would he sell it? "No, I want to be buried in it," he joked.
Moving out, moving on
When Wayne got the Kooler-Grill, it forced him to move out some of his other acquisitions. His C-51 (that's how Wayne identifies one Coke dispenser -- the 51 is when it was made, which happens to be the year Wayne was born) is at a buddy's house. Another friend has one of his machines. One is being restored, and another is in his garage.
Just the day before we met, he saw another one in a garage sale -- a Ventilator 27A. "If I get him down from $800, I might buy it," Wayne said. "It's really cute."
It's hard to get a handle on just why Wayne is having a love affair with '50s Coke machines. "It could be nostalgia. My business I inherited from my parents, Clara and Anthony Mancino. They started it in 1958," he suggested.
But he isn't clinging to the two Coke machines he has stored with friends. "I'll probably just let them keep them," he said.
"Maybe I didn't have what I wanted in the '50s," he said, again using pop psychology to indulge my need to know.
Ah well, does it really matter why? Not to Wayne, who sits in his office with a Coke machine, the Kooler-Grill and a 32-cent a pack cigarette vending machine. He's moved on anyway. Now he's kind of interested in finding the Vendo Bottle Decapper; it actually yanks the bottle cap off the Coke and pours your soda!
It's not Coke's slogan, but "why ask why?"
murphy@vindy.com