I did e-mail him and ask and it does incline. I am going to go look at it this weekend. I think it must have a bar/rod that extends down and that becomes the incline brace. It looks like the naughhyde is torn up, but duct tape on any bench automatically adds like 15lbs to your best PR. I am an old equipment junkie and love talking about it....no it was easier to just ask the guy. He does not know the manufacturer--and that is a good thing, because just about anything made pre-1980's did not have the manufacturers logo splattered all over it. Usually the equipment was made by some local/semi-regional place and having their "brand" on it was no big deal...and of course the earlier it was made, the better ( for the most part) the design looks very familiar to me and I just cannot place it.
If I lived in Las Vegas, I would like to be the guy that Rick from Pawn Stars calls in as his "buddy expert" if someone came into the shop and tried to sell some old lifting gear.
Rick "Welll it looks like a vintage York set and it could be worth a lot of money, but I have a buddy who is an expert in these things, let me get him down here and have him take a look at it
(3 minutes pass...I show up)
Customer" 'Its a 1942 original York Barbell set with 300lbs" and it was used by John Grimek and I have a photo of him with it.
Keith "Well if what you are saying is true, then it could be worth a lot of money, lets take a look ( whips out jewelers eyepiece and carefully examines the bar and plates"
Keith "hmmm...well it looks like a 1940's barbell set, but only the main part of the bar is orignally. See how the knurling is angled at a 80 degree crosscut angle?...they did that until 1952 and then they changed it to a vertical crosscut. I also found some residue of vomit on the bar and the barf does contain Hoffman Hi-Proteen powder..partially digested..but...the sleeves of the bar have been replaced. This was during the war and these sleeves are made out of titaniorium, which was not allowed to be used during the war except in making 3 inch gun casings to shell the crap out of the Japanese, It took a few years after the war before manufacturers began using it again, so the bar is orignal and the sleeves have been replaced. The plates are from the 1970;s and you can tell because the lip on the deep dish plates curls inward--that was a machinist flaw that was not caught until 1975. Also the letters YORK painted on the plates show a block type letterring design and the 1940;s York plate used a San Seriff type font. The picture of John Grimek is authentic however the autograph is a fake as Grimek is spelled "Grimeek" so overall I would say that this is a nice set, but its not a vintage set, probably worth 200 dollars a best.
Rick "Keith, thanks for coming in"
RIck "What do you want for it"
Customer "200" dollars?
(cuts away to Rick explaning how he cannot buy an item at retail because is in the business of making money and if he buys it a retail and sells it for the same price, he wont make any money and he will have to fire chumlee)
RIck "200? [deranged laugh] no way. I will give you 15 dollars
Customer "can you do 175"
Rick "15 dollars"
Customer "deal"
RIck "lets do some paperwork"
(cuts to parking lot, customer explains how they were hoping to get 1000.00 for their vintage York set, but they are happy getting their 15.00 and now they are headed to a night out on the town in vegas, Chumlee is in background carrying the rest of the plates in and drops one on the old mans foot]
