Thread: Just scored 2 old York 45’s and Marcy Co… what are they worth? Should I remove rust?

Someone near me was throwing these out on trash day, and I rescued the power rack and both sets of 45# plates. Apparently they’re “deep dish” York’s, and some Marcy Co plates. I’m wondering what they are worth, and if I should remove the rust and repaint them (or leave them bare metal and maybe clearcoat them with acrylic or something?

I already have a decent home gym with 500#, so I don’t really need them.. but people more knowledgeable then myself about vintage stuff were saying they might be worth a lot of money… I wanted to double check here before I did anything with them, though.

Vinegar or citric acid bath. No paint. Let the buyer decide that for themselves. You can check pricing history on eBay. Those racks are worth a few bucks also.

Originally Posted by EricAtl

Lucky you if this is a real post. Don’t paint, but yes you can remove rust. You will get a lot of interest in the York plates, Marcy ones not so much. When you sell them I would drop some cash off for the people who put them outside.

Yep, 100% real. I’ve been looking for a power rack on FB marketplace and came across this listing yesterday:

https://imgur.com/a/dbGp5Oo

I’m an hour and a half away from there, but my brother literally lives 10 mins from the person and he went to see if it was still there - it was, so he got it all to give to me when I see him when he comes in town on Mother’s Day. It looks like I’ll need to give both him and the original owner something if I find a way to sell them local… since I don’t know how realistic shipping 90# of weight through the mail would be. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be an efficient way of selling them, but then again, this is my first time coming into a scenario like this so maybe I should just eBay them.

Originally Posted by Duplicitous

Vinegar or citric acid bath. No paint. Let the buyer decide that for themselves. You can check pricing history on eBay. Those racks are worth a few bucks also.

Thanks - I was actually looking for a power rack when I found this one on FB marketplace listed as “first person to haul it away gets it”. It’s 3x3, so I ordered some j-hooks and I guess I’ll get some plumbing pipe to use as safety bars. This is how my current home gym setup looks:

https://imgur.com/a/bn09OR9

I was thinking I could consolidate the half rack and bench press area into the power rack, to minimize my gym’s footprint. It looks like it doesn’t have a base though, so I don’t really know how I’m going to fix that.

As far as the weights go, a vinegar bath is best? I was otherwise thinking of using rust eater gel and a wire cup thing, but I’m willing to do whatever I need to get them cleaned up.