World's Fastest Pop Machine Wows Downstate Kids

By Prescott Carlson in Miscellaneous on Jun 3, 2010 8:40PM

Kids pretty much take the advanced technology they are growing up with for granted. They don't give a second thought to the mini-computer in their phone that has more processing power than a room full of 70s mainframes, or the text messages they feverishly transmit through the ether, or the record store's worth of music that fits on the tiny device in their pocket. So is there any technology that does intrigue teens nowadays? Yes -- 40-year-old pop machines.

A pair of the machines outside a lawnmower repair shop in the small town of Lerna, Illinois, have teens flocking to witness the marvel of what has been deemed the "World's Fastest Pop Machine." Shop owner Ivan Thompson was quoted as saying on weekends "high school and college kids come down by the carload" to buy pop from the machines.

The machines even have their own Facebook page, which currently has almost 1,600 fans. The page describes the machines "mystical" powers as:

1. It knows what you want before you press the button. 2. It's faster than gravity. 3. It is physically impossible to press the button and catch the soda with the same hand.

The page also says the pop dispensed from the machine "magically" stays cold for hours. But before you and your friends pile into the car for the 3 hour trek downstate to witness this 8th Wonder of the World for yourself, Ivan's wife, Dorsie, gave the solution to the beverage dispensers' mystery:

"[They are] older models that have micro-switches, causing the cans of pop to drop so quickly. The new ones have to bring the pop around and then drop it," she said.

Guess we'll stick with our original road trip plans after all.