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BrianB
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« on: July 18, 2007, 06:49:32 am » |
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On Thursday of last week I was perusing my local Craigslist listings for anything that seemed cool ad stumbled upon a guy a couple of hours north of me with a couple of old bingo pinball machines for sale. I called him and after I felt that the machines were worthy of purchase, we struck a deal.
The first game is a 1954 Bally "Hi-Fi" Bingo Pinball and the second game is a 1961 Ball "Acapulco". I ended up getting both plus some extra parts and a complete (but very dirty!) playfield for a late 70's Stern pinball all for $300!
The Hi-Fi works great and only has some very minor problems. The backglass is flaking a bit but luckily there is a replacement backglass for both machines.
The story of these machines goes something like this. The original owner was an amusement company owner who had a route that he worked in the Terre Haute, IN area. He apparently went out of business back in the early 70's and put in upwards of 30 machines into storage. The fella that I bought the machines lived a couple of streets away from the old fella and when he got wind that he had all of these old bingo machine just sitting in a pole barn, he made him and offer he couldn't refuse!.
Flash forward about 20 years. These were the last two games that he had in his possesion and was looking to move them out of his basement fast to make way for a home improvement project. We carried the machines peice by peice up the skinny, high 1909 built stairs out the back door to my awaiting trailer. If anybody here has ever moved a pinball you know what I'm talking about.
One thing that I didn't know was that unlike regular EM pinballs that distribute the electric components fairly equally between the head and the body, Bingo Pinballs keep the vasy majority of their components in the head! This means the average Bingo head weighs in at about 225 lbs! That way more than even a 4 player EM pinball head!
Here are some pics of the Hi-Fi Bingo, I got it set up first and snapped a few pics of it. The other pic of the Acapulco is from the original listing.
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Brian
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Eric
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« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2007, 07:38:07 am » |
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Awesome scores! Yeah that Craiglist is awesome... I heard eBay owns it?
wonder if that's true.... anyway great story and machines!
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Eric
WANTED:
Embossed Quikold Standard
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bubba
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« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2007, 07:38:42 am » |
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Brian.. that is cool.. I've been looking for an old wooden pin.. thats pretty cool. I haven't had the pleasure of moving a pin yet, but I am going to find out soon. My buddy has one in his parents basement that we grew up with. Its a Gottlieb Cleopatra machine.. He said when they brought it originally, they only removed the legs.. I dunno about that..
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Ken
V-63 -Bottles
2-Cavalier USS-64
VMC ST56B Royal Crown - being built
Vendo HA56C Coke
2-V63C DP
V63C Coke
U-Select-It 5cent candybar machine
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SIGNGUY
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« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2007, 09:47:50 am » |
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(Eric @ Jul. 18 2007,8:38)
QUOTE Craiglist is awesome... I heard eBay owns it?
wonder if that's true.... I've heard that they where trying to buy it...We'll there goes another great thing...  '> I'm sure they'll be adding fees to list on it.. or they might just shut it down as it's competing with Ebay. |
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Soda Machine Enthusiast since 1996!
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sodaworks
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« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2007, 01:15:16 pm » |
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Nice Score. These are really cool. I have an old 30's Bally's machine that's called a pay out machine. It pays out nickels The theme is called "Prospector" and features an old miner panning for gold.
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TERRY@SODAWORKS RESTORATIONS
Lots of Round Top machines
Buy-Sell-Trade-Restorations
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FDNY1975
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« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2007, 05:26:31 pm » |
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Nice pinball machine like the Vendo Coin Changer also. Congrats, Matt
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Matt
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Jim
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« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2007, 06:23:24 pm » |
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Very Nice ! ! !
After moving the machines, I suppose it's time for a cold one!
A soda I meant...
 '>
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My six cents, Jim  |
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aspbear1
Guest
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« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2007, 07:52:45 pm » |
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Great machines, when I was a teenager those were my favorite to play.
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BrianB
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« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2007, 06:06:50 am » |
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Terry,
Where did you pick up your "Prospector"? It sounds pretty cool.
I recently bought a 1934 "42nd Street" Genco pinball machine. Mine is non-payout though.
Jim,
Yeah, a cold one (soda!) was in order after lugging those two beasts around!
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Brian
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