Flying High
Gottlieb, 1953On this 1953 Flying High. There are metal strips attached to the inside of the cabinet, along the sides, even and slightly above the playfield.
This Flying High, it looks like those 2 strips look like they are galvanized. I've seen Gottliebs with those strips in various condition. From chromed, just polished, painted a tan colour, painted a grey colour. (I will attach a photo later tonight.)
"What is the factory installed appearance?"
Games either have metal blades or some games have a grey paint.
Looks like Flying High, factory was metal.
Looks more like a hammer finish, under the dirt and rub marks and that feather.
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The 50's Gottlieb I saw with this metal trim all chromed, it looked great, but not something I need to do to this pin. Any suggestions?
Also is that silver paint original finish?
i have a 51 Jalopy with silver painted sides. I have a 60 Nags that had a metal galvanized side. I believe with the metal sides back in the day you could polish up to a nice finish. As I had only one side I made chrome sides for some bling. 
still have a couple.
Quoted from Darcy:It could be galvanised, as that was my first guess. Think I'll try a small spot with some solvent. Just to clean it and not trying to buff it up.
Sure not shiney?
Here is the Nags
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Here are some pics of a 1953 game, and 2 times 1954.
One has no blades, but factory finish silver paint.
Your blades I am pretty sure are not original in that Gottlieb never cut them like that or used those type of nails.
I think your game was like my Lovely Lucy - no blades from factory and an owner has made some and added. If you remove one and there is silver paint beneath that would confirm.
The so called 'blades' were not factory installed. Back in the day, cheating customers would attempt to bore a small hole into the cabinet (somewhere just under the wooden side rail ) using a pocket pen knife or something similar. Once the hole was made, they would insert a piece of a metal coat hanger and trip various targets and rollovers in the attempt to score enough points to win free games.
The inside metal blades were an after market product sold by parts companies to Operators to stop the cheating. Some Operators even made there own blades cut from different types of metals and installed them.
Quoted from dr_nybble:I buffed some up as well Steve for a 1954 Williams Spitfire. Can you tell me how you buff yours? I wet sanded to 3000 grit and then used Mother's Mag polish. Don't think it looks as nice as yours though.
As I had only one side rail or blade and front rail on the game I remade a few sets from chrome finished plate I got of eBay. So no I never buffed them.
Quoted from pinb1:The so called 'blades' were not factory installed. Back in the day, cheating customers would attempt to bore a small hole into the cabinet (somewhere just under the wooden side rail ) using a pocket pen knife or something similar. Once the hole was made, they would insert a piece of a metal coat hanger and trip various targets and rollovers in the attempt to score enough points to win free games.
The inside metal blades were an after market product sold by parts companies to Operators to stop the cheating. Some Operators even made there own blades cut from different types of metals and installed them.
Not 100% sure, on the Nags that the side rails were an after market option as every Nag game has them and they are all the same. I agree that this was a security problem. I think that when they stopped using silver paint they started adding the metal blades. The reason I say this is that Bally on their Bingo's fitted metal blades on all their games at some point in the 50's or early 60's. My Nags and Jalopy are Williams games are similar to the Gottlieb games regarding the metal blades and the previous silver paint. Could be wrong. 
This is getting interesting. Also did not really understand their purpose. Thanks a lot.
Quoted from Shapeshifter:If you remove one and there is silver paint beneath that would confirm.
From the photos it looks like these blades are on top of the silver paint.
Quoted from pinb1:Some Operators even made there own blades cut from different types of metals and installed them.
These blades appear to be galvanized, which seemed odd. They have some miss cuts which look hand cut. That was one part of reason for these questions.
Quoted from pinb1:The so called 'blades' were not factory installed. Back in the day, cheating customers would attempt to bore a small hole into the cabinet (somewhere just under the wooden side rail ) using a pocket pen knife or something similar. Once the hole was made, they would insert a piece of a metal coat hanger and trip various targets and rollovers in the attempt to score enough points to win free games.
The inside metal blades were an after market product sold by parts companies to Operators to stop the cheating. Some Operators even made there own blades cut from different types of metals and installed them.
I have never ever read this before - it makes sense but I suspect at a certain point in time Gottlieb put them in, as every game after 1954 I have ever seen for sale has them.
Quoted from Darcy:This is getting interesting. Also did not really understand their purpose. Thanks a lot.
From the photos it looks like these blades are on top of the silver paint.
I think yours are home made so to speak.
I just looked at my games - my 1950 - 1952 don't have them.
My 1953 Marble Queen has them but I now suspect they were added by operator as I can see some small holes where I can see that it would be possible to trigger slingshot switches!
I think around 1954 to 1955 GTB put them in all games, probably as a result of operators asking.
Learn something new every day!
Now I'm fairly sure I will remove them, fill the nail holes, and spray some silver across it. The metal pieces do not look that great and since the pin will never be put out on route again, they are not needed. I will look for any holes through the cabinet tonight. Will post a photo if there are any.
In the future it would fairly easy to add two smaller stainless steel strips, just for extra shine.
This 1950's inside the cabinet metal blade. Explains why the first Gottlieb with Metal rails (Flipper), has the metal extended below the flipper button and straight across to the back of the cabinet. It acts as a deterrent to drilling into the side of the game, to be able to trigger playfield features. The Gottlieb design team was on their game. Building and designing pins that would well exceed their commercial life cycle.
Below just for reference is a photo of a Flipper from Nov 1960. (The photo is from IPDB courtesy of Jon Allison.)
image-17.jpgGottlieb Flipper (resized).jpg
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Leduc, AB
Poughkeepsie, NY