Just for some clarity.
Chad - The parts guy at Atlas was Romero not Fernando. He was a big, tall Latin guy with a real deep voice. He used to answer the phone "Romero Here". He got cancer real bad later on. I went into the location one day and didn't even recognize him. He had lost so much weight and lost his hair completely. He passed shortly there after. Just to reminisce for a second, Romero was a super guy. He came off real rough at first like Steve Young. I got to talk to him so much he got friendly later on. In Oct of 1999 I bought a CV pin, and the plastic covering the DMD was bent real bad. It got caught on the mini play-field like they all do, and got bent upward. I was having a real tough time finding the part number in the book. He tried looking it up a few times and thought he had it. When the ordered parts came it was the wrong plastic. He then gave me the phone number to the Williams parts lady directly. I called her an explained what was happening. She helped me track down the right part number, and I then had Romero order the right plastic for me. In Nov, I got a beat Scared Stiff. I needed a play-field bad. The VUK hole was blown out. I called the lady at Williams on a lark. I asked her if they had this play-field and she said no. She then said hold on let me check by sub assembly part number. She cam back after ten minutes and said they had one NOS SS play-field as a sub assembly. This had all the holes drilled ready for install, (more than the blank has), all intended mylar applied and all t-nuts applied. It's pulled right before it goes into assembly and into a game from what she indicated. She said to me, have your distributor order it right away as it's the only one. In addition, if you are ever going to need anything else order it now. I wasn't getting the last statement at first, and then realized what it meant. I was able to get some stuff out of Williams before they closed. Mostly for SS, CV and TZ. If it wasn't for Romero, this would have never happened. God rest his soul.
I also don't recall any shopping cart. The place had a small counter in front, and small metal rack behind the counter with all the pinball game specific parts. Wasn't much to go through. Some SWE1 plastics, and few ramps and that was it. To the left was a window where Romero sat in his office. Down the long hallway were other offices, and one area with Billiard tables and a few Foosball games on display. It wasn't set up to walk around with a cart. Are you possibly thinking of Mazco or American vending?
To Mr. Bally Australia, these are the actual conversations I had with Gene and Kim. If you read all my posts closely, you will find my retelling of when Williams games manufacturing was offered to Gene way before you had it, and he passed on it. Go back and read all my posts before you start telling everyone what they lived through was bullshit. Please try and contribute constructively. I never saw any contracts, just retelling of my experiences with the principal parties. If you have more detail, then share it and help make this community better informed. To just say this is bullshit and I know more is childish.
Dougram