I'm sure there will be a place for them somewhere.

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Hee hee....and a couple of their later counterparts...

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Just as Stern made 'The Pin"

Renault made.....

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Cars are similar to pins in several ways. Lots of old ones in barns, basements, garages, etc. just waiting for a new owner and attention. And like new autos, modern pins don't interest me. Too many things to go wrong. They all look the same. And both are wayyyyy overpriced. No soul or personality to speak of. Crazy rulesets and too many toys/gadgets. I'll take old school autos and pins every time.

Grabs popcorn puts feet on table...

Le Car was also made as an LE version, R5 Turbo. My buddy imported them/sold them, his twin turbo was 350 hp and super fast/fun.

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I have always seen the similarity. American made, shinney, chrome.
There is one compairison that is similar that I have had to deal with many times. If I buy a 65 nova it looks better and is more alternative than everything around me, BUT if I want to drive to texas or ca or even 8 hours, I would never trust it. The last thing I would want is to break down away from home.
So I ended up buying a new Zo6. Most of the decission was based on that compairson. I find the bally williams DMD era to be the 65 nova, and a new stern to be the new zo6 (which gets 26 mpg on the highway, stock 405 hp).
Personaly, the answer of which is best to me is own both. cant go wrong.
Kruzman. galesburg

Middle age white guy expensive hobby. Lots of mods and aftermarket parts. Shows and competitions. Repair and refurb specialists, specialized tools.

Yep, sounds like the cargument holds water.

I see a lot of cars from the 50s and 60s that have been heavily restored to beautiful condition that are sold at prices that are no doubt below the amount of money put into them. Sometimes a lot of money. I have even seen guys admit it outright on the auction shows. A really nice example goes for $60,000-70,000, and you know at least $100,000 was sunk into it. And yet, the sellers rarely seem disappointed. They smile and say, sure I didn't get what I put into it, but it was the PROCESS of restoring that I enjoyed. So I am happy. I'm going to take this money and get another one to start on.

There is a certain level of restoration that creates a beautiful end result, but with the issue that you can't necessarily sell what you have there and make money on it. So you either do it because you just love the process itself and that is the reward you get, or also maybe you do it with the idea that you are going to keep it and cherish it forever.

I am new to the pinball thing, but I think sometimes it is similar there.

Now compare the value of those muscle cars with original engines and paint vs. One with a nice shiny crate engine and new paint.

Enjoy your shiny new repro pinball parts. The day will come...

For some reason, this picture seems nicer to me......

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That pic seems to fit the Car / Video Game Comparison better.

Stern made...

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Those French will try to make anything look sexy.

The closest thing in my collection to a muscle car is Dirty Harry, as many are from the pre muscle car era.

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I honestly don't see any correlation between the age or era of automobiles to pinball machines. The golden age of pinball occurred during the crap era of automobiles. There may be a slight similarity in how both pinball and muscle cars have made a resurgence although it appears the cars have fared better than pinball.

A much more obvious similarity between the two as hobbies that I always note are how collectors treat each pin. Just like cars, pinball collectors can be separated into three major categories:

>Those who only collect "survivors" - unmolested originals with just about everything being original with maybe the exception of tires and belts and the usual wear items like batteries, spark plugs, etc.

>Then there are those who like to "restore" cars and pins. To restore means to refurbish them as close to original condition as possible. Once you deviate from originality it ceases to be a restoration.

>Last but not least are the hot rodders. Those who rebuild with less regard to originality. Gawdy chrome and LEDs and other mods. The sky is the limit. Rather than restorations these are more correctly classified as modifications.

Both hobbies are similar in that regard. Some pinballers consider it to be just as sacrileges to refurbish an all-original pinball machine as it is to refurbish a survivor automobile. I meet a lot of guys who are into classic cars that are also into pinball.

I saw a Ghostbusters today.

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just for the record. Mustangs are not muscle cars as far as muscle car classifications go.

You think so?

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Since I consider the golden age of pinball 1978-1981, yes. Definitely an era of crap cars.

Perhaps.

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Pretty poster car, but it's always been considered crap for driving.

I heard it goes real fast.

Here's one from 1978 for you.

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OK, there is one good car for that time period. I'd say the first generation RX7 is another. Very hard to think of anything else that was actually good from this time period, though.

It was a time when downsizing was starting, and cars were making laughable amounts of power for the engine displacement thanks to emissions and the gas crisis. It was most certainly an awful time period for American cars.

The worst cars from a maintenance standpoint were the American cars with computer controlled carburetors from the early eighties and the Chrysler lean burn and Ford variable venturi shit from the late 70s, which were designed with emissions in mind, but with a slight malfunction would put out ten times the emissions as their standard or non computer controlled counterparts.

By the mid eighties things were improving with EFI, but even to this day there are still plenty of turds being produced. Never was there a time when all cars were good.

As fun a discussion as this is, trying to compare any DMD pinball machine to the original muscle car is a pointless venture IMO.

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When i read the topic title i was expecting a totaly different subject haha. Really thought it was something like whats the best car you can buy for a stern batman66? Or a JJP dialied in?

No idea why my brains came up with this, lol.

Ten years ago I bought a 2001 Tacoma pre-runner with 80k miles on it for a little more than a DI or BatmanLE costs. Now it has 180K miles and people offer me more for it than I paid. No way would I trade it in on either of those models.

Compared to a Ferrari that Countach is a mechanics nightmare. Sharp metal edges everywhere underneath, Oil filter not located near the oil filter access panel. That 2 piece transmission and engine block, that is cast together. The hard to access fog lights. Cool, yes! That it is also a sports car not a muscle car.

Details, details. Well pinball machines aren't muscle cars either. This is about as close as they came in the late 70s, I guess. And with a 6.6 they scooted along pretty good.

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Perhaps pinball machines are muscle cars after all. Or maybe just pony cars.

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The Cargument comes in usually Ford vs Chev vs Dodge. So going with that, a Pinargument would be Williams vs Gottlieb, Stern vs JJP.

Some are now Luxury Cars.

Would that then make Bally the Pontiac of the pinball world?

Whoever said you can't polish a turd, never rode in or saw one of these when they were brand new.

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Driven a few Mustang IIs. Here are 3 comments. If the Mustang II was not made, Mustang as a car line would been killed off in 1973. The 1978 King Cobra, with the 4 barrel 302, actually could out perform the 1978 Corvette. Even a Corvette with a smogged out 350.

All I know is a buddy of mine in high school had that blue Cobra II, and although he was an average looking guy, he had some pretty hot chicks riding along with him.

One that caught my eye today, having never heard of....just had to share.

1938 Phantom Corsai

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Funny how that works.....

that thing is amazing. I'd go way over my 6k price point for that.