There's a guy up here who has one. I need to go check it out tomorrow as the score motor just turns endlessly. I'm familiar with 70's Gottliebs, but not so much with Ballys. I'm guessing the first thing to check are the switches on the score reel?

Thanks
Phil

Thank you.

Incredible

Here's a video I just completed for my band Damn The Luck, which features three of my Gottlieb EMs:

Man you have no idea how much time I spent bouncing that ball

Thank you guys!
I did improve my editing skills a whole lot while making this, but I'm sure there were probably some much easier ways to do some of the things I did.
Video editing also tests the limit of an old laptop computer like mine - you really need a powerful machine to work easily and be able to preview stuff and not have to export all the time.

I definitely had the EM fans in mind, which is why I ended up cutting out the DMD shots, except for the FT cameo at the beginning.

Has the cabinet been restored?

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While we're on the topic of Surf Champ, for those who hadn't caught the original thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gottlieb-score-reel-clock-project

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Got a Williams Gulfstream in the back of the van right now.
Backglass looks perfect, cab is nice, playfield is pretty worn. My first Williams EM, I figured it was time to try the pointy people and learn some new EM repair skills.

I'm already starting to grow fond of the pointy people. I hope this isn't the start of something...

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Darn pointy kids! Can't a man just relax?!

Alright, I hadn't had the time to work on the machine much. I cleaned the score reels and it got running right away, pretty much error free. Lucky me, because the amount of relays in there is pretty impressive.
I really like the gameplay so far.
I'm not much of an LED guy, and I'm even pretty much against them for EMs, but those pop bumpers looked too cool and I had some green ones on hand so... I hope I don't anger the EM gods.

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No, actually the playfield looks pretty crappy. I think someone did some bad green touchups around the numbers area and put some kind of varnish that yellowed, not even all over the place.
I just picked up the game because it was right next to work and pretty cheap, didn't think much of it and didn't have any intentions of restoring it, but now that I started playing it I'm not so sure anymore. Definitely like it more than I thought I would, I'll see how I feel about it in a couple of months.
I like the Gottliebs EM because they look so good but this one has cool art too in its own way.

Yep, for sure, it's not going anywhere unless I find some major deals nearby too soon.
There's also the problem that you're always hitting the same spot, it's a standup target so the ball will fly back a bit, and then you have all these big inserts right where the ball travels all the time, so I think it's a more wear-prone playfield to begin with.
Mine has 45k plays, and I have some machines with more plays than that with much less wear.

The weird varnish
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The crappy touchups which faded to white
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The crappy black touchups which smeared when I cleaned them
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Also,
there's a bridge rectifier in there and the flippers (and pop bumpers too, maybe?) are DC powered. Is that a mod or did they come like that?

Actually the flippers may not be DC, I didn't fiddle much under the playfield since everything got running right away after I cleaned up the reels. I just noticed the rectifier and assumed it was for flippers as well.
Now that you mention it I did notice that the pop bumpers were super snappy, but the flippers feel pretty much regular so I would think your statement is correct.
There's also these huge 115V coils for the huge relay bank that drives the tic-tac-toe numbers in the middle of the playfield, which I'd never seen before.
Interesting machine for sure.

He's my cousin.

Second that!
Man that warehouse is huge... What's the backstory? Seems like they're using about 1% of the cubic feet in there.

More common than you think... still haven't gotten around to stripping mine.
My Surf Champ was painted white when I got it.

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I can understand the rationale, it's the 80's, everything is made of black melamine, retro 60's stuff is totally out of style, you have this fun machine but with a funky red and blue checker pattern cramping the style of the room, so you just paint it all black and it fits right in next to your Duran Duran poster and fiber optic lamp.

Early morning ride in the country with my new gal.

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Well, there's hard feelings still lingering I guess. We had a thing before and she left me, so she still has to win my trust back. Until then, no seatbelts.

Nah, she's not a very big coin eater, just 45k plays...

Awesome.

Note to self: cancel trip to Transylvania