Good question. When I received the machine, it had that back door. I have no idea why it looks like that but clearly it was built to look that way on purpose. Maybe an EM historian can chime in.

I have no problem swapping it with the smooth back door of one of my other EM machines of the era such as my Buckaroo or Kings and Queens.

Interesting that I had several inquiries about my Flip a Card. That one is not for sale. Really my personal favorite EMs are Aquarius and Flip a Card even though those are not the classic collector Gottlieb machines like KOD or Buckaroo or Kings and Queens.

I was looking at replacement wedgehead back doors. I am not seeing one like this for sale, but I am seeing replacement doors can be purchased for $42.22. I just lowered the price by $300 and figure that can allow someone to get the door they want and compensate for this not being the original back door in original condition (assuming this machine did not come that way from Gottlieb). I just ordered new rubbers so the rubbers can be new.

I saw this comment on a post related to a Evel Knievel EM for sale at a very premium price.

"A suggestion : be patient and mindful of your less than a year status when selling something like this here. There is a lot of trust that goes into selling a machine of this nature site unseen. If I was looking to buy this one from you, I would hire a local dealer to do an appraisal on the game. Not that I doubt the price or what your advertising, just to verify any and all of the game's conditional aspects."

I was just thinking that I too have a less than 1 year status. If anyone interested in this machine wants to verify the condition, other than by seeing it and playing it, happy to provide references of very established people I know who have seen this machine or happy to have someone come do an appraisal.

It has been 15 years since I sold any of my machines, and between then and this year, I have not paid that much attention to the pinball market. What I have noticed is that back then and on rec.games.pinball, the highly restored Wedgeheads and certain older machines were highly desired. When I look at the history of the sales on this forum which do not go back that far, in looking up things like KOD and Buckaroo, and Diamond Jack, I have not seen many excellent machines that have come up on the market, and it is not like there was a bidding war when I listed this item. I would have thought that these classic machines produced in way lower quantities than Addams Family would have gone up in value. In contrast, I am seeing very high sale prices of certain restored 80s SS and newer machines.

In some listings, I see people comment about the price especially if they think it is too high, and I do not see such comments on my listing. My thought is that it is worth what I am asking and more, but only to the individual who wants and appreciates this machine, and there are less people like that out there than people who want the new Fathom Mermaid. I also see very insightful comments by experts on other listings who can look at the pictures and point out the imperfections, and so far, just the back door comment (which I found interesting).

Feel free to critique! I would be very curious what you all think of this machine.

Thanks. I lowered the price by $700 for a couple of reasons. I noticed a glitch the I am guessing an EM expert could fix in less than an hour by finding, adjusting, and filing the right contact (noted in add). Also, if it is not the title it used to be, then my loss. If no one would want a KOD of this quality at that price, then maybe I will keep it.

Fixed! I sent a message to tim (Timme) and he suggested I loosen the wing nuts that support the sequence bank for the drop down cards, reseat, and tighten. That did it.

See pic of lit special and a picture of the sequence bank with a yellow arrow to the wing nut.

Also another picture of the rototarget mechanism under the playfield. Too bad you can't see that without lifting up the playfield!

So now, no glitches! I will leave the price at $3,400 for now, but may raise it later or keep the machine.

KOD Special (resized).jpeg

Unknown-9 (resized).jpeg

KOD windnut (resized).jpeg

Artifact of the photos. No fading at all. My overhead LED lights create shadows. I tried variations in lighting, but really hard to avoid any artifact. If you look at the enclosed photo, you will see that the color variation is in a different location. I did however find an imperfection around the left flipper where there is a semi circular darkening. At first I thought it was from the wood grain as is blends with the curved wood grain that is the mirror image, but if you look closely with the glass off at the right angle, you see the slight wear from the flipper.

Unknown-3 (resized).jpeg

So.... I figured I would also list my game on Craigslist. First email I received was from "David Caruthers" that stated:

Hi, Thank you for your response to my inquiry and i'm so sorry for getting back to you late, I've been working really long weeks at work. So i wont be able to meet with you but am ok with the price and condition as shown on the advert, I'll proceed in issuing a check to you and when you receive the payment and it clears, I will make arrangements for pickup. So get back to me with the details below asap.

Name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Your cell Phone Number:
Last Asking Price:

As soon as this is provided, payment will be overnight to you and I will let you know once it's mailed out with a tracking number sent to you. I will also add an additional $70 for holding it for me till the Check gets to you and delete the posting that it has been sold for me

Thanks and I hope we handle this in good faith while waiting to hearing from you

If I were to reply, it would go to "[email protected]"

Strange email address for a guy named David Caruthers. Interesting, that there was no prior inquiry and therefore no response to a prior inquiry. I guess he was so busy at work, he forgot this was a cash on the glass sale if through CL. What we've got here is ... failure to communicate!

I did reference this in a Craigslist Scam thread

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/craigslist-scam-1

I also added a flake story from today.

The machine just sold on ebay. It was listed as local pickup, although I said if someone really wants to arrange shipping where I have no responsibility and they accept it as is, fine with me. So, I get a message from ebay that it just sold and the buyer is in a different state. Right after that, I get an email from ebay that payment was made and is being held and I am supposed to print a shipping label and ship it tomorrow! Huh.

Screen Shot 2021-05-11 at 10.14.00 PM (resized).png

I listed it here first, and then I subsequently listed it on ebay and Craigslist. There really was no interest during the time it was listed here. Not a single PM of inquiry which disappointed me mostly because it indicated to me that the classic wedgeheads seem to be worth so much less than the classic machines of a later era. A highly restored Funhouse sells for 13K right away, a highly restored Xenon sells for 9K right away and the highly restored KOD is not so popular.

I did have the price a bit lower here than on ebay since there are certain fees with ebay.

Not so sure how this local pickup with ebay will work. I will find out soon.

I had a nice talk with the buyer. Clearly very knowledgable. Lives in Washington with 37 pins, including HEP restorations, and he just purchased a Mandalorian (non marked up price). Maybe he will also want my Kings and Queens, and he has worked with Michelle at NAVL. Payment made and so I think I have a legit sale. When I told him it was up on here for a couple of weeks, he was surprised it did not sell. Actually so was I when I see toppers going for over $1,000. I always thought this is a machine worth more than the listing price to the right buyer, but just sad seeing that pool has shrunk. Maybe that will be the case with the highly restored EBDs, Fathoms, TZs and Funhouses in 10 years. I would have hoped with time the appeal and value of these classic Wedgeheads would have gone up. I will be keeping my Buckaroo, Aquarius, and Flip a Card.

Interesting. I went to end this listing. I was asked if it sold. I clicked yes. I was asked it if sold to a Pinside, and clicked no because it sold on eBay for $3,550 and I paid $489 in ebay fees (that part is on another topic thread). However, there is then no way to say the sale price. Seems like this forum would benefit from knowing the sale price and where it sold when sold off pinside. So many listings do not list sale price which makes it hard to know what the value of a machine should be when you are listing or buying.