That's the nice way to say it.

...oh you got something alright!

I think you just have to offer the OP some grey poopon.....

Here’s the real story... I live in Hong Kong, but my pins are in Mississippi. I was mildly interested in this pin two years ago. It was resorted by bballfan (he’s restored other pins for me). He sent me pictures, but I didn’t buy. When the OP listed this Taxi my interest was rekindled. I contacted bballfan to see if his Taxi was still available; it wasn’t. From discussions with whitey and bballfan I discovered it was the same pin I looked at two years ago. whitey never sent my photos, I never asked because I had photos of the pin when it was restored two years ago. I normally don’t post pics of my purchases, but am making an exception in this case. I checked with both bballfan and whitey before posting photos.
Now what everyone is waiting for...

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Looks like one that won best in show at tpf about 3 years ago. I assume it's the same one? Beautiful restore.

Pinside listing with No pics. Snitty response? No responses to other inquiries? I don’t care how affluent the location, rude is rude. Great looking pin but seriously, seller needs to learn manners.

As predicted does not look like an HEP
Nice game overall but can see nothing that warranted the HEP inclusion in the FS post.

I'm glad that your knowledge about the pin from two years ago led to a sale, but I would still argue that the seller didn't do himself any favors. Also, you are not the least bit worried that with 2 years of wear and tear that maybe the machine doesn't look as nice now? Seems like an unnecessary risk without getting pictures from the OP.

Possibly, we’ll see when the pin is delivered.

Just courious... Besides the fact that you didn't restore this one, what's the first thing that jumps out at you? Something incorrect? Something that could have been done better?

Coin door isn't original, and the lockbar mech is kinda tarnished looking.. those stand out from a real HEP right out of the gate.. looks like lots of other bits aren't polished as well.

I would be interested to see a pic of the boards..... sure they are very nice.

I wouldn’t do that because someone put effort into this game and is proud of it and they should be. To point things out would be an attack on that and they haven’t done anything wrong. Not everything can or needs to be perfect.
What I could do better or otherwise isnt important it is just that as I suspected it looks nothing like a true HEP game and if you want to look and compare the differences you can easily do that yourself you might find more or less differences than others depending on your eye for detail or what is important to you.
There is a lot more to an HEP game than looks alone and that can be hard to convey but if going by looks alone there are two HEP Taxis

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/first-hep-taxi

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/taxi-2018-hep/page/12

My contention again is only the inclusion of HEP in the FS thread because I do know the differences and false impression it creates.
It was used to elevate the impression of this game but once you see the pictures of the actual game it has now lowered the impression of what a HEP game looks like if you don’t know any better.
This is probably way too wordy but I am trying to explain how I personally feel about it as HEP.

Spoken as a true gentleman

Looks good...

I don't know the seller and maybe he made a mistake saying "it isn't a HEP machine but it is as nice as one" - only the buyer & seller can decide that. Personally I understand Chris's frustration when someone compared a machine they are selling to a HEP machine but there are plenty of other guys doing machines that do high end work also. HEP has somehow become the standard for high end restorations and that is great but that doesn't say there are not other guys doing work of similar quality.

Regardless - I don't see where there is anything to gain going round and round about something like this . I just delivered a machine to HEP for the same guy that bought this machine and he is a great guy. Hopefully machine will meet his expectations but if not I am sure it will just be headed to HEP for improvements anyway.

Chris at HEP is a great guy who does impressive work and that is why he has become the standard of the restoration industry. But long before HEP (and likely long after) there will also be other guys doing nice work also. It is just kind of sad some of them don't get the recognition they deserve. Anyway to Chris - keep doing what you are doing and you will never run out of work. As we talked about last week it isn't just about the quality of your work but it is about your entire business model and that is what is truly impressive to me.

Nice looking taxi for sure. I have a pin restored by the same person and its very nice and well done with mostly everything new. That said its not a hep and i wldnt say its just as nice.... however its beautiful and probably better than it was nib lol ... and most folks probably wldnt notice the difference between the restores.

Didn't he say "It's not a HEP but it looks like it"?

When you are the Michael Jordan of pinball restoration comparisons are going to be made, like it or not.

I doubt anyone is going to be fooled into buying a HEP fake. I would imagine it costs significantly more than $6k to restore a Taxi by HEP.

I know just voicing my personal opinion on it as a sales tactic.
I couldn’t imagine anyone else would have a better take or worse take on it.

On sale January 1st for $3K....I'm always skeptical of people who never post photos of games....

Nah If you have what you say you have, then a buyer will come along pics or no pics. There is no unwritten code that says you have to post up pics to be mannerly to the Pinside critics. Not saying that we don't like to see pics either!

First thread I’ve ever drained...

Let's be clear, I'm not talking about appeasing Pinside critics. I'm talking about respecting your buyers. I guess you could argue that photos be sent exclusively to "serious buyers", but that would make Pinside much more boring I've learned to not take my FS ad's so seriously...I actually enjoy the jousting that goes on.

Chris Hutchins makes some great points, but at the end of the day, it's obviously a form of compliment. Lot's of great restorers, but very few that have grown it into a thriving business/brand. The HEP brand doesn't need to be used to help sell non-HEP restorations. As we all know, if you want to sell a beautiful restoration, post the photos and let the community decide. Folks who have owned HEP's and non-HEP restorations are skilled at noticing the sometimes subtle differences.

snaroff

Thanks for the compliment but it wasn’t the game that won at TPF.
I remember that game and it was a beauty!

Yeah, that one was really nice. So is yours, I'm sure Toucanf16 will be happy with it. Thanks for jumping in and clarifying that.

Who's gonna do the lookin?
You live in Hong Kong.

Congratulations on the sale , that's a $6000 Taxi all day long if that's the game you purchased. Amazing job on the restore, Taxi is such a great game!