Basing it on what I've been quoted for his work in the past. His quote ( of what hes been offered as a price of 17k ) was he was offered way over that so I guess I was assuming it was in the 18.5 to 19 range. It's obvious the person who bought it either sent it in to either a: flip right away or b: ran into financial issues and needed to sell.

I say 18.5-19k is a pretty nice price but hey that's just my opinion. Guess we will have to wait n see if it sells for 20k

How about a payment plan for us poor folk.

I agree and actually grew tired of mine faster then my old AFM and others. I guess it's best to make sure you really love the game before you send it out for work like Chris or other high end restorers and drop some serious coin into it.

Anyone who pays 20,000$ for a pinball deserves whatever it is they get High End or not.... yawn.

I'm really *really* glad that you grew tired of it. I don't seem to be having that problem.

Funny, I felt the same way about my TZ for around 15 grand less.

Once you go HEP you never go back!

Seriously though, if your deep into this hobby you know its expensive. Everyone owes it to themselves to take their favorite title and have Chris do at least one pin for them. Its a great experience! Expensive? Maybe, but its all relative. Like I said this hobby as a whole is expensive. If you have a favorite title that your into pretty reasonably then its worth having it restored by HEP. Its like finally adding gold to your portfolio of silver and copper...

I'd love to see this machine go on EBay. No reserve auction. Would really say a lot about the valuation. I see Neo's point. The HEP process is awesome and expensive. A couple extra grand to not wait a year seems perfectly reasonable. People do that in high end car markets all the time.

That's the difference between someone that really wants it sold or someone that is fishing or shopping for a buyer. Its nice no doubt about it but like cars you are looking for that specific buyer that wants the same thing you just paid for. Sometimes you take a hit and other times you could make money. A no reserve auction answers the question definitively.

Shiloh Sharps rifles are a good comparison. Order one and wait between a year or two to take delivery (hand made 100%) or buy one through a broker that has new guns in the pipeline coming off in around 4 months. Shiloh's have a very good track record for holding their value and often selling for more than new due to price increases and long waiting times. With this crappy economy I have seen many pop up for well below new rifle pricing. Its more of a buyers market.

Pin prices have ridden a wave and many feel its peaked and some people are hopping off the wave.
Perfection in craftsmanship does not come cheap but this economy sucks for most people and some are sitting tight or selling off and moving to the side lines.

Great deal. I hear these are going for 40k$ in Japan.

I came across a MM out of state which is listed at 7K on a game store website.seemed low to me for this game even without any mods and just clean or restored.wish I could see it in person. Actually all of there games are priced low for being in business over 40 years.

If that's the case, then the website probably hasn't been updated in 5+ years.

Man I just don't think this is a price that any...ANY pin should command at this stage. But hey its worth what some people will pay for it i guess.

I would rather buy 6 good titles than 1 overpriced one. MM is a good game, but not worth the money(in my opinion). Good luck!

Paying anyone $5k+ to restore a pin is absurd.

yeah, what he said!

Yep, those were the same games and prices they had listed when I bought my AFM from them 8 months ago. None of them are available or even close to current, nor were they 8 months ago.

If a game takes over 250 hours to fully restore, how much would you have to pay an expert per hour to restore it?

If you had a car being fixed, how much does the dealer charge you a hour to fix it?

Lots of people do very nice pin restorations and don't charge $7k for it. If you want to pay that go right ahead, but its absurd.

Lots of people ? I see way more junk, than true restorations !

HEP is worth every penny !

Jim

True on both !

Jim -- do you have a website. I'd like to see some of your work.

Who do you consider the elite 5 restorers today?

I could not possibly disagree with this more.

I think I'll just sit back and enjoy my Pinball Arcade version for 2 bucks.

Obviously Im really undercharging if $5k -$7k is reasonable to restore a pin inside and out lol.

Let's see your work !

Chris i think you need to recant your statement towards neo since he proved it was one of yours........

Which statement are you referencing?

Both statements made by Chris in this thread have been proven true.

Based on these two statements, I do not see any reason for Chris to recant anything.

Marcus

The restoration work is for sure work 4-5k if not more, depending on how bad the machine was. What is indeed crazy is the price on the MMs right now. When I think I got mine for FREE from a friend, it really makes me think about selling it. But no, this one will stay.
At one point down the road I will definitely get it properly restored with one of the top guys out there as I do think it is worth, if you plan to keep it forever (what I do).

CR

goto the shark club in Michigan, Space Invaders is there and more soon to come
working on Flash Gordon and fathom for them currently they will be there in 3-4 months as well.

Heres FB link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.489088357768270.122084.100000013296832&type=1

And heres it in a video from the shark club

HOLY CRAP i would KILL for a bar like that around my parts..

You Michigan guys are so lucky.

They really are.

They have two Pinball Pete's, Shark Club and Clay has 150+ games set up in his warehouse.

man that place look awesome, i wish we had something like this around here, we used too, but not anymore.

Im excited to check the place out when i deliver the next 2 machines.
plus Mike seems like a realy cool guy from my dealings with him i look forward to hanging out with him.
From what I gather he is looking to expand to about 150 machines in time.
I currently have 4-5 in the works for him and about 8 pf's comming for older Gotteliebs to do for him as well.

Chris Hutchins is king. Nobody has his skill set, done as many rare/super rare pins, or can do what he does.

Having said that, McCune would be in the top 3-5 restorers easily. Many of these guys are friends that communicate back and forth and wouldn't put down their competition to promote themselves. Their work speaks for itself.

A big problem I see is too many times "shopped" jobs are labeled "restored' in this hobby. Doing a tear down and slapping a Cliffy on a damaged kick out makes a pin super nice, but it doesn't put it into the restore category of a HEP. When people compare those pins to a professional restore, it really is a slap in the face as the pin is not even close to what these pins are.

Also we have Marvelous Marvin's Mechanical Museum with many nice pins and a great variety of odd coin-op games.

Like most professions or tasks, there are a lot of people who do mediocre work (and think it's good) but few who do excellent work.

These truly expert restoration / rebuilders are worth what they do. The best deserve their pay.

Yes, a 20K MM is pricey but c'mon it's not like Chris (or Jim or Brian) have $10,000,000 salaries to do this like the top entertainment and sports people. Their expertise, skill, and work are among the very best in the field. Sure, it's more money to get one of their machines but you're getting the best.

You guys would shit a brick if you saw the restore I did on mine But, I SUCK at photography so only those who've seen and played it in person know. And, sorry, it's way too nice now to ever take to a show. That's the downside of doing a high end restore

Well snap a pic with your iphone and let's see that baby. I always wanted to know what a cliffy pin looks like.

^^just take a picture of the pin with your calculator like most of these guys do, seems to work

Obviously Chris is one of the best and I cant/wont say anything bad about his work.
But you dont realize his skillset isnt that unique most any body tech can do what he does for the most part. add a few connections and he could have competition.
Pinball restoration isnt much more than art restoration and basic electromechanical technology.
Electronics on pins are pretty basic and the artwork on the newer playfields are pretty basic as well easy enough to mask off like he does and reshoot certain colors, certainly any airbrush artist can do the same.
Chris is just the guy that applied his skillset to pinball vs other items he could be restoring.

Medieval madness is a great game. Worth about 6K in pristine condition. Anyone paying more than that needs to read up about the great tulip crash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

..supply and demand.. worth what someone is willing to pay.. etc etc ad nauseum

Where do you come up with this number anyway? You just pulled it straight out of your ass , correct?

I admit that it's embarrassing how stupid the human race can be. Thanks for the irrelevant link though, people who have never heard of this may find it an interesting read.

Relevent link. And although you won't admit it, true. So my 1966 V8 mustang convertible is worth less than a pinball machine that had a production of more than 4000? I like playing Medieval Madness, but it doesn't compare to a nice summer drive with the wind blowing in my face, and nearly every other driver on the road either staring at me or saying "nice ride". Best moment was a kid coming out of a $100K mercedes saying, "Wow, I want to ride in that car" while his dad agreed "yeah, thats a really nice car! My guess is "market crash madness"!

Yes, $7000 is a lot of money but actually if you calculate what that is per hour for 250 hours of work
it's not high at all. There just aren't a lot of people that have the know-how and skill to do this work.

So until the Chinese start doing this work that's what it is going to cost.