Story time!

I just saw a pin saved from the dump now fully restored and beautiful sell at Pinfest with a sticker of $3650. Last year, I met someone off of facebook in DC to pick up my first E.M. a beautiful El Dorado mechanically restored by a guy who restores antique typewriters as his main hobby so this thing played perfectly. Anyways, as I am pulling the El Dorado on a dolly through his back yard I see a pinball leg sticking out from under a tarp. I asked the guy what was up with the pin under the tarp, and he said he couldn’t get it working and was going to the dump. I told him I’d save him the trip and he just gave it to me.
So I go back to load up this second pin after literally strapping the car seats from the van to the roof to get everything to fit, pull back the tarp and… it was a SPACE SHUTTLE… WITH A PERFECT BACKGLASS!

I took both pins up and set up El Dorado, then got to work on the Space Shuttle. I plugged it in and connected the boards and THE LIGHTS CAME ON! Looking at the board THEY HAD REFLOWED CONNECTORS! I played with it for an hour or so and it sort of flipped, but it was apparent it was a long term project. The pin smelled and was moldy as it had gotten wet. I didn’t have room for it, couldn’t bring it in the house, so I made the decision it was time for it to go. I threw it on pinside for ½ the price of the cheapest Space Shuttle Project I found wanting to offset the price of my pin but not be too greedy and listed it at $700. It sold within 20 minutes. When I say it sold, I got a call from someone I had sold to before saying, “I’m on my way with cash and I’ll be there in 20 minutes”. Never even got to respond via pinside. I think it went for $600 and a wallhanger arcade marquee. Here is the ad https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/archive/116789

And here is the walkthrough

Anyways, what I find interesting is that the guy I sold it to fixed it up some, sold it to someone else who fixed it up some more, who sold it to someone else who rebuilt the head, did a hard top, and wound up with a fully flipping machine that was absolutely beautiful and sold at Pinfest to a happy new buyer. I was tempted to buy it back for myself.

There are 2 morals to the story here.

1. All pins are worth saving… especially a solid state that you think is beyond repair. Although you might not be able to build a cabinet, others can. Sell your parts people and throw nothing out. List them and do an exchange at a pinball show if you must.

2. Bring a vehicle that you can fit 2 pins in if you can even if you are only picking up one. I’ve only ever gotten 1 free pin, but I always ask what is next on the chopping block and will occasionally pick up a second pin to flip for a month or two then move on to a new buyer if I can get a package deal. If you are already there to buy something from someone you are much more likely to receive a favorable response to making an offer on an unadvertised machine. That’s how I got my 9 Ball, and the best deals I’ve ever gotten have been package deals.

Happy pinball folks and here are some photos from its found state to the state where the Space Shuttle left Pinfest. From start to finish this was less than a 1 year odyssey.
SPSH1 (resized).jpgSPSH2 (resized).jpg20220505_141006 (resized).jpg20220505_141057 (resized).jpg20220505_150424 (resized).jpg