Sorry guys I have yet to post some pics of my HUO estate sale #1097 EM. Been real busy at work. Been down to the shop only twice in a month and it was spent assessing and debuging a few other things. The game plays great as is. This week I got sick and tested for covid today so cant leave home for now. ANYWAY. I had an idea. The SS version has a 4th 10K chime and for me it is particularly fun to hear the 50K award when you drain out a lit outlane or get all targets down. It would be very easy to add a 4th one on the EM. The switch is already on the 10k relay. Just a matter of weaving another wire into the harness and finding a chime box from an early SS. There's even spare pins on the headbox plug. Thoughts?

Hope you are sitting down. Sorry it took so long for me to post but I had other projects going. Y'all have been asking me to upload some pics. See my post several months ago in "look what I brought home today" thread.
In short, had a guy contact me to fix a Mata Hari he bought at an estate sale for $250. Yeah ok typical call so I thought... I started asking questions. He said it was making a constant noise on startup. Ok... let me hear it over the phone. OMG thats an EM! Send me a picture! My jaw hit the freaking floor. Not only an EM, but MINT. The estate seller told him it belonged to his dad and was in their house for over 40 years since he was a kid. He paid $250. I made a big big big cash offer over 10x what he paid and threw in a very nice clean Flip Flop from my collection. He was so happy. So was I. Immaculate. HUO time capsule unicorn. Obvoiusly kept in a controlled environment. No rust or corrosion. Cabinet and trim is unbelievable. Inside super clean. Wires and solder are bright. Theres an 8 ft long BLUEPRINT. Beer seal is spongy like new. Playfield suffered because it was never cleaned and the ball was bad. BUT... I have a friend that has hoarded a NOS playfield for 30 years. In good concience I could not install a repro in this rarity. Convinced him this was the one that deserved it. Paid a premium. Sent it to my body shop guy we use here for clearing and they did an extra special job on it. After a month or 2 of curing I will install it. This is how I received the machine. I have done nothing to it. The guy had already re-rubbered and cleaned it. It just had a few small issues on startup. Fixed. Plays great. Serial #1097 has been off the grid for 40+ years. I will make all of you proud with a meticulous stock restoration just as it came out of the box. Come see her at SFGE Atlanta next summer! Not for sale!

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Yeah industry went from 10c or 3/quarter to 25c or 3/quarter a few years before. That was a big jump in price. Players resisted for awhile. But you couldn't charge 15 or 20c. Machines weren't built to handle that easily, and the US had no denomination between 10 and 25c. Then the next change in value was 5 to 3 balls. And don't forget the epic fail SBA dollar beginning with Paragon.

Thanks! Proof that machines like this are still out there. I am definitely lucky. Didnt think I'd ever see one, much less own one. Being a longtime tech, I think I'm more impressed with how new everything looks underneath.

It has 44k. And it increments every time a game is played. Surely it was a route machine for a very short time before ending up in a house until now. I really don't pay attention the the meters. So anybody have any idea how much count is a lot? Like is this having a 1977 car with 44k on it?

Restoration nearing completion. Found a NOS playfield. Yes there was one out there... Which is cleared and now populated with some new parts, I kept originals when possible. Still need to mount the A B lane guides and aim them precisely to the flippers. This is the estate sale EM #1097 I found last spring. Was in a climate controlled basement for 40 years. Immaculate inside. I basically just vacuumed it out. Cabinet and trim is all original. All coils are original except a flipper coil. Cleaned and adjusted every contact. Polished trim and door, and put new legs on today. It runs and scores 100%. All #47 bulbs. The only mod I made was adding a 10k chime. The EM only had 3 and would strike the 10 and 1k chimes as a chord for a 10k. I really wanted to replicate the 50k the SS awards for targets down or outlane. I ran a wire in the harness from the 10k relay to the new chime. Added a plug for the new chime and even used a spare pin on the Jones plug. You can't tell its not factory-installed. Now it bangs out a low tone 50k. Anyway, wanted to share the project with you guys. I plan on taking it to expos when this pandemic is over. Tried to make it as original stock as possible. 100 hours and $5k in it. I'm almost done!

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More pics

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