After waiting for what feels like far too long my wife & I are finally ready to purchase a NIB Metallica Premium (Road Case edition, I know everyone wants the Monsters version but she's a rocker and a giant road case is very cool for us <I play guitar and used to be in bands, owned several flight cases> - though I"ll have to replace the translite ASAP!) )......

Now that we are ready to buy it seems they aren't so easy to find new (either version) today as they were at this time last year - I figured that Stern would continue to manufacture premiums for some time to come (with the new LED Pro Met announced as well as Lucy and LED AC/CD pro models announced rather recently)....

We stopped at a distrib in TX recently as unfortunately we both are patients at a regional cancer center that's just minutes away from a large Stern dealer but it figures that now that we were ready to buy - No machines are to be had at that dealer! (the best they could do would be possibly a demo model is seems and the price was the same as when they were selling them new right near $7k).

Does anyone know what one would expect to pay for a Metallica Premium at this time (NIB)? I am afraid that the price may be more than in the past if production has ceased & stock is limited - even last year I never did come across a great deal or perhaps we would have gotten one by now & now that time's critical if they are truly never to be produced again we have to try to track down a premium Met RC and hope that we can get a decent deal.

What's tough to swallow is that we've paid enough in medical costs , deductibles, travel in just the past year to have bought a machines but that's another story - at least my wife did NOT have to undergo a stem cell transplant as planned last year so getting a NIB pinball machine would just be a bonus i guess a very nice bonus though - hope we can track something down and at a decent cost (funny how perspective can change once life is turned upside down at a moment's notice, if we can't find one , life goes on - i don't let the little things bother me so much anymore these days, ha)

I"m anxious to see which distributors call me back tomorrow, i just left messages for 3 dealers after work tonight.

Thanks for any current pricing info!

Thanks for the listing of the 3 distributors - I've tried 2 already - waiting for a response on each and will try the 3rd.

It makes sense that there may be future runs (updated) but I guess a Road Case option may not be available if future runs do come thru.

We are also at the point now to where we've been waiting so long (life goes by quickily, time to act).

I have a feeling that if anyone does have one in stock it's going to be full retail as they are difficult to find - what would you all expect as the best price for the moment considering the lack of stock?

I think i've found 1 at $7k.

I spoke toGame Exch and a few others on this thread - none have a RC in stock (though still waiting for 2 to return my call). - quite a few Prem Monsters out there NIB however.

btw if someone wanted a prem Monsters, the DD Ltd Ed at Game Exch seems to be the best deal at the moment.

I guess it's either pay the $7,100 RC - Amazon

OR go with a Monsters (not really an option for us though as we wanted a Road Case since it was announced - for those into music / gear, a giant road case is too cool of course with an alternate translite however)

OR wait to see if another run comes thru which i have a feeling won't include Road Case's as nobody seems to want a RC besides us.

wow, so i had to sleep all evening to be up near all night for work and now that I just finished up with work I just checked Amazon & while still in stock the RC models went up in price apparently after midnight to $7,495 !

I was planning on depositing a check to be able to purchase on our debit card (which would include a ton of rewards points) & order once the funds were posted - hopefully tonight / tomorrow - guess now i'll just try to get some more sleep and forget about it for a while .

@FullBlown - I'll look into Pinballs.Com (hope unlike Game Exchange their site is accurate and a RC is actually avail - the price is ok and free shipping it seems) - maybe Amazon will revert the price back down to $7,095 (I have no idea how often their pricing moves around).

Isn't half the fun the buying experience? ha