With the limited amount of time between now and Christmas, if you are willing to spend $3k on a Comet, I'd seriously think about raising your budget to $4K and look at a newer Stern as others have suggested. You're going to have a lot more to choose from and you're going to get a newer, more reliable game that has a deeper ruleset to keep you more entertained if you do only end up with one pin. (You won't ) When it comes time for your second pin you can take your time and figure out what you want to complement your first pin and not be rushed. I'd try to attend a pin show in the area to play as many games as you can to figure out what you want next, and if it turns out that newer Stern isn't doing it for you, you shouldn't lose much money selling it unless you really overpaid for it in the first place.

That looks like Mylar. You can remove Mylar, but more than likely the paint on the inserts will come off with it. In one of Vid's threads (possibly the playfield restoration thread) he talks about leveling raised inserts. Do a search for "leveling raised inserts" and you'll find a few hits. Removing the Mylar is going to open a can of worms that you probably don't want to deal with. You can level the inserts and leave the Mylar on, but you'll still see the areas where the Mylar is no longer adhered around the inserts where they were raised, but at least the ball will roll true.