That’s a pretty impressive custom cover!

I don't see any buzzing around. Must be cold there. Pretty amazing to see.

I’m a beekeeper.
Did a keeper rescue the swarm and take them away?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-apiary-any-pinball-hobbiest-who-keep-bees/page/2#post-6461342

^Got to post it here^

Lol. That's perfect!

Not "horror" in the traditional sense but maybe this pic isn't the best showing off of color matching skill...

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What a clown, please keep him away from all machines!!!
Dude only sees a single shade. “Green is green”

Yeah. Why would you ever leave an un finished area? Paint it all so it's the same. It's like my customers wanting to use there 5 year old paint on a 5 year painted wall. No way is gonna match. Sorry. Need to paint it all!

Wow. Imagine what the ones he doesn't use for advertising look like.

But it’s the exact same paint I used!

Yeah everyone knows it's like 50 shades of green, or is it gray. I digress

If I were closer I would make an offer just for the lockdown bar but I’m not close.

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Where is it? I don’t have Facebook

New Orleans LA area

Mushroomed plunger on a Black Pyramid.

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You missed the best part of that listing
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"Could be flipped"

I had a WCS94 with a mushroomed metal plunger tip like that. Couldn’t believe it, he promised HUO too!

I’ll take 2.

Can you even remove a rod that shroomed
Like will it come out or do you have to take out the entire assembly I would assume

Easy with a file or electric grinder.

Done it many times.

The harder mushroom to fix is when a magnet post, like the Tiger Loop on TOTAN or the Shrunken head on RBION, have mushroomed ABOVE the playfield.... and the bracket underneath has been Loctited in place. Now that's an afternoon project!

I'll use a Dremel tool to grind off the excess so I can remove the plunger.

Agree. I have a larger, heavy-duty wrench with the correct socket just for removing that nut on the playfield magnets. I’ve replaced a few on Indy Jones 4 and Ripley’s. They can be a bear!

Gottlieb System 80B horror, or so I initially thought. Fortunately, it was repaired which brought the whole game back to life. The game has since left me and gone to an arcade in Canada, living a happy, reliable life with all the original serial number matching boards ever since. ChrisHibler should remember fixing this for me.

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Financing options on Stern's Website for the Bond 60th. Courtesy of Pinball-Obsessed on the SLE thread https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/james-bond-60th-edition-sle-super-limited-elwin-hype-thread/page/66#post-7332628.

19% APR on a Pinball Machine.

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Yes, but the appreciation!

This is my version of jumping the shark.

36 month finance deal. For a pinball machine.

I remember when you bought a car it was on a 36 month finance plan. And then the car self destructed on the 37th month.

There is no shortage of financially foolish people who "need" the latest shiny object.

I had to step out of the Bond SLE thread because it was giving me a bad attitude about pinball owners.

just glad i'm an EM guy, those were the best of pinball day's, playing in smoky arcades and bowling alley's,....those old Bally,William's and Gottlieb's were the best in the 70's.....there is NO WAY i would spend 20K plus to hit a ball bearing around a play field, but thats just me.....nuff said

Financially foolish yet able to afford $20k toys are probably called “heirs.”

By definition if you are taking out a loan and paying interest on a $20k toy I would not use the term "afford"

Wow! I had no idea that people get loans to purchase pinball machines. I don't blame Stern for offering financing, but yikes! Pinball is an unnecessary luxury as it is. No need to unnecessarily throw more money down the drain by financing these things.

Judge Reinhold as stereo salesman Ken Kessler in the movie Ruthless People:

[trying to sell a new stereo system to a teenage couple... before he realizes they're expecting a baby]

Ken Kessler : Check it out, my man! This is the Dominator X-10. Thirty inches of thigh-slapping, blood-pumping, nuclear brain damage!

Heavy Metal Kid : Bitchin'! Hey, what's it fucking cost?

Ken Kessler : That's the bitchin' part about it! It don't matter! If you can't afford it, FUCKING FINANCE IT!

[turns it on]

Ken Kessler : So what if it's as big as a Subaru and costs as much? You'll never have to trade this in! This is gonna be with you for the rest of your life! And when you die, they can BURY you in it!

Fantastic movie!

Totally agree on financing pinball. Maybe if you were running a business but for the home No Bueno.

In the late 60s, when the muscle car era was born, the street were full of Mustangs, GTOs, SS Chevelles, etc. This was a also the same era where financing was gaining ground. And this is the time where the "Truth in Lending" laws became law. Because Average Joe did not know how financing and interest rates worked ( Of course, today, Average Joe still knows squat about finance and interest rates).

Anyway, at that time, some of the young guys with the hot cars were figuring out the hard way that car payments suck. And the big thing that was happening for a couple of years is cars were being put up for sale for just taking over the payments. Such as:

For sale:

1969 Chevelle SS 396. take over payments.

1967 Mustang GT. take over payments.

They were not even trying to get some money for the sale: It was just, " get me out of these car payments !" . Today, it would be the acronym of TOP.

Food for thought: Is the guy with a mortgage, an SUV payment, and some credit card debt, really above water if he pays cash for a pinball machine?

IMO, the craziest finance deal I ever saw was at Cabela's headquarter store in Sidney Nebraska. You could buy a low end fishing rig for just $120.00 per month---for 120 months. Big wow. 10 years worth of boat payments.

But 3 year financing on a pinball machine is out there.

At least with the muscle car it served a dual purpose! I drove muscle cars to work as soon as I could latch onto a licence.. and still do time to time. Catch is I can fix my own rides.

Neither is a show queen, the blue one will run with a Hellcat and almost stop as fast as one.

And as far as I'm concerned if you are in debt, you are underwater. The wife and i took great pains to pay off all debt several years ago after seeing the direction the world was going.

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GTX ..... sweet

Anyone who uses a credit card to purchase one (and most people do), is ‘technically’ getting a loan to do so. It’s a “pre-approved” loan, but a loan nonetheless, no?

Depends if you pay off the card in 30 days or not.

If you don't pay off your credit card balances each month and wind up getting APR charges, I guess you could consider that a "loan". Personally, I wouldn't charge anything on my CC if I didn't intend to pay it off the following month before any APR charges kick in.

Credit card on the glass?

It is still a loan, yes? I buy everything with my credit card and pay it off at the end of the month. But the bill comes in for the last 30 days and payment is set for 30 days out. So, for some of that money I get to use it for almost 60 days.

For instance, my CC closes today. My car insurance is due today; I pay it on a 6 month basis. I'll wait to pay the insurance tomorrow on the new CC month. Then in 30 days the bill arrives and I set it to pay 30 days after that. That's 60 days of "free" money. The kicker is that you don't want to be late on that payment.

In credit card parlance I am a deadbeat.

EDIT: Last year, I got with my insurance guy and we changed my billing to come in on the 7th of the month instead of on the 6th of the month. State Farm went nutty with this move. It seems I have been getting some sort of discount for 43 years and changing the date set me up with a new account and an extra $50.00 to pay. So, my insurance guy changed it back and every 6 months, I pay a day late---which State Farm is cool with.

Odds are if you make one lump payment you get a discount as well.

Alot of people would agree that it doesn't really matter where the money from a student loan was used, since the money to pay for SCHOOL had to come from somewhere that the student was obligated and authorized to use. Its not a cash accounting process, its an accrual, so if the student qualifies for a student loan, but they pay for the tuition from their savings account, it doesn't really affect anything if they take their student loan check and buy a truckload of bubble gum with it.

The real question might be "How can a student with THOUSANDS of $$ of extra money get approved for a student loan?" Seems like qualifying for a student loan a bit more accurately based on true need might be a better question....