I moved from the US to Panama (central america) several months ago. I'll be here for 4-5 years. I've been a pinhead for about 10 years now and I love restoring machines. I've never bought a turn key machine. Everything I've ever purchased needed some love. Before moving here I sold my machines. I wasn't sure if I would have room for them here. Turns out I do. My hunt began. Pinball maps show nothing here. Columbia has a decent pinball following. Costa Rica has some pins on the map also. Nothing in Panamá though.
Theirs not even a pinsider listed in Panamá. My logic says there must be pins lying around from old US military bases, bars, etc. , but where? It's not as easy as googling it here. Doesn't work that way in a third world country. You have to know someone or just get out a look and that exactly what I did. Unfortunately I found my best deal ever on the game I like the least, South Park. Why oh why did it have to be a South Park? Could have been any other pin. Cabinet decals are faded, the GI is out and the it will not load the ball. All non issues. The Playfield is filthy but in fantastic condition. Not a bit of wear and I can't find a broken piece of plastic anywhere. Sound works, DMD works. It's a fairly easy restore compared to some of the stuff I've tackled in the past. The owner says it needs a part and he has to order it from the states. He has no Internet and Panamá had no post office. This makes ordering parts difficult. Fortunately I don't have these problems.
Anyways we made a deal. $200 for the South Park. It's a great deal. But it is a South Park. Even though I dislike the theme, call outs and game play I could not pass it up. It is a 70% working dmd pin with a great playfield. I guess in this case one mans trash is another mans trashy treasure. No offense to SP lovers, it's just not my cup of tea.
I pick it up tonight at 5pm. I'll post pics tonight.
I'm excited to get a new project but I'm not done looking. These machines are not worth much here. Few people can or will check value from other countries and no one wants a pinball machine in Panamá. I just know there are some "A" titles lying around waiting for me to find them. I will not let them down. I will rescue them all.
Anyone spent time in Panamá? Play pinball in Panamá?

I finally picked up south park last night. Of course he had no keys so I had to roll the dice on this one. It starts up and goes into attract mode. DMD works well. Playfield is a filthy mess but nice underneath. I cleaned a spot on the playfield and it quickly looked new. I could tell it has\had termites. I see nothing living but I can't be sure. Cabinet has some termite damage and the artwork is shot. I'm having vault fumigation done on it next week just to be sure. So here's what you get for $200

20160212_120601_(resized).jpg

20160212_125124_(resized).jpg

20160212_121326_(resized).jpg

20160212_121533_(resized).jpg

More pics

20160212_120635_(resized).jpg

20160212_121332_(resized).jpg

Anyone know where to find cabinet decals for south park?

Pm sent