I have a 1958 Sittin' Pretty pinball machine by Gottlieb that I received from my Father as a present for my 13th Birthday. It has move from Coopersburg, PA (1968) to Westwood, NJ (1969) to Allentown, PA (1970) to Upper Saddle River, NJ (1971) to Hackensack, NJ (1980) to Hackettstown, NJ (1982) and to Bethel, CT (1996) and was last played in Hackettstown.

In Bethel it has been under a giant stuffed Polar Bear until about a month ago. The bear was taken to the transfer station liberating the pinball machine. So the time was right to restore the machine. I should have done a better job taking pictures but here goes.

I'll post updates as I progress.Door_Before (resized).jpg

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My goal Is to make the machine play well and to have it look as good as possible for a 1958 machine. My intent is not to make it look factory new. I admire the restorations in that category though but if I start going down that path I’ll end up having to make the stencils for the cabinet from the appropriate materials to get the fuzzy edges on the cabinet pattern to satisfy myself.
To be clear, I started the process a few weeks back. After opening the machine, this is what I found besides the usual grime:
• One of the targets from the Roto Target was laying in the bottom of the cabinet.
o Delivered by me and fixed by Pinball Resource
• The door frame was damaged from someone trying to pry it open before we got it.
o Replaced with a new frame from PBR. I also bought the cigarette holders from PBR as the originals had been removed and the screw holes filled, probably by my father
• When disassembling the Roto Target is saw that the ‘pusher’ lever had about 1/8” worn away giving it little purchase to start the target wheel spinning.
o I had a local welding shop fill in the gap and grind it smooth.
• There was a crack in the banana chute for the ball lifter. A new chute is not available.
o Fixed by the same welding shop although I did the grinding myself using a Dremel leaving a smooth and barely perceptible rise in the chute.
• The plastics were completely shot, in fact the edge of the one over the Roto Target had curled so much it was triggering a switch.
o Replaced with new plastics from Shay Arcade Group
• The rubber was shot, as expected.
o Got replacements from Marco Specialties. I also got a new schematic from Marco forgetting there was still one in the machine which turned out to have some nibbles out of it.
• The back glass is in bad shape but it was when we got the machine in 1968. It didn’t get any better after sitting for years.
o I have a new one on order from Shay Arcade which should be ready in July.
• The plating on the guides for the top center chute was flaking off and new ones are not available.
o I bought nickel plating supplies and plated it myself. A new experience but if I had to do it again I would buy the chemicals with the brightener added.

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That was after a simple Millwax cleanup, I might try a light Novus 2, carefully, to see if I can get the yellow down by the flippers a bit better.

Looks Great. All my pop bumpers have white skirts which seems to be an anomaly. I'll probably get new red & blue skirts and new bodies but keep the original marbled caps. Mine has red legs but those will stay even though I've read that the legs and door should match.

Well folks, I'm still plugging at it so here's a quick update:

- I've cleaned the cabinet and stabilized the paint by spraying a few light coats of matte polyurethane. Kind of like using triple-thick for the backglass but without the gloss. Perhaps someday I'll make up stencils for a repaint.
- Lacquer has been reapplied, lightly, to the ball track and to a few spots around the pop bumpers where it was worn through.
- I've added a power switch and then repaired a dead replay button with help from Rolf Martin in Switzerland.
- The swirl marks in the yellow around the girl on the trapeze were eliminated using alcohol and a 'magic eraser' with no sign of paint on the sponge. Next I'll polish with Novus 2 and then a carnauba wax job.
- The metal on the front of the cabinet has been cleaned and polished. The door frame, damaged by an apparent jimmying attempt when it was still in commercial use, has been replaced.
- The slingshots have been rebuilt
- The flipper buttons were cleaned and new guards installed.
- The rebuild of the Roto-Target has been completed aided by the information on Clay Harrell's site.

Unfortunately, the backglass ordered from Shay has been delayed so I can launch a search, try a fix myself, try BGRESTO or try a BGRESTO like fix myself. The glass was in bad shape when I received the machine in 1968 with a few bare spots plus the area around the girl on the trapeze had some blue spray paint applied, complete with a run. This was done by whoever was operating the machine before I got it.

Next up, after polishing and waxing the playfield is to finish rebuilding the pop bumpers with new bodies and new skirts matching the color of the original marbled tops. I'll also stabilize the backglass with triple thick.

The new backglass arrived last Thursday, December 13, 2018 and it looks like it was worth the wait. Now I have 3, 1 brand new, one I bought as a backup, just in case. Maybe a 6-7 out of 10 and one still in the machine, a 3-4, maybe. I might try to fix them up myself and frame them, maybe with a light box behind. That's a retirement project.

Everything seems to be working well except the exit chutes and the out-hole. All dead. Time to pull out the schematic and see what they have in common I guess.

OK, the machine is done, for now. I did add the cigarette holders and leveled the inserts. I enlisted a local fellow, Frank Giarantanna aka Pinball Medic, who was able to undo some hacks that were put on the machine sometime before 1968 when it was given to me. The machine is playing well except for occasionally not scoring 10,000 on a pop bumper hit - which I did not ask Frank to address.

I like the patina on the machine but I also admire those with the talent and time to a 'factory fresh' restoration like the one going on for Gran Prix by @

Pablito350 I saw on another thread. But now I can play the machine and get on with a car restoration that I also have in progress.

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Thank you both very much. I am satisfied considering it's been sitting dormant in basements for over 25 years, which is my fault but it's back now. I am envious of those wjo can do those factory fresh restorations and I also admire and am jealous of the job Weir Pinball has posted above.