Years ago I went to look at two games a local homeowner was selling. He called me in response to an ad I had posted in a local supermarket. The two games were Williams "Big Deal" (4-player), and a Gottlieb "Cow-Poke". Naturally, I was primarily interested in the "Cow-Poke". However, the cabinet was painted over in hand brushed orange paint, with huge sunflower decals applied all over it. Nothing was removed prior to the paintjob, and so the shooter bezel, coin entry plate, coin door and legs all had orange paint on them. I pointed out to the seller that the cabinet was obviously (badly) painted over, and the game would need to be stripped and repainted. He asked me "how do you know that?". Well, duh, the paint wouldn't be all over the metal parts if it was a factory paint job. I told him that I would show him what the original paint looked like if I removed one of the legs and again told him that I would have to have the game repainted. He said something like, "I don't f**ckin" care if you burn it!" Well, needless to say, I was a little taken aback, and left his house without the two games.
Months later, I called him and asked him if he still had the games. He said that he did, and I asked him if he seriously wanted to sell them. We finally worked out a deal, and I went over there and got the two games. He has since passed away; not an old guy by any stretch, but I'll never forget his hard-ass attitude, and this being one of the toughest sellers I've ever had to deal with. Looking back, it was funny that he didn't believe that the game had been painted over when it obviously was. The "Big Deal" was pretty nice, and I did a nice shop out on it and sold it to a neighbor and recouped much of what I had to spend for both games. The things we do for pins!
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Kansas City, MO
