TL;DR: Four strangers met on Pinside to execute a long-distance trade.

Shortly after I posted on Pinside about my 1932 Cloverleaf, I was contacted by Pinsider Cait001. She wanted to know if I'd ever consider trading it and, we got into a PM chat about our wishlist Pre-War pin games. It turns out she has two Signals - a Jr. and a Sr. - which are on my list. Cloverleaf is very cool and very rare, but I knew I'd prefer a game with a mechanical playfield feature. We tentatively agreed to a one-for-one trade, but the problem was that I'm in Ohio and she's in Ontario and neither of us wanted to make a long drive or risk shipping our games.

We both understood that Allentown is the Mecca for pinball trades and that collectors and restorers from our respective areas (all over, really) made the trip and haul games back and forth. So we put out the call. Pinsider Ballypin, who lives about 45 minutes from me and whom I met at Pincinnati said he had room in his truck and would be willing to make my trade. Cait001 called on her friend Mike, who was going to make the trip down from Canada. Then it was just a matter of waiting for May to arrive.

At the end of April, I sent out a mass email introducing everyone who would be involved in this caper including contact info. Ballypin called Mike to set a time and place to meet in Pennsylvania. Cait001 and Mike worked out delivery of Signal Sr. and I did the same with Ballypin. I drove over to Ballypin's house a week before his trip and we had a great chat - he's an excellent guy who is really knowledgeable and seems to know every pinhead in the tri-state area.

On the Friday of Allentown, Ballypin texted me that he the trade was done. He attended to some business of his own and headed back that night. The next day, he gave me a call from Columbus and two hours later was at my door. He showed off his finds and related his adventures before helping bring Signal Sr. inside and setting it up. After a little tinkering, I got the mechanics and the bell working and it's beautiful! I hope to hear from Cait001 soon that Cloverleaf made it back to Canada safely.

Thanks to everyone involved - the levels of trust and generosity are really overwhelming! I want to thank all the Pinside moderators and architects for maintaining a great resource that made this possible.

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Six degrees of separation over here. On Friday, I was chatting with Ballypin at Pinfest about your Cloverleaf trade with Cait001 for her Signal, Sr. It turns out that one of the Ballypins acquisitions in PA was a 1967 Rocket III, which I had recently sold to a local friend in PA. Consequently, one reason for Darrin's (a/k/a Ballypin) trip to Pinfest was to retrieve that Rocket III.

Last year, when I learned of Cait001's search for prewar games, I suggested that she contact a Vermont seller with 2 Signals, a junior and a senior. I had previously purchased a 2nd Bally, Jr. from this Vermont seller. In fact, he sent me the larger Bally, Sr. legs, which had to be swapped for the correct ones. Thus, it turns out that I'm connected to both ends of your transaction. I even had your game's black and red legs in my gameroom for a few days.

That's so cool! Ballypin showed off his acquisitions when he dropped off Signal Sr. And that Rocket III looks really nice. Great to know a little of the history behind the Signal!

The Vermont seller's late father-in-law collected railroad themed prewar games. That's why he had 3 Bally Signals. Congratulations on your acquisition!

I'm late to the party but wanted to add this:
When I bought the 2 Signals from the seller in Vermont I struggled to figure out logistics. I found a local pinballer (who goes by the name tinyrodent on other pinball boards) who was driving back from a trip out East and offered to pick them up for me on the way home.
The same guy also helped me load and unload both Signal Jr and Cloverleaf at the Ottawa Pinball Show, where both were enjoyed by hundreds of people.

topMoose, we're learning more about Cloverleaf: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-with-gottlieb-1932-cloverleaf-all-mechanical

VIDEO NOW POSTED !
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-with-gottlieb-1932-cloverleaf-all-mechanical#post-5218311

Good to see the ol' girl working like she should!

This is partly why I got deeper and deeper into this hobby! The friends I've made, it's amazing. But my best story so far - all true - met a lady on line selling parts for PB machines. Turned out her husband (and dog) had recently passed away. After several purchases and emails we too became friends. I tried to help her get a machine working that her late husband had been working on, just as a simple way to express my gratitude to her. After several phone attempts, I get on a plane and fly down to help at her house. (It was a Thanksgiving weekend and I had no place to go) I did all I could ( was then and still now a newbie) but I couldn't get the game going.

I listed the problems here on Pinside, and then the help arrived. Someone say "Cavalry"? I wont mention names (to protect them from bombardments of requests) - but one person sent us an MPU board to get it to boot, another helped me get the SDB working, then subsequent follow up's from other selfless people here, and we got the machine working. Over the next year I actually acquired the game from her, we stay in touch weekly (if not daily) and I hope in some small way I've helped her move past the pain of losing a loved one. She, along with several others here that I've met, are now life long friends.

"Our lives are better left to chance, I could have missed the pain, But I'd of had to miss the dance"

I drove a few hours to pick up a motordome pinball machine and look at an eight ball deluxe from the same seller. I only had money for the motordome. We came up with a price for eight ball deluxe and HE LET ME TAKE THE GAME WITHOUT PAYING HIM ANYTHING! I had known him 5 minutes. I paypal’d him a few weeks later when I had the cash. Good people in this hobby.