(Topic ID: 195235)

What do you know about Gottlieb's System 1 Steel Cabinets?

By quinntopia

6 years ago


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  • 22 posts
  • 12 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by wiredoug
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 6 years ago

My first pin was a Sinbad, and since I was new to pinball with this machine, I did some research to learn more about it and also prepare to try and restore it. One of the things I learned (and didn't think too much about at the time) was that Sinbad and some other System 1 games used a steel cabinet. http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2159

"Oh, interestings" I thought. Since that was my ONLY pin at the time, I didn't think too much about it.

Recently I picked up a non-working 'spare' Sinbad to help with the Restoration. What immediately jumped out at me (particularly in person as I sort of overlooked this in the numerous photos I've viewed online) is that this traditional wood cab Sinbad had art on the front! And the back was orange!.

My steel cab is all black! Okay...kind of interesting. I did an image search on Google to see what other steel cabinet versions look like and didn't find many images at all.

Which started me thinking.

How many steel cabinets were actually made?
How many System 1 games had steel cabinets?
Is there any difference in preference? Any impact on collectibility?

I like the steel cabinet version as it definitely feels stronger and is also lighter than the wood cab. On the other hand, the lack of art on the front is sort of obvious when its next to other pins with colorful graphics on their fronts.

Here's some photos of my two pins - a steel one and wood one - just for reference:

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#7 6 years ago
Quoted from KenLayton:

Oh, it's only some portions of the cabinet made of metal. I thought from the thread title the entire cabinet was steel?
First I've heard of it.

I should have posted a larger photo, but yes the sides of the cab and the backbox are made of traditional plywood.

#9 6 years ago

Although I thought it might be a repainting, I don't think it is.

Here are some more photos.

These also show how the steel front wraps around the front and covers the first 3 inches of the side panels. Note the bevel in the side rail to cover the trim.

The interior steel sections are also painted the exact same black. And same for the back and backside assembly.

The finish is 'factory finish' looking despite what some of the above photos might look like.

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#10 6 years ago

The only other image I've been able to find is from the ipbm database.

http://www.ipdb.org/images/2159/image-31.jpg

In this photo it looks like the front steel section IS painted orange. Which means that mine is either a repaint (which was done really well) or part of a series where Gottlieb painted them black?

I think if I remove the legs again I should be able to see where the legs may have rubbed the black paint and whether there is orange underneath.

6 months later
#12 6 years ago

Cool! Did you post the photos anywhere? I’m curious to see what the front of yours looks like. If you can, is it possible to get a photo of the inside of the cabinet front (coin box)?

#19 6 years ago
Quoted from wiredoug:

ive got one .. all i can tell you is metal rusts.. wood doesn't. I would swap it for a wooden one in a flash. they're not as good as they sound

I haven't thought about that. Here's what's kind of interesting though. While my metal cab Sinbad has the usual metal parts that show various light levels of surface rust (back side of legs, lockdown bar, coinbox, etc...) the actual metal cabinet parts are almost factory new. Even the sheet metal bottom is rust free (as far as I have seen so far) while the various screws and bolts around the playfield show moderate rusting.

Perhaps with normal wear the metal cabs may be okay. Certainly if really soaked or left in standing water I would expect to see more rust, but with that level of moisture even a wood cabinet is going to warp, or worse, rot pretty significantly.

There are so few records of these metal cabinets, I'd be curious to see how well others have held up over time.

#21 6 years ago
Quoted from wiredoug:

i suppose i should give mine a bit of a pass, it was stored for a long time in a shipping container that leaked. it hasnt had a good life.

What game is it? Curious as my very casual interest in this topic has only seemed to be Cleopatra and Sinbad. I’d guess there’s a Joker Poler our there too, but haven’t heard.

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